Replies to Minor Queries.
Saw-dust Recipe (Vol. ix., p. 148.).—See Herschel's Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, published in Lardner's Cyclopædia, p. 64., where he says:
"That sawdust itself is susceptible of conversion into a substance bearing no remote analogy to bread; and though certainly less palatable than that of flour, yet no way disagreeable, and both wholesome and digestible, as well as highly nutritive."
To which passage the following note is appended:
"See Dr. Prout's account of the experiments of Professor Autenrieth of Tubingen, Phil. Trans., 1827, p. 331. This discovery, which renders famine next to impossible, deserves a higher degree of celebrity than it has obtained."
J. M. W.
Though not exactly the recipe for saw-dust biscuits which I have heard of, there is an account of the process of making bread from bark in Laing's "Norway" (Longman's Traveller's Lib.), part ii. p. 219., where, on the subject of pine-trees, it is stated:
"Many were standing with all their branches dead, stripped of the bark to make bread, and blanched by the weather, resembling white marble,—mere ghosts of trees. The bread is made of the inner rind next the wood, taken off in flakes like a sheet of foolscap paper, and is steeped or washed in warm water, to clear off its astringent principle. It is then hung across a rope to dry in the sun, and looks exactly like sheets of parchment. When dry it is pounded into small pieces mixed with corn, and ground into meal on the hand-mill or quern. It is much more generally used than I supposed. There are districts in which the forests suffered very considerable damage in the years 1812 and 1814, when bad crops and the war, then raging, reduced many to bark bread. The Fjelde bonder use it, more or less, every year. It is not very unpalatable; nor is there any good reason for supposing it unwholesome, if well prepared; but it is very costly. The value of the tree, which is left to perish on its root, would buy a sack of flour, if the English market were open."
Now, if G. D., or any enterprising individual, could succeed in converting saw-dust into wholesome food, or fit for admixture with flour, somewhat after the above manner, it would indeed be a "happy discovery," considering the present high price of "the staff of life." Bread has also been made from the horse-chesnut; but the expense of preparation, removing the strong bitter flavour, is no doubt the obstacle to its success. What could be done with the Spanish chesnut?
Willo.
The saw-dust recipe is to be found in the Saturday Magazine, Jan. 3, 1835, taken from No. 104. of the Quarterly Review. It is entitled, "How to make a Quartern Loaf out of a Deal Board."
J. C.
Your correspondent G. D. may find something to his purpose in a little German work, entitled Wie kann man, bey grosser Theuerung und Hungersnoth, ohne Getreid, gesundes Brod verschaffen? Von Dr. Oberlechner: Xav. Duyle, Salzburg, 1817.
W. T.
Brydone the Tourist (Vol. ix., p. 138.).—The literary world would feel obliged to J. Macray to tell us the name of the writer of the criticism who says, "Brydone never was on the Summit of Etna." Did the scholars of Italy know more of what was done by Englishmen in Sicily in Brydone's day than they do at present? How are the dates reconciled? Brydone would be 113 years old. Mr. Beckford, I think, must have been some thirteen or fourteen years younger. Brydone was always considered to be in his relations in life a man of probity and honour. I used to hear much of him from one nearly related to me, whose father was first cousin to Brydone's wife.
H. R., née F.
Etymology of "Page" (Vol. ix., p. 106.).—Paggio Italian, page French and Spanish, pagi Provençal, is derived by Diez, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Romanischen Sprachen (Bonn, 1853), p. 249., from the Greek παιδίον. This derivation is evidently the true one. I may take this opportunity of recommending the above-cited work to all persons who feel an interest in the etymology of the Romance languages. It is not only more scientific and learned, but more comprehensive, than any other work of the kind.
L.
Longfellow (Vol. ix., p. 174.).—There was a family of the name of Longfellow resident in Brecon, South Wales, about fifty or sixty years ago, who were large landowners in the county; and one of them (Tom Longfellow, alluded to in the lines below) kept the principal inn, "The Golden Lion," in that town. His son occupied a farm a few miles from Brecon, about thirty years ago; and two of his sisters resided in the town. The family was frequently engaged in law suits (perhaps from the proverbially litigious disposition
of their Welsh neighbours), and was ultimately ruined. Many of the old inhabitants of that part of the Principality could, no doubt, give a better and fuller account of them.
The following lines (not very flattering to the landlord, certainly), said to have been written by a commercial traveller on an inside-window shutter of "The Golden Lion," when Mr. Longfellow was the proprietor, may not be out of place in "N. & Q.:"
"Tom Longfellow's name is most justly his due,
Long his neck, long his bill, which is very long too;
Long the time ere your horse to the stable is led,
Long before he's rubbed down, and much longer till fed;
Long indeed may you sit in a comfortless room,
Till from kitchen, long dirty, your dinner shall come;
Long the often-told tale that your host will relate,
Long his face whilst complaining how long people eat;
Long may Longfellow long ere he see me again,—
Long 'twill be ere I long for Tom Longfellow's inn."
