Replies to Minor Queries.
The Groaning Elm-plank in Dublin (Vol. viii., p. 309.).—Dr. Rimbault has given an account of the groaning-board, one of the popular delusions of two centuries ago: the following notice of it, extracted from my memoir of Sir Thomas Molyneux, Bart., M.D., and published in the Dublin University for September, 1841, may interest your readers:
"In one of William Molyneux's communications he mentions the exhibition of 'the groaning elm-plank' in Dublin, a curiosity that attracted much attention and many learned speculations about the years 1682 and 1683. He was, however, too much of a philosopher to be gulled with the rest of the people who witnessed this so-called 'sensible elm-plank,' which is said to have groaned and trembled on the application of a hot iron to one end of it. After explaining the probable cause of the noise and tremulousness by its form and condition, and by the sap being made to pass up through the pores or tubuli of the plank which was in some particular condition, he says: 'But, Tom, the generality of mankind is lazy and unthoughtful, and will not trouble themselves to think of the reason of a thing: when they have a brief way of explaining anything that is strange by saying, "The devil's in it," what need they trouble their heads about pores, and matters, and motion, figure, and disposition, when the devil and a witch shall solve the phenomena of nature.'"
W. R. Wilde.
Passage in Whiston (Vol. viii., p. 244.).—J. T. complains of not being able to find a passage in Whiston, which he says is referred to in p. 94. of Taylor on Original Sin, Lond. 1746. I do not know what Taylor he refers to. Jeremy Taylor wrote a treatise on original sin; but he lived before Whiston. I have looked into two editions of the Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin, by John Taylor, one of Lond. 1741, and another of Lond. 1750; but in neither of these can I find any mention of Mr. Whiston.
Ἁλιεύς.
Dublin.
"When Orpheus went down" (Vol. viii., pp. 196. 281.).—In addition to the information given upon this old song by Mr. Oldenshaw, I beg to add the following. It was written for and sung
by Mr. Beard, in a pantomimic entertainment entitled Orpheus and Euridice, acted at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1740. The author of the entertainment was Mr. Henry Sommer, but the song in question was "translated from the Spanish" by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Lisle, who died Rector of Burclere, Hants, 1767. It was long very popular, and is found in almost all the song-books of the latter half of the last century. Mr. Park, the editor of the last edition of Ritson's English Songs (vol. ii. p. 153.), has the following note upon this song:
"An answer to this has been written in the way of echo, and in defence of the fair sex, whom the Spanish author treated with such libellous sarcasm."
As this "echo song" is not given by Ritson or his editor, I have transcribed it from a broadside in my collection. It is said to have been written by a lady.
"When Orpheus went down to the regions below,
To bring back the wife that he lov'd,
Old Pluto, confounded, as histories show,
To find that his music so mov'd:
That a woman so good, so virtuous, and fair,
Should be by a man thus trepann'd,
To give up her freedom for sorrow and care,
He own'd she deserv'd to be damn'd.
"For punishment he never study'd a whit,
The torments of hell had not pain
Sufficient to curse her; so Pluto thought fit
Her husband should have her again.
But soon he compassion'd the woman's hard fate,
And, knowing of mankind so well,
He recall'd her again, before 'twas too late,
And said, she'd be happier in hell."
Edward F. Rimbault.
Foreign Medical Education (Vol. viii., p. 341.).—Your correspondent Medicus will find some information respecting some of the foreign universities in the Lancet for 1849, and the Medical Times and Gazette for 1852. For France he will find all he wants in Dr. Roubaud's Annuaire Médical et Pharmaceutique de la France, published by Baillière, 219. Regent Street.
M. D.
"Short red, good red" (Vol. viii., p. 182.).—Sir Walter has probably borrowed this saying from the story of Bishop Walchere, when he related the murder of Adam, Bishop of Caithness. This tragical event is told in the Chronicle of Mailros, under the year 1222; also in Forduni Scotichronicon, and in Wyntoun's Chronicle, book vii. c. ix.; but the words "short red, good red," do not appear in these accounts of the transaction.
