Minor Queries.
Fox-hunting.—Can any of your correspondents inform me, when the great national sport of fox-hunting first came into vogue?
Gervase Markham, whose work on sports, called Country Contentments, or the Husbandman's Recreations, was published in 1654, gives due honour to stag-hunting, which he describes as "the most princely and royall chase of all chases." Speaking of hare-hunting, he says, "It is every honest man's and good man's chase, and which is indeed the freest, readiest, and most enduring pastime;" but he classes the hunting of the fox and the badger together, and he describes them as "Chases of a great deal lesse use or cunning than any of the former, because they are of a much hotter scent, and as being intituled stinking scents, and not sweet scents."
Although he does admit that this chase may be profitable and pleasant for the time, insomuch as there are not so many defaults, but a continuing sport; he concludes, "I will not stand much upon them, because they are not so much desired as the rest."
R. W. B.
Broderie Anglaise.—Being a young lady whose love for the fine arts is properly modified by a reverence for antiquity, I am desirous to know whether the present fashionable occupation of the "Broderie Anglaise," being undoubtedly a revival, is however traceable (as is alleged) to so remote a period as the days of Elizabeth?
Sarah Anna.
"The Convent," an Elegy.—Among the works ascribed to the Abbé François Arnaud, a member of the French Academy, who died in 1784, there is one entitled, Le Couvent, Elégie traduite de l'Anglais. What is the English poem here alluded to?
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
Memorial of Newton.—The subscription now in progress for raising a statue to Sir Isaac Newton at Grantham, the place of his early education, recalls to my recollection a memorial of him, about which I may possibly learn a few particulars from some one of the numerous readers of "N. & Q."
I remember hearing when a school-boy at the college, Grantham, some thirty-five years ago, that Newton's name, cut by himself on a stone in the recess of one of the windows of the school-house, was to be seen there no long time back; but that the stone, or the portion of it which contained the name, had been cut out by some mason at a time when the building was being repaired, and was in the possession of a gentleman then living in the largest house in Grantham—built, I believe, by himself. Those of your readers who knew Grantham at the time, will not need to be told the name of the gentleman to whom I allude. The questions I would wish to ask are these:
1. Was such a stone to be seen, as described, some forty or fifty years since?
2. Is it true that it was removed in the way that I have stated?
3. If so, in whose possession is the stone at this present time?
M. A.
Mammon.—Perhaps some of your readers could refer me to some work containing information in reference to the following allegation of Barnes, on Matt. vi. 24.:
"Mammon is a Syriac word, a name given to an idol worshipped as the god of riches. It has the same meaning as Plutus among the Greeks. It is not known that the Jews even formally worshipped this idol, but they used the word to denote wealth."
My question relates to the passages in Italics.
B. H. C.
Derivation of Wellesley.—In a note to the lately published Autobiographic Sketches of Thomas De Quincey, I find (p. 131.) the following passage:
"It had been always known that some relationship existed between the Wellesleys and John Wesley. Their names had in fact been originally the same; and the Duke of Wellington himself, in the earlier part of his career, when sitting in the Irish House of Commons, was always known to the Irish journals as Captain Wesley. Upon this arose a natural belief, that the aristocratic branch of the house had improved the name into Wellesley. But the true process of change had been precisely the other way. Not Wesley had been expanded into Wellesley, but inversely, Wellesley had been contracted by household usage into Wesley. The name must have been Wellesley in its earliest stage, since it was founded upon a connexion with Wells Cathedral."
May I ask what this connexion was, and whence the authority for the statement? Had the illustrious Duke's adoption of his title from another town in Somersetshire anything to do with it?
J. M.
Cranwells, Bath.
The Battle of Cruden—A Query for Copenhagen Correspondents.—In the year 1059, in the reign of Malcolm III., king of Scotland, a battle was fought on the Links of Cruden, in the county of Aberdeen, between the Danes and the Scots, in which the Prince Royal, who commanded the Danish forces, was slain. He was buried on the Danish field, near to which, according to the custom of the times, King Malcolm "biggit ane kirk." This church was overblown with sand, and another built farther inland, which is the present parish church. To the churchyard wall there leans a black marble gravestone, about 7 ft. × 3 ft. 6 in., which is said to have been sent from Denmark as a monument for the grave of his royal highness. The stone has the appearance of considerable antiquity about it, and appears to have been inlaid with marble, let into it about half an inch; the marks of the iron brads, and the lead which secured it, are still visible.
"Tradition says it did from Denmark come,
A monument the king sent for his son."
And it is also stated that, until within the last hundred years, a small sum of money was annually sent by the Danish government to the minister of Cruden for keeping the monument in repair. I should be glad to learn if there are any documents among the royal archives at Copenhagen, which would invalidate or substantiate the popular tradition.
Abredonensis.
Ampers and (
or
).—I have heard this symbol called both ampers and and apussé and. Which, if either, is the correct term; and what is its derivation?
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
The Myrtle Bee.—I should feel much obliged to any reader of "N. & Q." who would answer the following questions respecting the bird called the Myrtle Bee; separating carefully at the same time the result of his personal experience from any hearsay evidence that he may have collected on the subject. In what places in the British Isles has the bird been seen? During what months? Is it gregarious, or solitary? What are its haunts and habits, and on what does it feed? What is its colour, shape, and size? Its mode of flight? Does any cabinet contain a preserved specimen, and has any naturalist described or figured it either as a British or a foreign bird?
W. R. D. Salmon.
Birmingham.
Henry Earl of Wotton.—Jan van Kerckhove, Lord of Kerkhoven and Heenvliet, who died at Sassenheim, March 7, 1660, married Catherine Stanhope, daughter of the Earl of Chesterfield; and had issue Charles Henry, who in 1659 was chief magistrate of Breda, and was created Earl of Wotton by the king of England. Could any of your readers favour me with the date of the above marriage, as also those of the birth of the father and the son; as well as that of the elevation of the latter to the peerage of England?—From the Navorscher.
A. I.
Connexion between the Celtic and Latin Languages.—Can any of your correspondents supply any links of connection between the Celtic and Latin languages?
M.
Queen Anne's Motto.—What authority have we for asserting that "Semper eadem" was Queen Anne's motto, and that it expired with her?
Clericus (D.)
Anonymous Books.—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." furnish the names of the authors of either of the following works?
1. The Watch; an Ode, humbly inscribed to the Right Hon. the Earl of M—f—d. To which is added, the Genius of America to General Carleton, an Ode. London: J. Bew, 1778. 4to.
2. Fast Sermon, preached at —— Feb. 10th, 1779, by the Reverend —— ——; showing the Tyranny and Oppression of the British King and Parliament respecting the American Colonies. Inscribed to the Congress. 8vo. (Sine loco aut anno. An ironical Piece, severe on America.)
3. National Prejudice opposed to the National Interest; candidly considered in the Detention or Yielding up Gibraltar and Cape Breton, by the ensuing Treaty of Peace, &c. In a Letter to Sir John Bernard. London: W. Owen, 1748. 8vo.
4. The Blockheads; or Fortunate Contractor. An Opera, in Two Acts, as it was performed at New York, &c. Printed at New York. London: reprinted for G. Kearsley, 1783. 12mo.
5. The Present State of the British Empire in Europe, America, Asia, and Africa, &c.: London, 1768, 8vo., pp. 486.
Who prepared the chapters on America in this volume?
Serviens.