Replies to Minor Queries.
Admissions to Inns of Court (Vol. viii., p. 540.).—The following particulars may be of service to your correspondent who requires information upon the subject of the matriculations at the inns of court.
The books of Lincoln's Inn, which record the calls to the bar and other proceedings of the Society, commence in the second year of the reign of Henry VI., 1423. Those of the Inner Temple, which contain the admittances in 1547, and the calls to the bar in 1590; of the Middle Temple, which contain a regular series of admissions and calls, about the year 1600; and of Gray's Inn, about the year 1650. The earlier records of Gray's Inn were destroyed by fire, but the Harleian MS. No. 1912., in the British Museum, contains:
An alphabetical list of gentlemen admitted to that society, with the dates of their admission, from 1521 to 1674.
Table of the admittances into Gray's Inn, declaring the names of the gentlemen, the town and country whence they came, and the day, month, and year when admitted, from the year 1626 to 1677.
Arms and names of noblemen and knights admitted to the said society.
An alphabetical list of all persons called to the bar by the said society.
The Lansdowne MS. No. 106., which is also in the British Museum, contains:
Names of benchers, associates, utter barristers, &c. of Lincoln's Inn, and the same of the Inner Temple; and of the students of the several Inns of Court, apparently about the end of the reign of Elizabeth.
Jas. Whishaw.
Gower Street.
The MS. Harl. 1912. contains the admissions to Gray's Inn.
G. Steinman Steinman.
Inedited Lyric by Felicia Hemans (Vol. viii., p. 629.)—A surviving relative of the authoress in question begs to answer to the correspondent of "N. & Q." who has produced this lyric from an imperfect MS. original, that the piece has not remained inedited, but is to be found in the several complete editions of Mrs. Hemans's works published by Blackwood. The playful signature of the letter alluded to, as well as the subject of the lyric, it may be added, was suggested by some conversation respecting the fanciful creatures of
fairy-land, with whose ideal queen the authoress affected sportively to identify herself, and hence signed the little poem, produced rather as a jeu d'esprit than anything else, "Mab." In its subsequently corrected form, as admitted in the editions of her works, it is here subjoined:
Water Lilies: A Fairy Song.
"Come away, Elves! while the dew is sweet,
Come to the dingles where fairies meet;
Know that the lilies have spread their bells
O'er all the pools in our forest dells;
Stilly and lightly their vases rest
On the quivering sleep of the water's breast,
Catching the sunshine through the leaves that throw
To their scented bosoms an emerald glow;
And a star from the depths of each pearly cup,
A golden star, unto heav'n looks up,
As if seeking its kindred where bright they lie,
Set in the blue of the summer sky.
Come away, under arching boughs we'll float,
Making those urns each a fairy boat;
We'll row them with reeds o'er the fountains free,
And a tall flag-leaf shall our streamer be.
And we'll send out wild music so sweet and low,
It shall seem from the bright flower's heart to flow;
As if 'twere a breeze with a flute's low sigh,
Or water-drops train'd into melody,
Come away! for the midsummer sun grows strong,
And the life of the lily may not be long."
Anon.
Derivation of Britain (Vol. viii., p. 344.).—Since my last reference to this matter (Vol. viii., p. 445.) I find that the derivation of the name of Britain from Barat-anach or Brat-anach, a land of tin, originated in conjecture with Bochart, an oriental scholar and French protestant divine in the first half of the seventeenth century. It certainly is a very remarkable circumstance that the conjecture of a Frenchman as to the origin of the name of Britain should have been so curiously confirmed, as has been shown by Dr. Hincks, through an Assyrian medium.
G. W.
Stansted, Montfichet.
Derivation of the Word Celt (Vol. viii., p. 271.).—If C. R. M. has access to a copy of the Latin Vulgate, he will find the word which our translators have rendered "an iron pen," in the book of Job, chap. xix. v. 24., there translated Celte. Not having the book in my possession, I will not pretend to give the verse as a quotation.[[2]]
T. B. B. H.
Footnote 2:[(return)]
24. Stylo ferreo, et plumbi laminâ, vel celte sculpantur in silice?
"Kaminagadeyathooroosoomokanoogonagira" (Vol. viii., p. 539.).—I happen to have by me a transcript of the record in which this word occurs; and it is followed immediately by another almost equally astounding, which F. J. G. should, I think, have asked one of your correspondents to translate while about the other. The following is the word: Arademaravasadeloovaradooyou. They both appear to be names of estates.
