Minor Queries.
"Salus Populi," &c.—What is the origin of the saying, "Salus populi suprema lex?"
E. M.
Dramatic Representations by the Hour-glass.—I have seen it stated (but am now unable to trace the reference) that, in the infancy of the drama, its representations were sometimes regulated by the hour-glass. Does the history of the art, either among the Greeks or the Romans, furnish any well authenticated instance of this practice?
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
John Campbell of Jamaica.—I shall be very much obliged if any of your readers can give me any information respecting John Campbell, Esq., of Gibraltar, Trelawny, Jamaica, who died in January, 1817, at Clifton (I believe), but to whose memory a monument was erected in Bristol Cathedral by his widow. I should be glad to know her maiden name, and whether he left any surviving family? Also how he was related to a family going by the name of Hanam or Hannam, who lived at Arkindale, Yorkshire, about one hundred years before the date of his decease; he appears, too, to have had some connexion with a person named Isaac Madley, or Bradley, and through his mother with the Turners of Kirkleatham. This inquiry is made in the hope of unravelling a genealogical difficulty which has hitherto baffled all endeavour to solve it.
D. E. B.
Leamington.
Hodgkins's Tree, Warwick.—In the plan of Warwick, drawn on Speed's Map of that county, is a tree at the end of West Street, called on the plan "Hodgkins's Tree:" against this tree is represented a gun, pointed to the left towards the fields.—Can any of your readers furnish the tradition to this tree pertaining?
O. L. R. G.
The Doctor, &c., p. 5., one volume edition.—The sentence in the Garamna tongue, if anagrammatised into "You who have written Madoc and Thalaba and Kehama," would require a k to be substituted for an h in Whehaha. Query, Is this the proper mode of interpretation, or is there a misprint?
Saheco, p. 248.—What name are these composite initials meant to represent? The others are easily deciphered. Should we read Saneco=Sarah Nelson Coleridge?
J. M. B.
English Clergyman in Spain.—I am anxious to discover the capacity in which a certain clergyman was present with the English army in Spain early in the eighteenth century (probably with Lord Peterborough's expedition). Can any readers of "N. & Q." refer me to any book or record from which I can obtain this information?
D. Y.
Caldecott's Translation of the New Testament.—I have a translation of the New Testament by a Mr. John Caldecott, printed and sold by J. Parry and Son, Chester, dated 1834. It is entitled Holy Writings of the First Christians, called the New Testament (the text written from the common version, but altered by comparing with the Greek), with notes. I shall be glad to know who Mr. Caldecott was or is? and whether the edition appeared under the auspices of any society or sect of Christians?
S. A. S.
Bridgewater.
Westhumble Chapel.—There is a ruin of a chapel in the hamlet of Westhumble, in Mickleham, Surrey. At what time was it built? To what saint consecrated? and from what cause was it allowed to fall into its present ruinous and desecrated condition?
J. P. S.
Perfect Tense.—In Albités' "Companion" to How to speak French, one of the first exercises is to turn into French the following phrase, "I have seen him yesterday." I should be much obliged to Mr. J. S. Warden (to whom all readers of "N. & Q." stand so greatly indebted for his excellent article on "Will and Shall"), if he would state the rule for the use of the perfect tense in English in respect to specified time, and the rationale involved in such rule.
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
La Fleur des Saints.—To Molière's Le Tartufe (Act I. Sc. 2.) occur the following lines:
"Le traitre, I'autre jour, nous rompit de ses mains
Un mouchoir qu'il trouva dans une Fleur des Saints,
Disant que nous mêlions, par un crime effroyable,
Avec la sainteté les parures du diable."
Can any of your readers inform me what Fleur des Saints was? Was it a book? If so, what were its contents?
C. P. G.
Oasis.—Can any correspondent inform me of the correct quantity of the second syllable of this word? In Smith's Geographical Dictionary it is marked long, while Andrews' Lexicon gives it short, neither of them giving any reason for their respective quantities.
T.
Book Reviews, their Origin.—Dodsley published in 1741 The Public Register, or the Weekly Magazine. Under the head of "Records of Literature," he undertook to give a compendious account of "whatever works are published either at home or abroad worthy the attention of the public." Was this small beginning the origin of our innumerable reviews?
W. Cramp.
Martyr of Collet Well.—One James Martyr, in 1790, bought of George Lake the seat called Collet Well, in the parish of Otford. Can any reader of "N. & Q." tell from what family this Martyr sprang, and what their armorial bearings are?
Q. M. S.
Black as a Mourning Colour.—Can any of your correspondents kindly inform me when black was first known in England, as the colour of mourning robes? We read in Hamlet:
"'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
That can denote me truly."
