Replies to Minor Queries.
Poems in connection with Waterloo (Vol. vii., p. 6.).—A correspondent of the Naval and Military Gazette of November 19, 1853, signing himself "M.A., Pem. Coll., Oxford," has pointed out an error into which I had fallen "respecting the elm-trees at and connected with Waterloo."
I certainly was given to understand, when I received the monody, that it was written by the public orator on the death of his son who fell at Waterloo: whereas it clearly appears by the obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine, that Ensign William Crowe, first battalion, 4th foot, son of the public orator at Oxford, was killed at the attack upon New Orleans Jan. 8, 1815.
I hasten to acknowledge my mistake, though I am glad that the two copies of verses found place in your columns.
Braybrooke.
Richard Oswald (Vol. viii., p. 442.)—Your Querist will find many letters to and from him in Franklin's Memoirs. He was for some years a merchant in the city of London. In 1759 he purchased the estate of Auchincruive, in the county of Ayr, and died there in 1783. No memoir of him has ever been published. He was for many years an intimate friend of Lord Shelbourne, who sent him to Paris in 1782, and again in 1783, to negotiate with Franklin, with whom he had been for some time acquainted. During the Seven Years' War he acted as commissary-general to the allied armies under the Duke of Brunswick, who said of him in the official despatches, that "England had sent him commissaries fit to be generals, and generals not fit to be commissaries."
J. H. E.
Grammont's Marriage (Vol. viii., p. 461.).—In one of the notes to Grammont, originally, I believe, introduced by Sir W. Scott in his edition, but which appears at p. 415. of Bohn's reprint, we are told on the authority of the Biographia Gallica, vol. i. p. 202.:
"The famous Count Grammont was thought to be the original of The Forced Marriage. This nobleman, during his stay at the court of England, had made love to Miss Hamilton, but was coming away from France without bringing matters to a proper conclusion. The young lady's brothers pursued him, and came up with him near Dover, in order to exchange some pistol shot with him. They called out, 'Count Grammont, have you forgot nothing at London?' 'Excuse me,' answered the Court guessing their errand, 'I forgot to marry your sister; so lead on, and let us finish that affair.'"
My object in this communication is to supply an omission in Mr. Steinman's very interesting Notes, who does not show, as he might have done, how the letters of M. de Comminges prove the truth of this story. For, from the passage quoted by Mr. Steinman from the letter to the king, dated Dec. 20-24, 1663, it is evident that the count was about on that day to leave England "without bringing matters to a proper conclusion;" while that he married the lady within a day or
two of that date may fairly be inferred from the announcement on Aug. 29-Sept. 8, 1664, that "Madame la Comtesse de Grammont accoucha hier au soir d'un fils." Mr. Steinman's omission was probably intentional; I have supplied it in the hope that the date and place of the marriage may now be ascertained, and for the purpose of expressing my hope that we shall soon be favoured by Mr. Steinman's return to this subject.
Horace Walpole, Jun.
Life (Vol. vii., p. 429.).—Let me give A. C. the testimony of two poets and a philosopher in support of the "general feeling" about the renewal of life, which will surely bear down the authority of three writers mentioned by him.
Cowper's notion may be gathered from the couplet:
"So numerous are the follies that annoy
The mind and heart of every sprightly boy."
Kirke White must have had a similar idea:
"There are who think that childhood does not share
With age the cup, the bitter cup, of care;
Alas! they know not this unhappy truth,
That every age and rank is born to ruth."
The next four lines may also be attentively considered. I quote from his "Childhood," one of his earliest productions by the way—but what production of his was not early?
Still more decidedly, however, on the point speaks Cicero (de Senectute):
"Si quis Deus mihi largiatur ut ea hâc ætate repuerescam, et in cunis vagiam, valde recusem."
