Minor Queries.
Paintings of Our Saviour.—In Mrs. Jameson's Legends of the Monastic Orders, it is stated that "The painter, Andrea Vanni, was among the devout admirers of St. Catherine;" and that "among his works was a head of Christ, said to have been painted under the immediate instruction of St. Catherine; representing the Saviour as she had, in her visions, beheld him. Unhappily this has perished." Also, on the authority of Mr. Sterling, that St. Juan de la Cruz, the friend of St. Theresa, "on one occasion when the Saviour appeared to him, made an uncouth sketch of the divine apparition; which was long preserved as a relique in the Convent of the Incarnation at Avila."
Can any of your readers supply particulars of, or references to, other similar portraitures, especially of any still in existence?
J. P.
Heraldic.—Can any of your heraldic correspondents inform me to what families the following coat of arms belongs:—Gules, a fess sanguine between three trefoils slipped proper? There is in this the not very frequent occurrence of a coloured charge upon a coloured field. The only similar instance I now remember is Denham, Suffolk: Gules, a cross vert.
Loccan.
Dedication of Kemerton Church.—The church at Kemerton, Gloucestershire, was, until a few years ago, marked by the authorities with a blank, just as the church of Middleton ("N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 372.); but it has now been discovered, it would appear, to have been dedicated to St. Nicholas. How, or where?
I. R. R.
Consolato del Mare.—The maritime code of the Venetians derived from Barcelona, observed also by the Genoese and Pisans, was called "Consolato del Mare," A.D. 1200. Why was it so called?
R. H. G.
Consonants in Welsh.—It has often been asserted that the Welsh language is remarkable for the number of its consonants. Can any of your readers acquainted with that language inform me whether there is a larger proportion of consonants in Welsh than in English? Messrs. Chambers, in a recent number of their Repository, say:
"On the road to Merthyr, we heard a drunken Welshman swear; oh for words to describe the effect! His mouth seemed full of consonants, which cracked and cracked, and ground and exploded, in an extraordinary way," &c.
Is this a true representation of the case?
J. M.
"Initiative" and "Psychology."—
" ... a previous act and conception of the mind, or what we have called an initiative, is indispensably necessary, even to the mere semblance of method."—Coleridge's Treatise on Method.
Am I to understand from this sentence that this word was an original adaptation of Coleridge's? If not, when was it first introduced, and by whom?
In the same treatise, Coleridge employs the word psychological, and apologises for using an insolens verbum. Was this the first occasion of the familiar use of this word? I find psychology in Bailey.
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
Atonement.—Can you or any of your readers inform me when the word "atonement" first came into use, and when it was first applied to the work of reconciliation wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ? It is used once only in the New Testament (Romans v. 11.), and there the word does not quite convey the meaning of the original καταλλαγη. The etymology of it seems so purely English, that one would hardly expect to find the present use, or rather adaptation, of the word, so very modern as it appears to be.
J. H. B.
Sir Stephen Fox.—Chambers' Journal, No. 515., Nov. 12, 1853, p. 320., says:
"Charles James Fox, who died in 1806, at the age of fifty-seven, had an uncle who was paymaster of the forces in 1679, the year of the battle of Bothwell Bridge, and his grandfather was on the scaffold with Charles I."
After consulting several books on the subject, I find that this latter statement is just possible; but I cannot learn under what circumstances Sir Stephen Fox accompanied Charles I. to the scaffold. Can any of your readers give me the desired information?
N. J. A.
"Account of an Expedition to the Interior of New Holland."—Can any one tell me the name of the writer of a book with the title I have here given? It was edited by Lady Mary Fox, and published, in one vol. 8vo., by Bentley, in the year 1837. I may be mistaken, but I think I can recognise the style of a well-known writer.
Abhba.
Darwin on Steam.—Where are the prophetic lines by Dr. Darwin to be found, commencing:
"Soon shall thy power, unrivalled steam, from far
Drag the slow barge, and urge the rapid car."
