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A few typographical errors have been corrected. They
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No. 166. | Saturday, January 1. 1853. | Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d. |
Page | |
Our Seventh Volume | 1 |
Notes:— | |
Proclamations of the Society of Antiquaries, and their Value as Historical Evidences, by John Bruce | 3 |
Curiosities of Advertising Literature, by Cuthbert Bede | 4 |
On a Passage in "King Henry VIII.," Act III. Sc. 2., by S. W. Singer | 5 |
Notes on Bacon's Essays, by P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A. | 6 |
Latin Poems in connexion with Waterloo, by Lord Braybrooke | 6 |
Sir Henry Wotton and Milton, by Bolton Corney | 7 |
Folk Lore:—Unlucky to sell Eggs after Sunset—Old Song—Nursery Tale—Legend of Change | 7 |
Passage in Hamlet | 8 |
Volcanic Influence on the Weather, by Rev. Wm. S. Hesledon | 9 |
Minor Notes:—Value of MSS.—Robert Hill—English Orthography—Bookselling in Glasgow in 1735—Epitaph on a Sexton | 9 |
Queries:— | |
Eustache de Saint Pierre, by Philip S. King | 10 |
Devizes, Origin of: a Question for the Heralds, by J. Waylen | 11 |
Minor Queries:—Gold Signet Ring—Ecclesia Anglicana—Tangiers: English Army in 1684—Smith—Termination "-itis"—Loak Hen—Etymological Traces of the Social Position of our Ancestors—Locke's Writings—Passage in Göthe's "Faust"—Schomberg's Epitaph by Swift—The Burial Service said by Heart—Shaw's Staffordshire MSS.—"Ne'er to these chambers," &c.—County History Societies—Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter—The English Domestic Novel—Dr. Young—Bishop Hall's Meditations—Chatterton—Passage in Job—Turner's View of Lambeth Palace—Clarke's Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning—"The General Pardon" | 12 |
Minor Queries with Answers:—Edward the Confessor's Ring—The Bourbons | 15 |
Replies:— | |
Emblems | 15 |
Marriages en Chemise—Mantelkinder—Legitimation, by E. Smirke, &c. | 17 |
Editions of the Prayer-Book prior to 1662, by Archdeacon Cotton | 18 |
Etymology of Pearl, by Sir J. Emerson Tennant, &c. | 18 |
"Martin Drunk," by Dr. E. F. Rimbault | 19 |
Göthe's Reply to Nicolai | 19 |
Photographic Correspondence:—Processes upon Paper—Exhibition of Photography at the Society of Arts | 20 |
Replies To Minor Queries:—Quotation in Locke—Pic-nic—Discovery at Nuneham Regis—Door-head Inscriptions—Cross and Pile—Rhymes upon Places—Ἀρνίον—Who was the greatest General?—Beech-trees struck by Lightning—Passage in Tennyson—Inscriptions in Churches—Dutensiana—Early Phonography—Kentish Local Names; Dray—Monument at Modstena—Book-plates—"World without end," &c. | 23 |
Miscellaneous:— | |
Books and Odd Volumes wanted | 28 |
Notices to Correspondents | 28 |
Advertisements | 28 |
We might, without any offence against truth or modesty, begin our Seventh Volume by congratulating ourselves and our Readers on the continued success and increasing circulation of our work. As to Truth, our Readers can only judge in part, and must take our word for the rest; but they may see enough in our pages to lead them to do so. Let them but look at the signatures which from time to time appear in our columns, and they will see enough to prove that we have the sanction of a list of names, high in literary reputation, such as it might seem ostentatious to parade in our columns on an occasion like the present. We abstain the more readily, because we have felt it our duty to do the thing so frequently and fully in our prospectuses. And as to Modesty, can there be any want of it in saying that with such—or perhaps we should say by such—contributors we have produced a work which the public has found acceptable? With such contributors, and others whom we should be proud to name with them, if they had given names which we cannot but know, but do not feel authorised to decypher—with such help, what sort of animal must an editor be who could fail to make a work worth reading? In fact, if not our highest praise, it is the plainest proof of the value of our publication, that we have done little or nothing except to give the reader the greatest possible quantity of matter in a legible form, wholly unassisted by graphic ornament or artistic decoration of any kind—without even the attraction of politics, scandal, or polemics.
Our pride is that we are useful; and that fact is proved by another to which it has given rise, namely, that we are favoured with many more contributions than we can possibly find room for; and therefore, instead of employing the occasion which offers for a few words with our Readers, by way of introduction to a new Volume, in any protracted remarks on what we have done, we would rather confer with them on the ways and means of doing more.
In the first place, let us say explicitly that we do not mean by the most obvious method of increasing the bulk of our publication. It is quite clear that we {2}could print twice as much on twice as many pages; but this is not what we mean. Those who refer to our earliest Numbers will see "how we are grown," and we are perfectly convinced that we are now quite grown up—that our quantity (to change the figure) is quite as much as our company wish to see set on the table at once, and our price quite as agreeable as if it were larger; for to enlarge the work without enlarging the price would be quite out of the question.
But, in the course of what we may now call considerable experience, during which we have seen the work grow up into the form which it now wears, we have been led to think, that if our friends will allow us to offer a few suggestions (on which some of them may perhaps improve), we may be able, with the same space and cost, to oblige more Correspondents; and not only by that means, but by rendering our information more select and valuable, increase the gratification of our Readers.
Our name suggests the idea of a work consisting of two parts; and, with regard to the first, we can only offer such obvious remarks as, that the more a writer condenses what he has to say, the less room his communication will occupy in print—and the less room he occupies, the more he will leave for others, &c. These are weighty and important truths, but such as we need not insist on.
But when we look at the other part, passing under the single name of "Queries," it becomes obvious that our work, instead of having, as its title would import, what Sir Thomas Browne calls a "bicapitous conformation," does in fact consist of three parts, which must be ranged under three different heads, and dealt with in three different ways. A little, modest, demure-looking Query slips into print, and by the time it has been in print a fortnight, we find that it has a large family of Replies, who all come about it, and claim a settlement on the ground of their parentage.
Now, it is on this matter that we think some improvement may be made. We would not on any account diminish our number of Queries, and would wish even our Notes to be notes of interrogation as well as information. But between Queries and Replies, notwithstanding their family connexion, there is an essential difference. In every case the Query, in order to its answering the end for which it is proposed, must be public; but in a great many cases the Reply need not be so. The Query may be a very proper and curious one, and interesting in a high degree to the proposer and several other persons, but the Reply to it may involve details not generally interesting.[1] We shall not be thought to discourage such inquiries (while we consider the opportunity which we afford for making them one of the most valuable features of our work) if we illustrate this by suggesting that A. wishes for genealogical or family history; B. wants to know what the author of such or such a book which he is editing means by such or such a reference; C., who is editing another, wants a collation of this or that edition; D., who is writing a third book, in order to correct and enrich it, wants as many things (and heartily glad should we be to help him to get them) as would occupy half-a-dozen of our Numbers; and so we might go on, were it not quite unnecessary to pursue in detail the illustration of what is so plain. Now it has occurred to us, that if Correspondents who wish to make inquiries, the answers to which would obviously be of no general interest, would, with their Query, enclose a stamped envelope, directed in any way which they may think proper, it would often be in our power not only to transmit to them answers to their inquiries, but to put them in direct communication with those who could give them further information; and who would in many cases communicate with individuals of whose respectability and capacity they were satisfied, more freely than they would through a public channel. We shall be glad to know how far such a plan would be approved of. We must add, that it would enable us to make use of many Replies which it is impossible, under present circumstances, to insert; and we believe that many Answerers would not only be as well pleased to learn that their Replies had been transmitted to the Querist, but that, with a knowledge that they would be so transmitted, they would write with more freedom and fulness than if they expected the Reply to be published. One thing only we should bargain for—and, having cut ourselves off from all hope of gain by desiring to have the envelopes directed, we think we have a right to ask it—it is, that if in this correspondence, of which we are the medium, they come to any curious and generally interesting results, they will send them to us, pro bono publico.
A valued Correspondent, who has strongly urged the adoption of the course which we are now recommending to our Readers, thus illustrates his position:—
"It seems to be a very good thing to have a medium of genealogical inquiry; but why should all the world be troubled with the answers to a man who writes,—
'Sir,—I shall be obliged to anybody who can give me a full account of my family.
John Smith.'
"Again, supposing X. Y. wants to borrow some not very common book which one happens to have, I am not going to write (and if I did so write you would not print it), 'If X. Y., as soon as he sees this, will call on the Pump at Aldgate, he will find my copy of the book tied to the spout, if the charity boys have not cribbed it; and he can return it or not, according to his conscience, if he has any."
The work that is now going on at the Society of Antiquaries in reference to the collection of royal proclamations in their library, is one in which not merely the Fellows of that Society, but all historical students, are deeply interested. The Society possesses one of the three known largest collections of these public documents. They were formerly bound up in volumes of several different sizes, intermixed with a variety of fugitive publications, such as ballads and broadsides, which formed altogether a very incongruous collection. A short time since it was found that the binding of many of the volumes was very much worn, and that some of the documents themselves had been considerably torn and damaged. Under these circumstances, Mr. Lemon, of the State Paper Office, offered his services to the Council to superintend an entire new arrangement, mounting, binding, and calendaring, of the whole series of proclamations. His offer was of course gratefully accepted, and the work is now in active progress.
The collection is certainly the most important that is known, and is especially so in the reign of Elizabeth; in reference to which there is no collection at all approaching to it, either in completeness or value. Still there are many proclamations wanting: several of the Fellows of the Society have come forward most liberally to fill up gaps. Mr. Payne Collier led the way in a contribution of great value; Mr. Salt followed Mr. Collier with a munificent donation of a whole collection relating to Charles II. and James II.; and upon Mr. Lemon's suggestion, and with the joint concurrence of Mr. Secretary Walpole and the Keeper of the State Paper Office, an interchange of duplicates has been effected between that office and the Society of Antiquaries, which has added forty proclamations to the Society's collection.
My principal reason for addressing you upon this subject is to ask you to suggest to your readers that a similar interchange of duplicates might be effected between the Society and any persons who chance to have duplicate proclamations in their possession.
It is of the very highest literary and historical importance that we should get together, in some accessible place, a collection of proclamations, which if not actually complete (a consummation hardly to be expected), shall yet approach to completeness. The collection at Somerset House offers the best opportunity for forming such a collection. It is by far the most nearly complete in existence, and is strong in that particular part of the series in which other collections are most defective, and in which missing proclamations are the most difficult to be supplied. At the Society of Antiquaries the collection will be accessible to all literary inquirers, and no doubt the Society will publish a proper catalogue, which is already in preparation by Mr. Lemon.
It is obvious that any person who chooses to contribute such stray proclamations, or copies of proclamations, as he may chance to have in his possession, will be helping forward a really good work, and the possessor of duplicates may not only do the same, but may benefit his own collection by an interchange.
The value of proclamations as historical authorities, and especially as authorities for the history of manners, and of our national progress, is indisputable. As I write, I have before me the Booke of Proclamations of James I. from 1603 to 1609; and the page lying open affords a striking illustration of what I assert. It gives us A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF OUR POST-OFFICE.
Immediately on the accession of James I., the high north road from London to Edinburgh was thronged with multitudes of pilgrims hastening to the worship of the newly risen sun. Robert Carey became, in the words of Cowper's enigma, "the parent of numbers that cannot be told." Scotland has never poured into the south more active or more anxious suppliants than then traversed the northward road through Berwick. All ordinary accommodation soon fell short of the demand. Messengers riding post from the council to the king were stayed on the road for want of the ordinary supply of post-horses, all which were taken up by lords and gentry—rushing northward in the fury of their new-born loyalty. As a remedy for these inconveniences, the lords of the council issued a proclamation, calling upon all magistrates to aid the postmasters "in this time so full of business," by seeing that they are supplied with "fresh and able horses as necessitie shall require." Of course the supply was merely of horses. Travellers could not in those days obtain carriages of any kind. The horses were directed to be "able and sufficient horses, and well furnished of saddles, bridles, girts and stirropes, with good guides to looke to them; who for their said horses shall demand and receive of such as shall ride on them, the prices accustomed."
The new state of things became permanent. London, after James's removal from Edinburgh, being really the seat of government for the whole island, the intercourse both ways was continuous, and further general orders for its management were published by proclamation. There were at that time, on all the high roads through the country, two sorts of posts:—1. Special messengers or couriers who rode "thorough post," that is, themselves rode through the whole distance, "with horn and guide." Such persons carried with them an authentication of their employment in the {4}public service. In 1603, they were charged "two-pence halfe-peny the mile" (raised in 1609 to threepence) for the hire of each horse, "besides the guide's groats." The hire was to be paid beforehand. They were not to ride the horses more than one stage, except with the consent of "the post of the stage" at which they did not change. Nor were they to charge the horse "with any male or burden (besides his rider) that exceedeth the weight of thirtye pounds." Nor to ride more than seven miles an hour in summer or six in winter. 2. The other sort of post was what was termed the "post for the packet." For this service every postmaster was bound to keep horses ready; and on receipt of a "packet" or parcel containing letters, he was to send it on towards the next stage within a quarter of an hour after its arrival, entering the transaction in "a large and faire ledger paper book." Two horses were to be kept constantly ready for this service, "with furniture convenient," and messengers "at hand in areadinesse." The postmaster was also to have ready "two bags of leather, at the least, well lined with bayes or cotton, to carry the packet in." He was also to have ready "hornes to sound and blow, as oft as the post meets company, or foure times in every mile."
The "post for the packet" was at first used only for the carriage of despatches for the government or for ambassadors, but a similar mode of conveyance soon began to be taken advantage of by merchants and private persons. Difficulty in obtaining posts and horses for the conveyance of private packets, led to the interference of "certain persons called hackney-men, tapsters, hostlers, and others, in hiring out their horses, to the hinderance of publique service, danger to our state, and wrong to our standing and settled postes in their several stages." The government of James I. thought, in its blindness, that it could put a stop to the dangerous practice of transmitting unofficial letters, by rendering it penal for private persons to carry them; that of Charles I., wiser, in this respect, in its generation, settled a scheme for their general conveyance through the medium of "a letter office." But the "post for the packet," with his leathern bag and his twanging horn (the origin, of course, of our mail-coach horn), continued down to a late period, and probably still lingers in some parts of the kingdom. Cowper, it will be remembered, describes him admirably.
We are all well acquainted with the ingenious artifices by which modern advertisers thrust their wares upon the attention of newspaper readers. We may, perhaps, have been betrayed into the expression of come rude Saxon expletive, when, in the columns devoted to news and general information, we have in our innocence been tempted with a paragraph that commenced with "a clever saying of the illustrious Voltaire's," and dovetailed into a panegyric of Messrs. Aaron and Son's Reversible Paletots; or we may have applauded the clever logician who so clearly demonstrates, that as Napoleon's bilious affection frequently clouded his judgment in times of greatest need, the events of the present century, and the fate of nations, would have been reversed, had that great man only been persuaded to take two boxes of Snooks's Aperient Pill, price 1s. 1½d., with the Government stamp on a red ground (see Advt.). All these things we know very well; but, of the fugitive literature that does not find a place in the advertising columns of The Times, but flashes into Fame only in the pages of some local oracle, or in some obscurer broad-sheet, how often must it remain unappreciated, and doomed to "waste its sweetness on the desert air." That this may not be said of the following burst of advertising eloquence, I trust it may be found worthy a niche in the temple of "N. & Q." In its composition the author was probably inspired by the grand scenery of the Cheviots, in a village near to which his shop was situate. It was one of those "generally-useful" shops where the grocer and draper held equal reign, and anything could be got, from silks and satins to butter and Bath bricks. The composition was printed and distributed among the neighbouring families; but shortly after, when the author heard that it had not produced the exact effect he had wished, he, with the irritability that often accompanies genius, resolved to get back and destroy every copy of his production, and deny to the world that which it could not appreciate. Fortunately for the world's welfare, I preserved a copy of his hand-bill, of which this, in its turn, is a faithful transcript:
"To the Inhabitants of G. and its neighbourhood.
"The present age is teeming with advantages which no preceding Era in the history of mankind has afforded to the human family. New schemes are projecting to enlighten and extend civilisation, Railways have been projected and carried out by an enterprising and spirited nation, while Science in its gigantic power (simple yet sublime) affords to the humane mind so many facilities to explore its rich resources, the Seasons roll on in their usual course producing light and heat, the vivifying rays of the Sun, and the fructifying influences of nature producing food and happiness to the Sons of Toil; while to the people of G. and its neighbourhood a rich and extensive variety of Fashionable Goods is to be found in my Warehouse, which have just been selected with the greatest care. The earliest visit is requested to convey to the mind an adequate idea of the great extent of his purchases, comprising as it does all that is elegant and useful, cheap and substantial, to the light-hearted votaries of Matrimony, the Matrons of Reflection, the Man of Industry, and the disconsolate Victims of Bereavement.