H. M.
Peckham.
Cash (Vol. viii., pp. 386. 524.).—In The Adventures of the Gooroo Paramartan, a tale in the Tamul language, accompanied by a translation and a vocabulary, &c., by Benjamin Babington London, 1822, is the following: "Fanam or casoo is unnecessary, I give it to you gratis." To which the translator subjoins: "The latter word is usually pronounced cash by Europeans, but the Tamul orthography is used in the text, that the reader may not take it for an English word."
"Christmas-boxes are said to be an ancient custom here, and I would almost fancy that our name of box for this particular kind of present, the derivation of which is not very easy to trace in the European languages, is a corruption of buckshish, a gift or gratuity, in Turkish, Persian, and Hindoostanee. There have been undoubtedly more words brought into our language from the East than I used to suspect. Cash, which here means small money, is one of these; but of the process of such transplantation I can form no conjecture."—Heber's Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India. vol. i. p. 52.
Angelo, in his Gazophylaceum Linguæ Persarum, gives a Persian word of the same signification and sound, as Italicè cassa, Latinè capsa, Gallicè caisse.
Bibliothecar. Chetham.
"Antiquitas Sæculi Juventus Mundi" (Vol. viii., p. 502., &c.).—The authority of Fuller ought, I think, to be sufficient to establish that this saying was Bacon's own and not a quotation.
Fuller thus introduces it: "As one excellently observes, 'Antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi,'" &c., giving the remainder of the paragraph from the Advancement of Learning; and refers in a note to Sir Frances Bacon's Advancement of Learning (Holy and Profane State, ch. vi.).
E. S. T. T.
Caves at Settle, Yorkshire (Vol. viii., p. 412.).—Brigantia will find a very circumstantial and interesting account of these caves, and their Romano-British contents, in vol. i. of Mr. Roach Smith's Collectanea.
G. J. De Wilde.
Character of the Song of the Nightingale (Vol. vii., p. 397.; Vol. viii., pp. 112. 475.).—One poet, not so well known as he deserves, has escaped the observation of those who have contributed to your valuable pages the one hundred and seventy-five epithets which others of his craft have applied to the "Midnight Minstrel." I allude to the Rev. F. W. Faber, in his poem of the Cherwell Water Lily. This poem his now become scarce, so I send you the lines to which I refer, as the "summary of epithets" which they contain, as
well as their intrinsic beauty, render them worthy of notice:
"I heard the raptured nightingale,
Tell from yon elmy grove, his tale
Of jealousy and love,
In thronging notes that seem'd to fall,
As faultless and as musical,
As angels' strains above.
So sweet, they cast on all things round,
A spell of melody profound:
They charm'd the river in his flowing,
They stay'd the night-wind in its blowing,
They lull'd the lily to her rest,
Upon the Cherwell's heaving breast."
To those interested in this subject, so full of historical and classical, as well as poetical associations, I would mention that a late Master of Caius College, Cambridge, the Rev. Dr. Davy, printed some years since, for private circulation, a small pamphlet entitled Observations on Mr. Fox's Letter to Mr. Grey, in which he refutes that eminent statesman's theory of the merry note of the nightingale. This pamphlet is so full of elegance and classical research, that it is much to be regretted, not only that it has never been published, but that it is the only work of the learned author—the friend and associate of Porson, of Parr, and of Maltby. I possess a presentation copy, which, as only a very few copies were printed, I would gladly lend to any of your readers interested in this curious and long-pending controversy.
Norris Deck.
Cambridge.
Add to the already long list, this from Spenser:
"That blessed bird, that spends her time of sleep
In songs and plaintive pleas, the more t'augment
The memory of his misdeed that bred her woe."
