Replies to Minor Queries.
Ned o' the Todding (Vol. ix., p. 36.).—In answer to the inquiry of W. T., I beg to say that he will find the thrilling narrative of poor Ned of the Toddin in Southey's Espriella's Letters from England, vol. ii. p. 42.; but I am not aware of any lines with the above heading, by which I presume W. T. to be in search of some poetical rendering of the tale.
F. C. H.
Hour-glasses and Inscriptions on old Pulpits (Vol. ix., pp. 31. 64.).—In St. Edmund's Church, South Burlingham, stands an elegant pulpit of the fifteenth century, painted red and blue, and relieved with gilding. On it there still remains an old hour-glass, though such appendages were not introduced till some centuries probably after the erection of this pulpit. The following legend goes round the upper part of this pulpit, in the old English character:
"Inter natos mulierum non surrexit major Johanne Baptista."
F. C. H.
Table-turning (Vol. ix., pp. 39. 88.).—I have not Ammianus Marcellinus within reach, but, if I am not mistaken, after the table had been got into motion, the oracle was actually given by means of a ring. This being held over, suspended by a thread, oscillated or leaped from one to another of the letters of the alphabet which were engraved on the edge of the table, or that which covered it. The passage would not occupy many lines, and I think that many readers of "N. & Q." would be interested if some one of its learned correspondents would furnish a copy of it, with a close English translation.
N. B.
"Firm was their faith" (Vol. ix., p. 17.).—Grateful as I am to all who think well enough of my verses to discuss them in "N. & Q.," yet I cannot permit them to be incorrectly quoted or wrongly revised. If, as F. R. R. alleges, I had written in the third line of the stanza quoted—"with firm and trusting hands"—then I should have repeated the same epithet (firm) twice in three lines. Whereas I wrote, as a reference to Echoes from Old Cornwall, p. 58., will establish, stern.
R. S. Hawker.
The Wilbraham Cheshire MS. (Vol. viii., pp. 270. 303.).—With regard to this highly curious MS., I am enabled to state that it is still preserved at Delamere House, the seat of George Fortescue Wilbraham, Esq., by whom it has been continued down to the present time. Mr. Wilbraham has answered this Query himself, but from some accident his reply did not appear in the pages of "N. & Q." I therefore, having recently seen the MS., take this opportunity of assuring your querist of its existence.
W. J. Bernhard Smith.
Temple.
Mousehunt (Vol. viii., pp. 516. 606.; Vol. ix., p. 65.).—This animal is well known by this name in Norfolk, where the marten is very rare, if not entirely unknown. The Norfolk mousehunt, or mousehunter, is the Mustela vulgaris. (Vide Forby's Vocab. of East Anglia, vol. ii. p. 222., who errs, however, in calling it the stoat, but says that it is the "smallest animal of the weasel tribe, and pursues the smallest prey.") It would be of much use, both to naturalists and others, if our zoological works would give the popular provincial names of animals and birds; collectors might then more easily procure specimens from labourers, &c. I have formed a list of Norfolk names for birds,
which shall appear in "N. & Q." if desired. The Norfolk Mustelidæ in order of size are the "pollcat," or weasel; the stoat, or cane; the mousehunt, mousehunter, or lobster. A popular notion of gamekeepers is, that pollcats add a new lobe to their livers every year of their lives; but the disgusting smell of the animal prevents examining this point by dissection.
E. G. R.
If Fennell's Natural History of Quadrupeds be correctly quoted, as it is stated to be "a very excellent and learned work," Mr. Fennell must have been a better naturalist than geographer, for he says of the beech marten:
"In Selkirkshire it has been observed to descend to the shore at night time to feed upon mollusks, particularly upon the large basket mussel (Mytilus modiolus)."
Selkirkshire, as you well know, is an inland county, nowhere approaching the sea by many miles: I would fain hope, for Mr. Fennell's sake, that Selkirkshire is either a misprint or a misquotation.
J. Ss.
Begging the Question (Vol. viii., p. 640.).—This is a common logical fallacy, petitio principii; and the first known use of the phrase is to be found in Aristotle, τὸ ἐν ἀρχῆ ἀιτεῖσθαι (Topics, b. VIII. ch. xiii., Bohn's edition), where the five ways of "begging the question," as also the contraries thereof, are set forth. In the Prior Analytics (b. II. ch. xvi.) he gives one instance from mathematicians—
"who fancy that they describe parallel lines, for they deceive themselves by assuming such things as they cannot demonstrate unless they are parallel. Hence it occurs to those who thus syllogise to say that each thing is, if it is; and thus everything will be known through itself, which is impossible."
