Replies to Minor Queries.
Vanes (Vol. v., p. 490.).—Taking up by accident the other day your fifth volume, I saw what I believe is a still unanswered Query respecting the earliest notice of vanes as indicators of the wind; and turning to my notes I found the following extract from Beckman's Inventions, &c.:
"In Ughelli Italia Sacra, Romæ 1652, fol. iv., p 735., we find the following inscription on a weathercock then existing at Brixen; 'Dominus Rampertus Episc. gallum hunc fieri præcepit an. 820.'"
L. A. M.
Loselerius Villerius (Vol. vii., p. 454.).—I beg to inform S. A. S. that his copy of the New Testament, which wants the title-page, was printed by Henry Stephens the second, at Geneva, in the year 1580. As to it being "valuable," I should not consider him unfortunate if he could exchange it for a shilling.
Loselerius Villerius was Pierre l'Oyseleur de Villiers, a professor of Genevan divinity, who came over to London, and there published Beza's Latin version of the New Testament, in 1574. He was not, however, as your correspondent supposed him to be, the editor of the decapitated volume in question; but Beza transferred his notes to an impression completed by himself.
S. A. S. has, in the next place, inquired for any satisfactory "list of editions of the Bible." It appears that, so far as he is concerned, Le Long, Boerner, Masch, and Cotton have lived and laboured in vain.
The folio Bible lastly described by your correspondent is not "so great a curiosity" as family tradition maintained. The annotations "placed in due order" are merely the Genevan notes.—See
the Archdeacon of Cashel's very accurate and excellent work, Editions of the Bible, and Parts thereof, in English, p. 75.: Oxford, 1852.
R. G.
Westminster Parishes (Vol. vii., p. 454.).—In 1630 the City and Liberties of Westminster contained the churches of St. Margaret, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. Clement Danes, and St. John Baptist Savoy.
The registers of burials, marriages, and christenings, of St. Margaret's Church, began January 1, 1538.
The Fire of London did not destroy any church in Westminster.
Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.
Hevristic (Vol. vii., p. 237.).—The term hevristisch, in the first edition of the translation of Kant's Critik, is not given in the vocabulary appended to the translation; but under the word ostensiv it is stated that in its meaning it stands opposed to the word euristic (hevristisch in German). But in the second edition, published in 1818, it is remarked, under the words evristic, euristic, hevristisch, that the term should, in Sir Wm. Hamilton's opinion, be euretic or heuretic; the word hevristisch being an error of long standing in German philosophy. The derivation of euretic would be from εὑρετικος.
In Tissot's translation, hevristisch is rendered by heuristique; in Mantovani's, by evristico; in Born's, by heuristicus. In Krug's Lexicon, hevristik is given as derived from εὑρισκω, εὑρειν. The hevristic method, Krug remarks, is also called the analytical. It may be added, that in the first edition of the Critik (Riga, 1781), the word is hevristisch. In the fourth edition (Riga, 1794), published also in Kant's lifetime, it is hevristisch. In Rosenkranz's edition (Leipzig, 1838), the word is changed into heuristisch; and also, in another edition of the same year, published also at Leipzig, it is written heuristisch, and not hevristisch.
In respect to the Leipzig edition of 1818, which is that now before me, the term hevristisch, in speaking of hevristich principles, is particularly alluded to. (See page 512. line 10.) I do not find, after a hasty inspection, this word changed, in any of the editions I possess, to empirisch.
Francis Haywood.
Liverpool.
Creole (Vol. vii., p. 381.).—The word appears to be a French form of the Spanish criollo, which in the dictionary of Nuñez de Taboada is defined, "El hijo de padres Europeos nacido en America;" whilst in the old dictionary of Stevens (1726) it is translated, "Son of a Spaniard and a West India woman." In Brande's Dictionary of Science, &c. Creole is said to mean the descendants of whites born in Mexico, South America, or the West Indies, the blood remaining unmixed with that of other races, &c.
Von Tschudi says, that in South America the Spaniards apply the term Creole not only to the human race, but also to horses, bullocks, and even to poultry.
A. C. M.
Exeter.
General Monk and the University of Cambridge (Vol. vii., pp. 427. 486.).—Leicestriensis begs to thank Mr. C. H. Cooper and Mr. J. P. Ord for their replies to his Query on this subject. He avails himself of this, the earliest opportunity, of assuring Mr. Ord of his readiness to afford him what slight information is in his power respecting the MS. in question (which only came into his possession within the last two or three months), if he will communicate with him as below.