W. W.
Malta.
The Word "Mardel," or "Mardle," whence derived?—It is in common use in the east of Norfolk in the sense of to gossip, thus "He would mardel there all day long," meaning, waste his time in gossiping.
J. L. Sisson.
Analogy between the Genitive and Plural.—In a note by Rev. J. Bandinel, in Mr. Christmas' edition of Pegge's Anecdotes of the English Language, 1844, the question is asked at p. 167.:
"Why is there such an analogy, in many languages, between the genitive and the plural? In Greek, in Latin, in English, and German, it is so. What is the cause of this?"
Can you point me to any work where this hint has been carried out?
H. T. G.
Hull.
Ballina Castle.—Where can I see a view of Ballina Castle, in the county of Mayo? and what is the best historical and descriptive account of that county, or of the town of Castlebar, or other places in the county?
O. L. R. G.
Henry I.'s Tomb.—Lyttleton, in his History of England, quoting from an author whose name I forget, states that no monument was ever erected to the memory of this king in Reading Abbey. Man, on the contrary, in his History of Reading, without quoting his authority, states that a splendid monument was erected with recumbent figures of Henry and Adelais, his second wife; which was destroyed by the mistaken zeal of the populace during the Reformation.
Which of these statements is the true one? And if Man's be, on what authority is it probably founded?
Pembrokiensis.
"For man proposes, but God disposes."—This celebrated saying is in book i. ch. xix. of the English translation of De Imitatione Christi, of which Hallam says more editions have been published than of any other book except the Bible.—Can any of your correspondents tell me whether the saying originated with the author, Thomas A. Kempis?
A. B. C.
Garrick Street, May Fair.—In Hertford Street, May Fair, there is fixed in the wall of a house (No. 15.) a square stone on which is inscribed:
"Garrick Street, January 15, 1764."
I shall be glad to know the circumstances connected with this inscription, which is not in any way alluded to in the works descriptive of London to which I have referred.
C. I. R.
The Forlorn Hope.—The "Forlorn Hope" is the body of men who volunteer first to enter a besieged town, after a breach has been made in the fortifications. That I know: but it is evidently some quotation, and if any of your readers should be able to give any information as to its origin, and where it is to be found, I should, as I said before, be much obliged.
Fenton.
Mitred Abbot in Wroughton Church, Wilts.—Not very long ago, while this church was under repair, there was discovered on one of the pillars, behind the pulpit, a fresco painting of a mitred abbot. I have corresponded with the rector on the subject, but unfortunately he kept no drawing of it; and all the information he is able to afford me is, that "the vestments were those ordinarily pourtrayed, with scrip, crosier," &c. Such being the case, I have troubled "N. & Q." with this Query, in the hope that some one may be able to give me farther information as to date, name, &c.
Rusell Gole.
Reynolds' Portrait of Barretti.—Can any of your correspondents inform me where the portrait of Barretti, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now is?
Geo. R. Corner.
Crosses on Stoles.—When were the three crosses now usually embroidered on priests' stoles in the Roman Catholic Church introduced? Were they used in England before the Reformation? In sepulchral brasses the stoles, although embroidered and fringed, and sometimes also enlarged at the ends, are (so far as I have observed) without the crosses. If used, what was their form?
H. P.
Temporalities of the Church.—Is there any record existing of a want of money for the maintenance of the clergy, or for other pious uses, in any part of the world before the establishment of the Christian religion under Constantine? or of any necessity having arisen for enforcing the payment of tithes or offerings by ecclesiastical censures during that period?
H. P.
Etymology of "The Lizard."—What is the etymology of the name "The Lizard," as applied in our maps to that long low green point, stretching out into the sea at the extreme south of England? My idea of the etymology would be (judging from the name and pronunciation of a small town in the immediate neighbourhood of the point) lys-ard, from two Celtic words: the first, lys, as found in the name Lismore, and others of a like class in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland; the second ard, a long point running into the sea. In Cornwall, to my ear, the name had quite the Celtic intonation L̄ys-̄ard; not at all like L̆iz̄ard, as we would speak it, short.
C. D. Lamont.
Greenock.
Worm in Books.—Can you or any of your numerous correspondents suggest a remedy for the worm in old books and MSS.? I know of a valuable collection in the muniment room of a nobleman in the country, which is suffering severely at the present time from the above destructive agent; and although smoke has been tried, and shavings of Russia leather inserted within the pages of the books, the evil still exists. As this question has most likely been asked before, and answered in your valuable little work, I shall be obliged by your pointing out in what volume it occurs, as I have not a set by me to refer to and thus save you the trouble.
Alethes.