Minor Queries.
The Hebrew Testament.—Having lately completed the above work, so as to be "ready for the press" without much delay, I should be glad before I resign the MS. to the hands of the printer, to have the advantage of the suggestions of those of your erudite readers who have made sacred criticism their study.
Moses Margoliouth.
Dr. Franklin.—I possess the following lines in the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, written in the year 1780. Can any of your readers tell me who was the author of them, and when and where they were first printed?
"When Orpheus went down to the Regions below,
Which men are forbidden to see;
He tun'd up his Lyre, as historians show,
To set his Euridice free.
All Hell was astonish'd, a person so wise
Should so rashly endanger his life,
And venture so far! But how vast their surprise
When they heard that he came for his wife.
"To find out a punishment due to the fault
Old Pluto had puzzled his brain;
But Hell had not torments sufficient he thought,
So he gave him his wife back again.
But pity succeeding, soon mov'd his hard heart,
And, pleas'd with his playing so well,
He took her again, in reward of his Art;
Such power had Music in Hell!"
G. M. B.
Flemish Refugees.—In the troubled times of the Reformation, England was not seldom the refuge for Flemings who, for the sake of religion, abandoned their country. Among these was Mr. Joos Tuck, who, according to a consistorial decision of Dec. 14, 1582, was proposed by G. Van Den Haute, then pastor at Sluis, to the brethren of the Flemish Class, since "they had taken knowledge of the sound and good gifts of their brother." He left Sluis soon after, probably in July, 1583, and withdrew to England. I should be glad to learn what befell him there.
Peter Lambert was a student of the University of Ghent: though, as far as I am aware, he is not mentioned in Te Water's History of the Reformed Church and University in Ghent. On July 21, 1583, a student made known his wish to propose himself as candidate for the ministry; and on August 4 appeared Peter Lambert, student of the University of Ghent, before the consistory, requesting the brethren to grant him the twenty-five guilders which had been promised; because, on account of the troubled state of the country, he wished to flee to England, on which request was decided: "Since a well-known and pious brother, who is compelled to flee, is in need of help, let the deacons and pensionary of the town be addressed thereon." Very probably, therefore, he also took refuge in England. Can any one give me farther information?—From the Navorscher.
J. H. Van Dale.
"Sad are the rose leaves," &c.—Can you or any of your correspondents tell me whence come the following lines?—
"Sad are the rose leaves which betoken
That there the dead lie buried low;
But sadder, when the heart is broken,
Are smiles upon the lips of woe."
They are quoted from memory from the album of a lady friend.
Iseldunensis.
Wanted, the original habitat of the following Sentences:
1. "Ministeriun circa, non magisterium supra, Scriptures."
2. "Virtus rectorem ducemque desiderat, vitia sine magistro discuntur."
3. "In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in omnibus charitas."
4. "Exiguum est ad legem bonum esse." Wetstein assigns this last to Seneca, Epist. 17.; but there is some error. It very likely is in Seneca.
5. "Verbum audimus, motum sentimus, præsentiam credimus, modum nescimus." Durandus is the author.
6. "En rem indignam! nos qui jam tot annos sumus doctores S. Theologiæ, denuo cogimur adire ludos literarios." Spoken by the adversaries of Erasmus.
What is the earliest authority for the story of St. John and his partridge?
Will Mr. Bolton Corney be kind enough to explain the occasion of Porson's notable speech recorded on the last page of his Curiosities Illustrated?
His sagacity was not at fault in suspecting a French origin for D'Israeli's story, p. 89. See Bassompière, in Retrospective Review, xiii. 346.
S. Z. Z. S.
Tea-marks.—Accident threw in my way lately a catalogue of a large sale of teas in Mincing Lane; and my attention was drawn to certain marks against the several lots, which appeared to indicate particular qualities, but to me, as uninitiated, perfectly incomprehensible. In this dilemma I asked one of our principal brokers the meaning of all this, and I was informed that teas are sampled and tasted by the brokers, and divided in the main into seven classes, distinguished as follows:
Can any of your correspondents tell us when this classification was first introduced, or the origin of the first two characters? Can they be Chinese, and the names given from some fancied resemblance to the gallows, or the letter T turned sideways? My friend the broker, though a very intelligent man, could give me no information whatever on these points.
W. T.
42. Lowndes Square.
William the Conqueror's Surname.—Had William a surname? If so, what was it? By surname I mean such as is transmitted from father to son, not the epithets he used to bestow on himself in documents, as "I, William the Bastard," "I, William the Conqueror," &c.
Tee Bee.
Old Saying.—
"Merry be the first
And merry be the last,
And merry be the first of August."
Having frequently heard this old saying, I take the liberty of asking, through your much valued paper, it any of your readers are able to tell me its origin?
Edm. L. Bagshawe.
Bath Literary Institution.