And this exquisite little song, written by I know not whom, but set to music by Thomas Bateson in 1604:
"The Nightingale, as soon as April bringeth
Unto her rested sense a perfect waking,
While late bare earth proud of her clothing springeth,
Sings out her woes, a thorn her song-book making;
And mournfully bewailing,
Her throat in tunes expresseth,
While grief her heart oppresseth,
For Tereus' force o'er her chaste will prevailing."
H. Gardiner.
Inscriptions in Books (Vol. viii., p. 64. &c.).—John Bostock, sometime Abbat of St. Alban's, gave some valuable books to the library of Gloucester Hall, Oxford, with these lines in the commencement:
"Quem si quis rapiat raptìm, titulumve retractet,
Vel Judæ laqueum, vel furcas sentiat. Amen."
Anon.
Door-head Inscription (Vol. viii., p. 454.).—A friend has kindly sent me an improved version of the inscription over the gate of the Apostolical Chancery, which, with his permission, I beg to forward to you:—
"Fide Deo, dic sæpe preces, peccare caveto,
Sis humilis, pacem dilige, magna fuge,
Multa audi, dic pauca, tace abdita, scito minori
Parcere, majori cedere, ferre parem,
Propria fac, persolve fidem, sis æquus egenis,
Parta tuere, pati disce, memento mori."
H. T. Ellacombe.
Fogie (Vol. viii., pp. 154. 256.).—In the citadel of Plymouth, some twenty or twenty-five years since, there was a band of old soldiers (principally men of small stature) who went by this name. They were said to be the only men acquainted with all the windings and outlets of the subterranean passages of this fortification.
The cognomen "old fogie" is in this neighbourhood frequently applied to old men remarkable for shrewdness, cunning, quaintness, or eccentricity. This use of the term is evidently figurative, borrowed from its application to veteran soldiers. Cannot some of the military correspondents of "N. & Q." give the origin of the word?
Isaiah W. N. Keys.
Plymouth.
Sir W. Hewet (Vol. viii., p. 270.).—Mr. Griffith will find in Thoresby's Ducatus Leodinensis, p. 2. (Whittaker's edit.), a pedigree of the family of Osborne, which gives two generations previous to Edward Osborne, who married Ann Hewet, namely,—
Richard Osborne, who married Elizabeth, daughter of —— Fyldene, by whom he had Richard, who married Jane, daughter of John Broughton of Broughton, Esq., and sister and heir to Edward and Lancelyn Broughton.
Sir Edward Osborne, Knight, Citizen, and Lord Mayor of London (1582), who died in 1591, married Ann, daughter and sole heir of Sir William Hewet, Lord Mayor of London, 1559, by whom he had Sir Hewet Osborne, born 1567, died 1614. Sir Edward had a second wife, Margaret, daughter of ——, who died in 1602.
There is a note at the bottom of the page, quoted from a MS. in the College of Arms, E 1. fol. 190., "That this descent was registered the 30th March, 1568, when Hewet Osborne was the age of one year and ... days."
Edward Peacock.
Bottesford Moors, Kirton in Lindsey.
Ladies' Arms borne in a Lozenge (Vol. viii., pp. 37. 83. 277. 329.).—The difference between the fusil and the lozenge is well known to all heralds, though coach-painters and silversmiths do not
always sufficiently describe it. If Broctuna, however, be a practical herald, he must often have experienced the difficulty of placing impalements or quarterings correctly, even on a lozenge. On the long and narrow fusil it would be impossible. When the fusil, instead of being a mere heraldic bearing, has to be used as the shape of a shield for the actual use of the painter or engraver, it must of necessity be widened into the lozenge; and as the latter is probably only the same distaff with little more wool upon it, there seems no objection to the arrangement. Broctuna is too good an antiquary not to know on recollection that the "vyings of widows" had little to do with funeral arrangements in those days. Procrustes, the herald, came down at all great funerals, and regulated everything with just so much pomp, and no more, as the precise rank of the deceased entitled him to.
P. P. had not the smallest intention of giving Broctuna offence by pointing out what seems a fatal objection to his theory.
Hugh Clark, a well-known modern writer upon Heraldry, gives the following definition of the word lozenge:
"Lozenge, a four-cornered figure, resembling a pane of glass in old casements: some suppose it a physical composition given for colds, and was invented to reward eminent physicians."