J. Mn.
Collar of SS. (Vols. iv.-vii. passim).—At the risk of frightening you and your correspondents, I venture to resume this subject, in consequence of a circumstance to which my attention has just been directed.
In the parish church of Swarkestone in Derbyshire there is a monument to Richard Harpur, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas in the reign of Elizabeth; on which he is represented in full judicial costume, with the collar of SS., which I am told by the minister of the parish is "distinctly delineated." It may be seen in Fairholt's Costumes of England, p. 278.
As far as I am aware, this is the only instance, either on monuments or in portraits, of a puisne judge being ornamented with this decoration. Can any of your correspondents produce another example? or can they account, from any other cause, for Richard Harpur receiving such a distinction? or may I not rather attribute it to the blunder of the sculptor?
Edward Foss.
Who first thought of Table-turning (Vol. viii., p. 57.).—It is impossible to say who discovered the table-turning experiment, but it undoubtedly had its origin in the United States. It was practised here three years ago, and, although sometimes associated with spirit-rappings, has more frequently served for amusement. On this connexion it may be proper to say that Professor Faraday's theory of unconscious muscular force meets with no concurrence among those who know anything about the subject in this country. It is notorious that large tables have been moved frequently by five or six persons, whose fingers merely touched them, although upon each was seated a stout man, weighing a hundred and fifty or sixty pounds: neither involuntary nor voluntary muscular force could have effected that physical movement, when there was no other purchase on the table than that which could be gained by a pressure of the tips of the fingers.
Philadelphia.
Passage of Thucydides on the Greek Factions (Vol. vii., p. 594.; Vol. viii., pp. 44. 137.).—My attempt to find the passage attributed by Sir A. Alison to Thucydides in the real Thucydides was unsuccessful for the best of reasons, viz. that it does not exist there. He has probably borrowed it from some modern author, who, as it appears to me, has given a loose paraphrase of the words which I cited from Thucyd. III. 82., and has expanded the thought in a manner not uncommon with some writers, by adding the expression about the "sword and poniard." Some other misquotations of Sir A. Alison from the classical writers may be seen in the Edinburgh Review for April last, No. CXCVIII. p. 275.
L.
Origin of "Clipper" as applied to Vessels (Vol. viii., p. 100.).—For many years the fleetest sailing vessels built in the United States were
constructed at Baltimore. They were very sharp, long, low; and their masts were inclined at a much greater angle than usual with those in other vessels. Fast sailing pilot boats and schooners were thus rigged; and in the last war with England, privateers of the Baltimore build were universally famed for their swiftness and superior sailing qualities. "A Baltimore clipper" became the expression among shipbuilders for a vessel of peculiar make; in the construction of which, fleetness was considered of more importance than a carrying capacity. When the attention of naval architects was directed to the construction of swift sailing ships, they were compelled to adopt the clipper shape. Hence the title "Clipper Ship," which has now extended from America to England.
Philadelphia.
Passage in Tennyson (Vol. viii., p. 244.).—In the third edition of In Memoriam, LXXXIX., 1850, the last line mentioned by W. T. M. is "Flits by the sea-blue bird of March," instead of "blue sea-bird." This reading appears to be a better one. I would suggest that the bird meant by Tennyson was the Tom-tit, who, from his restlessness, may be said to flit among the bushes.
F. M. Middleton.
Huet's Navigations of Solomon (Vol. vii., p. 381.).—This work of the learned Bishop of Avranches was written in Latin, and translated into French by J. B. Desrockes de Parthenay. It forms part of the second volume of a collection of treatises edited by Bruzen de la Martinière, under the title of Traités Géographiques et Historiques pour faciliter l'intelligence de l'Ecriture Sainte, par divers auteurs célèbres, 1730, 2 vols. 12mo.
I am unable to reply to Edina's second Query, as to the result of Huet's assertions.
