Minor Queries with Answers.
Herbert's "Memoirs of the Last Years of Charles I."—Can any of your correspondents inform me under what title and at what date Sir Thomas Herbert's Narrative of the Last Years of Charles I. was published? I have at present in my possession what appears to be the original MS., and am desirous of comparing it with the printed copy. The MS. bears the title of Carolina Threnodia: a Plain and very Particular Narrative of what happened in the Last Years of King Charles the First, by Sir Thomas Herbert, an eye and ear witness. Its opening pages contain a reference to other letters on the same subject of an earlier date (May 1 and 13, 1678). Were these letters ever published, under what title, and when?
J. B.
Prestwich.
[This work has already been incidentally noticed in our Second Volume, pp. 140. 220. and 476.; and in Vol. iii., p. 157. Two editions of Herbert's Memoirs have been published; the first in 1702, and the second in 1813. The edition of 1702 is the best, as it contains an "Advertisement to the Reader," and several documents omitted in the edition published by G. and W. Nicol of Pall Mall in 1813. The following is the title to it:—
"Memoirs of the Two last Years of the Reign of that unparallel'd Prince, of ever-blessed Memory, King Charles I. By Sir Tho. Herbert, Major Huntington,
Col. Edw. Coke, and Mr. Hen. Firebrace. With the Character of that Blessed Martyr, by the Reverend Mr. John Diodati, Mr. Alexander Henderson, and the Author of the Princely Pelican. To which is added, the Death-Bed Repentance of Mr. Lenthal, Speaker of the Long Parliament; extracted out of a Letter written from Oxford, Sept. 1662. London: printed for Robert Clavell, at the Peacock, at the West-end of St. Paul's, 1702,"
The "Advertisement to the Reader" states that, "there having been of late years several Memoirs printed and published relating to the life and actions of the Royal Martyr, King Charles I., of ever-blessed memory, it was judged a proper and seasonable time to publish Sir Thomas Herbert's Carolina Threnodia, under the title of his Memoirs, there being contained in this book the most material passages of the two last years of the life of that excellent and unparallel'd prince, which were carefully observ'd and related by the author in a large answer of a letter wrote to him by Sir William Dugdale. In the same book is printed Major Huntington's relation made to Sir William of sundry particulars relating to the King; as also Colonel Edw. Coke's and Mr. Henry Firebrace's narratives of several memorable passages observed by them during their attendance on him at Newport, in the Isle of Wight, anno '48. All these were copied from a MS. of the Right Reverend the Bishop of Ely, lately deceased; and, as I am credibly informed, a copy of the several originals is now to be seen amongst the Dugdale MSS. in Oxford library. To these Memoirs are added two or three small tracts, which give some account of the affairs of those times, of the character of K. Charles I., and of his just claim and title to his Divine Meditations. These having been printed anno 1646, 48, 49, and very scarce and difficult to procure, were thought fit to be reprinted for publick service. As to the letter which gives an account of Mr. Lenthal's carriage and behaviour on his death-bed, it was printed anno 1662, and the truth of it attested by the learned Dr. Dickenson, now living in St. Martin's Lane.... This I thought fit to advertise the reader of, by way of introduction, that he might be satisfied of the genuineness of the respective pieces, and thereby be encouraged to peruse them with confidence and assurance.">[
"Liturgy of the Ancients."—Who was the author of a thin 4to. book entitled The Liturgy of the Ancients represented, as near as may be, in English Forms, &c., "London, printed for the Authour, 1696." He added to it "A Proposal of a compleat work of Charity."
T. G. Lomax.
Lichfield.
[Edward Stephens is the author of this Liturgy, who describes himself as "late of Cherington, co. Gloucester, sometime barrister-at-law of the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple, and since engaged, by a very special Divine Providence, in the most sacred employment." He farther informs us, that "when it pleased God to discharge him from the civil service, his first business in public was a gentle and tacit admonition of the neglect of the most solemn and peculiar Christian worship of God in this nation; accompanied by such public acts in the very heart of the chief city, as made it a most remarkable witness and testimony against them who would not receive it, but rejected the counsel and favour of God towards them." Stephens's Liturgy has been republished by the Rev. Peter Hall, in his Fragmenta Liturgica, vol. ii., who thus notices the author:—"Stephens was the leader of a class by no means contemptible, though himself as odd a mixture of gravity and scurrility, learning and trifling, pietism that could stoop to anything, and liberalism that stuck at nothing, as English theology affords." Some account of Edward Stephens will be found in Leslie's Letter concerning the New Separation, 1719; and in An Answer to a Letter from the Rev. C. Leslie, concerning what he calls the New Separation, 1719. Stephens advocated the practice of daily communion.]
"Ancient hallowed Dee."—What is the historical, traditional, or legendary allusion in this epithet, bestowed by Milton on the river Dee?
J. W. T.
Dewsbury.
[Dee's divinity was Druidical. From the same superstition, some rivers in Wales are still held to have the gift or virtue of prophecy. Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote in 1188, is the first who mentions Dee's sanctity from the popular traditions. In Spenser, this river is the haunt of magicians:
"Dee, which Britons long ygone
Did call DIVINE."
And Browne, in his Britannia's Pastorals, book ii. § 5., says,
"Never more let HOLY Dee,
Ore other rivers brave," &c.
Much superstition was founded on the circumstance of its being the ancient boundary between England and Wales; and Drayton, in his tenth Song, having recited this part of its history, adds, that by changing its fords it foretold good or evil, war or peace, dearth or plenty, to either country. He then introduces the Dee, over which King Edgar had been rowed by eight kings, relating to the story of Brutus. See more on this subject in Warton's note to line 55. in Milton's Lycidas:
"Now yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream."