Plutarch says, in the Life of Theseus, that at Megara, an ancient town of Greece, the tombstones, under which the bodies of the Amazons lay, were shaped after that form, which some conjecture to be the cause why ladies have their arms on lozenges.
Ruby.
The Crescent (Vol. viii., p. 319.).—Be so good as to insert in "N. & Q.," for the information of J. W. Thomas, that the Iceni (a people of England, whose territory consisted of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, &c.) struck coins both in gold and silver; having on their reverses crescents placed back to back generally, except where a rude profile is on a few of them.
Two of the gold coins have fallen into my possession; one of which, found at Oxnead in this county, I supplied to the British Museum some years since. Twelve of the silver coins are figured on a plate in Part LVII. of the Numismatic Chronicle. Mr. Thomas observing (at p. 321.) he has no work on numismatics, induces me to make this communication to him through your very useful and instructive publication.
Goddard Johnson.
Norfolk.
Abigail (Vol. iv., p. 424. Vol. v., pp. 38. 94. 450.).—The inquiry suggested in the first of the above references, "Whence, or when, originated the application of Abigail, as applied to a lady's maid?" has not yet, to my mind, been satisfactorily answered. It occurs to me that it may have been derived from the notorious Abigail Hill, better known as Mrs. Masham, a poor relative of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, and by her introduced to a subordinate place about the person of Queen Anne. She rapidly acquired sufficient influence to supplant her benefactress. The intrigues of the Tory party received sufficient furtherance from this bedchamber official to effect ultimately the downfall of the Whig ministry; and the use of the term by Dean Swift, of which your original Querist Mr. Warden speaks, would suffice to give currency and to associate the name of so famous an intriguante with the office which she filled. It must be matter of opinion whether the Dean (as Mr. W. thinks) employed the term as not new in those days, or as one which had taken so rapidly in the current conversation of the day, as to require but his putting it in print to establish it in its new sense so long as the language shall be spoken or written.
Balliolensis.
Handbook to the Library of the British Museum (Vol. viii., p. 511.).—Neither Lord Seymour, nor Mr. Bolton Corney, nor Mr. Richard Sims, can with justice claim originality in the suggestion carried out by the latter gentleman in the publication of his Handbook to the Library of the British Museum.
In my own collection is a book entitled,—
"A Critical and Historical Account of all the celebrated Libraries in Foreign Countries, as well ancient as modern, with general Reflections on the choice of Books," &c.... "A work of great use to all men of letters. By a Gentleman of the Temple. London, printed for J. Jolliffe, in St James's Street, MDCCXXXIX."
In the preface to which work the author says:
"It will be highly useful to such noblemen and gentlemen as visit foreign countries, by instructing them in the manner of perusing whatever is curious in the Vatican and other famous libraries."
And in which he promises that—
"If it should meet with the approbation of the public, he (the author) will proceed with the libraries of these kingdoms," &c.
F. Seymour Haden.
Chelsea.
The Arms of Richard, King of the Romans (Vol. viii., pp. 265. 454.). With every respect for such heraldic authorities as Mr. Gough and Mr. Lover, I think the question as to whether the so-called bezants in the arms of Richard, King of the Romans, referred to his earldom of Poictou or of Cornwall, inclines in favour of the former: for instance, in 1253 he granted to the
monks of Okebury a release of suit and service within his manor of Wallingford, which charter has a seal appended bearing an impress of the earl armed on horseback, with a lion rampant crowned on his surcoat, inscribed "Sigillum Richardi Comitis Cornubiæ." Now this inscription seems to identify the lion as pertaining to the earldom of Cornwall; surely, if the bezants represented this earldom, they would not have been omitted on his seal as Comes Cornubiæ.
Again, a very high heraldic authority, one of deep research, Mr. J. R. Planché, gives this opinion on the subject:
"The border bezantée, or talentée, of Richard, King of the Romans, is no representation of coins but of peas (poix), being the arms of Poitiers or Poictou (Menestrier, Orig., p. 147.), of which he was earl, and not of his other earldom of Cornwall, as imagined by Sandford and others. The adoption of bezants as the arms of Cornwall, and by so many Cornish families on that account, are all subsequent assumptions derived from the arms of Earl Richard aforesaid, the peas having been promoted into bezants by being gilt, and become identified with the Cornish escutcheon as the garbs of Blundeville are with that of Chester, or the coat of Cantelupe with that of the see of Hereford."—The Pursuivant at Arms, p. 136.