T. J. Buckton.
Birmingham.
Termination "-by" (Vol. viii., p. 105.).—On going over an alphabetical list of places from A to G, I obtained these results:
| Lincoln | 65 |
| Leicester | 21 |
| York | 24 |
| Northampton | 9 |
| Cumberland | 7 |
| Norfolk | 6 |
| Westmoreland | 3 |
| Lancashire | 2 |
| Derby | 2 |
| Nottingham | 2 |
| Sussex | 1 |
| Total | 142 |
Results of a similar character were obtained in reference to -thorp, -trop, -thrup, or -drop; Lincoln again heading the list, but closely followed by Norfolk, then Leicester, Notts, &c.
B. H. C.
German Tree (Vol. viii., p. 619.; Vol. ix., p. 65.).—Eryx has mistaken my Query owing to its vagueness. When I said, "Is this the first notice of a German tree in England?" I meant, "Is this the first notice of a German-tree-in-England?" and not "Is this the first notice-in-England of a German-tree?" as Eryx understood it.
Zeus.
Celtic Etymology (Vol. ix., p. 40.).—If the h must be "exhasperated" (as Matthews used to say) in words adopted into the English language, how does it happen that we never hear it in hour, honour, heir, honest, and humour? Will E. C. H. be so kind as to inform me on this point? With regard to the word humble, in support of the h being silent, I have seen it stated in a dictionary, but by whom I cannot call to mind, in a list of words nearly spelled alike, and whose sound is the same:
"Humble, low, submissive."
"Umbles, the entrails of a deer."
Hence the point of the sarcasm "He will be made to eat humble pie;" and it serves in this instance to show that the h is silent when the word is properly pronounced.
The two words isiol and irisiol, properly uirisiol, which E. C. H. has stated to be the original Celtic words signifying humble, have quite a different meaning: for isiol is quietly, silently, without noise; and uirisiol means, sneaking, cringing, crawling, terms which could not be applied without injustice to a really humble honest person. The Iberno-Phœnician umal bears in itself evidence that it is not borrowed from any other language, for the two syllables are intelligible apart from each other; and the word can be at once reduced to its root um, to which the Sanscrit word kshama, as given by E. C. H., bears no resemblance whatever.
Fras. Crossley.
Recent Curiosities of Literature (Vol. ix., p. 31.).—Your correspondent Mr. Cuthbert Bede has done well in directing Mr. Thackeray's attention to the error of substituting "candle" for "candlestick," at p. 47. of The Newcomes; but it appears that the author discovered the error, and made a clumsy effort to rectify it; for he elsewhere gives us to understand, that she died of a wound in her temple, occasioned by coming into contact with the stone stairs. See H. Newcome's letter.
The following curiosity of literature lately appeared in the London papers, in a biographical notice of the late Viscount Beresford, which is inserted in the Naval and Military Gazette of January 14, 1854:
"Of honorary badges he had, first, A cross dependent from seven clasps: this indicated his having been present in eleven battles during the Peninsular War. His name was unaccountably omitted in the return of those present at Ciudad Rodrigo. When Her Majesty gracefully extended the honorary distinctions to all the survivors of the great war, Lord Beresford received the Peninsular medal, with two clasps, for Egypt and Ciudad Rodrigo."
The expression should have been "the silver medal," not "Peninsular;" as, among the names of battles engraved on the clasps attached to the silver war-medals, granted in 1849, will be found the words "Martinique," "Fort Détroit," "Chateauguay," "Chrystler's Farm," and "Egypt."
Juverna.
D. O. M. (Vol. iii, p. 173.).—I am surprised that there should be the least doubt that the above are the initials of "Datur omnibus mori."
R. W. D.
Dr. John Taylor (Vol. viii., p. 299.).—There are several errors in the communication of S. R. He states that "Dr. John Taylor was buried at Kirkstead, Lancashire, where his tomb is distinguished by the following simple inscription."
1. Kirkstead is in Lincolnshire.
2. Dr. John Taylor lies interred in the burial-ground attached to the Presbyterian Chapel at Chowbent, near Bolton, in Lancashire.
3. The inscription on the tombstone is as follows:
"Here is interred the Rev. John Taylor, D.D., of Warrington, formerly of Norwich, who died March 5, 1761, aged 66."
4. The inscription given by S. R. is on a slab in the chapel at Chowbent. I may add that this inscription was drawn up by Dr. Enfield.
Thomas Baker.
Manchester.
Lines attributed to Hudibras (Vol. i., p. 211.).—
"For he that fights and runs away,
May live to fight another day."
