Replies to Minor Queries.

Postage System of the Romans (Vol. ix., p. 350.).—Your correspondent Ardelio probably alludes to the system of posts for the conveyance of persons, established by the Romans on their great lines of road. An account of this may be seen in the work of Bergier, Histoire des Grands Chemins de l'Empire Romain, lib. iv.; and compare Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xvii. Communications were made from Rome to the governors of provinces, and information was received from them, by means of these posts: see Suet. Oct. c. xlix. But the Romans had no public institution for the conveyance of private letters. A letter post is a comparatively modern institution; in England it only dates from the reign of James I. An account of the ancient Persian posts is given by Xenoph. Cyrop. VIII. vi. § 17, 18.; Herod. viii. 98.: compare Schleusner, Lex. N. T. in ἀγγαρεύω.

As a proof that there is at least one eminent exception to the assertion of Ardelio, that "we know that the Romans must have had a postal system," I send the following extract from Dr. William

Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, sub voc. Tabellarius:

"As the Romans had no public post, they were obliged to employ special messengers, who were called Tabellarii, to convey their letters, when they had not an opportunity of sending them otherwise."

Ἁλιεύς.

Dublin.

Epigram on the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini (Vol. ix., p. 445.).—This epigram, which has frequently been printed as Swift's, was written by Dr. Byrom of Manchester. In his very interesting Diary, which is shortly about to appear under the able editorship of my friend Dr. Parkinson in the series of Chetham publications, Byrom mentions it.

"Nourse asked me if I had seen the verses upon Handel and Bononcini, not knowing that they were mine; but Sculler said I was charged with them, and so I said they were mine; they both said they had been mightily liked."—Byrom's Remains (Cheetham Series), vol. i. part i. p. 173.

The verses are thus more correctly given in Byrom's Works, vol. i. p. 342., edit. 1773:

"Epigram on the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini.

Some say, compar'd to Bononcini,

That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny;

Others aver that he to Handel

Is scarcely fit to hold a candle:

Strange all this difference should be,

'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee!"

Jas. Crossley.

Power of prophesying before Death (Vol. ii., p. 116.).—In St. Gregory's Dialogues, b. IV. ch. xxv., the disciple asks,—

"Velim scire quonam modo agitur quod plerumque morientes multa prædicunt."

The answer begins (ch. xxvi.),—

"Ipsa aliquando animarum vis subtilitate sua aliquid prævidet. Aliquando autem exituræ de corpore animæ per revelationem ventura cognoscunt. Aliquando vero dum jam juxta sit ut corpus deserant, divinitus afflatæ in secreta cœlestia incorporeum mentis oculum mittunt."

J. C. R.

King John (Vol. ix., p. 453.).—I cannot reply to the Queries of Prestoniensis, but I have a note of a grant made by John (as Com. Moritoniæ) of the tithes of the parishes between Rible and Merse, which appears to have received the Bishop of Coventry's confirmation, ap. Cestriam, an. 2 Pont. Papæ Cœlestini. John's grant was to the Priory of Lancaster. My reference is to Madox, Formulare Anglicanum, Lond. 1702, p. 52, MXCVI. The deed is witnessed by Adam de Blakeburn and Robert de Preston, as well as by Phil. Sanson (De Worcester?) and others.

Anon.

Demoniacal Descent of the Plantagenets (Vol. ix., p. 494.).—H. B. C. will find another passage, illustrative of this presumption, in Henry Knyghton's Chronica:

"De isto quoque Henrico, quondam infantulo et in curia regis Francorum nutrito, beatus Bernardus Abbas de eo sic prophetavit, præsente rege, De Diabolo venit, et ad Diabolum ibit: Notans per hoc tam tyrannidem patris sui Galfridi, qui Sagiensem episcopum eunuchaverat, quam etiam istius Henrici futuram atrocitatem qua in beatum Thomam desæviret."—Twysden, Hist. Angl. Scriptores, pp. 2393. 32., and 2399. 10.