A simple Query then would seem to settle this matter. Is any instance known of bezants occurring as the arms of Cornell previous to the time of Earl Richard, or earlier than the commencement of the thirteenth century?
Norris Deck.
Cambridge.
Greek and Roman Fortifications (Vol. viii., p. 469.).—J. H. J. will find some information on this subject in Fosbroke's Grecian and Roman Antiquities (Longman, 1833).
John Scribe.
Osbernus filius Herfasti (Vol. viii., p. 515.).—In reply to the Query of Mr. Sansom, "Whether Osborn de Crespon, the brother of the Duchess of Normandy, had a brother of the same name?" I beg to reply that there appears to be distinct evidence that he had; for in a grant of lands by Richard II., Duke of Normandy, who died in 1026, to the monks of St. Michael, there are, along with the signatures of his son Richard and several other witnesses, those of Osbernus frater Comitissæ, and Osbernus filius Arfast (Lobineau, tom. ii. p. 97.). One of those may probably have become Abbot of S. Evroult. No doubt Mr. Sansom is well aware that one of the same family was Osborn, Bishop of Exeter. He was a son of Osborn de Crespon, and brother of the Earl of Hereford, premier peer of England. In 1066 he forbad the monks to be buried in the cloisters of their monasteries; but they resisted his injunction, and, on an appeal to the Pope, obtained a decision against him (Mabillon). For an eulogium on him see Godwin, De presul. Angl. He died in 1104, and was buried in the cathedral at Exeter.
I would observe that the ancient orthography of the name is Osbern, which was continued for many centuries, and may even now be seen in Maidwell Church, Northamptonshire, on the monument of Lady Gorges, the daughter of Sir John Osbern, who died in 1633.
Omicron.
I think there can be little doubt that Herfastus "the Dane" was the father of Gunnora, wife of Rich. I., Duke of Normandy; of Aveline, wife of Osbernus de Bolebec, Lord of Bolbec and Count of Longueville; and of Weira, wife of Turolf de Pont Audomere. The brother of these three sisters was another Herfastus, Abbot of St. Evrau; who was the father of Osbernus de Crepon, Steward of the Household, and Sewer to the Conqueror.
H. C. C.
Devonianisms (Vol. viii., p. 65.).—Your correspondent Mr. Keys is at a loss for the origin of the word plum, as used in Devonshire. Surely it is the same word as plump, although employed in a somewhat different sense. Plum or plump, as applied to a bed, would certainly convey the idea of softness or downiness. As to the employment of the word as a verb, I conceive that it is analogous to an expression which I have often heard used by cooks, in speaking of meat or poultry, "to plump up." A cook will say of a fowl which appears deficient in flesh, "It is a young bird; it will plump up when it comes to the fire." A native of Devonshire would simply say, "It will plum."
As to the word clunk, it is in use throughout Cornwall in the sense of "to swallow," and is undoubtedly Celtic. On referring to Le Gonidec's Dictionnaire Celto-Breton, I find "Lonka, or Lounka, v.a. avaler."
I have neither a Welsh dictionary nor one of the ancient Cornish language at hand, but I have no doubt that the same word, with the same signification, will be found in both those dialects of the Celtic, probably with some difference of spelling, which would bring it nearer to the word clunk.
It is not wonderful that a word, the sound of which is so expressive of the action, should have continued in use among an illiterate peasantry long after the language from which it is derived was forgotten; but many pure Celtic words, which have not this recommendation, are still in common use in Cornwall, and a collection of them would be highly interesting. Could not some of your antiquarian correspondents in the west, Mr. Boase of Penzance for example, furnish such a list? I will mention one or two words which I chance to remember: mabyer, a chicken, Breton mab, a son, iar, a hen; vean, little, Breton vihan.
To persons acquainted with the Welsh or Breton, the names of places in Cornwall, though sometimes strangely corrupted, are almost all significant. The dialect of Celtic spoken in Cornwall appears to have approached more closely to the latter than to the former of these tongues; or perhaps, speaking more correctly, it formed a connecting link between them, as Cornwall itself lies about midway between Wales and Brittany.