In so far as I can understand from the various articles in "N. & Q." regarding the above quotation, it is to be found in the Musarum Deliciæ, 12mo., 1656. There is a copy of this volume now lying before me, the title-page of which runs thus:
"Musarum Deliciæ, or the Muses' Recreation; containing severall pieces of Poetique Wit. The second edition, by Sr J. M. and Ja. S. London: Printed by J. G. for Henry Herringman, and are to be sold at his Shop, at the Signe of the Anchor in the New Exchange, 1656."
This copy seems to have at one time belonged to Longmans, as it is described in the Bib. An. Poetica, having the signatures of "Orator Henly," "Ritson," and "J. Park." I have read this volume over carefully twice, and I must confess my inability to find any such two lines as the above noted, there. As I do not think Mr. Cunningham, in his Handbook of London, or Dr. Rimbault, would mislead any one, I am afraid my copy, being a second edition, may be incomplete; and as I certainly did not get the volume for nothing, will either of these gentlemen, or any other of the readers of "N. & Q.," who have seen other editions, let me know this?
There is a question asked by Melanion regarding the entire quotation, which I have not yet seen answered, which is,—
"For he that fights and runs away,
May live to fight another day;
But he that is in battle slain,
Can never hope to fight again."
Are these last two lines in the Musarum Deliciæ? or are these four lines to be found anywhere in conjunction? If this could be found, it would in my opinion settle the question.
S. Wmson.
"Corporations have no Souls," &c. (Vol. viii., p. 587.).—In Poynder's Literary Extracts, under the title "Corporations," there occurs the following passage:
"Lord Chancellor Thurlow said that corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned; they therefore do as they like."
There are also two long extracts, one from Cowper's Task, book IV., and the other from the Life of Wilberforce, vol. ii., Appendix, bearing on the same subject.
Arch. Weir.
Lord Mayor of London a Privy Councillor (Vol. iv. passim).—Mr. Serjeant Merewether, Town Clerk to the Corporation of London, in his examination before the City Corporation Commission, said that it had been the practice from time immemorial, to summon the Lord Mayor of London to the first Privy Council held after the demise of the crown. (The Standard, Jan. 13, 1854, p. i. col. 5.)
L. Hartly.
Booty's Case (Vol. iii., p. 170.).—A story resembling that of "Old Booty" is to be found in St. Gregory the Great's Dialogues, iii. 30., where it is related that a hermit saw Theodoric thrown into the crater of Lipari by two of his victims, Pope John and Symmachus.
J. C. R.
"Sat cito, si sat bene" (Vol. vii. p. 594.).—St. Jerome (Ep. lxvi. § 9., ed. Vallars) quotes this as a maxim of Cato's.
J. C. R.
Celtic and Latin Languages (Vol. ix., p. 14.).—Allow me to suggest to T. H. T. that the word Gallus, a Gaul, is not, of course, the same as the Irish Gal, a stranger. Is it not rather the Latin form of Gaoithil (pronounced Gael or Gaul), the generic appellation of our Erse population? In Welsh it is Gwydyl, to this day their term for an Irishman.
Gaoll, stranger, is used in Erse to denote a foreign settler, e.g. the Earl of Caithness is Morphear (pronounced Morar) Gaoll, the stranger great man; being lord of a corner of the land inhabited by a foreign race.
Galloway, on the other hand, takes its name from the Gael, being possessed by a colony of that people from Kintyre, &c., who long retained the name of the wild Scots[[5]] of Galloway, to distinguish them from the Brets or British inhabitants of the rest of the border.
Francis John Scott, M.A.
Holy Trinity, Tewkesbury.
Footnote 5:[(return)]
Scot or Scott is applied only to the men of Gaelic extraction in our old records.
Brydone the Tourist's Birth-place (Vol. vii., p. 108.).—According to Chambers's Lives of Scotsmen, vol. i. p. 384., 1832, Brydone was the son of a clergyman in the neighbourhood of Dumbarton, where he was born in the year 1741. When he came to England, he was engaged as travelling preceptor by Mr. Beckford, to whom his Tour through Sicily and Malta is addressed. In a copy of this work, now before me, I find the following remarks written in pencil:
"These travels are written in a very plausible style, but little dependence is to be placed upon their veracity. Brydone never was on the summit of Ætna, although he describes the prospect from it in such glowing colours."
It is right to add, that the writer of these remarks was long a resident in Italy, and in constant habits of intercourse with the most distinguished scholars of that country.
J. Macray.
Oxford.