J— M—."
The peroration certainly exhibits what Mrs. Malaprop calls "a nice derangement of epitaphs:" and, us for the rest, surely "the force of" bathos "could no further go."
One of the most desperately unintelligible passages in Shakspeare occurs in this play, in the scene between the King and the Cardinal, when the latter professes his devoted attachment to his service. It stands thus in the first folio:
Car. "I do professe
That for your Highnesse good, I euer labour'd
More then mine owne: that am, haue, and will be
(Though all the world should cracke their duty to you,
And throw it from their Soule, though perils did
Abound, as thicke as thought could make 'em, and
Appeare in formes more horrid) yet my Duty,
As doth a Rocke against the chiding Flood,
Should the approach of this wilde Riuer breake,
And stand vnshaken yours."
Upon this Mason observes:
"I can find no meaning in these words (that am, have, and will be), or see how they are connected with the rest of the sentence; and should therefore strike them out."
Malone says:
"I suppose the meaning is, 'that or such a man, I am, have been, and will ever be.' Our author has many hard and forced expressions in his plays; but many of the hardnesses in the piece before us appear to me of a different colour from those of Shakspeare. Perhaps however, a line following has been lost; for in the old copy there is no stop at the end of this line; and, indeed, I have some doubt whether a comma ought not to be placed at it, rather than a fullpoint."
Mr. Knight, however, places a fullpoint at will be, and says:
"There is certainly some corruption in this passage; for no ellipsis can have taken this very obscure form. Z. Jackson suggests 'that aim has and will be.' This is very harsh. We might read 'That aim I have and will,' will being a noun."
Mr. Collier has the following note:
"In this place we can do no more than reprint exactly the old text, with the old punctuation; as if Wolsey, following 'that am, have, and will be' by a long parenthesis, had forgotten how he commenced his sentence. Something may have been lost, which would have completed the meaning and the instances have not been infrequent where lines, necessary to the sense, have been recovered from the quarto impressions. Here we have no quarto impressions to resort to, and the later folios afford us no assistance, as they reprint the passage as it stands in the folio 1628, excepting that the two latest end the parenthesis at 'break.'"
I cannot think that the poet would have put a short speech into Wolsey's mouth, making him forget how he commenced it! Nor do I believe that anything has been lost, except the slender letter I preceding am. The printer or transcriber made the easy mistake of taking the word true for haue, which as written of old would readily occur, and having thus confused the passage, had recourse to the unconscionable long mark of a parenthesis. The passage undoubtedly should stand thus:
Car. "I do profess
That for your highness' good I ever labour'd
More than mine own; that I am true, and will be
Though all the world should lack their duty to you,
And throw it from their soul: though perils did
Abound, as thick as thought could make them, and
Appear in forms more horrid; yet my duty
(As doth a rock against the chiding flood,)
Should the approach of this wild river break,
And stand unshaken yours."
Here all is congruous and clear. This slight correction of a palpable printer's error redeems a fine passage hitherto entirely unintelligible. I do not insist upon the correction in the fourth line of lack for crack, yet what can be meant by cracking a duty? The duke, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, speaks of his daughter as "lacking duty;" and seeing how very negligently the whole passage has been given in the folio, I think there is good ground for its reception. With regard to the correction in the second line, I feel confident, and doubt not that it will have the approbation of all who, like myself, feel assured that most of the difficulties in the text of our great poet are attributable to careless printer or transcriber.
When I proposed (Vol. vi., p. 468.) to read "rail at once," instead of "all at once," in As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 5., I thought the conjecture my own, having then only access to the editions of Mr. Collier and Mr. Knight; I consequently said, "It is somewhat singular that the passage should hitherto have passed unquestioned." My surprise was therefore great, on turning to the passage in the Variorum Shakspeare, to find the following note by Warburton, which had escaped my notice:
"If the speaker intended to accuse the person spoken to only for insulting and exulting, then, instead of 'all at once,' it ought to have been both at once. But, examining the crime of the person accused, we shall discover that the line is to be read thus:
'That you insult, exult, and rail at once,'
for these three things Phœbe was guilty of. But the Oxford editor improves it, and, for rail at once, reads domineer."
I have no recollection of having ever read the note before, and certainly was not conscious of it. The coincidence, therefore, may be considered (as Mr. Collier observed in respect to the reading of palpable for capable) as much in favour of this conjecture. {6}
That the most careful printers can misread, and consequently misprint, copy, is evident from the following error in my last Note:—Vol. vi., p. 584., col. 1, for "in the edition which I gave of the part," read "poet." This mistake, like most of those I have indicated in the first folio Shakspeare, might easily occur if the word was indistinctly written.
Mickleham.
As I find that the editor of Bacon's Essays for Bohn's Standard Library has not verified the quotations, I venture to send you a few "N. & Q." on them, which I hope to continue from time to time, if they prove acceptable. In compliance with the recommendation of Mr. Sydney Smirke and the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe (Vol. vi., p. 558.), I append my name and address.
N.B. The paging and notes of Bohn's edition are followed throughout.
Preface, p. xiii. note *. "Speech on the Impeachment of Warren Hastings." See Burke's Works, vol. viii. p. 15. [ed. 1827.] Speech on the first day of reply.
Ditto, p. xv. Letter to Father Fulgentio. See Montagu's Bacon, vol. xi. pref., p. vii.; vol. xii. p. 205.
Ditto, ditto. Spenser's Faery Queene, &c. See preface to Moxon's Spenser (1850), p. xxix., where this story is refuted, and Montagu, xvi., note x.
Ditto, p. xvi. "It was like another man's fair ground," &c. See Montagu, xvi. p. xxvii.
Ditto, ditto. "I shall die," &c. Ditto, xxxiv. and note ww.
Ditto, p. xvii. note †. Dugald Stewart. Supplement to Encycl. Brit., vol. i. p. 54. [ed. 1824.]
Ditto, ditto. Hatton, not Hutton, as in Eliza Cook's Journal, vi. 235.
Ditto, ditto. Love an ignoble passion. Essay x. ad init.
Ditto, p. xviii. "Says Macaulay." Review of B. Montagu's Bacon Essays, p. 355. [ed. 1851.]
Ditto, ditto. A pamphlet. Montagu, vi. 299.
Ditto, p. xix. "A place in the Canticles." Cap. ii. 1. Bacon quotes, from memory it would appear, from the Vulgate, which has "Ego flos campi." By whom is the observation? See, for the story, Montagu, xvi. p. xcviii.
Ditto, ditto. "Books were announced." What?
Ditto, p. xx. "Cæsar's compliment to Cicero." Where recorded?
Ditto, p. xxi. "The manufacture of particular articles of trade." Montagu, xvi. 306.
Ditto, p. xxii. "Says Macaulay." Ut supra, p. 407.
Ditto, ditto. Ben Jonson. See Underwood's, lxix. lxxviii. [pp. 711, 713. ed. Moxon, 1851.]
Ditto, p. xxv. Marcus Lucius. Who is here alluded to?
Ditto, p. xxvii. "Which strangely parodies." The opening alluded to is "Franciscus de Verulam sic cogitavit."
Ditto, p. xxviii. "One solitary line." Where is this to be found?
Ditto, ditto. "Ben Jonson after sketching." See Discoveries, p. 749. ut sup.
Ditto, p. xxix. "Might have censured with Hume." Where?
Ditto, ditto. "Hobbes." Where does he praise Bacon?
Ditto, ditto. "Bayle." In Bayle's Dictionary [English edition, 1710], s. v., we find but fourteen lines on Bacon.
Ditto, ditto. "Tacitus." Vit. Agric., cap. 44.
Ditto, p. xxxiii. note. Solomon's House. See p. 296. seqq. of the vol. of the Standard Library.
Ditto, p. xxxiv. note. Paterculus, i. 17. 6. [Burmann.]
(To be continued.)
26. Hill's Road, Cambridge.
I send you two copies of Latin verses which have not, to my knowledge, appeared in print. They are however interesting, from the coincidence of their both relating to elm-trees, and in some measure belonging to the "Story of Waterloo," about which we never can hear too much. The lines themselves possess considerable merit; and, as their authors were respectively distinguished alumni of Eton and Winchester, I hope to see both compositions placed in juxtaposition in the columns of "N. & Q."
The first of these productions was written by Marquis Wellesley, as an inscription for a chair carved from the Wellington Elm (which stood near the centre of the British lines on the field of Waterloo), and presented to his Majesty King George IV., to whom the lines were addressed:
Ampla inter spolia, et magni decora alta triumphi,
Ulmus erit fastis commemoranda tuis,
Quam super exoriens faustâ tibi gloria pennâ
Palmam oleamque uno detulit alma die;
Immortale decus maneat, famâque perenni
Felicique geras sceptra paterna manu;
Et tua victrices dum cingunt tempora lauri,
Materies solio digna sit ista tuo.
For the other verses subjoined, we are indebted to the late Rev. William Crowe, Fellow of New College, Oxford, and many years public orator in that university. It seems that he had planted an elm at his parsonage, on the birth of his son, afterwards killed at Waterloo, which sad event was {7}commemorated by his afflicted father in the following touching monody, affixed to the same tree:
Hanc Ego quam felix annis melioribus Ulmum
Ipse manu sevi, tibi dilectissime Fili
Consecro in æternum, Gulielme vocabitur Arbos
Hæc tua, servabitque tuum per secula nomen.
Te generose Puer nil muneris hujus egentem
Te jam perfunctum vitæ bellique labore,
Adscripsit Deus, et cœlestibus intulit oris,
Me tamen afflictum, me consolabitur ægrum
Hoc tibi quod pono, quanquam leve pignus amoris,
Hic Ego de vitâ meditans, de sorte futurâ,
Sæpe tuam recolam formam, dulcemque loquelam,
Verbaque tam puro et sacrato fonte profecta,
Quam festiva quidem, et facili condita lepore.
At Te, qui nostris quicunque accesseris hospes
Sedibus, unum oro, mœsti reverere Parentis,
Nec tu sperne preces quas hâc super Arbore fundo.
Sit tibi non invisa, sit inviolata securi,
Et quantum natura sinet, crescat monumentum
Egregii Juvenis, qui sævo est Marte peremptus,
Fortiter ob patriam pugnando, sic tibi constans
Stet fortuna domûs, sit nulli obnoxia damno,
Nec videas unquam dilecti funera nati.
The letter which sir Henry Wotton addressed to Milton, on receiving the Maske presented at Ludlow-castle, appears to admit of an interpretation which has escaped the numerous editors of the works of Milton; and I resolve to put this novel conjecture on its trial in the critical court of facts and inferences held at No. 186. Fleet Street.
Sir Henry Wotton thus expresses himself on the circumstance which I conceive to have been misinterpreted:
"For the work itself [a dainty piece of entertainment, by Milton] I had viewed some good while before with singular delight, having received it from our common friend Mr. R. in the very close of the late R.'s Poems, printed at Oxford; whereunto [it] is added (as I now suppose) that the accessory might help out the principal, according to the art of stationers, and to leave the reader con la bocca dolce."—Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, 1672.
In the poems of Milton, as edited by himself in 1645, the date of this letter is "13th April, 1638;" and as the Poems of "Thomas Randolph, master of arts, and late fellow of Trinity colledge in Cambridge," were printed at Oxford in that year, in small quarto, it may be assumed that the gift of Mr. R. was a copy of that volume, with the addition of the Maske, as printed in the same size in 1637. Such was the conclusion of Warton, and such is mine. The question at issue is, Who was Mr. R.? Warton says, "I believe Mr. R. to be John Rouse," the keeper of the Bodleian library. Is it not more probable that Mr. R. means Robert Randolph, master of arts, and student of Christchurch—a younger brother of Thomas Randolph, and the editor of his poems?
I must first dispose of the assertion that the friendship between Rouse and Milton "appears to have subsisted in 1637." There is no evidence of their friendship till 1647; and that evidence is the ode to Rouse, to which this address is prefixed: "Jan. 23. 1646. Ad Joannem Rousium, Oxoniensis academiæ bibliothecarium. De libro poematum amisso, quem ille sibi denuo mitti postulabat, ut cum aliis nostris in bibliotheca publica reponeret, ode." It seems that Milton did not send the volume of 1645 till a copy of it had been requested; no evidence, certainly, of old friendship! I admit the probability that Wotton and Rouse were friends; but why should Rouse officiously stitch up, as Warton expresses it, the Mask of Milton with the Poems of Thomas Randolph, and present the volume to Wotton? Did he give away that which is still wanting in the Bodleian library?
Admit my novel conjecture, and all the difficulties vanish. Thomas Randolph, says Phillips, was "one of the most pregnant young wits of his time;" and Robert, who was also noted as a poet, could scarcely fail to offer the poems of his brother to so eminent a person as sir Henry Wotton. As sir Henry yearly went to Oxford, he may have made acquaintance with Robert; and Robert may have been introduced to Milton by Thomas, who was for eight years his cotemporary at Cambridge, and in the enjoyment of much more celebrity. The Maske may have been added as an experiment in criticism.
The rev. Thomas Warton was a man of extensive reading, an excellent critic, and a fascinating writer—but too often inattentive to accuracy of statement. He says that Randolph died the 17th March, 1634: Wood says he was buried the 17th March, 1634. He says it is so stated on his monument: the monument has no date. He says the Poems of Randolph contain 114 pages: the volume contains 368 pages! He says the Maske is a slight quarto of 30 pages only; it contains 40 pages! Is it not fit that such carelessness should be exposed?
Unlucky to sell eggs after Sunset.—The following paragraph is extracted from the Stamford Mercury of October 29, 1852:
"There exists a species of superstition in north Nottinghamshire against letting eggs go out of a house after sunset. The other day a person in want of some eggs called at a farm-house in East Markham, and inquired of the good woman of the house whether she had any eggs to sell, to which she replied that she had a few scores to dispose of. 'Then I'll take them home {8}with me in the cart,' was his answer; to which she somewhat indignantly replied, 'That you'll not; don't you know the sun has gone down? You are welcome to the eggs at a proper hour of the day; but I would not let them go out of the house after the sun is set on any consideration whatever!'"
Old Song.—
My father gave me an acre of land,
Sing ivy, sing ivy.
My father gave me an acre of land,
Sing green bush, holly, and ivy.
I plough'd it with a ram's horn,
Sing ivy, &c.
I harrow'd it with a bramble,
Sing ivy, &c.
I sow'd it with a peppercorn,
Sing ivy, &c.
I reap'd it with my penknife,
Sing ivy, &c.
I carried it to the mill upon the cat's back,
Sing ivy, &c.
Then follows some more which I forget, but I think it ends thus:
I made a cake for all the king's men,
Sing ivy, sing ivy.
I made a cake for all the king's men,
Sing green bush, holly, and ivy.
Nursery Tale.— I saddled my sow with a sieve full of buttermilk, put my foot into the stirrup, and leaped nine miles beyond the moon into the land of temperance, where there was nothing but hammers and hatchets and candlesticks, and there lay bleeding Old Noles. I let him lie, and sent for Old Hippernoles, and asked him if he could grind green steel nine times finer than wheat flour. He said he could not. Gregory's wife was up in the pear-tree gathering nine corns of buttered peas to pay Saint James' rent. Saint James was in the meadow mowing oat cakes; he heard a noise, hung his scythe at his heels, stumbled at the battledore, tumbled over the barn-door ridge, and broke his shins against a bag of moonshine that stood behind the stairsfoot door, and if that isn't true you know as well as I.
Legend of Change.—In one of the Magazines for November, a legend, stated to be of oriental origin, is given, in which an immortal, visiting at distant intervals the same spot, finds it occupied by a city, an ocean, a forest, and a city again: the mortals whom he found there, on each occasion, believing that the present state had existed for ever. I have seen in the newspapers, at different times, a poem (or I rather think two poems) founded on this legend; and I should like to know the author or authors, and whether it, or either of them, is to be found in any collection of poems.
"Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousell'd, disappointed, unaneld'd."
Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 5.
