Minor Queries.
Clerical Duel.—I shall be obliged to any correspondent who will supply the name of the courtier referred to in the following anecdote, which is to be found in Burckhardt's Kirchen-Geschichte der Deutschen Gemeinden in London, Tub. 1798, p. 77.
Anton Wilhelm Böhme, who came over as chaplain with Prince George of Denmark, officiated at the German Chapel, St. James's, from the year 1705 to 1722. He was a favourite of Queen Anne, and a friend of Isaac Watts. On one occasion he preached against adultery in a way which gave great offence to one of the courtiers present, who conceived that a personal attack on himself was intended. He accordingly sent a challenge to the preacher, which was without hesitation accepted; and at the time and place appointed the chaplain made his appearance in full canonicals, with his Bible in his hand, and gave the challenger a lecture which led to their reconciliation and friendship.
I should like also to know whether there is any other authority for the story than that which I leave quoted.
S. R. Maitland.
Gloucester
Pistol.—What is the date of the original introduction of this word into our vocabulary in either of the senses in which it is equivocally used by Falstaff in 1 Henry IV., Act. V. Sc. 3.? In the sense of fire-arms, pistols seem to have been unknown by that name as late as the year 1541; for the stat. 33 Hen. VIII. c. 6., after reciting the murders, &c. committed "with cross-bows, little short hand-guns, and little hagbuts," prohibits the possession of "any hand-gun other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of one whole yard, or any hagbut or demihake other than such as shall be in the stock and gun of the length of three quarters of one yard." But throughout the act there is no mention of the word "pistol."
J. F. M.
Council of Laodicca, Canon 35.—Can any of your readers inform me whether, in any early work on the Councils, the word angelos is in the text, without having angulos in the margin? If so, oblige me by stating the editions.
Clericus (D).
Pennycomequick, adjoining Plymouth.—The Bath and West of England Agricultural Society held their recent annual meeting here. Will any of your correspondents oblige me with the derivation of this remarkable word?
R. H. B.
Park the Antiquary.—In a note to the third volume (p. lxxiii.) of the Grenville Correspondence the following passage: "Barker has printed a second note, which Junius is supposed to have written to Garrick, upon the authority of Park the antiquary, who states that he found it in a cotemporary newspaper," &c. This is not strictly correct. Barker says (p. 190.), "The letter was found in a copy of Junius belonging to [Query, which had belonged to?] T. Park, &c. He had [Query, it is presumed?] cut it out of a newspaper; but unfortunately has omitted to furnish the date of the newspaper." [Query, How then known to be cotemporary?] The difference is important; but where is the copy containing this letter? By whom has it been seen? By whom and when first discovered? Where did Barker find the story recorded? When and where first printed?
P. T. A.
Honorary D.C.L.'s.—It was mentioned in a report of proceedings at the late Installation, that the two royal personages honoured with degrees, having been doctored by diploma, would be entitled to vote in Convocation,—a privilege not possessed by the common tribe of honorary D.C.L.'s.
Can you inform me whether Dr. Johnson had, or ever exercised, the right referred to in virtue of his M.A. degree (conferred on the publication of the Dictionary), or of the higher academical dignity to which his name has given such a world-wide celebrity?
Cantabrigiensis.
Battle of Villers en Couché.—Some of your correspondents, better versed than myself in military matters, will doubtless render me assistance by replying to this Query. Where can I find a copious and accurate account of the battle, or perhaps I should rather say skirmish, of Villers en Couché? If I am rightly informed, it must be one of the most remarkable actions on record, when the comparative numbers of the troops engaged are taken into consideration. We have, as an heirloom in our family, a medal won by an officer on that occasion: it is suspended from a red and white ribbon, and is inscribed thus:
"FORTITUDINE
VILLERS EN COUCHÉ.
24TH APRIL,
1794."
I do not remember to have read any account of the battle; but, as I have heard from the lips of one who gained his information from the officer before alluded to, the particulars were these:—General Mansell, with a force consisting of two squadrons of the 15th Hussars, and one squadron of the German Legion, two hundred and seventy-two in all, charged a body of the French army, ten thousand strong. The French were formed in a hollow square: but five times, as I am informed, did our gallant troops charge into and out of the square, till the French, struck with a sudden panic, retreated with a loss of twelve hundred men. I am desirous of authenticating this almost incredible account, and shall be thankful for such information as may guide me to an authoritative record of the action in question.
W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A.
Dr. Misaubin.—Will any of your numerous correspondents give me any information, or refer me to any work where I can find it, respecting Dr. Misaubin, who appears to have practised in London during the first half of the last century? What was the peculiarity of his practice?
Griffin.
Kemble, Willet, and Forbes.—What are the two concluding lines of an epigram published ten or twelve years ago, beginning,—
"The case of Kemble, Willet, and Forbes,
Much of the Chancellor's time absorbs;
If I were the Chancellor I should tremble
At the mention of Willet, Forbes, and Kemble"?
Uneda.
Philadelphia.
Piccalyly.—The ornament, somewhat between a hood, a scarf, and an armlet, worn hanging over the right shoulder of judges and serjeants at law, is called a piccalyly. What is the origin of this peculiarity of judicial costume, what are the earliest examples of it, and what its etymology?
No Judge.
Post-Office about 1770.—Mr. Smith, in the notes prefixed to the Grenville Correspondence, says several of Junius's letters appear to have been sent from the same post-office "as the post-mark is 'peny post payd,'"—a peculiarity of spelling not likely to occur often. Have any of your correspondents letters of that date with a like post-mark? and, if so, can they tell us where posted?
P. A. O.
"Carefully examined and well-authenticated."—I agree with Mr. Cramp (Vol. vii., p. 569.) that "the undecided question of the authorship of Junius requires that every statement should be carefully examined, and (as far as possible) only well-authenticated facts be admitted as evidence." I take leave, therefore, to remind him that my question (Vol. iii., p. 262.) remains unanswered; that I am anxious that he should authenticate his statement (p. 63.), and name some of the "many"
persons in whose libraries vellum-bound copies of Junius have been found.
V. B.
Sir Heister Ryley.—Who was the author of the Visions of Sir Heister Ryley, and whence did it derive its name? It was published in 1710, and consists of papers periodically published on serious subjects. It was one of the many short-lived periodicals that sprung up in imitation of the Tatler, and appears to have died a natural death at the end of the so-called first volume.
H. T. Riley.
Effigies with folded Hands.—On the south side of Llangathen Church, Carmarthenshire, is a huge monument (of the style well designated as bedstead) for Dr. Anthony Rudd, Bishop of St. David's, and Anne Dalton, his wife, 1616, with their recumbent effigies, and those of four sons kneeling at their head and feet. From all these figures the iconoclasts had smitten the hands upraised in prayer, and they have been replaced by plaister hands folded on the bosom. The effect is singular. Is there any other instance of such restoration?
E. D.