C. H. (2)
Yesterday I happened to be looking over an old Bristol paper (Sarah Farley's Bristol Journal, Saturday, June 11, 1791), and the name of Longfellow, which I had before only known as borne by the poet, caught my eye. At the end of the paper there is a notice in these words:
"Advertisements are taken in for this paper by agents in various places, and by Mr. Longfellow, Brecon," &c.
Henry Geo. Tomkins.
Park Lodge, Weston-super-Mare.
There is now living at Beaufort Iron Works, Breconshire, a respectable tradesman, bearing the name of Longfellow. He himself is a native of the town of Brecon, as was his father also. But his grandfather was a settler; though from what part of the country this last-named relative originally came, he is unfortunately unable to say. He has the impression, however, that it was from Cornwall or Devonshire. Perhaps this information will partly answer the question of Oxoniensis.
E. W. I.
It is by no means improbable that the name is a corruption of Longvillers, found in Northamptonshire as early as the reign of Edward I., and derived, I imagine, from the town of Longueville in Normandy. There is a Newton Longville in this county.
W. P. Storer.
Olney, Bucks.
Canting Arms (Vol. ix., p. 146.).—The introduction to the collection of arms alluded to was not written by Sir George Naylor, but by the Rev. James Dallaway, who had previously published his Historical Enquiries, a work well known.
G.
Holy Loaf Money (Vol. ix., p. 150.).—At some time before the date of present rubrics, it was the custom for every house in the parish to provide in rotation bread (and wine) for the Holy Communion. By the first book of King Edward VI., this duty was devolved upon those who had the cure of souls, with a provision "that the parishioners of every parish should offer every Sunday, at the time of the offertory, the just value and price of the holy loaf ... to the use of the pastors and curates" who had provided it; "and that in such order and course as they were wont to find, and pay the said holy loaf." This is, I think, the correct answer to the Query of T. J. W.
J. H. B.
"Could we with ink," &c. (Vol. viii., pp. 127. 180.).—The idea embodied in these lines was well known in the seventeenth century. The following "rhyme," extracted from a rare miscellany entitled Wits Recreations, 12mo., 1640, has reference to the subject.
"Interrogativa Cantilena.
"If all the world were paper,
And all the sea were inke;
If all the trees were bread and cheese,
How should we do for drinke?
"If all the world were sand'o,
Oh then what should we lack'o;
If as they say there were no clay,
How should we take tobacco?
"If all our vessels ran'a,
If none but had a crack'a;
If Spanish apes eat all the grapes,
How should we do for sack'a?
"If fryers had no bald pates,
Nor nuns had no dark cloysters;
If all the seas were beans and pease,
How should we do for oysters?
"If there had been no projects,
Nor none that did great wrongs;
If fiddlers shall turne players all,
How should we doe for songs?
"If all things were eternall,
And nothing their end bringing;
If this should be, then how should we
Here make an end of singing?"
Edward F. Rimbault.
Mount Mill, and the Fortifications of London (Vol. ix., p. 174.).—B. R. A. Y. will find that the name is still applied to an obscure locality in the parish of St. Luke, situated close to the west end of Seward Street on the north side. The parliamentary fortifications of London are described in Maitland's Hist., and Mount Mill is noticed in Cromwell's Clerkenwell, pp. 33. 396. This writer supposes that the Mount (long since levelled) originated in the interment of a great number of persons during the plague of 1665; but
this, I think, is a mistake, for the Mount is mentioned in a printed broadside which, if I remember rightly, bears an earlier date. I cannot furnish its title, but it will be found in the British Museum, with the press-mark 669. f. 8/22. A plan of the city and suburbs, as fortified by order of the parliament in 1642 and 1643, was engraved by George Vertue, 1738; and a small plan of the same works appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine a few years afterwards (1749?).
W.P. Storer.
Olney, Bucks.
Standing while the Lord's Prayer is read (Vol. ix., p. 127.).—A custom noted to prevail at Bristol: in connexion with it, it would be interesting to ascertain in what churches there still remain any usages of by-gone days, but which have generally got into desuetude. It is probable that in some one or other church there may still exist a usage handed down by tradition, which is not generally recognised nor authorised in the present day. Perhaps by means of our widely spread "N. & Q.," and the notes of its able contributors, this may be ascertained. By way of example, and as a beginning, I would mention the following:—
At St. Sampson's, Cricklade (it was so before 1820), the people say, "Thanks be to Thee, O God!" after the reading of the Gospel; a usage said to be as old as St. Chrysostom.
At Talaton, Devon, where the congregation turn towards the singing gallery at the west end, during the singing of the "Magnificat" and other psalms, at the "Gloria" they all turn round to the east.
At Bitton, Gloucestershire, two parishioners, natives of Lincolnshire, always gave me notice before they came to Holy Communion, as it was their custom always to do.
When a boy, I remember an old gentleman, who came from one of the Midland Counties, always stood up at the "Glory" in the Litany. In many country churches, the old women make a courtesy.
In many country churches, the old men bow and smooth down their hair when they enter the church; and women make a courtesy.
H. T. Ellacombe.
Rectory, Clyst St. George.