William Kelly.
Town Hall, Leicester.
Ecclesia Anglicana (Vol. ii., pp. 12. 440.).—I am much obliged to your correspondent W. Fraser for his answer to my Query, and the references with which he supplies me. I shall be glad to ask a still more extensive question, which will probably explain the object of the former more limited one. Is it usual, in any of the unreformed branches of the church on the continent, to find a similar appellation (implying distinct nationality) employed in authoritative documents, e.g. would it be possible to find in the title-pages of any Missal, &c., such words as "in usum Ecclesiæ Hispanicæ, Lusitanæ, Gallicanæ?" If not now, was it more customary in mediæval times, and when did it cease?
Should we be justified in saying, that at every period of her existence, with rare exceptions, the Anglican church, consciously or unconsciously, maintained the theory of her nationality with greater distinctness than any of the continental churches? I fancy I have heard, though I cannot state on what authority, that this assertion might be made most truly of the Portuguese church, and should be very glad to have any light thrown on the subject by your able correspondent. Certain it is, that amongst the various complaints made against Cardinal Wiseman and the Papal aggressors, it has never been laid to their charge, that they arrogated to themselves the title of members of the Anglican church.
G. R. M.
Gibbon's Library (Vol. vii., p. 485.).—In 1838 I purchased some of Gibbon's books at Lausanne, out of a basketful on sale at a small shop, the depôt of the Religious Tract Society! Edward Gibbon, printed on a small slip of paper, was pasted in them.
A. Holt White.
Golden Bees (Vol. vii., p. 478.).—When the tomb of Childeric, father of Clovis, was opened in 1653, there were found, besides the skeletons of his horse and page, his arms, crystal orb, &c.,
"more than three hundred little bees of the purest gold, their wings being inlaid with a red stone like cornelian."
Ceridwen.
Passage in Orosius (Vol. vii., p. 399.).—May not the "twam tyncenum," between which Cyrus the Great's officer attempted to cross a river, be the inflated skins which the Arabs still use, as the ancient inhabitants of Assyria did, for crossing the Tigris and Euphrates, and of which the Nimroud sculptures give so many illustrations?
Ceridwen.
Names first given to Parishes (Vol. iv., p. 153.).—I wish to repeat this Query in another form, and particularly in reference to the termination -by. I suspect that wherever a cluster of villages, like that given by F. B., occurs with this Danish suffix, it is a proof that the district was originally a colony of Danes. The one in which I reside (the hundreds of Flegg), from its situation is particularly likely to have been so. Its original form was evidently that of a large island in the estuary of the Yare, which formed numerous inlets in its shores; and this was flanked on each aisle by a Roman garrison, one the celebrated fortress of Garianonum, now Burgh Castle, and the other Caistor-next-Yarmouth, in which a camp, burying-ground, &c., besides its name, sufficiently attest its Roman origin. The two hundreds of Flegg, (or Fleyg, as appears on its common seal) comprise twenty villages, thirteen of which terminate in -by. These are Ormesby, Hemesby, Filby, Mauteby, Stokesby, Herringby, Thrigby, Billockby, Ashby or Askeby, Clippesby, Rollesby, Oby, and Scratby or Scroteby.
Professor Worsaae, I believe, considers Ormesby to have been originally Gormsby, i.e. Gorm's or Guthrum's village, but I have not his work at hand to refer to. Thrigby, or Trigby as it is vernacularly pronounced, and Rollesby, may take their names from Trigge or Tricga, and Rollo, names occurring in Scandinavian history. I should feel obliged if Professors Worsaae and Stephens, or other Scandinavian antiquaries and scholars, would kindly inform me if my surmises are correct, and if the rest of the names may be similarly derived. I should add that Stokesby fully hears out the suggestion of C. (Vol. v., p. 161.), as there is even now a ferry over the Bure at that point. The district is entirely surrounded by rivers and extensive tracts of marshes, and intersected by large inland lakes, locally termed "Broads," which undoubtedly were all comprised in the estuary, and which would form safe anchorages for the long galleys of the Northmen.
E. S. Taylor.
Ormesby, St. Margaret, Norfolk.