The following passage is also at A. C.'s service, provided you can find space for it, and there are "no questions asked" as to its whereabouts:
"I have heard them say that our childhood's hours are the happiest time of our earthly race; and they speak with regret of their summer bowers, and the mirth they knew in the butterfly chase; and they sorrow to think that those days are past, when their young hearts bounded with lightsome glee, when, by none of the clouds of care o'ercast, the sun of their joy shone cheerily. But, oh! they surely forget that the boy may have grief of his own that strikes deep in his heart; that an angry frown, or a broken toy, may inflict for a time a cureless smart; and that little pain is as great to him as a weightier woe to an older mind. Aye! the harsh reproof, or unfavoured whim, may be sharp as a pang of a graver kind. Then, how dim-sighted and thoughtless are those, who would they were frolicsome children and free; they should rather rejoice to have fled from the woes that hung o'er them once so heavily. In misfortune's rude shocks the practised art of the man may perchance disclose relief; but the child, in his innocence of heart, will bow 'neath the stroke of a trifling grief."
W. T. M.
Hong Kong.
Muscipula (Vol. viii., p. 229.—The Name Lloyd.—Besides the translation of this poem by Dr. Hoadly, of which a note in Dodsley informs us that the author, Holdsworth, said it was "exceedingly well done," I have before me another, printed in London for R. Gosling, 1715, with an engraved frontispiece, illustrative of the triumphant reception of Taffy's invention. The depredations of the mouse are illustrated in the various figures around, as cheeses burrowed through, even the invasion of a sleeping Welshman's very ερκος οδοντων, &c. The title is, The Mouse-Trap, a Poem done from the original Latin in Milton's Stile:
"Ludus animo debet aliquando dari,
Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat tibi"—Phæd.
Both translations are in blank verse, but that of the latter is very blank indeed, and possesses little in common with Milton's style, except the absence of rhyme. It thus begins:
"The British mountaineer, who first uprear'd
A mouse-trap, and engoal'd the little thief,
The deadly wiles and fate inextricable,
Rehearse, my Muse, and, oh! thy presence deign,
Auxiliar Phœbus, mortal foe to mice:
Whence bards in ancient times thee Smintheus term'd," &c.
Muscipula must have made some sensation to have been translated by two different persons. Welsh rabbits, and their supposed general fondness for cheese, have furnished many a joke at the expense of the inhabitants of the principality. Among others the following quiz may not be out of place on the famous Cambro-Britannic name of Lloyd:
| "Two gibbets dejected, | LL |
| A cheese in full view, | O |
| A toaster erected | Y |
| And a cheese cut in two, | D." |
| Ballard MSS. in the Bodleian, vol. xxix. p. 80. | |
Balliolensis.
Berefellarii (Vol. viii., p. 420.).—M. Philarète Chasles has misrepresented John Jebb's Query and conjecture about berefellarii (Vol. vii., p. 207.). He never spoke of these officers as "half ecclesiastics (!), dirty, shabby, ill-washed attendants." They were priests of an inferior grade, answering to the minor canons of cathedrals, and superior to the vicars choral, who were also called personæ and rectores chori. He has far too great a respect for collegiate foundations to use such opprobrious terms when speaking of any class of ministers of divine service. The only conjecture J. Jebb made was, that the word might possibly have been a corruption (arising from incorrect writing) of beneficiarii, which is continually used abroad for the inferior clergy of collegiate churches, though not common in
England. It is just possible, though not very probable, that this somewhat foreign word was misread, and gave rise to a blundering corruption conveying ludicrous ideas, the "turpe nomen" alluded to by the Archbishop of York tempore Ric. II. The conjectural derivation of the word from Anglo-Saxon words was not my own, but that of a subsequent correspondent. It is just one of those conjectures which, like that of "Mazarinæus," may be quite as likely to be false as true. I could suggest twenty that would be quite as likely; such as bier-followers (attenders on funerals, as did the clerks and inferior clergy in cathedrals), or bury fellows (query, burying fellows), or beer fellows (like the beerers in Dean Aldrich's famous catch), or belly fillers, &c., or lastly, some corruption of Beverly itself. Barefellows is as likely as any. Still I cannot think that these functionaries were low or contemptible. Their position corresponded to a very honourable status in cathedral churches.