Boucher, in his Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words (art. Anyeal), has a note on this passage which seems to me to give so much better an idea of the word disappointed than any I have met with, that I am induced to send it you as a Note:—
"The last two words have occasioned considerable difficulty to the critics. The old copies, it is said, concur in giving disappointed, which Dr. Johnson is willing to understand as meaning unprepared; a sense that might very well suit the context, but will not be easily confirmed by any other instance of the use of the word disappointed. Dissatisfied, therefore, with this interpretation, some have read unanointed, and some unappointed. Not approving of either of these words, as connected with unanealed, Pope, no timid corrector of texts, reads unaneld, which he supposes to signify unknelled, or the having no knell rung. To these emendations and interpretations Mr. Theobald, whose merit as a commentator of Shakspeare Mr. Pope, with all his wit and all his poetry, could not bring into dispute, urged many strong objections. Skinner rightly explains anealed as meaning unctus; from the Teutonic preposition an, and ele, oil. As correction of the second word is admitted by all the commentators to be necessary, it is suggested that a clear and consistent meaning, consonant with Shakspeare's manner, will be given to the passage, if, instead of disappointed, unassoiled, which signifies 'without absolution,' be substituted.
"The line—
'Unhousell'd, unassoil'd, unaneal'd,'
will then signify 'without receiving the sacrament: without confession and absolution: and without extreme unction.'
"The unassoiled was no less proper, will appear from due attention to the word assoile, which of course is derived from absolvo; and the transition from absolve into assoyle is demonstrated in the following passage from Piers Plowman, Vision, p. 3.:
'There preached a pardoner, as he a priest were,
Brought forth a bul, with many a bishop's seales,
And saide, that himself might absoyle hem alle,
Of falshode, of fasting, and of vowes broken.'
As a further confirmation of the propriety of substituting a word signifying absolution, which pre-supposes confession, the following sentence from Prince Arthur may be adduced: 'She was confessed and houselled, and then she died,' part ii. p. 108.
"It must be allowed that no instance can be given of the word unassoiled: but neither does any other instance occur to me of the word unhouseled except the line in Hamlet."
The recent observations of your correspondent Mr. Noake (Vol. vi., p. 531.) on the superstitions of the people of Worcestershire regarding the weather, have called my attention to the present extraordinary wet season, on which subject I have been asked many questions. Although I do not account myself any more weatherwise than my neighbours, yet I may note that, for many years past, I have remarked that whenever we have had any very serious volcanic disturbance in the Mediterranean or its neighbourhood, or at Mount Hecla, we have always had some corresponding atmospheric agitation in this country, either in excessive heat or moisture, or both, and accompanied with very perceptible vibrations, at times so strong as to answer the name of earthquakes; and these vibrating so generally in the direction from north-west to south-east, I have been convinced that underneath us there is a regular steam passage from Mount Hecla in Iceland to Mount Vesuvius in Italy. I have unfortunately mislaid my memoranda on this subject, and have no regular roster of these occasional visitations to refer to, but I think my attention to this effect was first impressed on me by the season which followed the destruction at Lisbon in 1796. I recollect a friend of mine, the late Mr. Empson, of Bouley, while attending some drainage improvements in his carrs within the Level of Ancholme, was aroused by an extraordinary noise, which he thought was occasioned by some "drunken fools," as he called them, racing with their waggons upon the turnpike road above the hill, which was two miles off from where he then was in the carrs. His uphill shepherd, however, told him, when he got home, that there had been no such occurrence as he supposed on the turnpike, as, had such been the case, he must have heard and seen it. The next day, however, added fresh information, and better observers discovered that the noise heard across the carrs was underground; and further intelligence confirmed the suspicion that it was occasioned by a species of earthquake that had been felt at different places with different intensities, through Yorkshire and Lancashire, and amongst the islands west of Scotland; and afterwards came the same kind of intelligence across France, confirming me in my conclusions before noted. And ever since this period of 1796 we have never had any extraordinary alternation of extreme heat or wet, without its being to me the result of some accompanying volcanic agitation in Mount Hecla, or Mount Vesuvius or its neighbourhood; and the recurrence of the violent ebullition that has this year being going on at Mount Etna may therefore be considered as the electric cause not only of the extraordinary heat of our late summer, but also of the floods that have subsequently poured down upon us. It is only of late years that scientific men have paid due attention to these physical phenomena. Sir Humphrey Davy, I think, was the first who laid down their causes; and if we recollect the account given by Sir Stamford Raffles of the appalling effects of the tremendous explosion of Tombora, in Sambowa, one of the islands east of Java, in the year 1815, described as so violent in its immediate neighbourhood as to cause men, and horses, and trees to be taken up into the air like chaff; and of its effects being perceptible in Sumatra, where, nearly at a thousand miles distance from it, they heard its thundering noisy explosions,—thinking of this, we may well accede the comparatively small vibrations that we occasionally feel, as arising from the interchange of civilities passing between our volcanic neighbours Hecla and Vesuvius, or Etna; and glad we may be that we have them in no more inconvenient shape or degree than we have hitherto experienced them. I have some friends in Lancashire who have been a good deal alarmed by the vibrations they have lately experienced; and I must confess that my good wife and myself were, on the morning of the 10th Dec., not a little startled in our bed by a shock that aroused us early to inquire after the cause of it, but for which we cannot account otherwise than that, from its sudden electric character, the Lancashire vibration had reached us. The chief purport, however, of my present communication is, to make inquiry amongst your readers, whether any of them, like myself, have observed and experienced any recurrence of these concomitant and physical obtrusions.
Barton upon Humber.
Value of MSS.—In the cause of Calvert v. Sebright, a question arose as to the sale of a collection of manuscript books by the late Sir John Sebright in the year 1807. In aid of the inquiry before the Master, as to the difference in value of the manuscripts in 1807 and the year 1849, Mr. Rodd made an affidavit, from which I have made the following extract, showing the prices at which five lots were sold in 1807, and the prices at which the same lots were sold at the late Mr. Heber's sale in 1836:
"No. in Catalogue, 1185. Bracton de (Hen.) Consuetudinibus et Legibus Anglicæ. (In pergamena) literis deauratis. Sold in 1807 for 1l. 13s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 6l. 6s.
"Lot 1190. Gul. Malmesburiensis de Gestis Regum Anglorum. (In pergamena.) Sold in 1807 for 1l. 7s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 63l.
"Lot 1195. Chronica Gulielmi Thorn. (In membranis.) Sold in 1807 for 12s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 85l.
"Lot 1198. Henrici Archid. Huntindoniensis de Gestis Anglorum et Gyr. Cambriensis expugnatio Hiberniæ. (In pergamena.) Sold in 1807 for 2l. 1s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 78l. 15s. 6d.
"Lot 1206. Chronica Matt. Parisensis sine Historia Minor cum vitâ authoris, per Doctissimum Virum Rog. Twysden Bar. (In papyro.) Sold in 1807 for 2l. 8s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 5l. 15s. 6d. Total produce in 1807, 8l. 1s.: in 1836, 238l. 17s."
In the catalogue of Heber's books, &c., Nos. 447. 1006. 498. 118. and 1016. correspond with the Nos. 1185. 1190. 1195. 1198. 1206.
Robert Hill.—I possess a Latin Bible which formerly belonged to this person, and contains many MS. notes in his handwriting. The following is by another hand:
"This book formerly belonged to Mr. Robert Hill, a taylor of Buckingham, and an acquaintance of my cousin John Herbert, surgeon of that town. J. L."
"In literature we find of this profession (i. e. that of a taylor) John Speed, a native of Cheshire, whose merit as an historian and antiquary are indisputable—to whom may be added the name of a man who in literature ought to have taken the lead, we mean John Stow. Benjamin Robins, the compiler of Lord Anson's Voyage, who united the powers of the sword and the pen, was professionally a taylor of Bath; as was Robert Hill of Buckingham, who, in the midst of poverty and distress, while obliged to labour at his trade for the support of a large family, acquired a knowledge of the Hebrew, and other languages, such as has only been equalled by Magliabecchi, who studied in a cradle curtained by cobwebs and colonised by spiders."—See "Vestiges Revived," No. XX. European Mag. for Mar. 1813.
The above choice note is, I presume, an extract from the Europ. Mag., and may serve to show that although ordinarily it takes "nine tailors to make a man," it may occasionally require nine men to make such a tailor as R. Hill seems to have been.
English Orthography.—The agricultural newspapers and magazines in the United States have generally restored the spelling of plow in place of plough, which has crept in since the translation of the Bible into English.
Could not cloke, the old spelling, be also restored, in place of cloak, which has nothing but oak to keep it in countenance; whilst cloke is in analogy with smoke, poke, broke, &c.?
There are two English words, in pronouncing which not a single letter of them is sounded; namely ewe (yo!) and aye (I!)
Philadelphia.
Bookselling in Glasgow in 1735.—The following curious report of a law case appears in Morison's Dictionary of the Decisions of the Court of Session, p. 9455. It appears from it that, so late as 1735, the city of Glasgow, now containing a population of nearly 400,000, was considered too limited a sphere for the support of only two booksellers.
"1735, January 15. Stalker against Carmichael. Carmichael and Stalker entered into a co-partnery of bookselling within the City of Glasgow, to continue for three years; and because the place was judged too narrow for two booksellers at a time, it was stipulated that after the expiry of three years, either of them refusing to enter into a new contract upon the former terms, should be debarred from any concern in bookselling within the city of Glasgow. In a reduction of the contract, the Lords found the debarring clause in the contract is a lawful practice, and not contrary to the liberty of the subject."
Edinburgh.
Epitaph on a Sexton.—Epitaph on a sexton, who received a great blow by the clapper of a bell:
"Here lyeth the body of honest John Capper,
Who lived by the bell, and died by the clapper."
Answer to the foregoing:
"I am not dead indeed, but have good hope,
To live by the bell when you die by the rope."
With the siege of Calais, and its surrender to Edward III. in 1347, is associated the name of Eustache de St. Pierre, whose loyalty and devotedness have been immortalised by the historian, and commemorated by the artist's pencil. The subject of Queen Philippa's intercessions on behalf of Eustache and his brave companions is, no doubt, familiar to most of your readers: the stern demeanour of the king; the tears and supplicating attitude of the Queen Philippa; and the humiliating position of the burgesses of Calais, &c. But what if Eustache de St. Pierre had been bought over by King Edward? For without going the length of pronouncing the scenes of the worthy citizens, with halters round their necks, to have been a "got up" affair, there is, however, some reason to doubt whether the boasted loyalty of Eustache de St. Pierre was such as is represented, as will appear from the following notes. And however much the statements therein contained may detract from the cherished popular notions regarding Eustache de St. Pierre, yet the seeker after truth is inexorable, or, to use the words of Sir Francis Palgrave (Hist. of Norm. and Eng., i. 354.), he is expected "to uncramp or shatter the pedestals supporting the idols which have won the false worship of the multitude; so that they may nod in their niches, or topple down."
In one of the volumes forming part of that valuable collection published by the French {11}government,and commenced, I believe, under the auspices of M. Guizot, namely, the Documens inédits sur l'Histoire de France, the following passage attracted my notice:
"Il (M. de Bréquigny) a prouvé par des titres authentiques et inconnus jusqu'à présent, qu'Eustache de St. Pierre, dont on a si fort vanté le dévouement pour les habitans de Calais, fut séduit par Edouard, et qu'il reçut de ce prince des pensions et des possessions fort peu de temps après la prise de cette place, aux conditions d'y maintenir le bon ordre, et de la conserver à l'Angleterre."—See Lettres de Rois, &c., vol. i. Preface, p. cix.
The above statement is founded on a memoir read before the Académie des Belles-Lettres by M. de Bréquigny, respecting the researches made by him in London (see Mém. de l'Acad. des Belles-Lettres, tom. xxxvii.).
Lingard throws a doubt over the matter. He says:
"Froissart has dramatised this incident with considerable effect; but, I fear, with little attention to truth.... Even in Froissart there is nothing to prove that Edward designed to put these men to death. On the contrary, he takes notice that the King's refusal of mercy was accompanied with a wink to his attendants, which, if it meant anything, must have meant that he was not acting seriously."—Lingard, 3rd edit. 1825, vol. iv. p. 79., note 85.
Again, in Hume:
"The story of the six burgesses of Calais, like all extraordinary stories, is somewhat to be suspected; and so much the more, as Avesbury, who is particular in his narrative of the surrender of Calais, says nothing of it, and, on the contrary, extols in general the King's generosity and lenity to the inhabitants."—Hume, 8vo. 1807, vol. ii., note H.
Both Hume and Lingard mention that Edward expelled the natives of Calais, and repeopled the place with Englishmen; but they say nothing as to Eustache de St. Pierre becoming a pensioner of the King's "aux conditions d'y maintenir le bon ordre, et de la conserver à l'Angleterre."
Châteaubriand (Etudes Hist., 1831, 8vo., tome iv. p. 104.) gives Froissart's narrative, by which he abides, at the same time complaining of the "esprit de dénigrement" which he says prevailed towards the end of the last century in regard to heroic actions.
Regarding Queen Philippa's share in the transaction above referred to, M. de Bréquigny says:
"La reine, qu'on suppose avoir été si touchée du malheur des six bourgeois dont elle venait de sauver la vie, ne laissa pas d'obtenir, peu de jours après, la confiscation des maisons que Jean d'Acre, l'un d'eux, avait possédées dans Calais."
Miss Strickland (Lives of Queens, 1st edit., vol. ii. p. 336.) likewise gives the story as related by Froissart, but mentions the fact of Queen Philippa taking possession of Jean d'Acre's property, and the doubt cast upon Eustache's loyalty; but she would appear to justify him by reason of King Philip's abandoning the brave Calaisiens to their fate. However this may be, documents exist proving that the inhabitants of Calais were indemnified for their losses: and whether or not the family of Eustache de St. Pierre approved his conduct, so much is certain, that, on the death of the latter, the property which had been granted to him by King Edward was confiscated, because they would not acknowledge their allegiance to the English.
I wish to ask whether this new light thrown on the subject, through M. de Bréquigny's labours, has been hitherto noticed, for it would appear the story should be re-written.
I will put the following case as briefly as I can.
Throughout the mediæval ages, the word devise formed the generic term for every species of emblazonment. Thus we have "Devises Heroiques, per Claude Paradin, Lyons, 1557;" "Devises et Emblems d'Amour moralisés, par Flamen;" "The Paradise of Dainty Devices, 1576;" "Minerva Britannica, or a Garden of Heroical Devices furnished and adorned with Emblems and Impressa's of Sundry Natives, newly devised, moralised, and published by Henry Peachum, 1612;" and lastly, Henry Estienne's "discourse of hieroglyphs, symbols, gryphs, emblems, enigmas, sentences, parables, reverses of medals, arms, blazons, cimiers, cyphers, and rebus," which learned discourse, be it observed, is entitled The Art of making Devises, 1646. As an additional proof that device included the motto, take the following:
"Henry III. commanded to be written by way of device in his chamber at Woodstock, 'Qui non dat quod amat non accipit ille quod optat;'"
quoted by Sir Eger. Brydges. Here I must stop, though I could add many illustrations; and go on to observe, that whereas all the explanations which I have ever met with, of the unique appellation of "Castrum Divisarum," or the castle of Devises, are totally un-historic, if not ridiculous, I crave the attention of all whom it may concern to a new solution of the difficulty.
First, then, in order to clear the way, I would observe, that if, as commonly stated, the name had signified a frontier fort, would it not have been called the castle of the division [singular] rather than the castle of the divided districts? In other words, why make it a plural term?
Secondly. If, as I surmise, the Italian word divisa bore at the time of the Conquest its present meaning of "device," in greater force than the {12}sense of divisions or partitions, is it unreasonable to suppose that Castrum Divisarum implied and constituted, at that early period, the deposit or fountain-head of the blazonry of the Norman leaders?
It was certainly not unsuited for such a species of heralds' college; being central, inland, a royal treasury, and the frequent scene of a court. When in the ensuing age re-edified by Bishop Roger, the monkish historians, without a dissentient voice, proclaimed it the most splendid castle in the realm; and though it may be objected that this observation belongs to a date not to our purpose, yet the pre-existence of the fortress is proved by its having been the temporary prison of Duke Robert. I am aware that such a notion as Devizes having formed the nucleus of the tree heraldic in England is not countenanced, nor even suspected, by any of the popular writers on the art. I may add, that one gentleman, holding an important position therein, has signified his disapproval of so early an origin being assigned to the institution. But over-against this, I beg to parade a passage from a letter written by Thomas Blore in 1806 to Sir Egerton Brydges:
"The heralds," says he, "seem originally not to have been instituted for the manufacturing of armorial ensigns, but for the recording those ensigns which had been borne."—Censura Literaria, vol. iii. p. 254.
My case is now stated. I shall be well content that some of your archæological friends should scatter it to the winds, provided they will explain how it is that Devizes, in common with some of the ancient cities of Egypt and Greece, has so long rejoiced in a plural name. To aid this last endeavour, I close with one more statement. The castle stood nearly midway between two other adjoining towns or villæ, also bearing plural names: Potternæ=arum [Posternæ?] and Kaningæ=arum.
