Minor Queries with Answers.
Queen Elizabeth and the Ring.—Has the common story, respecting the Earl of Essex sending a ring to Queen Elizabeth by the Countess of Nottingham, in order to procure his pardon, any foundation in fact?
T. T. W.
[Miss Strickland seems to have examined the traditionary notices of this love-token. She says: "The romantic story of the ring which, it is said, the queen had given to Essex in a moment of fondness as a pledge of her affection, with an intimation 'that, if he forfeited her favour, if he sent it back to her, the sight of it would ensure her forgiveness,' must not be lightly rejected. It is not only related by Osborne, who is considered a fair authority for other things, and quoted by historians of all parties, but it is a family tradition of the Careys, who were the persons most likely to be in the secret, as they were the relations and friends of all the parties concerned, and enjoyed the confidence of Queen Elizabeth. The following is the version given by Lady Elizabeth Spelman, a descendant of that House, to the editor of her great-uncle Robert Carey's Memoirs: 'When Essex lay under sentence of death, he determined to try the virtue of the ring, by sending it to the queen, and claiming the benefit of her promise; but knowing he was surrounded by the creatures of those who were bent on taking his life, he was fearful of trusting it to any of his attendants. At length, looking out of his window, he saw early one morning a boy whose countenance pleased him, and him he induced by a bribe to carry the ring, which he threw down to him from above, to the Lady Scrope his cousin, who had taken so friendly interest in his fate. The boy, by mistake, carried it to the Countess of Nottingham, the cruel sister of the fair and gentle Scrope, and, as both these ladies were of the royal bedchamber, the mistake might easily occur. The countess carried the ring to her husband the Lord Admiral, who was the deadly foe of Essex, and told him the message, but he bade her suppress both.' The queen, unconscious of the accident, waited in the painful suspense of an angry lover for the expected token to arrive; but not receiving it, she concluded he was too proud to make this last appeal to her tenderness, and, after having once revoked the warrant, she ordered the execution to proceed. It was not till the axe had absolutely fallen, the the world could believe that Elizabeth would take the life of Essex."—Lives of the Queens of England, vol. iv. p. 747.]
Lives of English Bishops: Bishop Burnet.—I should be glad to know who is the author of The Lives of the English Bishops, from the Restauration to the Revolution; Fit to be opposed to the Aspersions of some late Writers of Secret History: London, printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCCXXXI? The name of "Nath. Salmon, LL.B. CCCC," is written on the title-page; but it does not appear whether this is intended to indicate the author, or merely a former possessor of the copy now lying before me. From this work, in which Burnet, Kennett, and others are very severely criticised, I send a curious extract relating to Burnet:
"He puts me in mind of a petty canon of Exeter, to whom he used military force upon refusal to alter the prayers at his command until he should receive the proper instructions. He brought a file of musqueteers upon him, and crammed his amendments down his throat. This man, in a journey to London, visited the musical part of the Church of Salisbury, and was as usual asked to sing an anthem at evening service. He was a lover of humour, and singing the 137th Psalm, threw out his right hand towards the bishop's stall, and with great emphasis pronounced the words, 'If I forget thee—if I forget thee,' repeating it so often that the whole congregation inquired after the meaning of it. It was from that time ordered that no strange songster should come up more."—P. 229.
E. H. A.
[This work was written by Nathaniel Salmon, who was deprived of his curacy for being a Nonjuror. He afterwards settled as a physician at Bishop-Stortford in Hertfordshire, where he died in 1742. See a notice of him, and his other works, in Bowyer's Anecdotes, p. 638.]
Eden Pedigree and Arms.—I find in Gough Nicholl's Topographer and Genealogist, vol. i. p. 173., mention of a monument in All Saints' Church, Sudbury, to one of the Eden family; and a pedigree painted on the east wall of Eden, much defaced, with numerous arms, date 1615. Would any of your correspondents kindly give me particulars of this monument, pedigree, and arms?
Elffin ap Gwyddno.
[The monument was commenced by the second Sir Thomas Eden in 1615, and contained, some years since, an inscription upon brass, a limbed picture, and upon the wall, beneath the canopy, a pedigree of the marriages of the family with those of Waldegrave, Peyton, Steward, Workington, Harrys, and St. Clere. The whole having fallen into ruin, it became necessary in 1851 to remove it. The brass being gone, the following inscription upon the verge of the canopy alone was visible: "This tombe was finished at ye coste of Sir Thomas Eden, Knight, Maie 16, 1617." A large mural monument to the memory of several of the Eden family is about to be erected by its side. See the Rev. Charles Badham's History and Antiquities of All Saints' Church, Sudbury, pp. 44-46. and 162., London, 1852; who says that the pedigree upon the wall has been preserved, but does not state where it may be seen: it will, however, be found among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum.]
The Gentleman's Calling.—Can any one tell me who was the author of this book? It was printed in London for T. Garthwait, at the little north doore of St. Pauls, 1660.
John Scribe.
[This work is attributed to the uncertain author of The Whole Duty of Man, and is included among the collected works of that writer in the folio edition of
1729. Compare "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 537., with Vol. viii., p. 564.]
Obs and Sols.—Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy ("Democritus to the Reader"), 6th edition, has the following passage:
"Bale, Erasmus, Hospinian, Vives, Kemnisius, explode, as a vast ocean of obs and sols, school divinity."
What is the meaning of the terms obs and sols?
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.
[This is a quaint abbreviation of the words objectiones et solutiones, being frequently so contracted in the margins of books of controversial divinity to mark the transitions from the one to the other. Hence Butler (Hudibras, III. ii. 1237.) has coined the name of ob and sollers for scholastic disputants:
"But first, o' th' first: the Isle of Wight
Will rise up, if you should deny't;
Where Henderson, and the other masses,
Were sent to cap texts and put cases:
To pass for deep and learned scholars,
Although but paltry ob and sollers:
As if th' unseasonable fools,
Had been a coursing in the schools.">[
Fystens or Fifteenths.—Can you inform me what is the meaning of the word "fystens." In looking over an old corporation chamber book some years ago I found the following entries, of which I made extracts:
"1587. Paid to Mr. Mayor for fystenes, iiij. [sic].
1589. Paid Mr. Dyston for the fystens, xxxs.
1592. More for the fystens, xxvjs.
1592. Paid for the fystenes, xixs. iijd.
1592. More for the fystenes, xxxis, vijd. q.
1594. Paid to make up the fystenes, xxxijs. iijd.
1595. Paid for the fistenies, xxxs."
In a recent publication this last entry is extracted thus:
"1595. Paid for the fifteenths, 30s."
Patonce.
[This was the tribute or imposition of money called fifteenths, formerly laid upon cities, boroughs, &c., so called because it amounted to a fifteenth part of that which each city or town was valued at, or a fifteenth of every man's personal estate, according to a reasonable valuation. In 1588, on occasion of the Spanish invasion, the Parliament gave Queen Elizabeth two subsidies and four fifteenths.]