Grafts and the Parent Tree (Vol. vii., p. 436.).—In order to insure the success of grafts, it is material that they be inserted on congenial stocks: delicate-growing fruits require dwarf-growing stocks; and free luxuriant-growing trees require strong stocks. To graft scions of delicate wooded trees on strong stocks, occasions an over-supply of sap to the grafts; and though at first they seem to flourish, yet they do not endure. A few examples of this sort may lead to an opinion, that "grafts, after some fifteen years, wear themselves out;" but the opinion is not (generally speaking) well founded. I have for many years grafted the old Golden Pippin on the Paradise or Doucin stock, and found it to answer very well, and produce excellent fruit. Taunton has long been famous for its Nonpareils, which are there produced in great excellence and abundance. The Cornish Gilliflower, one of our very best apples, was well known in the time of King Charles I.; and, as yet, shows no symptoms of decay: that fruit requires a strong stock.
The ancient Ribston Pippin was a seedling:
"It has been doubted by some, whether the tree at Ribston Hall was an original from the seed: the fact of its not being a grafted tree has been satisfactorily ascertained by Sir Henry Goodricke, the present proprietor, by causing suckers from its root to be planted out—which have set the matter at rest that it was not a grafted tree. One of these suckers has produced fruit in the Horticultural Garden at Chiswick."—Lindley's Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden, 1831, p. 81.
J. G.
Exon.
Lord Cliff and Howell's Letters (Vol. vii., p. 455.).—The Lord Cliff, as to whom your correspondent inquires, and to whom James Howell addresses some of his letters, is intended for Henry Lord Clifford, and afterwards, on the decease of his father, fifth and last Earl of Cumberland. He died in December, 1643. Amongst the many republications of modern times, I regret that we have no new edition, with illustrative notes, of Howell's Letters. It is the more necessary, as one at least of the later editions of this most entertaining book is very much abridged and mutilated.
James Crossley.
Y. S. M. asks "Who was Lord Cliff?" He might as well have added, "Who was Lord Viscount Col, Sir Thomas Sa, or End. Por?" who also figure in Epistolæ Ho-Elianiæ. Had he looked over that entertaining book more attentively, Y. S. M. would have seen that all these were mere contractions of Howell's correspondents, Lord Clifford, Lord Colchester, Sir Thomas Savage, and Endymion Porter.
J. O.
The Bouillon Bible (Vol. vii., p. 296.).—H. W., who was good enough to answer my Query respecting Philip D'Auvergne, has probably seen that the Bible of which he inquires has turned up.
It seems to have been pawned (if I rightly understand the report in the newspapers) to a Mr. Broughton of the Foreign Office, who had advanced money to the prince to enable him to prosecute his claim to the dukedom. It has now been ordered by Vice-Chancellor Sir W. P. Wood to be offered for sale as part of Mr. Broughton's estate, for the benefit of that gentleman's creditors. It was stated in court, that on a former occasion, when the late Archbishop of Canterbury wished to purchase it, 1500l. was asked for it. I was much obliged to H. W. for the information he gave me, as I took some little interest in Philip D'Auvergne from having heard that he was a friend of my grandfather. They were, I find, both of them officers in the Racehorse during Lord Mulgrave's discovery voyage to the North Pole.
E. H. A.
Rhymes on Places (Vol. vii., p. 143.).—Northamptonshire:
"Armston on the hill,
Polebrook in the hole,
Ashton turns the mill,
Oundle burns the coal."
Repeated to me by poor old drunken Jem White the sexton, many years since, when on the "battlements" of Oundle Church; Oundle being the market town for the three villages in the rhymes quoted.
Brick.
Serpents' Tongues (Vol. vi., p. 340.; Vol. vii., p. 316.).—May I be allowed to inform Mr. Pinkerton that the sharks' teeth (fossils), now so frequently found imbedded in this tufa rock, and cheaply sold, are not known as "the tongues of vipers," but, on the contrary, from time immemorial, as the "tongues of St. Paul." In proof of this, I would refer Mr. Pinkerton to the following extract, which I have taken from an Italian letter now in the Maltese Library; which was published on August 28, 1668, by Dr. Francis Buonamico, a native of this island, and addressed to Agostino Scilla of Messina. Page 5., the writer remarks:
"Che avanti de partire da questa isolde dovesse farle una raccolta di glossopietre, O lingue come que le chiamiamo di S. Paolo."
W. W.
Malta.
Consecrated Roses, &c. (Vol. vii., pp. 407. 480.).—An instance of the Golden Rose being conferred on an English baron, will be found related in Davidson's History of Newenham Abbey in the County of Devon, p. 208.
J. D. S.