In a late Number of your miscellany, you say it is a general practice for congregations in churches to stand during the reading of the Lord's Prayer, when it occurs in the order of Morning Lessons. In my experience, I do not remember any such custom prevalent in this part of the country; but may mention, as a curious and (as far as I know, or ever heard of) singular example of kneeling at the reading of St Matt. vi. and St. Luke xi., that at Formby, a retired village on the Lancashire coast, my first cure, the people observed this usage. The children in the schools were instructed to kneel whenever they read the section of these chapters which contains the Lord's Prayer. And at the "Burial of the Dead," as soon as the minister came to that portion of the ceremony where the use of the Lord's Prayer is enjoined, all the assembled mourners (old and young, and however cold or damp the day) would devoutly kneel down in the chapel yard, and remain in this posture of reverence until the conclusion of the service. I observed that their Roman Catholic neighbours, who often attended at funerals, when they happened to be present, did the same. So that it seemed to be "a tradition derived from their fathers," and handed down "from one generation to another."
R. L.
Great Lever, Bolton.
This custom is observed in the Cathedral at Norwich, but not (I believe) in the other churches in that city. I remember seeing it noticed in a very old number of the Gentleman's Magazine, and should be glad if any of your correspondents could tell me which number it is. I have looked through the Index in vain. The writer denounced it as a Popish custom!
W.
A dead Sultan, with his Shirt for an Ensign (Vol. ix., p. 76.).—Mr. Warden will find a long and interesting description of Saladin in Knolles' Turkish History, pp. 33. 57., published in London by Adam Islip in 1603. I take from this learned work the following curious anecdote:
"About this time (but the exact period is not stated) died the great Sultan Saladin, the greatest terrour of the Christians; who, mindfull of man's fragilitie, and the vanitie of worldly honours, commanded at the time of his death no solemnitie to be vsed at his buriall, but only his shirt in manner of an ensigne, made fast vnto the point of a lance, to be carried before his dead bodie as an ensigne. A plaine priest going before and crying aloud vnto the people in this sort: 'Saladin Conquerour of the East, of all the greatnesse and riches hee had in this life, carrieth not with him after his death anything more than his shirt.'"—"A sight (says Knolles) woorthie so great a king, as wanted nothing to his eternall commendation, more than the true knowledge of his salvation in Christ Jesu."
W. W.
Malta.
"Houd maet of laet" (Vol. ix., p. 148.).—One of your correspondents desires an explanation of this phrase, which he found in the corner of an old Dutch picture. It is a Flemish proverb; I translate it thus:
"Keep within bounds, though 'tis late."
It may either be the motto which the artist adopted to identify his work while he concealed
his name; or it may be descriptive of the picture, which then would be an illustration of this proverb. Inscribed either by the artist himself, or by some officious person, who thus "tacked the moral full in sight."
I think I have seen a similar inscription somewhere in Flanders on an antique drinking-cup, a very appropriate place for such wholesome counsel.
I should like to know the subject of the picture your correspondent refers to. In modern Dutch the proverb reads thus:
"Houd maat of laat."
E. F. Woodman.
The above Dutch proverb means, in English:
"Keep within bounds, or leave off."
Ἁλιεύς.
Captain Eyre's Drawings (Vol. ix., p. 207.).—The mention of Captain Eyre's drawings of the Fortifications in London, and the editorial note appended thereto, remind me of an inquiry I have long been desirous of making respecting the curious, if authentic, drawings by this same Captain Eyre, illustrative of Shakspeare's residence in London, described in one of your earlier volumes (Vol. vii., p. 545.). I have not myself had an opportunity of consulting Mr. Halliwell's first volume, but a friend who looked at it for me says he could not find any account of them there. In whose possession are they now?
M. A.
Shrewsbury.
Sir Thomas Browne and Bishop Ken (Vol. ix., p. 220.).—Had Mr. Mackenzie Walcott referred to a preceding volume of "N. & Q." (Vol. viii., p. 10.), he would have seen that the "coincidences" between these writers had been already noticed in your pages by one of the bishop's biographers.
The life of Ken, from the pen of your correspondent, is omitted in Mr. Mackenzie Walcott's list, and may be equally unknown to that gentleman as the note before mentioned; but in the Quarterly Review (vol. lxxxix. p. 278.), and in many pages of Mr. Anderdon's valuable volume, Mr. Mackenzie Walcott will find ample mention of the work in question.
J. H. Markland.
Unfinished Works (Vol. ix., p. 148.).—J. M. is informed that Dr. Shirley Palmer's Medical Dictionary is finished. From the Preface it appears to have been finished in 1841; but not published (in a complete form) till 1845, with the title A Pentaglot Dictionary of the Terms employed in Anatomy, &c.; London, Longman & Co.; Birmingham, Langbridge.
M. D.
"The Lounger's Common-place Book" (Vol. ix., p. 174.).—The editor of this publication was Jeremiah Whitaker Newman, who died July 27, 1839, aged eighty years. Some information respecting him and his work, supplied by me, appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1846.
J. R. W.
Bristol.