Uneda.
Philadelphia.
Scottish Female Dress.—When did ladies cease to use hair-powder, face-patches, hoops, and high-heeled shoes? An old lady of about seventy recollects perfectly that her mother wore then all (so, she thinks, did her visitors, who came to a dish of tea) except the hoop, which was reserved for grand occasions. On the introduction of the new-fangled low-heeled shoes, she recollects her mother tottering about on them like a novice on skates, and groaning with pains in her legs, a victim to a change of fashion! At this time, she adds, was in every-day use the milk tally and bread-nick-stick. The first, that represented in Hogarth's picture; the second, a stick about a foot long, four-sided, on which each loaf was registered by a notch or nick in the stick; the servant kept a similar nick-stick as a check on the baker; but during the flirtation, common then as now on such occasions, the old lady slyly remarks, the baker often gallantly nicked the check-stick, as well as his own, with a couple of notches for one. Hence, possibly, the decline and fall of the use of this wooden system of book-keeping by double notch. Is any date assigned to the ceasing of the practice of using the wooden tally and nick-stick?
C. D. Lamont.
Greenock.
"The Innocents," a Drama.—Who is the author of a small volume of poetry, published anonymously about the year 1825, and which is very favourably noticed in the New Monthly Magazine for January, 1826, vol. xviii. The title of the volume is, The Innocents, a Sacred Drama; Ocean and the Earthquake at Aleppo, Poems.
S. N.
Waugh of Cumberland.—Can you inform a Waugh, the family arms of Waugh of Cumberland; to whom they were first granted, and why?
A Subscriber.
Norton.—Wanted, the origin of, or the sources of information respecting, this name, the appellation of so many villages, &c. in Oxfordshire. A family of the name of Norton, after residing in those districts for many generations, have long moved to London, and are not possessed of the information sought by the inquirer.
N.
De La Fond.—Can any of your readers explain the following inscription on an engraving by P. Lombart of De La Fond, and its application?
"In effigiem De La Fond, Galli
Festivissimi, apud Batavos, Ephemeridum Historicarum Scriptoris,
Distichon.
Mille oculis videt hic Fondus mille auribus audit;
Plus audit naso, plus videt ille, suo."
A. F. B.
Diss.
"Button Cap."—In the north of Ireland there is a belief that just before a war breaks out, the spirit of an ancient warder of Carrickfergus Castle is heard examining the arms stored there, and, if they are not entirely to his satisfaction, he shows his displeasure by making an awful clatter among them. Has old "Button Cap" (for that is his name) been inspecting the arms lately? What is the legend connected with him? If I mistake not, he is said to be the spirit of a warder who was drowned in the castle well in the reign of Elizabeth.
Fras. Crossley.
Cobb Family.—Richard Cobb, Esq., and his wife Joan, were painted by Sir Peter Lely between 1641 and 1680. These portraits are now in my possession. Elizabeth Cobb, granddaughter of the above, married, circa 1725, the Rev. Thos. Paget, at that time Fellow of Corpus Christi, Oxford. Thus, Richard Cobb would be born circa 1634, his son circa 1667, and his granddaughter circa 1700. I shall be obliged for any clue to the arms, residence, &c. of this Mr. Cobb.
Arthur Paget.
Prince Charles' Attendants in Spain.—The assistance of your antiquarian correspondents is particularly requested towards the making out of a complete list of all the persons who were in attendance on Prince Charles on his romantic visit to Spain. Of course it is well known that the Prince and Buckingham started accompanied only by Sir Francis Cottington, Endymion Porter, and Sir R. Graham. Of the members of his household who afterwards joined him, the principal of course are also well known. But of the gentlemen and grooms of the Privy Chamber, pages, &c., I have been unable to discover a complete list, although notices of individuals are occasionally met with. Any references to such notices are much desired.
E. O. P.
Sack.—What wine was this? Is it still existing and known to the wine trade by any other name? If so, when and why was the name changed?
Falstaff.