P.S.—I think I may plead the privilege of a postscript for the purpose of recording (what may be taken as) an indication, though perhaps not a proof, that the idea of devices or contrivances was implied in the name so recently as the period of the civil war. The Mercurius Civicus, a parliamentary paper, 1644, states that Devizes was being garrisoned for the king, in the following terms:
"Hopton is fortifying amain at the Devises in Wiltshire, but I fear greater fortifyings for the Devices in Oxford."
Gold Signet Ring.—I possess an ancient gold signet ring, which was dug up a few years since not far from an old entrenchment in the borough of Leominster, in the county of Hereford, the device thereon being a cock; it is of very pure metal, and weighs 155 grains. It is in fine preservation: and device is rudely cut, but I beg to inclose an impression from which you may judge. Can any of your antiquarian readers throw any light on the subject to whom this device originally belonged?
In levelling the fortified entrenchment above referred to some half century ago, various utensils of pottery, burnt bones, spear and arrow heads, tesselated tiles, fragments of sculptured stones, and other relics of antiquity, were found.
Ecclesia Anglicana.—I observe, in an interesting letter published in the December Number of the Ecclesiologist, in an enumeration of Service Books belonging to the English Church before the Reformation, and now existing in the Pepysian Library, Cambridge, the following title:
"No. 1198. Servicium de omni Officio Episcopali consernenta (sic) chorum ... secundum usum Ecclesie Anglicane."
Now I am anxious to know from any of your readers, who are better informed on these subjects than I am, or who have access to old libraries, whether Ecclesia Anglicana is a usual designation of the Catholic Church in England before the Reformation.
Service Books according to the use of some particular cathedral church are of course well known, as in this same list to which I have referred we find "secundum usum insignis ecclesie Eboracensis," "ad insignis ecclesiæ Sarisburiensis usum," &c.: but I should be glad to learn, in these days of ultramontane pretensions, whether, even prior to the Reformation, the distinct nationality of the Anglican church was commonly asserted by the use of such a title in her Service Books. I need scarcely observe how many interesting cognate questions might be asked on this subject.
Tangiers.—English Army in 1684.—A merchant in 1709 deposed that he knew not how long complainant had been a soldier, or beyond the seas before May, 1697, but that he has heretofore seen and knew him at Tomger, before and at the time of the demolishing thereof, being then a soldier; and no doubt could prove that he was in England a considerable time next before May, 1697.
Could the place be other than Tangiers, destroyed in 1684?
Was complainant (a younger son of a well-connected family of gentry, but himself probably in poverty), who in deeds, and on his mon. tablet, is described as gent., likely to have been in 1684 (aged twenty-seven) a private, a non-commissioned, or commissioned officer?
If the latter, would he not have been so described?
Smith.—Of what family was —— Smith, confessor of Katherine of Braganza, buried in York Minster? and what are the arms on his tomb? Where can information be obtained as to a Judge Smith, supposed to have been of the same family?
Diss.
Termination "-itis."—What is the derivation of the termination "-itis," used principally in medical words, and these signifying inflammation, as Pleuritis, vulgo pleurisy, inflammation of the pleura, &c.?
Loak Hen.—In two or more parishes in Norfolk was a custom, or modus, of paying a loak hen in lieu of tythes of fowls and eggs. I shall feel obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me what constituted a loak hen?
Etymological Traces of the Social Position of our Ancestors.—I remember reading an account of the traces of the social position of our Saxon ancestors yet remaining in our English customs, which interested me much at the time, and which I would gladly again refer to, as, Captain Cuttle's invaluable maxim not being then extant, I neglected "making a note of it."
It described the Norman derivation of the names of all kinds of meat, as beef, mutton, veal, venison, &c.; while the corresponding animals still retained their original Saxon appellations, ox, sheep, calf, &c.: and it accounted for this by the fact, that while the animals were under the care of the Saxon thralls and herdsmen, they retained of course their Saxon names; but when served up at the tables of their Norman lords, it became necessary to name them afresh.
I think the word heronsewes (cf. Vol. iii., pp. 450. 207.; Vol. iv., p. 76.) is another example, which are called harnseys at this day in Norfolk; as it is difficult, on any other supposition, to account for an East-Anglian giving a French appellation to so common a bird as the heron.
Locke's Writings.—In an unpublished manuscript of Paley's Lectures on Locke's Essay, it is stated that so great was the antipathy against the writings of this eminent philosopher, at the time they were first issued, that they were "burnt at Oxford by the hands of the common hangman." Is this fact recorded in any Life of Locke; or how may it be ascertained? There is no notice of it, I believe, in either Law's Life, or in that of Lord King.
East Winch.
Passage in Göthe's "Faust."—Has the following passage from the second part of Faust ever been noticed in connexion with the fact that the clock in Göthe's chamber stopped at the moment that he himself expired? If it has not, I shall congratulate myself on having been the first to point out this very curious coincidence
"Mephistopheles. Die Zeit wird Herr, der Gries hier liegt im Sand,
Die Uhr steht still——
Chorus.Steht still! Sie schweigt wie Mitternacht
Der Zeiger fällt.
Mephistopheles. Er fällt, es ist vollbracht."
Faust, der Tragödie Zweiter Theil, Fünfter Act.
Schomberg's Epitaph by Swift.—A correspondent asks whether the epitaph alluded to in the following extract from the Daily Courant of July 17, 1731, is given in any edition of Swift's Works.
"The Latin Inscription, composed by the Rev. Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, and ordered by the Dean and Chapter to be fixed up in the Cathedral of the said Church, over the place where the body of the great Duke of Schomberg lies, has been with all possible care and elegance engraved on a beautiful table of black Kilkenny marble, about eight feet long and four or five broad; the letters are gilded, and the whole is now finished with the utmost neatness. People of all ranks are continually crowding to see it, and the Inscription is universally admired."
The Daily Gazetteer of Saturday, July 12, 1740, gives a detailed account of the rejoicings in Dublin on the Tuesday preceding, being the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, and a particular account of the bonfire made by Dean Swift in St. Kevin's Street, near the watch-house.
The Burial Service said by Heart.—Bishop Sprat (in his Discourse to his Clergy, 1695, for which see Clergyman's Instructor, 1827, p. 245.) relates that, immediately after the Restoration, a noted ringleader of schism in the former times was interred in one of the principal churches of London, and that the minister of the parish, being a wise and regular conformist, and afterwards an eminent bishop, delivered the whole Office of Burial by heart on that occasion. The friends of the deceased were greatly edified at first, but afterwards much surprised and confounded when they found that their fervent admiration had been bestowed on a portion of the Common Prayer. Southey (Common-Place Book, iii. 492.) conjectures that the minister was Bull. This cannot be, for Bull, I believe, never held a London cure. Was it Hackett? And who was the noted ringleader of schism?
Shaw's Staffordshire MSS.—Can any of your Staffordshire correspondents furnish information as to the present depository of the Rev. Stebbing Shaw's Staffordshire MSS., and the MS. notes of Dr. Thomas Harwood used in his two editions {14}of Erdeswick's Staffordshire? And can they refer to a pedigree of Thomas Wood, Esq., Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1501; who is said to have built Hall O'Wood, in Batterley, near Botley, Staffordshire.
"Ne'er to these chambers," &c.—
"Ne'er to these chambers where the mighty rest
Since their foundation, came a nobler guest,
Nor to th' immortal entrance e'er convey'd
A loftier spirit, or more welcome shade."
Where do these lines come from?
Swillington.
County History Societies.—I would suggest the idea whether County History Societies might not be formed with advantage, as there are so many counties which have never had their histories written. They are very expensive and laborious for individuals to undertake, and constantly require additions on account of the many changes which are taking place, to make them complete as works of reference for the present time: I think that by the means suggested they might be made very useful, particularly if complete statistical tables were annexed to the general and descriptive account. With comparatively little expense, the history and statistics of every county could be brought down to the latest date, making a valuable work of reference to which all could refer with confidence for the information which is constantly being sought for.
Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter.—Is any pedigree extant of the family of Hugh Oldham? Baines speaks of him (Hist. of Lanc., vol. ii. p. 579.) as "descended from an ancient family," born, "according to Wood and Godwin, at Manchester; but, according to Dodsworth, at Oldham."
What arms did he adopt?
The English Domestic Novel.—My first intention was to ask whether Defoe was the founder of this pleasing class of literature, but have just recollected, that Mrs. Aphara Behn wrote something of the kind in the time of Charles II. My first question will be, therefore, who was the earliest writer of this description? And, secondly, is not the matter of sufficient interest to ask your readers' assistance in the formation of a list, giving full titles, authors' names, and dates extending to 1730 or 1750?
Dr. Young.—In the most authentic biographical accounts we leave of Dr. Young the poet, it is stated that he left in the hands of his housekeeper a collection of manuscript sermons, with an injunction that after his death they should be destroyed; it is also added, that this request was only complied with in part. Can any of your correspondents confirm the hope that these sermons may still be in existence; and if so, in what quarter information may be obtained concerning them? The housekeeper is said to have been the widow of a clergyman, and therefore was not regarded by the Doctor in the light of a servant.
Cambridge.
Bishop Hall's Meditations.—I have an old copy before me, the title-page of which runs as follows:
"Occasionall Meditations by Jos. Exon. Set forth by R. H. The Third Edition: with the Addition of Forty-nine Meditations not heretofore published: London, printed by M. F. for Nathaniel Butter, 1633."
It is edited by Bishop Hall's son (Robert). I should be glad to learn whether this is a scarce edition.
Edgmond, Salop.
Chatterton.—Dr. Gregory, in his Life of Chatterton, p. 100. (reprinted by Southey in the first volume of his edition of Chatterton's Works, p. lxx.), says: "Chatterton, as appears by the coroner's inquest, swallowed arsenick in water, on the 24th of August, 1770, and died in consequence thereof the next day."
Mr. Barrett, the historian of Bristol, one of Chatterton's best friends and patrons, who, from his profession as a surgeon, was likely to have made, and seems to have made, inquiries as to the circumstances of his death, says, in his History of Bristol, not published before 1789, and therefore not misled by any false first report, that Chatterton's principles impelled him to become his own executioner. He took a large dose of opium, some of which was picked out from his teeth after his death, and he was found the next morning a most horrid spectacle: with limbs and features distorted as after convulsions, a frightful and ghastly corpse" (p. 647.). I do not know whether this contradiction has ever been noticed, and shall be obliged to any correspondent who can give me information. I believe that Sir Herbert Croft's Love and Madness was the authority followed by Dr. Gregory, but I have not the book.
Passage in Job.—The wonderful and sublime book of Job, authenticated by subsequent Divine records, and about 3400 years old, is very probably the most ancient writing in the world: and though life and immortality were especially reserved as the glorious gift and revelation of our Blessed Redeemer, the eternal Author and Finisher of our salvation, yet Job was permitted to declare his deep conviction, that he should rise from the dead and see God. This memorable declaration (chap. xix. ver. 25.) can be forgotten by none of your readers; but some of them may not know that the Septuagint adds these words of life to chap. xlii. ver. 17.:"γέγραπται δε, ἀυτόν πάλιν ἀναστήσεσθαι μεθ' ὧν ὁ Κύριος ἀνίστησιν[2]."—(But it is written that {15}he shall rise again with those whom the Lord raiseth up.)
Our authorised and truly admirable translation of the Holy Scriptures omits this deeply important conclusion of Job's life, so properly noticed by the learned and excellent Parkhurst.
Pray, can you or any of your readers explain the cause of this omission? As your pages have not been silent on the grand consummation which cannot be too constantly before us, I do not apologise for this very short addition to your Notes.
Southsea, Hants.
This passage was originally printed "γέγραπται, σεαυτόν ...". It was corrected by an erratum in next issue—Transcriber.
Turner's View of Lambeth Palace.—In a newspaper memoir of the late Mr. Turner, R.A., published shortly after his death, it was stated that the first work exhibited by him at Somerset House was a "View of Lambeth Palace," I believe in water colours. I should be glad to ascertain, through your columns, if this picture be still in existence, and in what collection.
Clarke's Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning.—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." assist me in obtaining a copy of this work? In the same author's Rationale of Circulating Numbers (Murray, London, 1778) it is stated that the demonstrations of all the theorems and problems at the end of the Rev. John Lawson's Dissertation on the Geometrical Analysis of the Ancients "will be given at the latter end of An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning, which will soon be published." In a subsequent portion of the work, a sketch of the contents of the Essay is given, which include "a Treatise on Magic Squares, translated from the French of Frenicle, as published in Les Ouvrages de Mathématique par Messieurs de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, with several Additions and Remarks." And in a list of "Tracts and Translations written and published by H. Clarke, LL.D.," which occurs at the end of my copy of the first volume of Leybourn's Mathematical Repository (London, 1805), the Essay appears as No. 10, and is stated to have been published in 8vo. at six shillings. None of my friends are acquainted with the work; but if the preceding description will enable any reader to help me to a copy, I shall esteem it a great favour.
Burnley, Lancashire.
"The General Pardon."—An imperfect copy of a small tract (measuring five and a half inches by three and a half inches) has recently come into my hands, of which I much desire to obtain the wanting parts. It is entitled:
"The general Pardon, geuen longe agone, and sythe newly confyrmed, by our Almightie Father, with many large Priuileges, Grauntes, and Bulles graunted for euer, as is to be seen hereafter: Drawne out of Frenche into English. By Wyllyam Hayward. Imprinted at London, by Wyllyam How, for Wyllyam Pickeringe."
There is no date, but it is believed to have been printed in or about 1571. It is in black letter, and is an imitation of the Roman Catholic pardons. It consists of twelve leaves. In my copy the last seven of these are torn through their middle vertically.
I have not been able to meet with this tract in the catalogues of any of the great libraries which I have consulted; e.g. The British Museum, Bodleian, Cambridge University, Lambeth, and several of the college libraries at Cambridge.
I want any information concerning it, or its original in French, which the readers of "N. & Q." can give: also access to a copy from which to transcribe the parts wanting in mine.
St. John's Coll. Cambridge.
Edward the Confessor's Rings.—There is an old legend of a ring given to one of our early kings, I think Edward the Confessor, by some saintly or angelic messenger. If any of your readers could give me any of the details of this story, it would very much oblige your constant reader
[The following extract from Taylor's Glory of Regality, pp. 74. et seq., will give our Correspondent the legend referred to.
"The ring with which our kings are invested, called by some writers 'the wedding ring of England,' is illustrated, like the Ampulla, by a miraculous history, of which the following are the leading particulars: from the 'Golden Legende' (Julyan Notary, 1503), p. 187.:—'Edward the Confessor being one day askt for alms by a certain 'fayre olde man,' the king found nothing to give him except his ring, with which the poor man thankfully departed. Some time after, two English pilgrims in the Holy Land having lost their road, as they travelled at the close of the day, 'there came to them a fayre auncyent man wyth whyte heer for age.' Then the old man axed them what they were and of what regyon. And they answerde that they were Pylgryms of Englond, and hadde lost their felyshyp and way also. Then this old man comforted theym goodly, and brought theym into a fayre cytee; and whan they had well refresshyd them, and rested theym alle nyght; on the morne, this fayre olde man wente with theym and brought theym in the ryght waye agayne. And he was gladde to hear theym talke of the welfare and holynesse of theyr Kynge Saynt Edward. And whan he shold departe fro theym thenne he told theym what he was, and sayd I am Johan Theuangelyst, and saye ye unto Edward your king, that I grete hym well by the token that he gaaf to me thys rynge with his one hondes, whych rynge ye shalle {16}delyuer to hym agayne: and whan he had delyuerde to theym the ringe, he departed from theym sodenly.'
"This command, as may be supposed, was punctually obeyed by the messengers, who were furnisht with ample powers for authenticating their mission. The ring was received by the Royal Confessor, and in after times was preserved with due care at his shrine in the Abbey of Westminster."]
The Bourbons.—What was the origin of the Bourbon family? How did Henry IV. come to be the next heir to the throne on the extinction of the line of Valois?
[Henri IV., King of Navarre, succeeded to the throne on the extinction of the house of Valois, as the head of the house of Bourbon, which descends from Robert of France, Count de Clermont, the fifth son of St. Louis, and Seigneur de Bourbon. On the death of Louis I. in 1341, leaving two sons, this house was divided into the Bourbon, or elder branch (which became extinct on the death of the Constable of Bourbon, in 1527), and the younger branch, or that of the Counts de la Marche, afterwards Counts and Dukes of Vendome. Henri was the son of Antoine de Bourbon, Duc de Vendome.]
