Replies to Minor Queries.
London Fortifications (Vol. ix., p. 174.).—In last week's Number is an inquiry as to "London Fortifications" in the time of the Commonwealth.
There is a Map by Vertue, dated 1738, in a folio History of London; there is one a trifle smaller, copied from the above; also one with page of description, Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1749. I subscribed to a set of twenty etchings, published last year by Mr. P. Thompson of the New Road; they are very curious, being facsimiles of a set of drawings done by a Capt. John Eyre of Oliver Cromwell's own regiment, dated 1643. The drawings are now I believe in the possession of the City of London.
A Constant Reader.
[The drawings referred to by our correspondent are, we hear, by competent judges regarded as not genuine. Such also, we are told, is the opinion given of many drawings ascribed to Hollar and Captain John Eyre, which have been purchased by a gentleman of our acquaintance, and submitted by him to persons most conversant with such drawings. Query, Are the drawings purporting to be by Captain John Eyre, drawings of the period at which they are dated?]
Burke's Domestic Correspondence (Vol. ix., p. 9.).—In reference to a Query in "N.& Q." relative to unpublished documents respecting Edmund Burke, I beg to inform your correspondent N. O. that I have no doubt but that some new light might be thrown on the subject by an application to Mr. George Shackleton, Ballitore, a descendant of Abraham Shackleton, Burke's old schoolmaster, who I believe has a quantity of letters written to his old master Abraham, and also to his son Richard, who had Burke for a schoolfellow, and continued the friendship afterwards, both by writing and personally. When Richard attended yearly meetings in London, he was always a guest at Beaconsfield. Burke was so much attached to Richard, that on one of these visits he caused Shackleton's portrait to be painted and presented it to him, and it is now in the possession of the above family. I have no doubt but that an application to the above gentleman would produce some testimony.
F. H.
Battle of Villers-en-Couché (Vol. viii. passim).—A good account of this celebrated engagement, with several authentic documents relating to what happened on the occasion, will be found in that very interesting little work, Risen from the Ranks, by the Rev. E. Neale (London, Longmans, 1853).
James Spence Harry.
"I could not love thee, dear, so much" (Vol. ix., p. 125.).—These lines are from an exquisite morceau entitled To Lucasta, on going to the Wars, by the gay, gallant, and ill-fated cavalier, Richard Lovelace, whose undying loyalty and love, and whose life, and every line that he wrote, are all redolent of the best days of chivalry. They are to be found in a 12mo. volume, Lucasta, London, 1649. The entire piece is so short, that I venture to subjoin it:
"Tell me not, sweet, I am unkinde,
That from the nunnerie
Of thy chaste breast and quiet minde,
To warre and armes I flie.
"True, a new mistresse now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith imbrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
"Yet this inconstancy is such,
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, deare, so much,
Loved I not honour more."
To the honour of Kent be it remembered that Lovelace was Cantianus.
[We are also indebted for Replies to E. L. Holt White, Geo. E. Frere, E. C. H., J. K. R. W., H. J. Raines, M.D., F. J. Scott, W. J. B. Smith, E. S. T. T., C. B. E., F. E. E., &c. "Lovelace (says Wood) made his amours to a gentlewoman of great beauty and fortune, named Lucy Sacheverel, whom he usually called Lux casta; but she, upon a strong report that he was dead of his wound received at Dunkirk (where he had brought a regiment for the service of the French king), soon after married."—Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 462.]
Sir Charles Cotterell (Vol. viii., p. 564.).—Sir Charles Cotterell, the translator of Cassandra, was Master of the Ceremonies to Charles II.; which office he resigned to his son in 1686, and died about 1687. I cannot say where he was buried. I am in possession of a copy of—
"The Memorialls of Margaret de Valoys, first Wife to Henry the Fourth, King of France and Navarre; compiled in French by her own most delicate and Royal hand, and translated into English by Robert Codrington, Master of Arts: London, printed by R. H. 1661."
It is dedicated to "To the true lover of all good learning, the truly honourable Sir Charles Cotterell, Knight, Master of the Ceremonies," &c. On the fly-leaf of it is written, "Frances Cottrell, her booke, given by my honor'd grandfather Sir Cha. Cottrell." This edition is not mentioned by Lowndes; he only speaks of one of the date of 1662, with a title slightly different.
C—S. T. P.
Muffins and Crumpets (Vol. ix., p. 77).—Crumpet, according to Todd's Johnson, is derived from A.-S.
"Mofflet. Moffletus. Mofletus Panis delicatioris species, qui diatim distribui solet Canonicis præbendariis; Tolosatibus Pain Moufflet, quasi Pain molet dictus; forte quod ejusmodi panes singulis diebus coquantur, atque recentes et teneri distribuantur."—Du Cange.
The latter part of the description is very applicable to this article.
Under Panes Præbendarii, Du Cange says, "Innoc. Cironus observat ejusmodi panes Præbendarios dici, et in Tolosano tractu Moufflets appellari." (See "N. & Q," Vol. i., pp. 173. 205. 253.)
Zeus.
Todd, for the derivation of crumpet, gives the Saxon
Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.
"Clunk" (Vol. viii., p. 65.).—The Scotch, and English, clunk must have different meanings: for Jamieson defines the verb to clunk "to emit a hollow and interrupted sound, as that proceeding from any liquid confined in a cask, when shaken, if the cask be not full;" and to guggle, as a "straight-necked bottle, when it is emptying;" and yet I am inclined to believe that the word also signifies to swallow, as in England. In the humorous ballad of "Rise up and bar the door," clunk seems to be used in the sense of to swallow:
"And first they eat the while puddins, and then they eat the black;
The gudeman said within himsel, the Deil clunk ower ai that."