John Jebb.
Harmony of the Four Gospels (Vol. viii., pp. 316. 415.)—I am greatly obliged to Mr. Hardwick, Mr. Buckton, and J. M. for their valuable and satisfactory replies to my Query. To the list of those Harmonies published since the Reformation, may be added that of John Hind, 1632, under the title of
"The Storie of Stories, or the Life of Christ, according to the foure holy Evangelists: with a harmonie of them, and a table of their chapters and verses, collected by Johan Hind. London, printed by Miles Flesher, 1632."
It is dedicated to the "Lady Anne Twisden," with whom, and her son the learned Sir Roger Twisden, this John Hind, "a German gentleman of Mecklenburgh, a most religious honest knowing man, lived above thirty years," &c.
Surely Doddridge's Family Expositor should be added to the list.
Z. 1.
Picts' Houses and Argils (Vol. viii., p. 264.).—Malte-Brun, in his Universal Geography, English translation, vol. vi. p. 387., has a passage in his description of Russia which applies to this matter. The steppes of Nogay lie immediately to the north of the peninsula of the Crimea, both being included in the Russian government of Taurida, and both countries were formerly inhabited by the Cimbri or Cimmerians. Malte-Brun says:
"The colonists are in many places ill provided with timber for building; they live under the ground, and the hillocks, which are so common in the country, and which served in ancient times for graves or monuments of the dead, are now converted into houses, the vaults are changed into roofs, and beneath them are subterranean excavations. Kurgan is the Tartar name for these tumuli; they are scattered throughout New Russia; they were raised at different times by the different people who ruled over that region. The Kurgans are not all of the same kind; some are not unlike the rude works of the early Hungarians, others are formed of large and thin stones, like the Scandinavian tombs. It is to be regretted that the different articles contained in them have been only of late years examined with care."
This does not establish the identity of the Argil and Kurgan, but I think it shows more particular information is likely to be met with on the subject. M. Malte-Brun, vol. vi. p. 152., in his description of Turkey, mentions a curious town on the hills of the Strandschea, a little to the west of Constantinople. It is called Indchiguis, and is inhabited by Troglodytes; its numerous dwellings are cut in solid rocks, stories are formed in the same manner, and many apartments that communicate with each other.
W. H. F.
Boswell's "Johnson" (Vol. viii., p. 439.).—
"Crescit, occulto velut arbor ævo,
Fama Marcelli: micat inter omnes
Julium sidus, velut inter ignes
Luna minores."—Hor. Carm. I. xii. 45-48.
F. C. has overlooked the point of Boswell's remark, viz. that Johnson had been "inattentive to metre."
C. Forbes.
Temple.
Pronunciation of "Humble" (Vol. viii., p. 393.).—I venture once more to trespass on your pages, in the hope of helping to settle the right pronunciation of humble. In the controversy respecting it, the derivation of the word should not be overlooked, as it is a most important point; for I consider that the improper use of the h has arisen from people not knowing from whence the word was taken. Now, as I am of opinion that it will go far to prove that the h should be silent in humble, by giving a list of the radical words in the English language in which that letter is silent, and their derivations, I beg to do so: premising that they are derived from the Celtic language, in which the h is not used in the same manner that it is in other languages:
Heir, from oigeir, i. e. the young man who succeeds to a property: the word is pronounced air.
Honest, from oinnicteac, i. e. just, liberal, generous, kind.
Honour, from onoir, i. e. praise, respect, worship.
Hour, from uair, pronounced voir, i. e. time present, a period of time, any time.
Humble, from umal, i. e. lowly, obedient, submissive.
Humour. The derivation of this word is obscure, but in the sense of mirth it may be derived from uaim-mir, i. e. loud mirth, gaiety.
The compounds formed from these words have the h silent; and every other word beginning with
that letter should have it fully sounded. Such being my practice, I cannot be accused of cultivating the Heapian dialect, which I hold to be equally abominable with the improper use of the letter h.