To pluck a Crow with One.—It is a common expression in all ranks, I believe, of this country, to speak of "plucking a crow" with such a one; meaning to call him to account for some delinquency. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of the phrase?
W. W.
"Well's a fret."—When, after a short pause in conversation, any one utters the interjection, "Well!" it is a very common practice in Nottingham to say:
"... and well's a fret,
He that dies for love will not be hang'd for debt."
I have asked a great number of persons for an explanation, but they all use the phrase without any meaning. Can you, or any of your readers, tell me if it have any; or if it be only nonsensical doggrel?
Devoniensis.
Pay the Piper.—This expression surely has a firm foundation. Can any of your correspondents trace it?
W. T. M.
Hong Kong.
Greek Inscription upon a Font, mentioned by Jeremy Taylor.—
"This was ingeniously signified by that Greek inscription upon a font, which is so prettily contrived, that the words may be read after the Greek or after the Hebrew manner, and be exactly the same:
'Νίψον ἀνόμημα, μὴ μόναν ὄψιν,'
'Lord, wash my sin, and not my face only.'"—Life of Christ, part i. sect. 9. disc. 6., "On Baptism," vol. ii. p. 235., Eden's edition.
Can any reader of "N. & Q." state the bishop's authority for this ingenious device?
A. Taylor.
Acharis.—The following is extracted from Dugdale's Monasticon:
"Radulphus Wicliff armiger tenet in Wicliff duas partes decimarum de dominicis quondam Acharis, quondam ad 5. s. modò nihil quia ut dicit sunt inclusæ in parco suo, ideo ad consilium."
What is the meaning of the term Acharis, and of the passage? It is an extract from the Rentale spiritualium Possessionum atque temporalium Prioratus Sancti Martini juxta Richmund in agro Eboracensi.
A. W. H.
Attainment of Majority.—Professor De Morgan will, I am sure, permit me to put this question to him:
In a short treatise "On Ancient and Modern Usage in Reckoning," written by him for the Companion to the Almanac of 1850, he explains, at page 9., the usage of attainment of majority in these words:
"Nevertheless in the law, which here preserves the old reckoning, he is of full age on the 9th: though he were born on the 10th, he is of age to execute a settlement a minute after midnight on the morning of the 9th."
I want to have this statement reconciled with the opening scene of Ben Jonson's Staple of News, where Pennyboy jun. counts, as his watch strikes—"one, two, three, four, five, six!"—
"Enough, enough, dear watch,
Thy pulse hath beat enough
—The hour is come so long expected," &c.
Then "the fashioner" comes in to fit on the heir's new clothes; he had "waited below 'till the clock struck," and gives, as an excuse, "your worship might have pleaded nonage, if you had got 'em on ere I could make just affidavit of the time."
All these particulars are too verbatim to admit of doubt as to the peculiar usage of that time; and from other sources I know that Ben Jonson was right: but it is not alluded to in the treatise first mentioned, nor is it stated when the usage was altered to "a minute after midnight."
A. E. B.
Leeds.
Hartman's Account of Waterloo.—In the note to the 3rd Canto of Childe Harold, Stanza 29, Lord Byron says:
"The place where Major Howard fell was not far from two tall and solitary trees, which stand a few yards from each other at a pathway's side. Beneath these he died and was buried. The body has since been removed to England."
I have a copy on which one has written—
"Hartman's account is full and interesting. He was in conversation with Major Howard when he was killed; and afterwards gave directions for his burial. Though no poet, he could describe graphically what he saw and did."
The position of Hartman, and his apparent familiarity with Major Howard, seem to take him out of the herd of writers on Waterloo; but I cannot learn who he was, or what he wrote. Can any of your readers tell me? The note may have been made in mere wantonness, but it looks genuine.
G. D.
Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury.—When was Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, born; who, Camden tells us, was the "greatest ornament" of Higham Ferrers? I have seen his birth somewhere stated to have taken place in the year 1360; but no day or month was given. I should also be glad to know to what extent he was a contributor towards the restoration of Croydon Church, the tower and porch of which bear his arms?
R. W. Elliot.
Translation of Athenæus.—I find, in the Classical Journal, xxxviii. 11., published in 1828, that an English translation of Athenæus had been completed before his death by R. Fenton, Esq., F.R.S., author of the History of Pembrokeshire. The writer farther says: "We have reason to believe that the MS. is now in possession of his son, the Rev. S. Fenton, Vicar of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire." Has this version, or any part of it, ever been published?
P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.
Passages from Euripides.—Rogers translates two fine passages from Euripides:
"There is a streamlet issuing from a rock," &c.
and
"Dear is that valley to the murmuring bees," &c.
Where is the original Greek to be found?
F.
Anderson's Royal Genealogies.—Is there any memoir or biographical account extant of James Anderson, D.D., the learned compiler of that most excellent and valuable work bearing the above title, and published in London, 1732, fol.?
G.