That is, may you swallow the devil with the black puddings, they perhaps being the best to the good man's taste. True, I have seen the word printed "clink," instead of clunk in this song; but erroneously I think, as there is no signification of clink in Jamieson that could be appropriately used by the man who saw his favourite puddings devoured before his face. To clink, means to "beat smartly", to "rivet the point of a nail," to "propagate scandal, or any rumour quickly;" none of which significations could be substituted for clunk in the ballad.
Henry Stephens.
Picts' Houses (Vol. viii., p. 392.).—Such buildings underground as those described as Picts'
houses, were not uncommon on the borders of the Tweed. A number of them, apparently constructed as described, were discovered in a field on the farm of Whitsome Hill, Berwickshire, about forty years ago. They were supposed to have been made for the detention of prisoners taken in the frays during the Border feuds: and afterwards they were employed to conceal spirits, smuggled either across the Border, or from abroad.
Henry Stephens.
Tailless Cats (Vol. ix., p. 10.).—The tailless cats are still procurable in the Isle of Man, though many an unfortunate pussey with the tail cut off is palmed off as genuine on the unwary. The real tailless breed are rather longer in the hind legs than the ordinary cat, and grow to a large size.
P. P.
Though not a Manx man by birth, I can assure your correspondent Shirley Hibberd, that there is not only a species of tailless cats in the Isle of Man, but also of tailless barn-door fowls. I believe the latter are also to be found in Malta.
E. P. Paling.
Chorley.
"Cock-and-bull story" (Vol. v., pp. 414. 447.).—Dr. Maitland, in his somewhat sarcastic remarks respecting "cock-and-bull stories," extracted from Mr. Faber's work, has, no doubt, given a true account of the "cock on the church steeple, as being symbolical of a doctor or teacher." Still I cannot see that this at all explains the expression of a "cock-and-bull story." Will Dr. Maitland be so good as to enlighten me on this point?
I. R. R.
Market Crosses (Vol. v., p. 511.).—Does not the marriage at the market cross allude simply to the civil marriages in the time of the Commonwealth, not alluding to any religious edifice at all? An inspection of many parish registers of that period will, I think, prove this.
I. R. R.
"Largesse" (Vol. v., p. 557.).—The word largesse is not peculiar to Northamptonshire: I well remember it used in Essex at harvest-time, being shouted out at such time through the village to ask for a gift, as I always understood. A. B. may be referred to Marmion, Canto I. note 10.
I. R. R.
Awkward, Awart, Awalt (Vol. viii., p. 310.).—When fat sheep roll over upon their backs, and cannot get up of themselves, they are said to be lying awkward, in some places awalt, and in others awart. Is awkward, in this sense, the same word that treated by H. C. K.?
S.
Morgan Odoherty (Vol. viii., p. 11.).—In reference to the remarks of Mr. J. S. Warden on the Morgan Odoherty of Blackwood's Magazine, I had imagined it was very generally known by literary men that that nom de guerre was assumed by the late Captain Hamilton, author of the Annals of the Peninsular Campaigns, and other works; and brother of Sir William Hamilton, Professor of Logic in the University of Edinburgh. I had never heard, until mentioned by Mr. Warden, that Dr. Maginn was ever identified with that name.
S.
Black Rat (Vol. vii., p. 206.).—In reply to the question of Mr. Shirley Hibberd, whether the original rat of this country is still in existence, I may mention, that in the agricultural districts of Forfarshire, the Black Rat (Mus rattus) was in existence a few years ago. On pulling down the remains of an old farm-steading in 1823, after the building of a new one, they were there so numerous, that a greyhound I had destroyed no fewer than seventy-seven of them in the course of a couple of hours. Having used precautions against their lodgment in the new steading, under the floors, and on the tops of the party walls, they were effectually banished from the farm.
Henry Stephens.
Blue Bells of Scotland (Vol. viii., p. 388.).—Your correspondent
Henry Stephens.
Grammars, &c. for Public Schools (Vol. ix., p. 8., &c.).—Pray add to the list a Latin grammar, under the title of The Common Accidence Improved, by the Rev. Edward Owen, Rector of Warrington, and for fifty years Master of the Grammar School founded in that town, under the will of Sir Thomas Boteler, on April 27, 1526. I believe it was first published in 1770, but the copy now before me is of an edition printed in 1800; and the Preface contains a promise (I know not whether afterwards fulfilled) of the early publication of the rules, versified on the plan of Busbey and Ruddiman, under the title of Elementa Latina Metrica.
J. F. M.
Warville (Vol. viii., p. 516.).—As regards the letter W, there is a distinction to be made between proper names and other words in the French language. The exclusion of that letter from the alphabet is sufficient proof that there are no words of French origin that begin with it; but the proper names in which it figures are common enough in recent times. Of these, the greater number have been imported from the neighbouring countries of Germany, Switzerland, and
Belgium: and some too are of local origin or formation.
In the latter category is the name of Warville, which is derived from Ouarville, near Chartres, where Brissot was born in 1754. Between the French ouar and our "war," there is a close similarity of sound; and in the spirit of innovation, which characterised the age of Brissot, the transition was a matter of easy accomplishment. Hence the nom de guerre of Warville, by which he was known to his cotemporaries.
Henry H. Breen.
St. Lucia.