(Vol. vi., p. 460.)
The Query confirms Professor De Morgan's excellent article in The Companion to the Almanack for 1853, "On the Difficulty of correct Description of Books." The manuscript note cited by H. J., though curiously inaccurate, guided me to the book for which he inquires. I copy the title-page: "Die Betrübte Pegnesis, den Leben, Kunst, und Tugend-Wandel des Seelig-Edeln Floridans, H. Sigm. von Birken, Com. Pal. Cæs. durch 24 Sinnbilder in Kupfern, zur schuldigen nach-Ehre fürstellend, und mit Gesprach und Reim-Gedichten erklärend, durch ihre Blumen-Hirten. Nürnberg, 1684, 12mo." I presume the annotator, not understanding German, and seeing "Floridans" the most conspicuous word on the title-page, cited him as the author; but it is the pastoral academic name of the late Herr Sigmond von Birken, in whose honour the work is composed. The emblem, with the motto "Bis fracta relinquor," at p. 249. (not 240.), is a tree from which two boughs are broken. It illustrates the death of Floridan's second wife, and his determination not to take a third. The chess-board, plate xiv. p. 202., has the motto, "Per tot discrimina rerum," and commemorates Floridan's safe return to Nuremberg after the multitudinous perils ("die Schaaren der Gefahren") of a journey through Lower Saxony. They must have been great, if typified by the state of the board, on which only a black king and a white bishop are left—a chess problem!
I bought my copy at a book-sale many years ago, and, after reading a few pages, laid it aside as insufferably dull, although it was marked by its former possessor, the Rev. Henry White, of Lichfield, "Very rare, probably unique." On taking it up to answer H. J.'s Query, I found some matter relating to the German academies of the seventeenth century, which I think may be interesting.
Mr. Hallam (Literature of Europe, IV. v. 9.) says:
"The Arcadians determined to assume every one a pastoral name and a Greek birthplace; to hold their meetings in some verdant meadow, and to mingle with all their own compositions, as far as possible, images from pastoral life; images always agreeable, because they recall the times of primitive innocence. The poetical tribe adopted as their device the pipe of seven reeds bound with laurel, and their president, or director, was denominated General Shepherd or Keeper—Custode Generale."
He slightly mentions the German academics of the sixteenth century (III. ix. 30.), and says:
"It is probable that religious animosities stood in the way of such institutions, or they may have flourished without obtaining much celebrity."
The academy of Pegnitz-shepherds ("Pegnitzshäfer-orden") took its name from the little river Pegnitz which runs through Nuremberg. Herr Sigmond von Birken was elected a member in 1645. He chose Floridan as his pastoral name, and the amaranth as his flower. In 1658 he was admitted to the Palm Academy ("Palmen-orden"), choosing the name Der Erwacsene (the adult?), and the snowdrop. In 1659, a vacancy having occurred in the Pegnitz-Herdsmen ("Pegnitz-Hirten") he was thought worthy to fill it, and in 1679 he received the diploma of the Venetian order of the Recuperati. He died in 1681. This, and what can be hung upon it, is Die Betrübte Pegnitz, a dialogue of 406 pages. It opens with a meeting of shepherds and shepherdesses, who go in and out of their cottages on the banks of the Pegnitz, and tell one another, what all seem equally well acquainted with, the entire life of their deceased friend. It would not be easy to find a work more clumsy in conception and tasteless in execution. Herr von Birken seems to have been a prosperous man, and to have enjoyed a high pastoral reputation. His works are enumerated, but the catalogue looks ephemeral. There is, however, one with a promising title: Die Trockene Trunkenheit, oder die Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Tabacks. His portrait, as "Der Erwachsene," is prefixed. It has not a shepherd-like look. He seems about fifty, with a fat face, laced cravat, and large flowing wig. There are twenty-four emblematical plates, rather below the average of their time.
As so secondary a town as Nuremberg had at least three academies, we may infer that such {17}institutions were abundant in Germany, in the seventeenth century: that of the Pegnitz shepherds lasted at least till the beginning of the eighteenth. In Der Thörichte Pritschmeister, a comedy printed at Coblenz, 1704, one of the characters is "Phantasirende, ein Pegnitz Schäffer," who talks fustian and is made ridiculous throughout. The comedy is "von Menantes." I have another work by the same author: Galante, Verliebte, und Satyrische Gedichte, Hamburg, 1704. I shall be very glad to be told who he was, as his versification is often very good, and his jokes, though not graceful, and not very laughable, are real.
U. U. Club.
(Vol. vi., pp. 485. 561.)
The popular error on the legal effect of marriage en chemise is, I think, noticed among other vulgar errors in law in a little book published some twenty years ago under the name of Westminster Hall, to which a deceased lawyer of eminence, then young at the bar, was a contributor. I believe the opinion to be still extensively prevalent, and to be probably founded, not exactly in total ignorance, but in a misconception, of the law. The text writers inform us that "the husband is liable for the wife's debts, because he acquires an absolute interest in the personal estate of the wife," &c. (Bacon's Abridgment, tit. "Baron and Feme.") Now an unlearned person, who hears this doctrine, might reasonably conclude, that if his bride has no estate at all, he will incur no liability; and the future husband, more prudent than refined, might think it as well to notify to his neighbours, by an unequivocal symbol, that he took no pecuniary benefit with his wife, and therefore expected to be free from her pecuniary burdens. In this, as in most other popular errors, there is found a substratum of reason.
With regard to the other vulgar error, noticed at the foot of Mr. Brooks' communication (p. 561.), that "all children under the girdle at the time of marriage are legitimate," the origin of it is more obvious. Every one knows of the "legitimatio per subsequens matrimonium" of the canonists, and how the barons assembled in parliament at Merton refused to engraft this law of the Church on the jurisprudence of England. But it is not perhaps so well known that, upon such a marriage the premature offspring of the bride and bridegroom sometimes used to perform a part in the ceremony, and received the nuptial benediction under the veil or mantle of the bride or the pallium of the altar. Hence the children so legitimated are said to have been called by the Germans Mantelkinder. The learning on this head is to be found in Hommel's Jurisprudentia Numismatibus Illustrata (Lipsiæ, 1763), pp. 214-218., where the reader will also find a pictorial illustration of the ceremony from a codex of the Novellæ in the library of Christian Schwarz. The practice seems to have been borrowed from the form of adopting children, noticed in the same work and in Ducange, verb. "Pallium, Pallio cooperire;" and in Grimm's Deut. Rechts Alterth., p. 465.
Let me add a word on the famous negative given to the demand of the clergy at Merton. No reason was assigned, or, at least, has been recorded, but a general unwillingness to change the laws of England. As the same barons did in fact consent to change them in other particulars, this can hardly have been the reason. Sir W. Blackstone speaks of the consequent uncertainty of heirship and discouragement of matrimony as among the causes of rejection,—arguments of very questionable weight. Others (as Bishop Hurd, in his Dialogues) have attributed the rejection to the constitutional repugnance of the barons to the general principles of the canon and imperial law, which the proposed change might have tended to introduce,—a degree of forethought and a range of political vision for which I can hardly give them credit, especially as the great legal authority of that day, Bracton, has borrowed the best part of his celebrated Treatise from the Corpus Juris. The most plausible motive which I have yet heard assigned for this famous parliamentary negative on the bishops' bill at Merton, is suggested (quod minimè reris!) in an Assistant Poor-Law Commissioner's Report (vol. vi. of the 8vo. printed series), viz. that bastardy multiplied the escheats which accrued to medieval lords of manors.
A venerable person whose mind is richly stored with "shreds and patches" of folk-lore and local antiquities, on seeing the "curious marriage entry" (p. 485.), has furnished me with the following explanation.
It is the popular belief at Kirton in Lindsey that if a woman, who has contracted debts previous to her marriage, leave her residence in a state of nudity, and go to that of her future husband, he the husband will not be liable for any such debts.
A case of this kind actually occurred in that highly civilised town within my informant's memory; the woman leaving her house from a bedroom window, and putting on some clothes as she stood on the top of the ladder by which she accomplished her descent.
In that amusing work, Burn's History of the Fleet Marriages, p. 77., occurs the following entry:—"The woman ran across Ludgate Hill in her shift;" to which the editor has added this note:—"The Daily Journal of 8th November, 1725, mentions a similar exhibition at Ulcomb in {18}Kent. It was a vulgar error that a man was not liable to the bride's debts, if he took her in no other apparel than her shift."
Saffron Walden.
(Vol. vi., pp. 435. 564.)
As Mr. Sparrow Simpson invites additions to his list from all quarters, I send him my contribution: and as I see that he has included translations of our Liturgy into other languages, I do the same:
1552. Worcester. Jo. Oswen. Folio.
1560. London. Jugge and Cawood. 4to.
1565. London. Jugge and Cawood. 8vo.
1607. London. Folio.
1629. London. Folio.
1629. Cambridge. Folio.
1632. London. 4to.
1633. London. 4to.
1634. London. Folio.
1635. London. 4to.
1638. Cambridge. 4to.
1639. London. Folio.
1641. London. 4to.
1660. Cambridge. Folio.
1644. The Scotch, by Laud and the Scotch bishops. Printed by John Jones. 8vo.
1551. Latine versa, per Alex. Absium. Lipsiæ. 4to.
1594. ""London. 8vo.
S. A."by Reginald Wolfe. London. 4to.
1638. In Greek. London. 8vo.
1616. In French. London. 4to.
1608. In Irish. Dublin. Folio.
1612. In Spanish. London. 4to.
1621. In Welsh. London. 4to.
All the foregoing editions are in the Bodleian Library. I may add to them the following three:
1.—1551. Dublin, by Humfrey Powell. Folio
2.—1617(?). Dublin. Company of Stationers. 4to
3.—1637. Dublin.
The first of these, which is the first book printed in Ireland, is extremely rare. I believe only two copies are certainly known to exist; one of which is in the library of Trinity College, Dublin; and the other in that of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Both are in very fine condition.
The second is in my possession. The book is quite perfect; but some wiseacre has carefully erased the date. The Almanac for xxvi Yeares tells nothing, being for the years 1603 to 1628. But the book contains a prayer for "Frederick, the Prince Elector Palatine, and the Lady Elizabeth, his wife, with their hopeful issue." He married the princess in 1613; and in 1619 he was elected King of Bohemia, and thenceforward would be prayed for under his higher title. If the Sunday letter in the calendar is to be trusted, the book was printed (according to De Morgan's Book of Almanacs) in 1617. The Dublin Society of Stationers was established in that year; and it is not unlikely that they commenced their issues with a Prayer-Book. I have never seen nor heard of another copy, with which I might compare mine, and thus ascertain its date.
The third, of 1637, is reported; but I have never met with it.
Thurles.
(Vol. vi., p. 578.)
The inquiry of your correspondent Ifigfowl respecting the etymology of the word pearl does not admit of a simple answer. The word occurs in all the modern languages, both Romance and Teutonic: perla, Ital. and Span.; perle, French and German, whence the English pearl. Adelung in v. believes the word to be of Teutonic origin, and considers it as the diminutive of beere, a berry. Others derive it from perna, the Latin name of a shell-fish (see Ducange in perlæ; Diez, Grammatik der Romanischen Sprachen, vol. i. p. 235.). Neither of these derivations is probable: it is not shown that beere had a diminutive form, and perna was a local and obscure name: see Pliny, N. H. xxxii. ad fin. Salmasius (Exercit. Plin., p. 40. ed. 1689) thinks that perla is formed from perula, for sperula, the diminutive of sphæra. A more probable origin is that the word is formed from the Latin pirum, as suggested by Diez, in allusion to the pear-shaped form of the pearl. Ducange in v. says that the extremity of the nose was called pirula nasi, from its resemblance to the form of a pear. But pirus was used to denote a boundary-stone, made in a pyramidal shape (Ducange in v.); and this seems to have been the origin of the singular expression pirula nasi, as being something at the extremity. Another supposition is, that the word perla is derived from the Latin perula, the diminutive of pera, a wallet. A wallet was a small bag hung round the neck; and the word perula, in the sense of a small bag, occurs in Seneca and Apuleius. The analogy of shape and mode of wearing is sufficiently close to suggest the transfer of the name. Perula and perulus are used in Low Latin in the sense of pearl. Ducange cites a passage from a hagiographer, where perula means the white of the eye, evidently alluding to the colour of the pearl.
The choice seems to lie between perula as the diminutive of pera or of pirum. Neither derivation is improbable. It is to be observed that the modern Italian form of pirum, the fruit of the pear, is pera; the modern feminine noun being, as in numerous other cases, formed from the plural of the Latin neuter noun (see Diez, ib. vol. ii. p. 19.). The analogy of unio (to which I shall {19}advert presently) supports the derivation from the fruit; the derivation from pera, a wallet, is, on merely linguistical grounds, preferable.
The Greek name of pearl is μαργαρίτης, originally applied to a precious stone, and apparently moulded out of some oriental name, into a form suited to the Greek pronunciation. Scott and Liddell in v. derive it from the Persian murwari. Pliny, H. N. ix. 56., speaking of the pearl, says: "Apud Græcos non est, ne apud barbaros quidem inventores ejus, aliud quam margaritæ." The Greek name Margarita was used by the Romans, but the proper Latin name for the pearl was unio. Pliny (ibid.) explains this word by saying that each pearl is unique, and unlike every other pearl. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxiii. ad fin.) thinks that pearls were called uniones, because the best were found single in the shell; Solinus (c. 53.) because they were always found single. The more homely explanation of Salmasius seems, however, to be the true one; namely, that the common word for an onion, growing in a single bulb, was transferred to the pearl (Exercit. Plin., pp. 822-4.; Columella de R. R. xii. 10.). The ancient meaning of unio is still preserved in the French ognon.
Your correspondent asks the "etymon of our English word pearl." It would not be uninteresting to learn, at the same time, at what period pearl came into general use as an English word? Burton, who wrote his Anatomy in the reign of James I., uses the word union (from the Latin unio) instead of pearl (Anat. Melanc., vol. ii. part 2. sec. 3. mem. 3., and ib., p. 2. sec. 4. mem. 1. subs. 4.). In the latter passage he says "Those smaller unions which are found in shells, amongst the Persians and Indians, are very cordial, and most part avail to the exhilaration of the heart."
The Latin term unio differs from "margarita," in so far as it seems to have been applied by Pliny to distinguish the small and ill-shaped pearls, from the large round and perfect, which he calls "margaritæ." And in his ninth book, c. 59., he defines the difference philologically, as well as philosophically. Philemon Holland, who published his translation of Pliny in 1634, about thirteen years after Burton published the first edition of his Anatomy, uses the word pearl indifferently as the equivalent both of margarita and unio.
Query: Was the word union generally received in England instead of pearl in Burton's time, and when did it give place to it?
(Vol. v., p. 587.)
Has not the following song something to do with the expression "Martin drunk"? It is certainly cotemporary with Thomas Nash the Elizabethan satirist, and was long a favourite "three man's" song. It is copied from Deuteromelia, or the Second Part of Musick's Melodie, 4to., 1609:
"MARTIN SAID TO HIS MAN.
"Martin said to his man,
Fie! man, fie!
O Martin said to his man,
Who's the foole now?
Martin said to his man,
Fill thou the cup, and I the can;
Thou hast well drunken, man,
Who's the foole now?
"I see a sheepe shering corne,
Fie! man, fie!
I see a sheepe shering corne,
Who's the foole now?
I see a sheepe shering corne,
And a cuckold blow his horne;
Thou hast well drunken, man,
Who's the foole now?
"I see a man in the moone,
Fie! man, fie!
I see a man in the moone;
Who's the foole now?
I see a man in the moone,
Clowting of St. Peter's shoone;
Thou hast well drunken, man,
Who's the foole now?
"I see a hare chase a hound,
Fie! man, fie!
I see a hare chase a hound,
Who's the foole now?
I see a hare chase a hound,
Twenty mile above the ground;
Thou hast well drunken, man,
Who's the foole now?
"I see a goose ring a hog,
Fie! man, fie!
I see a goose ring a hog,
Who's the foole now?
I see a goose ring a hog,
And a snayle that did bite a dog;
Thou hast well drunken, man,
Who's the foole now?
"I see a mouse catch the cat,
Fie! man, fie!
I see a mouse catch the cat,
Who's the foole now?
I see a mouse catch the cat,
And the cheese to eate the rat;
Thou hast well drunken, man,
Who's the foole now?"
(Vol. vi., p. 434.).