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
Sincere (Vol. viii., pp. 195. 328.).—The derivation of this word from sine cerâ appears very fanciful. If this were the correct derivation, we should expect to find sinecere, for the e would scarcely be dropped; just as we have the English word sinecure, which is the only compound of the preposition sine I know; and is itself not a Latin word, but of a later coinage. Some give as the derivation semel and κεράω—that is, once mixed, without adulteration; the ε being lengthened, as the Greek ἀκήρατος. The proper spelling would then be simcerus, and euphonically sincerus: thus we have sim-plex, which does not mean without a fold, but (semel plico, πλέκω) once folded. So also singulus, semel and termination. The proper meaning may be from tablets, ceratæ tabellæ, which were "once smeared with wax" and then written upon; they were then sinceræ, without forgery or deception. If they were in certain places covered with wax again, for the purpose of adding something secretly and deceptively, they cease to be sinceræ.
J. T. Jeffcock.
Π. Β. asks me for some authority for the alleged practice of Roman potters (or crock-vendors) to rub wax into the flaws of their unsound vessels. This was the very burden of my Query! I am no proficient in the Latin classics: yet I think I know enough to predicate that Π. Β. is wrong in his version of the line—
"Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit."
I understand this line as referring to the notorious fact, that some liquors turn sour if the air gets to them from without. "Sincerum vas" is a sound or air-tight vessel. In another place (Sat., lib. i. 3.), Horace employs the same figure, where he says that we "call evil good, and good evil," figuring the sentiment thus:
"At nos virtutes ipsas invertimus, atque
Sincerum cupimus vas incrustare"—
meaning, of course, that we bring the vessel into suspicion, by treating it as if it were flawed. Dryden, no doubt, knew the radical meaning of sincere when he wrote the lines cited by Johnson:
"He try'd a tough well-chosen spear;
Th' inviolable body stood sincere."
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
The Saltpetre Man (Vol. viii., p. 225.).—In addition to the curious particulars of this office, I send you an extract from Abp. Laud's Diary:
"December 13, Monday. I received letters from Brecknock; that the saltpeter man was dead and buried the Sunday before the messenger came. This saltpeter man had digged in the Colledge Church for his work, bearing too bold upon his commission. The news of it came to me to London about November 26. I went to my Lord Keeper, and had a messenger sent to bring him up to answer that sacrilegious abuse. He prevented his punishment by death."
John S. Burn.
Major André (Vol. viii., p. 174.).—There is in the picture gallery of Yale College, New Haven, Conn., an original sketch of Major André, executed by himself with pen and ink, and without the aid of a glass. It was drawn in his guard-room on the morning of the day first fixed for his execution.
J. E.
Longevity (Vol. viii., p. 182.).—A Doubter is informed that the National Intelligencer (published at Washington, and edited by Messrs. Gales and Seaton) is the authority for my statement respecting Mrs. Singleton, and her advanced age. If A Doubter is desirous of satisfying himself more fully respecting its correctness, he has but
to write to the above-named gentlemen, or to the English Consul at Charleston, S. C., and his wish will doubtless be gratified. I cannot but hope that your correspondent's "fifty cents worth of reasons" for doubting my statement is now, or shortly will be, removed.
If A Doubter intends to be in New York while the present Exhibition is open, he will have an opportunity of seeing a negro of the age of one hundred and twenty-four, who once belonged to General Washington, and from whom he could very possibly obtain some information respecting the aged "nurse" of the first President of the United States mentioned in his note.
W. W.
Malta.
Passage in Virgil (Vol. viii., p. 370.).—The passage for which your correspondent R. Fitzsimons makes inquiry is to be found in the Eighth Eclogue, at the 44th and following lines:
"Nunc scio quid sit Amor," &c.
The application by Johnson seems to be so plain as to need no explanation.
F. B—w.
Love Charm from a Foal's Forehead (Vol. viii., p. 292.).—Your correspondent H. P. will find the love charm, consisting of a fig-shaped excrescence on a foal's forehead, and called Hippomanes, alluded to by Juvenal, Sat. VI. 133.:
"Hippomanes, carmenque loquar, coctumque venenum,
Privignoque datum?"