Fras. Crossley.
May not the following be the true solution of the question? All existing humility is either pride or hypocrisy; pride aspirates the h, hypocrisy suppresses it. I always aspirate.
M.
Continuation of Robertson (Vol. viii., p. 515.).—The supplementary volume proposed by Mr. Turnbull, which is wanted extremely, was never published, owing to the fact that eighty subscribers could not be found to indemnify him for the expense of printing.
G.
Nostradamus (Vol. vii., p. 174.).—My edition of Nostradamus, 1605 (described in "N. & Q.," Vol. iv., p. 140.), has the quotation in question; but the first line has "le sang du juste," not "le sang du jusse."
The ed. of 1605 is undoubtedly genuine. Besides the twelve centuries of prophecies, it contains 141 "Presages tirez de ceux faits par M. Nostradamus," and fifty-eight "Prédictions admirables pour les ans courans en ce Siècle, recueillies des mémoires de feu M. Nostradamus," with a dedication to Henry IV. of France, "par Vincent Seve, de Beaucaire, 19 Mars, 1605."
R. J. R.
Quantity of Words (Vol. viii., p. 386.).—Anti-Barbarus need not say we always pronounce Candace long, for I have never heard it otherwise than short. Labbe says it should be short, and classes it with short terminations in ăcus; but I am not aware that there is any poetical authority for it. Canace and canache are both short in Ovid; all which may have helped to the inference for Candăce. Facciolati has an adjective candăcus, to which I refer your correspondent.
W. Hazel.
"Man proposes, but God disposes" (Vol. viii., p. 411.).—This saying is older than the age of Thomas à Kempis, who was born about A.D. 1380. It probably originated in two passages of Holy Scripture, on one or both of which it may have been an ancient comment:
"Hominis est animam præparare, et Domini gubernare linguam." "Cor hominis disponit viam suam, sed Domini est dirigere gressus ejus."—Proverbs xvi. 1. 10.
The sentiment in both is the same, and their pith is given in a still more brief and condensed form in our own proverb. It is remarkable that while Dr. A. Clarke, in his notes on Proverbs xvi., has quoted it without reference to its authorship in the edition of Stanhope's version of De Imitatione Christi, which I happen to have, it is not to be found; but its place (according to your correspondent's reference) is occupied by the two texts above quoted. The work referred to is asserted by some to have been only translated or transcribed by à Kempis, and written by John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, a great theologian, who died in 1429. Be that as it may, I can assure your correspondent A. B. C. that the saying in question did not originate with the author of that work. In Piers Ploughman's Vision, written A.D. 1362, it is thus introduced:
"And Spiritus justitiæ
Shall juggen, wol he nele he (will he nil he!)
After the kynges counseil,
And the comune like.
And Spiritus prudentiæ,
In many a point shall faille,
Of that he weneth will falle,
If his wit ne weere.
Wenynge is no wysdom,
Ne wys ymaginacion.
Homo proponit, et Deus disponit,
And governeth alle good vertues."
Vol. ii. p. 427., ll. 13984-95. Ed. London: W. Pickering, 1842.
In the same way the author frequently introduces Latin texts from the Bible, and other books of authority and devotion. In the notes the editor generally refers to the place from whence the quotation is taken; but as there is no reference in connexion with the present passage, I infer that he was not aware of its source.
J. W. Thomas.
Dewsbury.
Polarised Light (Vol. viii., p. 409.).—I am unable to furnish H. C. K. with knowledge from the fountain-head touching this phenomenon. On referring, however, to a little work, much valued in my boyish days, I find it thus mentioned:
"The blue light of the sky is completely polarised at an angle of seventy-four degrees from the sun, in a plane passing through the sun's centre."—P. 219. Newtonian Philosophy, by Tom Telescope: Tegg, Lond. 1838.
Surely the Herschels mention this.
R. C. Warde.
Kidderminster.