Had M. M. E. gone to the fountain-head, and consulted Göthe's own statement in his autobiography, he would have seen in the Werke, vol. xxvi. {20}p. 229., that Mr. Hayward's note was not written with that writer's usual care. Göthe does not say that his reply to Nicolai's Joys of Werter, though circulated only in MS., destroyed N.'s literary reputation: on the contrary, he says that his squib (for it was no more) consisted of an epigram, not fit for communication, and a dialogue between Charlotte and Werter, which was never copied, and long lost; but that this dialogue, exposing N.'s impertinence, was written with a foreboding of his sad habit, afterwards developed, of treating of subjects out of his depth, which habit, notwithstanding his indisputable merits of another kind, utterly destroyed his reputation. This was most true: and yet all such assertions must be taken in a qualified sense. Nearly thirty years after this was written I partook of the hospitality of N. at Berlin. It was in 1803, when he was at the head, not of the Berlin literati, but of the book-manufactory of Prussia. He was then what, afterwards and elsewhere, the Longmans, Murrays, Constables, Cottas, and Brockhauses were,—the great publisher of his age and country. The entrepreneur of the Neue Deutsche Bibliothek may be compared with the publishers of our and the French great Cyclopædias, and our Quarterly Reviews.
It was unfortunate for the posthumous reputation of the great bibliopolist that he, patronising a school that was dying out, made war on the athletes of the rising school. He assailed nearly every great man, philosopher or poet, from Kant and Göthe downwards, especially of the schools of Saxony, Swabia, and the free imperial cities. No wonder that he became afterwards what Macfleckno and Colly Cibber had been to Dryden and Pope. In some dozen of the Xenien of Göthe and Schiller, in 1797, he was treated as the Arch-Philistine.
M. M. E. characterises him as the "friend" and "fellow-labourer" of Lessing. Now Lessing was incomparably the most eminent littérateur of the earlier part of that age,—the man who was the forerunner of the philosophers, and whose criticisms supplied the place of poetry. The satirists of the Xenien affect to compassionate Lessing, in having to endure a companion so forced on him as Nicolai was, whom they speak of as a "thorn in the crown of the martyr." The few who care for the literary controversies of the age of Göthe in Germany will be greatly assisted by an edition of the Xenien, with notes, published at Dantzig, 1833.
Processes upon Paper.—The favourable manner in which the account I have given of the Collodion process has been received, not only by your readers in general, as has been evinced by many private letters, but also by the numerous correspondents it has drawn forth, induces me, after some little delay, to request space for a description of the following processes upon paper. In giving these I wish it to be understood that I may offer but little that is original, my object being to describe, as plainly as I possibly can, these easy methods, and to make no observation but what I have found to be successful in my own hands. I have had the good fortune to obtain the friendship of some of the most successful photographers of the day; and taking three very eminent ones, I find they have each some peculiarities in his mode of manipulation, varying with each other in the strength of the solutions employed, and producing results the most agreeable to their respective tastes. Reviewing these different processes in my own mind, and trying with patience the various results, I conclude that the following quantities are calculated to produce an adequate degree of sensibility in the paper, and yet to allow it to be prepared for the action of light for many hours previous to its use, and yet with more certainty than any other I am acquainted with. I think I may always depend upon it for twenty-four to thirty-six hours after excitement, and I have seen good pictures produced upon the third day. I believe it is a rule which admits of no contradiction, that the more you dilute your solution, the longer the excited paper will keep; but in proportion to its diminished sensibility, the time of exposure must be prolonged, and therefore I am, from this waste of time and other reasons, disposed to place much less value upon the wax-paper process than many do.
The process I am about to describe is so simple, and I hope to make it so intelligible to your non-photographic readers, that a perfect novice, using ordinary care, must meet with success; but should I fail doing so upon all points, any information sought through the medium of "N. & Q." shall meet with explanation from myself, if not from other of your experienced correspondents, whose indulgence I must beg should the communication be deemed too elementary, it being my earnest desire to point out to archæologists who are desirous of acquiring this knowledge, how easily they themselves may practise this beautiful art, and possess those objects they would desire to preserve, in a far more truthful state than could be otherwise accomplished.
I have not myself met that uniform success with any other paper that I have with Turner's photographic of Chafford Mills: a sheet of this divided into two portions forms at the same time a useful and also a very easily-managed size, one adapted for most cameras, forming a picture of nine inches by seven, which is adequate for nearly every purpose. Each sheet being marked in its opposite corners with a plain pencil-mark on its smooth side (vide antè, p. 372.), the surface for {21}all future operations is in all lights easily discerned. In my instructions for printing from collodion negatives, a form of iodized paper was given, which, although very good, is not, I think, equal to the following, which is more easily and quickly prepared, exhibits a saving of the iodide of potassium, and is upon the whole a neater mode.
Take sixty grains of nitrate of silver and sixty grains of iodide of potassium; dissolve each separately in an ounce of distilled water; mix together and stir with a glass rod. The precipitate settling, the fluid is to be poured away; then add distilled water to the precipitate up to four ounces, and add to it 650 grains of iodide of potassium, which should re-dissolve the precipitated iodide of silver, and form a perfectly clear solution; but if not, a little more must be carefully added, for this salt varies much, and I have found it to require 720 grains to accomplish the desired object.
The fluid being put into a porcelain or glass dish, the paper should be laid down upon its surface and immediately removed, and being laid upon a piece of blotting-paper with the wet surface uppermost, a glass rod then passed over it to and fro ensures the total expulsion of all particles of air, which will frequently remain when the mere dipping is resorted to. When dry, this paper should be soaked in common water for three hours, changing the water twice or thrice, so as to remove all the soluble salts. It should then be pinned up to dry, and, when so, kept in a folio for use. I have in this manner prepared from sixty to eighty sheets in an evening with the greatest ease. It keeps good for an indefinite time, and, as all experienced photographers are aware, unless you possess good iodized paper, which should be of a primrose colour, you cannot meet with success in your after-operations. Iodized paper becomes sometimes of a bright brimstone colour when first made; it is then very apt to brown in its use, but tones down and improves by a little keeping.
To excite this paper, dissolve thirty grains of nitrate of silver in one ounce of distilled water, and add a drachm and a half of glacial acetic acid; of this solution take one drachm, and one drachm of saturated solution of gallic acid, and add to it two ounces and a half of distilled water. The iodized surface of the paper may then be either floated on the surface of the aceto-nitrate of silver or exciting fluid, and afterwards a rod passed over, as was formerly done in the iodizing, or the aceto-nitrate may be applied evenly with a brush; but in either instance the surface should be immediately blotted off; and the same blotting-paper never used a second time for this, although it may be kept to develop on and for other purposes. It will be scarcely needful to observe that this process of exciting must be performed by the light of a candle or feeble yellow light, as must the subsequent development. The excited paper may be now placed for use between sheets of blotting-paper; it seems to act equally well either when damp or when kept for many hours, and I have found it good for more than a week.
The time for exposure must entirely depend upon the degree of light. In two minutes and a half a good picture may be produced; but if left exposed for twenty minutes or more, little harm will arise; the paper does not solarize, but upon the degree of image visible upon the paper depends the means of developing. When long exposed, a saturated solution of gallic acid only applied to the exposed surfaces will be sufficient; but if there is little appearance of an image, then a free undiluted solution of aceto-nitrate may be used, in conjunction with the gallic acid, the former never being in proportion more than one-third. If that quantity is exceeded, either a brownish or an unpleasant reddish tint is often obtained. These negatives should be fixed by immersing them in a solution of hyposulphite of soda, which may be of the strength of one ounce of salt to eight ounces of water—the sufficiency of immersion being known by the disappearance of the yellow colour, and when they have been once immersed they may be taken to the daylight to ascertain this. The hyposulphite must now be perfectly removed by soaking in water, which may extend to several hours; but this may be always ascertained by the tongue, for, if tasteless, it has been accomplished. If it is deemed advisable—which I think is only required in very dark over-done pictures—to wax the negative, it is easily managed by holding a piece of white wax or candle in front of a clean iron rather hot, and passing it frequently over the surface. The superabundant wax being again removed by passing it between some clean pieces of blotting-paper. Although the minuter details can never be acquired by this mode which are obtained by the collodion process, it has the advantage of extreme simplicity, and by the operator providing himself with a bag or square of yellow calico, which he can loosely peg down to the ground when no other shade is near, to contain spare prepared papers, he can at any future time obtain a sufficient number of views, which afterwards he can develop at his leisure.
It requires no liquids to be carried about with you, nor is that nice manipulation required which attends the collodion process.
The wax-paper process has been extolled by many, and very successful results have been obtained: the paper has the undoubted advantage of keeping after being excited much longer than any other; but, from my own experience, just so much the weaker it is made, and so as to safely rely upon its long remaining useful, so it is proportionally slower in its action. And I have rarely seen from {22}wax negatives positives so satisfactory in depth of tone, as from those which have been waxed after being taken on ordinary paper. It is all very well for gentlemen to advocate a sort of photographic tour, upon which you are to go on taking views day after day, and when you return home at leisure to develop your past proceedings: I never yet knew one so lukewarm in this pursuit as not to desire to know, at his earliest possible opportunity, the result of his labours; indeed, were not this the case, I fear disappointment would more often result than at present, for I scarcely think any one can exactly decide upon the power of the light of any given day, without having made some little trial to guide him. I have myself, especially with collodion, found the action very rapid upon some apparently dull day; whilst, from an unexplained cause, a comparatively brighter day has been less active in its photographic results. As in the previous process, I would strongly advise Turner's paper to be used, and not the thin French papers generally adopted, because I find all the high lights so much better preserved in the English paper. It may be purchased ready waxed nearly as cheap as it may be done by one's self; but as many operators like to possess that which is entirely their own production, the following mode will be found a ready way of waxing:—Procure a piece of thick smooth slate, a trifle larger than the paper to be used; waste pieces of this description are always occurring at the slate works, and are of a trifling value. This should be made very hot by laying it close before a fire; then, covered with one layer of thick blotting-paper, it will form a most admirable surface upon which to use the iron. Taking a piece of wax in the left hand, an iron well heated being pressed against it, it may rapidly be made to flow over the whole surface with much evenness, the surplus wax being afterwards removed by ironing between blotting-paper. When good, it should be colourless, free from gloss, and having the beautiful semi-transparent appearance of the Chinese rice-paper. To iodize the paper completely, immerse it in the following solution:
Iodide of potash | 200 grains. |
Mannite | 006 drachms. |
Cyanide of potash | 005 grains. |
Distilled water | 020 ounces. |
Allow it to remain three hours, taking care that air-particles are perfectly excluded, and once during the time turning over each sheet of paper, as many being inserted as the fluid will conveniently cover, as it is not injured by after keeping. It should be then removed from the iodide bath, pinned up, and dried, ready for use. When required to be excited, the paper should, by the light of a candle, be immersed in the following solution, where it should remain for five minutes:
Nitrate of silver | 004 drachms. |
Glacial acetic acid | 004 drachms. |
Distilled water | 008 ounces. |
Being removed from the aceto-nitrate bath, immerse it into a pan of distilled water, where let it remain about a quarter of an hour. In order to make this paper keep a week or two, it must be immersed in a second water, which in point of fact is a mere reduction of the strength of the solutions already used; but for ordinary purposes, and when the paper is to be used within three or four days, one immersion is quite sufficient, especially as it does not reduce its sensitiveness in a needless way. It may now be preserved between blotting-paper, free from light, for future use. The time of exposure requisite for this paper will exceed that of the ordinary unwaxed, given in the previous directions. The picture may be developed by a complete immersion also in a saturated solution of gallic acid; but should it not have been exposed a sufficient time in the camera, a few drops of the aceto-nitrate solution added to the gallic acid greatly accelerates it. An excess of aceto-nitrate often produces an unpleasant red tint, which is to be avoided. Instead of complete immersion, the paper may be laid upon some waste blotting-paper, and the surface only wetted by means of the glass rod or brush. The picture may now be fixed by the use of the hyposulphite of soda, as in the preceding process.
It is not actually necessary that this should be a wax-paper process, because ordinary paper treated in this way acts very beautifully, although it does not allow of so long keeping for use after excitement; yet it has then the advantage, that a negative may either be waxed or not, as shall be deemed advisable by its apparent depth of action.
Exhibition of recent Specimens of Photography at the Society of Arts.—This exhibition, to which all interested in the art have been invited to contribute, was inaugurated by a conversazione at the Society's rooms, on the evening of Wednesday, the 22nd of December: the public have since been admitted at a charge of sixpence each, and it will continue open until the 8th of January.
We strongly recommend all our friends to pay a visit to this most delightful collection. By our visit at the crowded conversazione, and another hasty view since, we do not feel justified to enter into a review and criticism of the specimens so fully as the subject requires; but in the mean time we can assure our archæological readers that they will find there such interesting records of architectural detail, together with views of antiquities from Egypt and Nubia, as will perfectly convince them of the value of this art with reference to their own immediate pursuits. Those who feel less delight in mere antiquity will be gratified {23}to see, for the first time, that there are here shown photographs which aim at more than the bare copying of any particular spot; for many of the pictures here exhibited may rank as fine works of art. We feel much delicacy and hesitation in mentioning any particular artist, where so many are entitled to praise, especially in some particular departments. We could point out pictures having all the minute truthfulness of nature, combined with the beautiful effects of some of the greatest painters. We must, however, direct especial attention to the landscapes of Mr. Turner, the views in the Pyrenees by Mr. Stewart, and one splendid one of the same locality by Le Gray. Mr. Buckle's views in paper also exhibit a sharpness and detail almost equal to collodion; as do the various productions of Mr. Fenton in wax paper. The effects obtained also by Mr. Owen of Bristol appear to be very satisfactory: why they are, with so much excellence, called experimental, we cannot tell. In collodion Mr. Berger has exhibited some effective portraits; and we think the success of Mr. De la Motte has been so great, that in some of his productions little remains to be desired. We cannot conclude this brief notice without directing attention to the minuteness and pleasing effect of the views in Rome by M. Eugène Constant, which are also from collodion; as also the specimens from albumen negatives of M. Ferrier; and, lastly, to the pleasant fact that lady amateurs are now practising this art,—very nice specimens being here exhibited by the Ladies Nevill, whose example we shall hope to see followed.
Quotation in Locke (Vol. vi., p. 386.).—The words "Si non vis intelligi non debes legi" were, I believe, the exclamation of St. Jerome, as he threw his copy of Persius into the fire in a fit of testiness at being unable to construe some tough lines of that tough author. I set down this reply from memory, and am unable to give the authority for it.
Pic-nic (Vol. vi., pp. 152. 518.).—The Query of A. F. S. (p. 152.) as to the etymology of pic-nic still remains unanswered. The Note of W. W. (p. 518.) merely refers to the time (1802) when pic-nic suppers first became fashionable in England. Under a French form, the word appears in a speech of Robespierre's, quoted in the British and Foreign Review for July, 1844, p. 620.: "C'est ici qu'il doit m'accuser, et non dans les piques-niques, dans les sociétés particulières." An earlier instance occurs in one of Lord Chesterfield's letters (No. 167.), dated October 1748.
Discovery at Nuneham Regis (Vol. vi., pp. 386. 488. 558.).—Nuneham Regis was granted to John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, in the seventh year of King Edward VI.; but as it was forfeited on his attainder, in the first year of Queen Mary, and immediately granted by her to Sir Rowland Hill, knight, and citizen of London, from whom Sir Thomas Leigh, knight, and alderman of London, almost immediately acquired it; and as he exercised the right of presentation to the vicarage in the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there is no probability of the body of John, Duke of Northumberland, being removed from the Tower of London to Newnham.
The letters T. B. on the clothes on the body at Nuneham are distinctly worked in Roman capitals, like those on a common sampler. I have seen them.
Door-head Inscriptions (Vol. vi., p. 543.).—
"Sit mihi nec glis servus nec hospes hirudo."
"From servant lazy as dormouse,
Or leeching guest, God keep my house."
Mr. Woodward tells us that he quotes this inscription "from memory:" it is so very pertinent that it seems a pity even to hint a correction, but, as I read it, it seemed partly familiar to me, and I find something so like the latter part of it in two ancient authors, that I am tempted to inquire whether he may not have omitted one letter, which alters the sense as given above, and yet gives a sense as good.
Among the Symbols of Pythagoras, I read the following:
"Ομωροφιους χελιδωνας μη εχειν."
"Domesticas hirundines ne habeto."
To the same effect (but, strange to say, without any reference to Pythagoras' dictum), we find it in the proverbia of Polydore Virgil (A.D. 1498):
"Hirundo suscipienda non est."
and the exposition is the same in both:
"Hirundo garrula semper, i.e. garruli et tumigeri homines recipiendi non sunt."