And again, 615.:
"ut avunculus ille Neronis,
Cui totam tremuli frontem Cæsonia pulli
Infudit."
It was supposed that the dam swallowed this excrescence immediately on the birth of her foal, and that, if prevented doing so, she lost all affection for it.
However, the name Hippomanes was applied to two other things. Theocritus (II. 48.) uses it to signify some herb which incites horses to madness if they eat of it.
And again, Virgil (Geor. III. 280.), Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, &c., represent it as a certain virus:
"Hippomanes cupidæ stillat ab inguine equæ."
The subject is an unpleasant one, and H. P. is referred for farther information to Pliny, VIII. 42. s. 66., and XXVIII. 11. s. 80.
H. C. K.
This lump was called Hippomanes; which also more truly designated, according to Virgil, another thing. The following paragraphs from Mr. Keightley's excellent Notes on Virgil's Bucolics and Georgics will fully explain both meanings:
"Hippomanes, horse-rage: the pale yellow fluid which passes from a mare at that season [i. e. when she is horsing] (cf. Tibul. II. 4. 58.), of which the smell (aura, v. 251.) incites the horse.
"Vero nomine. Because the bit of flesh which was said to be on the forehead of the new-born foal, and which the mare was supposed to swallow, was called by the same name (see Æn. IV. 515.); and also a plant in Arcadia (Theocr. II. 48.). With respect to the former Hippomanes, Pliny, who detailed truth and falsehood with equal faith, says (VIII. 42.) that it grows on the foal's forehead; is of the size of a dried fig (carica), and of a black colour; and that if the mare does not swallow it immediately, she will not let the foal suck her. Aristotle (H. A., VIII. 24.) says this is merely an old wives' tale. He mentions, however, the πώλιον, or bit of livid flesh, which we call the foal's bit, and which he says the mare ejects before the foal."—Notes, &c., p. 273. on Georgic. III. 280. ff.
With regard to the plant called Hippomanes, commentators, as may be seen from Kiessling's note on Theocritus, ii. 48., are by no means agreed. Certainly Andrews, in his edition of Freund, is wrong in referring Virgil Georgic. III. 283. to that meaning. The use of legere probably misled.
E. S. Jackson.
Wardhouse, where was? (Vol. viii., p. 78.).—It probably is the same as Wardoehuus or Vardoehus, a district and town in Norwegian Finmark, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, inhabited principally by fishermen.
W. C. Trevelyan.
Wallington.
Divining Rod (Vol. viii., p. 293.).—The inquirer should read the statement made by Dr. Herbert Mayo, in his letters On the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions, 1851, pp. 3-21. To the facts there recorded I may add, that I have heard Mr. Dawson Turner relate that he himself saw the experiment of the divining rod satisfactorily carried out in the hands of Lady Noel Byron; and some account of it is to be found, I believe, in an article by Sir F. Palgrave, in the Quarterly Review.
μ.
Waugh, Bishop of Carlisle (Vol. viii., p. 271.).—His arms are engraved on a plate dedicated to him by Willis, in his Survey of the Cathedrals of England, 1742, vol. i. p. 284., and appear thus, Argent, on a chevron gules, three besants; but in a MS. collection by the late Canon Rowling of Lichfield, relating to bishops' arms, I find his coat thus given,—Argent, on a chevron engrailed gules, three besants. The variation may have arisen from an error of the engraver. It appears from Willis that Dr. Waugh was a fellow of Queen's College, Oxford; and the entry of his matriculation would no doubt show in what part of England his family resided. He was successively Rector of St. Peter's, Cornhill; Prebendary of Lincoln; Dean of Gloucester; and Bishop of
Carlisle; to which latter dignity he was promoted in August, 1723.
μ.
Pagoda (Vol. v., p. 415.).—The European word pagoda is most probably derived, by transposition of the syllables, from da-go-ba, which is the Pali or Sanscrit name for a Budhist temple. It appears probable that the Portuguese first adopted the word in Ceylon, the modern holy isle of Budhism.
Ph.
Rangoon.