Who was True Blue?—In the churchyard of Little Brickhill, Bucks, is a table monument bearing the following inscriptions:
"Here lieth ye body of True Blue, who departed this life January ye 17th, 1724-5, aged 57. Also ye body of Eleanor, ye wife of True Blue, who departed this life January 21st, 1722-3, ageed (sic) 59."
Who was "True Blue?" If it were not for his wife Eleanor, one would take him to be some kin to "Eclipse" or "Highflyer." Lysons makes no mention of such a person; nor, I am assured by a friend who has made the search for me, does Lipscomb; although another friend referred me there under the conviction that he was not only named, but that his history was given. The kind
of tombstone is sufficient to show that he was a person of some property, and yet he has not only no "Esq." affixed to his name, but it is without the prefix "Mr." One can scarcely doubt that the name is not a real one. Browns, Blacks, Whites, and Greens there are in abundance, but nobody ever heard of a "Blue;" nor, so far as I know, did anybody ever christen his child "True." Yet what could have been the incidents of a life that required the fiction to be carried even to the grave?
G. J. De Wilde.
[The foregoing monumental inscription is given in Lipscomb's Bucks, vol. iv. p. 76., to which is subjoined the following note:—"The singularity of this name has occasioned much curiosity; but no information can be obtained besides that of True Blue having been a stranger, who settled here, and acquired some property, which after his decease was disposed of. It has been conjectured that he lived here under a feigned name. One Hercules True, about 1645, kept a house at Windsor, to which deer-stealers were accustomed to resort; and he uttered violent threats against a person, whose son, having been killed in attempting to resist the deer-stealers in the Great Park, Thomas Shemonds prosecuted the murderers, and True declared he would knock his brains out, and is believed to have afterwards absconded.">[
Charge of Plagiarism against Paley.—Has any reply been made to the accusation against Paley, brought forward some years ago in The Athenæum? It was stated (and apparently proved) that his Natural Theology was merely a translation of a Dutch work, the name of whose author has escaped my recollection. I suppose the archdeacon would have defended this shameful plagiarism on his favourite principle of expediency. It seems to me, however, that it is high time that either the accusation be refuted, or the culprit consigned to that contempt as a man which he deserved as a moralist.
Fiat Justitia.
[We have frequently had to complain of the loose manner in which Queries are sometimes submitted to our readers for solution. Here is a specimen. The communication above involves two other Queries, which should have been settled before it had been forwarded to us, namely, 1. In what volume of the Athenæum is the accusation against Paley made? and, 2. What is the title of the Dutch work supposed to be pirated? After pulling down six volumes of the Athenæum, we discovered that the charge against Paley appeared at p. 803. of the one for the year 1848, and that the work said to be pirated was written by Dr. Bernard Nieuwentyt of Holland, and published at Amsterdam about the year 1700. It was translated into English, under the title of The Religious Philosopher, 3 vols. 8vo., 1718-19. The charge against Paley has been ably and satisfactorily discussed in the same volume of the Athenæum (see pp. 907. 933.), and at the present time we have neither "ample room nor verge enough" to re-open the discussion in our pages.]
Weber's "Cecilia."—Can you inform me whether a work by Gottfried Weber, entitled Cecilia, is to be had in English or in French? I find it constantly referred to in the said Weber's work on the Theory of Musical Composition, and in Müller's Physiology.
For any information you can give me on the subject I shall feel much indebted.
Philharmonicus.
Dublin.
[Cæcilia is a musical art journal published in Germany, and is thus noticed at page 12. of Warner's edition of Godfrey Weber's Theory of Musical Composition:—"Since 1824 we have been laid under great obligations to our distinguished mathematician and writer on acoustics, Professor W. Weber, for most interesting developments on all these points, which he has arranged into an article in the journal Cæcilia, vol. xii., expressly for musicians and musical instrument manufacturers.">[
Andrew Johnson.—In the character of Samuel Johnson, as drawn by Murphy, there is the remark, "Like his uncle Andrew in the ring at Smithfield, Johnson, in a circle of disputants, was determined neither to be thrown or conquered." Other allusions are made, in Boswell's Life, to this uncle having "kept the ring," but I cannot find out who he could have been. There was a noted bruiser, Tom Johnson; but certainly he was not the person in question. I shall be glad if any of your readers can inform me who this "Uncle Andrew" was, and what authority there is for believing that he was a pugilistic champion of note.
Pugillus.
[In the Variorum Boswell, i. e. Croker's ed., 1847, p. 198., Pugillus will find a note by the editor, stating that Dr. Johnson told Mrs. Piozzi that his uncle Andrew "for a whole year kept the ring at Smithfield, where they wrestled and boxed, and never was thrown or conquered.">[
MS. by Glover.—Can Mr. Bolton Corney, or Mr. R. Sims, inform me whether the Lansdowne MS. 205. is in Glover's handwriting?
H. M.
[This volume (Lansdowne, 205.) contains twenty-six articles in different hands. Art. 3. contains pedigrees by Glover in his own hand. See MS. Harl. 807., and an autograph letter in MS. Cot., Titus B. vii. fol. 14.]
Gurney's Short-hand.—Can any of your correspondents inform me if there have been any alterations in this system of short-hand since 1802? Also, if it be now much used?
Wm. O'Sullivan.
Ballymenagh.
[This well-known system of short-hand is certainly still in use,—in fact, is that employed at the present time by the Gurneys, who are the appointed short-hand writers to the Houses of Lords and Commons.]
Spurious Don Quixote.—What English and French versions are there of the spurious continuation of Don Quixote by Avellaneda?
V. T. Sternberg.
[A notice of the English translations is given in Lowndes's Bib. Man., vol. i. p. 374., art. Cervantes. Consult also Ebert's Bibl. Dict., vol. i. p. 299., for the French translations.]