I find no original for the former part of the inscription. Probably Mr. Woodward will agree with me, that it is difficult to decide whether a greedy or a gossipping guest would be the worst household infliction; but as a careful householder might well deprecate either, as matter of curiosity perhaps he would refer to the original inscription again, and decide whether he has or has not omitted an "n."
Belmont.
Stratford Parsonage, Wilts:
"Parva sed apta Domino.
1675."
Montacute House, Somerset:
"Through this wide opening gate
None come too soon, none go too late.
And yours."
Sudbury House, Derbyshire:
"Omne Bonum Dei Donum."
At Verona:
"Patet Janua, Cor magis."
The next I have seen somewhere:
"Detur digniori."
Clyst St. George.
Cross and Pile (Vol. vi., pp. 386. 513.).—The pile is invariably on the obverse or head side of a coin; and pile or poll both mean the head, from whence the "poll tax" and "poll groat"—a tax paid by the head, or a personal tax, of which we have an historical example of its collector in the case of Wat Tyler.
Ruding, in Annals of the Coinage, vol. ii. p. 119., 8vo., edit. 1819, states that Ed. I. A.D. 1304, in the delivering out the stamps for the coinage, orders that three piles and six crosses shall be given. It is well known to all numismatists that all, or most early coins, both Saxon and English, had a head on the obverse and a cross on the reverse—the latter being placed on the coins as symbolical of Christianity.
Pile also means the hair, or any filament: as the "pile of velvet, the nap of woollen cloth," &c. And Jamieson, in his Scotch Dictionary, says:
"Pile. The soft hair which first appears on the chins of young men."
Coles, Ashe, Webster, and others give the same meaning.
The superstitious effect of the cross as a charm or amulet is well known; from whence the saying:
"I have never a cross in my purse to keep the Devil away."
Again:
"Priests were coin-proof against the Devil, they never being without money; of course, always had a cross in their pocket."—Gilpin's Beehive of the Romish Church, 1636, p. 251.
And Nash, in the Supplication of Pierce Penniless to the Devil, makes Pierce to say:
"Whereas your impious excellence hath had the poore tenement of my purse anytime this half year for your dancing schole, and he, notwithstanding, hath received no penye nor crosse for farme," &c.
And the poet Skelton says:
". . . . . . . . and in his pouche,
The Devil might dance therein for any crouche."
P. 71.
Trusting the above will be satisfactory to D. W. S., I beg to conclude, thinking, you will say I have already made "much ado about nothing."
Rhymes upon Places (Vol. vi. p. 281.).—Perhaps you will think the following rhymes upon places worth insertion:
"I stood upon Eyemouth Fort,
And guess ye what I saw?
Fairmiside and Furmintong,
Neuhouses and Cocklaw,
The fairy fouk o' Fosterland,
The witches o' Edincran,
The bly-rigs o' Reston;
But Dunse dings a'."
Near the seaside village of Eyemouth, in Berwickshire, is a promontory marked with a succession of grassy mounds, the remains of a fort built there in the regency of Mary of Lorraine. A number of places are represented as visible from the fort: but here fact is not strictly adhered to.
Fosterland once existed in the parish of Bunkle as a small village; but even its vestiges are not now visible on the brown moor where it once stood. Edincran, properly Auchinchran, is an estate in the vicinity of Fosterland, as is Reston also. There is a variation as follows:
"The fairy fouk o' Fosterland,
The witches o' Edincran,
And the rye-kail o' Reston
Gar'd a' the dogs die."
The rye-kail alluded to must have been a broth chiefly made from rye, which grain, it is well known, is sometimes so much tainted as to be poisonous.
Birmingham.
Ἀρνίον (Vol. vi., p. 509.).—Probably your correspondent is aware of the explanation given by Dr. Wordsworth in his book on the Apocalypse, but does not think it satisfactory. Still, as he does not allude to it, I venture to transcribe it:
"The Apocalypse abounds in contrasts. For example, the LAMB, who is always called Ἀμνὸς, never Ἀρνίον, in St. John's Gospel, is called Ἀρνίον, never Ἀμνὸς, in St. John's Apocalypse, in which Ἀρνίον occurs twenty-nine times. And why does ὁ Αμνος here become τὸ Ἀρνίον? To contrast Him more strongly with τὸ Θηρίον, that is, to mark the opposition between the LAMB and the Beast."
To this a note is appended:
"This contrast is even more striking in the original, where it is aided by an exact correspondence of syllables and accents. On one side are—
'Ἡ πόρνη καὶ τὸ Θηρίον:'
On the other—
'Ἡ Νύμφη καὶ τὸ Ἀρνίον.'
See Rev. xxi. 2. 9., xxii. 17."—Is the Church of Rome Babylon? p. 58.: London, 1851.
Ἀρνίον and ἀμνὸς both denote a lamb. In John i. 29. 36., the latter is applied to Jesus by John the {25}Baptist. In Acts viii. 32., and 1 Pet. i. 19., the term is manifestly derived from Isa. liii. 7., the Septuagint translation. But, in the Revelation, the word selected by the apostle is simply to be viewed as characteristic of his style. Taken in connexion with John i. 29. 36., the difference presents one of those points which so strikingly attest the authenticity of the Scripture. If the writer had drawn upon his imagination, in all likelihood he would have used the word ἀρνίον in the Gospel; but he employed another, because the Baptist actually made use of a different one, i. e. one different from that which he was in the habit of employing.
Who was the greatest General (Vol. vi., p. 509.).—In reply to the following Query, "Who was the greatest general, and why and wherefore did the Duke of Wellington give the palm to Hannibal?" I think the following note appended to the eloquent sermon of Dr. Croly, preached on the death of the Duke, Sept. 19th, not only shows the humility of the Duke in giving preference to Hannibal over himself, but it contains so just a comparison between the two generals, that it deserves recording in the valuable and useful pages of the "N. & Q." as well as being a perfect and true answer to C. T.:
"It has been usual," the note says, "to compare Wellington with Hannibal. But those who make the comparison seem to forget the facts:—
"Hannibal, descending from the Alps with a disciplined force of 26,000 men, met the brave Roman Militia, commanded by brave blockheads, and beat them accordingly. But, as soon as he was met by a man of common sense, Fabius, he could do nothing with him; when he met a manœuvring officer, the Consul Nero, he was outmanœuvred, and lost his brother Asdrubal's army, which was equivalent to his losing Italy; and when he met an active officer, Scipio, he was beaten on his own ground. Finally, forced to take refuge with a foreign power, he was there a prisoner, and there he died."
"His administrative qualities seem to have been of the humblest, or of the most indolent, order. For fourteen years he was in possession of, or in influence with, all the powers of southern Italy, then the richest portion of the peninsula. Yet this possession was wrested from him without an effort; and where he might have been a monarch, he was only a pensioner. His punic faith, his flight, his refuge, and his death in captivity, might find a more complete resemblance in the history of Napoleon."
The following, concluding sentence of Dr. Croly's note conveys a truer and far more just comparison with another great general:
"The life of the first Cæsar forms a much fairer comparison with that of Wellington. Both nobly born; both forcing their way up through the gradations of service, outstripping all their age; forming their characters by warfare in foreign countries; always commanding small armies, yet always invincible (Cæsar won the World at Pharsalia with only 25,000 men): both alike courageous and clement, unfailing in resources, and indefatigable in their objects; receiving the highest rewards, and arising to the highest rank of their times; never beaten: both of first-rate ability in council. The difference being in their objects; one to serve himself, the other to serve his country; one impelled by ambition, the other by duty; one destroying the constitution of his country, the other sustaining it. Wellington, too, has given the soldier and statesman his 'Commentaries,' one of the noblest transcripts of a great administrative mind."
Worcester.
Beech-trees struck by Lightning (Vol. vi., p. 129.).—On Thinnigrove Common, near Nettlebed, Oxon, a beech-tree, one of three or four growing round a pit, was shattered by lightning about thirteen or fourteen years ago. A gentleman who has lived sixty years in the neighbourhood of the beech woods near Henly, tells me that he remembers three or four similar cases. Single beech-trees, which are very ornamental, generally grow very low and wide-spreading, which may be the reason why they often escape. On the other hand, in the woods where they run up close and very high, they present so many points of attraction to the electric fluid, that probably for that cause it is not often the case that one tree in particular is struck.
Portsmouth.
Passage in Tennyson (Vol. vi., p. 272.).—It appears to me that Tennyson has fallen into the error of a Latin construction. I call it an error, because in that language the varied terminations of the cases and numbers make that plain which we have no means of evidencing in English. I should translate it "Numenii strepitus volantis"—"The call of the curlew dreary (drearily) gleams about the moorland, as he flies o'er Locksley Hall." The summer note of the curlew is a shrill clear whistle, but in winter they sometimes indulge in a wild melancholy scream.
Portsmouth.
Inscriptions in Churches (Vol. vi., p. 510.).—I differ from your reply to Norwood's Query, in which you refer to the colloquy between Queen Elizabeth and Dean Nowell as the origin of these inscriptions. No doubt they were derived from the custom of our ante-Reformation ancestors, of painting figures and legends of saints upon the walls of churches; but the following instance will suffice to prove that they originated in the reign of Edward VI., and not in Queen Elizabeth's.
In the interesting paper by the Rev. E. Venables in the Transactions of the Cambridge Camden Society, on "The Church of St. Mary the Great, Cambridge," he gives, under the year {26}1550, the following extracts from the churchwardens' accounts:
" | For makyng of the wall where Saynt George stood in the chyrche |
vjd |
It. payd for wythynge ye chyrch | xxs iiijd | |
It. payd for wryghtynge of ye chyrch walls with Scriptures |
iiijlib iijs iiijd. | " |
Shortly after the accession of Queen Mary in 1553, the following entry occurs:
" | Payd to Barnes for mendyng over the rode and over the altar in the chapell, and for washing oute the Scriptures |
4s 4d. | " |
They do not appear to have been restored after this, for in the year 1840 some of the plaister between two of the windows of the south aisle peeling off, discovered traces of "wryghtynge" beneath; and I and another member of the Cambridge Camden Society spent some time in laying it bare, and after much difficulty made out that it was the Lord's Prayer in English, headed, "The Lord's Prayer, called the Paternoster," and written in the church text of the period, the whole enclosed in a sort of arabesque border; it was not merely whited over, but had evidently been partially effaced, or partly "washed oute," before being "concealed under its dreary shroud of whitewash." On examination there were traces of more of this writing between the other windows, but we had not time to make any further investigation, for the church was then being cleaned, and in a few days all that we had laid bare was again concealed under a veil of whitewash.
Thus, I think, we may assign to the reign of Edward VI., not merely the obliteration of the numerous frescoes of St. Christopher, the great dome, &c., which are now so constantly coming to light, but also the origin of "wryghtynge of ye chyrch walls with scriptures" in their stead, some ten or twelve years earlier than the remarkable colloquy between Queen Elizabeth and the worthy Dean of St. Paul's.
Cambridge.
Dutensiana (Vol. vi., p. 376.).—Lowndes gives a list of Dutens' works, which does not include "Correspondence interceptée," of which he was the author; and I have seen a presentation copy of it proving this.
Early Phonography (Vol. vi., p. 424.).—"Have the modern phonographists ever owned their debt of gratitude to their predecessors in the phonetic art?"
The subjoined advertisement may perhaps be considered an answer to this Query:
"Hart's Orthography, 1569; or, 'An Orthographie conteyning the due order and reason, howe to write or paint thimage of manne's voice, most like to the life or nature. Composed by J. H. [John Hart], Chester Heralt;' reprinted from a copy in the British Museum. Cloth, 2s.
"An unanswerable defence of Phonetic Spelling, and one of the earliest schemes of Phonetic Orthography. A considerable portion of the book being printed in the author's Phonetic Alphabet (given in the present edition in Phonetic Longhand), we have thus exhibited the pronunciation of the age of Shakspeare."
Kentish Local Names; Dray (Vol. vi., p. 410.).—In the low embanked land in the west of Somersetshire, between Bristol and Taunton, the word drove is used in the same acceptation; and driftway, I think, is also a term for ancient British roads in some parts of the kingdom.
Monument at Modstena (Vol. vi., p. 388.).—This monument was first published in Archæologia Æliana. I believe it is an incised slab; but I have written to a friend in the north to inquire whether I am correct.
Book-plates (Vol. iii., p. 495.).—Mr. Parsons, it appears, limits his inquiries to English book-plates, about which I cannot offer any information. It is certain, however, that book-plates were used on the Continent at a very early period. I remember to have seen one, from a wood-block, which was cut by Albert Dürer for his friend Pirkheimer. As it is sixteen years since I saw it at the Imperial Library at Vienna, I cannot be expected to give a precise description; but (as far as I recollect) the wording of it was as follows: "Bilibaldi Pirckheimeri et Amicorum."
A copy which I possess of Vesalius's great anatomical work (Basil, 1555) has the book-plate of a former Duke of Mecklenburg pasted inside the cover. It is a woodcut, ten inches by six and a half, representing the ducal arms, surrounded by an ornamented border. Beneath are the date and inscription:
15E75 H.G.V.V.G. VLRICH H. Z. ME- CKELNBVRG. |
I do not know what the first six letters stand for, nor is it worth inquiring. The latter part of the inscription—"Ulrich Herzog zu Mecklenburg"—identifies the former possessor of the volume.
"World without end" (Vol. vi., p. 434.).—Besides the places named by F. A., this phrase occurs in the authorised version of the Bible, in Is. xlv. 17., Ep. iii. 21. There is no doubt it is idiomatic, and is even now occasionally used in conversation. Our translators render at least three Hebrew words "world," and as many Greek ones. One of the latter, and two of the former, properly refer to time, like the Latin ævum sæculum; and this also {27}appears to have been the original meaning of "world," as it is one which it certainly has frequently in the Scriptures. "World without end" is the idiomatic rendering, equivalent to "in sæcula sæculorum," which is a literal following of an idiom common in both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, and to be found in the Chaldee of the Book of Daniel. "World without end" does not occur, so far as I am aware, in the modern European languages, which generally either follow the Latin "in sæcula sæculorum;" or the German, and say, "eternally to eternity."
Gloucester Ballads (Vol. iv., p. 311.).—Since I inserted these ballads, I have been informed, that the one entitled a "Gloucester Ditty" was from the pen of Charles Dibdin, who, paying a visit to the "fair city," was pressed by some friends to leave them a memento of such. Of my own knowledge, I cannot vouch for the truth of this story; my informant's veracity is, however, unquestionable. I have recently obtained another copy; like the former, it is without a date, but bears the well-known imprint, "Raikes, Southgate Street."
The "Old Harry" is intended for one "Harry Hudman, King of the Island," a low district in Gloucester, a mock officer chosen by the lower orders. Harry kept the throne many years, but was at length outvoted; but resolving to retain by stratagem what he could not by free choice, invited his competitor to a glass; and while the latter was taking his draught, Harry jumped into his seat, was chaired through the island, and was thus king another year. There was a ballad relating to this worthy, commencing—
"There was a man of renown,
In Gloucester's fam'd town."
Another verse informs us that—
"Old coffins ne'er new,
And old pulpits too,
Can be bought at his shop in the island."
The "Taylor's Tale" alluded to is a ballad, written by person of that name, on the manners and customs of the island. I have not been able to obtain copies of either of these just noticed ballads; and should any correspondent of "N. & Q." possess such, they would oblige me by their insertion.
Satirical Prints; Pope (Vol. vi., p. 434.).—I have never seen this print that your correspondent refers to. It will no doubt be found, however, to be a plate illustrating a scene in the following tract: "A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope, &c.: London, printed and sold by W. Lewis in Russell Street, Covent Garden, 1742," see pp. 45, 46, 47, 48, 49., where is given rather a warm description of the whole scene. Should this tract not be had by Griffin, he may turn to D'Israeli's Quarrels of Authors, article "Pope and Cibber," note p. 193., col. 2., edit. 8vo., Moxon, 1840; where D'Israeli adds:
"This story, by our comic writer, was accompanied by a print, that was seen by more persons, probably, than read the Dunciad."
Raising the Wind (Vol. vi., p. 486.).—We say "the wind rises," and this is common in Virgil (see Æneid. iii. 130. 481.; v. 777.: Georgics, i. 356.; ii. 333.; and iii. 134.). The transition from rising to raising is easy; and as there is no sailing without a breeze, so there is no getting along without money: in both cases, the wind is essential to progress. As to the mode of obtaining the "needful," I know not much, but probably whistling will be found as effectual in one case as in the other.
Milton in Prose (Vol. vi., p. 340.).—I know of one performance in the French language, which answers the description of Milton in Prose: it is a rhapsody entitled Le Paradis Terrestre, Poëme imité de Milton, by Madame Dubocage: London, 1748. The French themselves had so poor an opinion of it, that one of their wits, the Abbé Yart, has ridiculed it in the following epigram:
"Sur cet écrit, charmante Dubocage,
Veux-tu savoir quel est mon sentiment?