Edgar MacCulloch.
Guernsey.
Gentile Names of the Jews (Vol. viii., p. 563.).—The names of Rothschild, Montefiore, and Davis are family names, and not noms de guerre.
It is possible that the honoured names of Rothschild and Montefiore date from a purchase by some one of their ancestry of Gentile castles or lands, and with it the purchase right of name.
Davis is legitimately Jewish, but probably the Gentile name of Davis cannot boast of its pure source, and no doubt where Gentile pedigree loses trace, Jewish descent commences, either by a left-handed Jew connexion with a Gentile fair one, or a renegade ancestry.
Israel ben Isaac.
Red Lion Square.
Longevity (Vol. viii., p. 113.).—On October 15, Judy, a slave, died on the plantation of Edmund B. Richardson, in Bladen county, North Carolina, aged 110 years. She was one of eight slaves who nearly sixty years ago were the first settlers on the plantation, where she died. Of the seven others, one died over 90 years of age, another 93, and a third 81; two are living, one 75 and the other over 60 years of age.
Within five miles of the place where Judy died, William Pridgen lived, who died about five years ago, aged 122 years.
David Kennison, a soldier of the Revolution, died near Albany (N. Y.) on the 24th of February, 1852, aged 117 years.
M. E.
Philadelphia.
Reversible Names (Vol. viii., p. 244.).—Emme might have been added to your correspondent's list, a female name which, when first known in England, was spelt as above written, and not Emma, as at the present time. In an old book I have seen the name and its meaning thus recorded,—in English, Emme; in French, Emme, bonne nourrice.
I must beg to differ in opinion from your correspondent, even with his epicene restriction, who states "that varium et mutabile semper femina only means that whatever reads backwards and forwards, the same is always feminine."
If M. will take the trouble to look in Boyle's Court Guide for 1845, p. 358., he will find the name of a late very distinguished general officer, Sir Burges Camac. A wealthy branch of this family is now established in the United States, and one of its members bears the name of Camac Camac.
I am unable to give M. another instance, and doubt if one can be easily found where the Christian and surnames of a gentleman are alike, and both reversible.
W. W.
Malta.
Etymology of Eve.—Only one instance of a reversible name seems to me at present among the propria quæ maribus, and that is Bob. As, however, the name of our universal mother has been brought forward, you will, perhaps, allow me to transcribe the following remarkable etymology:
"Omnes nascimur ejulantes, ut nostram miseriam exprimamus. Masculus enim recenter natus dicit A; fœmina vero E; dicentes E vel A quotquot nascuntur ab Eva. Quid est igitur Eva nisi heu ha? Utrumque dolentis est interjectio doloris exprimens magnitudinem. Hinc enim ante peccatum virago, post peccatum Era meruit appellari.... Mulier autem ut naufragus, cum parit tristitiam habet," &c.—De Contemptu Mundi, lib. i. c. 6., à Lothario, diacono cardinali, S.S. Sergii et Bacchi, editus, qui postea Innocentius Papa III. appellatus est.
Balliolensis.
Manifesto of the Emperor Nicholas (Vol. viii., p. 585.).—Allow me to correct a gross error into which I have been led, by an imperfect concordance, in hastily concluding that the words "In te Domine speravi, non confundar in æternum," were not in the Psalms, as I have found them in the Vulgate, Psalms xxxi. 1. and lxxi. 1.
T. J. Buckton.
Lichfield.
Binometrical Verse (Vol. viii., pp. 292. 375.).—In answer to these inquiries, the copyright of this united hexameter and pentameter belongs to Mr. De la Pryme, of Trin. Coll., Cambridge, who is also the author of another line which is both an alcaic and sapphic:
"Quando nigrescit sacra latro patrat."
X.
Gale of Rent (Vol. viii., p. 563.).—Gale [Gavel, Sax., a rent or duty,] a periodical payment of rent. The Latin form of the word is gabellum, and the French gabelle. (See Wharton's Law Lexicon.)
Ἁλιεύς.
Dublin.