Je compte pour perdus, en lisant ton ouvrage,
Le Paradis, mon temps, ta peine, et mon argent."
St. Lucia.
The Arundelian Marbles (Vol. iv., p. 361.).—Mr. W. Sidney Gibson, in his account of this celebrated collection, quotes portions of an interesting letter, from James Theobald to Lord Willoughby de Parham, but he does not say from whence he obtained it. I have now before me two copies, one in Historical Anecdotes of the Howard Family, a new edition, 1817, p. 101.; the other in a work entitled Oxoniana (published by Richard Phillips, 4 vols. 12mo., no date), vol. iii. p. 42. Now both these copies differ from Mr. Gibson's, and all three are at variance respecting some of those minor details which are of so much importance in inquiries of this description. Where is a genuine copy of Mr. Theobald's letter to be found?
Pambotanologia (Vol. vi., p. 462.).—Inivri will find a full account of this work in Pulteney's Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Progress of Botany in England, vol. i. p. 181.
East Winch.
Can a Man baptize himself? (Vol. vi., pp. 36. 110.).—This question has not yet received any {28}correct answer. The following quotation from the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas will resolve it as far as your querist W. is concerned:
"Similiter autem Forma mutaretur, si diceretur 'Ego baptizo me;' et ideo nullus potest baptizare seipsum propter quod et Christus a Joanne voluit baptizari."—Summa, 3tia Pars, Quæstio lxvi. Art. v. Arg. 4.
The Rev. A. Gatty, while right in the negative answer which he gives to the question of W., is quite wrong in the reasons on which he founds it. "Christian fellowship" is not of necessity a requisite for administering the sacrament of holy baptism. I quote again from the Summa of St. Thomas:
"Ad primum ergo dicendum, quod Baptismum a schismaticis recipere non licet, nisi in articulo necessitatis: quia melius est de hâc vitâ cum signo Christi exire, a quocumque detur, etiam si sit Judæus vel Paganus, quam sine hoc signo, quod per Baptismum confertur."—Summa, 2nda Pars, Quæstio xxxix. Art. iv. Arg. 1.
As our own Church apparently only recognises sacerdotal baptism in her formularies, in answering such a question as that of W. we must have recourse to the schoolmen and casuists of earlier times.
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W. W. (Malta) is thanked for his suggestion. We fear, however, that the difficulties in the way of carrying it out, which are far more than he suspects, will still prevent our doing so, as we have often desired.
Peter the Saxonian is referred to our 1st Vol., p. 102., where he will find that both Blair and Campbell were anticipated by Norris of Bemerton, who sang of
"Angels' visits, short and bright."
R. G. L. The meaning and derivation of Ditto are obvious. It means "the same," from the Italian ditto, the said.
Touchstone. Music is sometimes engraved, sometimes printed from moveable types.
J. C., who inquires whether Shelley first imagined the name of Mab, has, we fear, never read Shakspeare's Romeo and Juliet, or Mercutio's account of "the Fairie's midwife." We almost envy him.
F. R. S. (Barkisland). His Query shall appear, and we think we may promise him a full and satisfactory Reply.
H. C. K., and other Correspondents respecting the inscription at Dewsbury, are thanked.
A. B. The line
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H. B. C. The Correspondent to whom H. B. C. refers us furnished his name and address. But perhaps our Correspondent's Reply had better appear.
W. H. T. (Salisbury). Ophiomaches was written by the Rev. Philip Skelton. See further our No. 157., p. 415. The other Queries shall have early attention.
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Haygarth (Mr.), presentation to
Land Question, by Hamilton, Rev.
Maize
Manure tank, liquid, by Mr. Rothwell
Mechi's (Mr.) address
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Pears, late, by Mr. Rivers
Pentas carnea, cellular tissue of
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Ploughing
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Roots after tares, by Mr. Mechi
Roses in pots, culture of
Skimmia Laureola
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Societies, proceedings of the Linnean;
Botanical of Edinburgh;
Flax Improvement;
Coggeshall Agricultural
Strabo's Geography, by Meyer, reviewed
Tomato, cherry
Tree of 10,000 images
—— transplanting a large
Van Diemen's Land, enchanted valley in
Vine mildew
Walls, conservative
—— Ewing's glass
Wheat, late sowing
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE and AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE contains, in addition to the above, the Covent Garden, Mark Lane, Smithfield, and Liverpool prices, with returns from the Potato, Hop, Hay, Coal, Timber, Bark, Wool, and Seed Markets, and a complete Newspaper, with a condensed account of all the transactions of the week.
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THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
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*** A Catalogue of Old and Second-hand Books from the Stock of JOHN HENRY PARKER, Oxford, is now being issued, and may be had on application.
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DEMOCRITUS IN LONDON; with the Mad Pranks and Conceits of Motley and Robin Goodfellow: to which are added Notes Festivous, &c. By GEORGE DANIEL, Author of "Merrie England in the Olden Time," "The Modern Dunciad," &c.
"An exquisite metrical conceit, sparkling with wit and humour, in the true spirit of Aristophanes, in which Democritus guides his brilliant and merry muse through every fantastic measure, evincing grace in the most grotesque attitudes. As a relief to his cutting sarcasm and fun, the laughing philosopher has introduced some fine descriptive scenes, and passages of deep pathos, eloquence, and beauty. Not the least remarkable feature in this very remarkable book are the recondite and curious notes, at once so critical and philosophical, so varied and so amusing, so full of interesting anecdote and racy reminiscences. They form a rich mine of classical learning and antiquarian knowledge. To genius and virtue Democritus will prove a delightful companion and friend, but a well-pickled rod to vice and folly—a scourge to make wince hollow pretenders of every kind—even down to the critical impostor and the stage-struck buffoon."—See Athenæum, Critic, &c.
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SPANISH CATALOGUE.—Just issued, B. QUARITCH'S Catalogue of Rare and Valuable Spanish and Portuguese Books, gratis on application.
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POETRY OF THE YEAR, PASSAGES FROM THE POETS DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SEASONS.
WITH TWENTY-TWO COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS BY THE FOLLOWING EMINENT ARTISTS.
T. CRESWICK, R.A.
C. DAVIDSON.
W. LEE.
J. MULLER.
E. DUNCAN.
BIRKET FOSTER.
D. COX.
H. LE JEUNE.
W. HEMSLEY.
C. BRANWHITE.
J. WOLF.
C. WEIGALL.
HARRISON WEIR.
R. R.
E. V. B.
LUCETTE E. BARKER.
"Bids fair to be the most beautiful and attractive of the 'Gift Books' of the present season. The designs, which are for the most part exceedingly good, have been lithographed, and printed in colours, so as to present the appearance of exquisite and really well-finished drawings, and the letter-press is compiled from the works of our most standard writers. This, in our opinion, is by far the best plan for illustrated works. The words should be worthy of the pictures, and then those who go to the expense of such works have the satisfaction of knowing that they have got the best of their kind, in both the text and the illustrations, instead of having, as is too often the case, capital pictures and second or third-rate prose or poetry. The book before us is, in every way, worthy to be placed upon the drawing-room table of her most gracious Majesty, and we doubt not that it will shortly be found there."—English Churchman.
"'Poetry of the Year' is a most richly illustrated volume, containing more than a score of beautiful designs lithographed and printed in colours with a delightful effect. Several of them (we may instance the timber waggon on the wintry road, the rich summer sunset, the view of Windermere, the group of cattle, and the children gathering spring flowers) have the effect of finished water-colour drawings; and when we add that among the contributors of designs are Mr. Creswick, Mr. David Cox, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Weir, E. V. B., and others hardly less admired, the reader will understand that the volume is above the average of illustrated books generally. We have to say also that the accompanying passages from the poets are extremely well made, with a true feeling and a catholic taste. The volume well deserves success."—Examiner.
"This is a charming volume, as much to be prized for the value of the letter-press, as admired for the beauty of the illustrations—a remark applicable to few books so ornamental. The poetry consists of selections from English classic authors, on subjects connected with the four seasons....
Altogether, the volume is worthy of high praise, and will doubtless be a favourite gift-book of the new year, having also the advantage of being a book of pleasant reference for all the year round."—Literary Gazette.
GEORGE BELL, 186. Fleet Street.
FIRST FRENCH BOOK, BY THE REV. T. K. ARNOLD.
In 12mo., price 5s. 6d. The Third Edition of
THE FIRST FRENCH BOOK:
On the Plan of "Henry's First Latin Book."
By the REV. THOMAS KERCHEVER ARNOLD, M.A.
Rector of Lyndon, and formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; Author of the "First German Book."
"Mr. Arnold has succeeded in preparing a work admirably adapted to meet the wants of English students of the French Language. The philosophical explanation of the changes of consonants, together with the frequent references to Latin words and idioms by way of illustration and comparison, render it far superior as a school-book to any other introduction, even from the pen of a native writer. The sound principles of imitation and repetition which have secured for the author a reputation widely extended and well deserved, are here happily exemplified. His account of the differences of idiom is very satisfactory and complete:—whoever thoroughly masters it, will rarely want anything further on the subject."—Athenæum.
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A KEY to the Exercises, by M. DELILLE. Price 2s. 6d.
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FENNELL'S SHAKESPEARE REPOSITORY;
Containing interesting Articles on the True Orthography and Etymology of Shakspeare's Name; Remarks on his Bequest to his Wife; Shakspeare considered as a Comic Writer; Curious Account of a Great and Destructive Flood at Stratford-on-Avon in his Time; The Government and Shakspeare's House; Remarks on Shakspeare's Gallantry; Notes on his Pedigree; On Shakspeare's Manuscripts; Old London Theatres; Some Accounts of his Mulberry Tree and Walnut Tree; Ancient Verses on his coming to London, &c. &c.
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HOLBEIN'S DANCE OF DEATH, with an Historical and Literary Introduction by an Antiquary. Square post 8vo. with 54 Engravings, being the most accurate copies ever executed of these gems of Art, and a Frontispiece of an Ancient Bedstead at Aix-la-Chapelle, with a Dance of Death carved on it, engraved by Fairholt, cloth, 9s.
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BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA LITERARIA; or Biography of Literary Characters of Great Britain and Ireland, arranged in Chronological Order. By THOMAS WRIGHT, M.A., F.S.A., Member of the Institute of France. 2 thick vols. 8vo. Cloth. Vol. I. Anglo-Saxon Period. Vol. II. Anglo-Norman Period. 6s. each, published at 12s. each.
Published under the superintendence of the Royal Society of Literature.
COINS. An Introduction to the Study of Ancient and Modern Coins. By J. Y. AKERMAN. Fcp. 8vo. with numerous wood engravings, from the original coins, 6s. 6d.
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GUIDE TO ARCHÆOLOGY. An Archæological Index to Remains of Antiquity of the Celtic, Romano-British, and Anglo-Saxon periods. By JOHN YONGE AKERMAN, fellow and secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. 1 vol. 8vo. illustrated with numerous engravings, comprising upward of 500 objects, cloth 15s.
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WRIGHT'S (THOS.) ESSAYS ON THE LITERATURE, POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS, AND HISTORY OF ENGLAND in the MIDDLE AGES. 2 vols. post 8vo. cloth, 16s.
WRIGHT'S (THOS.) ST. PATRICK'S PURGATORY: an Essay on the Legends of Purgatory, Hell, and Paradise, current during the Middle Ages. Post 8vo. cloth, 6s.
THE NURSERY RHYMES OF ENGLAND, collected chiefly from oral tradition. Edited by J. O. HALLIWELL. Fourth edition, 12mo. with 38 Designs by W. B. Scott. 4s. 6d. cloth.
POPULAR RHYMES AND NURSERY TALES, with Historical Elucidations; a Sequel to "The Nursery Rhymes of England." Edited by J. O. HALLIWELL. Royal 18mo. 4s. 6d.
LOWER'S CURIOSITIES OF HERALDRY, with Illustrations from Old English Writers. 8vo. Numerous Engravings. Cloth, 14s.
HERALDS' VISITATIONS. An Index to all the Pedigrees and Arms in the Heraldic Visitations and other Genealogical MSS. in the British Museum. By G. SIMS, of the Manuscript Department. 8vo. closely printed in double columns, cloth, 15s.
*** An indispensable book to those engaged in genealogical or topographical pursuits, affording a ready clue to the pedigrees and arms of above 30,000 of the gentry of England, their residences, &c. (distinguishing the different families of the same name in every country), as recorded by the Heralds in their Visitations, with Indexes to other genealogical MSS. in the British Museum. It has been the work of immense labour. No public library ought to be without it.
CONSUETUDINES KANCIÆ. A History of GAVELKIND, and other remarkable Customs in the County of KENT, by CHARLES SANDYS, Esq., F.S.A. (Cantianus), illustrated with fac-similes, a very handsome volume, 8vo. cloth, 15s.
BRUCE'S (REV. J. C.) HISTORICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ROMAN WALL FROM THE TYNE TO THE SOLWAY. Thick 8vo. 35 plates and 194 woodcuts, half morocco, 1l. 1s.
BOSWORTH'S (REV. DR.) COMPENDIOUS ANGLO-SAXON AND ENGLISH DICTIONARY. 8vo. closely printed in treble columns, cloth, 12s.
"This is not a mere abridgment of the large Dictionary, but almost an entirely new work. In this compendious one will be found, at a very moderate price, all that is most practical and valuable in the former expensive edition, with a great accession of new words and matter."—Author's Preface.
ANALECTA ANGLO-SAXONICA. Selections in Prose and Verse from Anglo-Saxon Literature, with an Introductory Ethnological Essay, and Notes, critical and explanatory. By LOUIS F. KLIPSTEIN, of the University of Giessen, 2 thick vols. post 8vo. cloth, 12s. (original price 18s.)
A DELECTUS IN ANGLO-SAXON, intended as a First Class-book in the Language. By the Rev. W. BARNES, of St. John's College, Cambridge, author of the Poems and Glossary in the Dorset Dialect. 12mo. cloth, 2s. 6d.
"To those who wish to possess a critical knowledge of their own native English, some acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon is indispensable; and we have never seen an introduction better calculated than the present to supply the wants of a beginner in a short space of time. The declensions and conjugations are well stated, and illustrated by references to the Greek, Latin, French, and other languages. A philosophical spirit pervades every part. The Delectus consists of short pieces on various subjects, with extracts from Anglo-Saxon History and the Saxon Chronicle. There is a good Glossary at the end."—Athenæum, Oct. 20, 1849.
FACTS AND SPECULATIONS ON THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF PLAYING CARDS. By W. A. CHATTO, Author of "Jackson's History of Wood Engraving," in one handsome vol. 8vo. illustrated with many Engravings, both plain and coloured, cloth, 1l. 1s.
"It is exceedingly amusing."—Atlas.
"Curious, entertaining, and really learned book."—Rambler.
"Indeed the entire production deserves our warmest approbation."—Literary Gazette.
"A perfect fund of Antiquarian research, and most interesting even to persons who never play at cards."—Tait's Mag.
BIBLIOTHECA MADRIGALIANA: a Bibliographical account of the Music and Poetical Works published in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, under the Titles of Madrigals, Ballets, Ayres, Canzonets, &c. By DR. RIMBAULT. 8vo. cloth, 5s.
A DICTIONARY OF ARCHAIC AND PROVINCIAL WORDS, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs from the reign of Edward I. By JAMES ORCHARD HALLIWELL, F.R.S., F.S.A., &c. 2 vols. 8vo. containing upwards of 1,000 pages closely printed in double columns, cloth 1l. 1s.
It contains about 50,000 Words (embodying all the known scattered Glossaries of the English language), forming a complete key to the reading of the works of our old Poets, Dramatists, Theologians, and other authors, whose works abound with allusions, of which explanations are not to be found in ordinary Dictionaries and books of reference. Most of the principal Archaisms are illustrated by examples selected from early inedited MSS. and rare books, and by far the greater portion will be found to be original authorities.
A LITTLE BOOK OF SONGS AND BALLADS, gathered from Ancient Musick Books, MS. and Printed. By E. F. RIMBAULT, LL.D., &c. Post 8vo. pp. 240, half-bound in morocco, 6s.
——Antique Ballads, sung to crowds of old,
Now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold.
GUIDE TO THE ANGLO-SAXON TONGUE, with Lessons in Verse and Prose, for the Use of Learners. By E. J. VERNON, B.A., Oxon. 12mo. cloth, 5s. 6d.
*** This will be found useful as a Second Class-book, or to those well versed in other languages.
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, January 1. 1853.