C. H.

Burial Service Tradition (Vol. ix., p. 451.).—The only cases in which a clergyman is legally justified in refusing to read the entire service over the body of a parishioner or other person admitted to burial in the parochial cemetery, are the three which are mentioned in the preliminary rubric, which, as expounded by the highest authorities, are as follows: 1. In case the person died without admission to the universal church by Christian baptism. 2. Or "denounced 'excommunicate majori excommunicatione' for some grievous and notorious crime, and no man able to testify of his repentance." (Canon 68.) 3. Or felo de se; for in a case of suicide the acquittal of the deceased by a coroner's jury entitles him to Christian burial. The extraordinary notion of the clergyman, mentioned by the Rev. S. Adams, is certainly erroneous in law. I can only suppose it originated from some case in which the severance of the deceased's right hand was regarded by the jury as a proof that he did not kill himself. Except in certain special cases, none but parishioners are entitled to burial in a parochial burying-place at all.

Advocatus.

Paintings of our Saviour (Vol. ix., p. 270.).—Your correspondent J. P. may hear of something to his advantage by visiting the church of Santa Prassede (Saint Praxedes?), not far from Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In the former he will see, as usual, a list of wonderful relics preserved therein, and amongst them "A Portrait of the Saviour, presented by St. Peter to Santa Prassede." A valuable gift, truly, if only authentic. The name of the artist is not given, I believe, in the above veracious document. They had better have made the catalogue complete by putting in the name of St. Luke himself, whose pencil, I rather think, is stated to have furnished other such portraits elsewhere. "Credat Judæus!"

The Santa Prassede above alluded to is stated to have been a daughter of Pudens, mentioned in the Epistles of St. Paul.

M. H. R.

Widdrington Family (Vol. ix., p. 375.).—The church of Nunnington, near Helmsly, in the North

Riding of Yorkshire, contains two handsome marble monuments of Lords Preston and Widdrington. The old hall at Nunnington, now occupied by a farmer, was once the seat of Viscount Preston, and afterwards of Lord Widdrington. William, Lord Widdrington, who is said to be descended from the brave Witherington, celebrated in Chevy Chace for having fought upon his stumps, was of the very noble and ancient family of the Widdringtons of Widdrington Castle, in the county of Northumberland; and great-grandson of the brave Lord Widdrington who was slain gallantly fighting in the service of the crown at Wigan, in Lancashire, in 1651. William, his grandson, was unfortunately engaged in the affair of Preston in 1715, when his estate became forfeited to the crown, and he afterwards confined himself to private life. He married a daughter of the Lord Viscount Preston above mentioned, one of the co-heiresses of the estate at Nunnington, and was in consequence buried in the family vault in 1743, aged sixty-five. For other particulars of the family of Widdrington, see Camden's Britannia.

Thomas Gill.

Easingwold.

Mathew, a Cornish Family (Vol. ix., pp. 22. 289.).—I fear I cannot give the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe much information on the point he desires of the descent of the Devon and Cornwall branches of the Mathew family, which I yet entertain the hope some of your readers having access to the Cambrian genealogical lore at Dinevawr, Penline, Margam, Fonmon, and other places, may be able to graft correctly on their Welsh tree.

I was unable to corroborate in the British Museum the marriages given in the Heralds' Visitation of Devon, with Starkey and Gamage. Did a son of Reynell of Malston by an heir of Mathew take that name?

Mr. Ellacombe will find by the Heralds' Visitation that both of the West of England branches settled before 1650 in Cornwall, the one at Tresingher, the other at Milton; but that of the former, William married Elizabeth Wellington, and John married Rebecca Soame, both reverting to settle in Devonshire, from whom, perhaps, his ancestress derives.

Birkenhead.

"Πίστις," unde deriv. (Vol. ix., p. 324.).—The perfect impossibility of deriving this word from Ἵστημι is at once evident, on the following grounds: 1. To obtain the letter π, recourse is had to the compound form ἐφίσταμαι; but where have we a similar instance, in any derived word, of the ε in ἐπὶ being thus absorbed, and the π taken to commence a fresh word? 2. Allowing such an extraordinary process, what possible meaning of ἐφίσταμαι can be adduced in the slightest degree corresponding to the established interpretation of πίστις?

Throwing aside the termination -ις, we obtain the letters πιστ-, which a very slight knowledge of etymology enables us to trace back to πείθω; for the stem of this verb is ΠΙΘ (cf. Aor. 2. ἔπιθον), and the formation of the adjective πίστος from πε-πειστ-αι is clearly analogous to that of the word in question, the long syllable and diphthong ει being altered into the short and single letter ι, to which many similar instances may be adduced.

Φ.

There is no doubt as to the derivation of πίστις from πείθω. Compare κνῆστις from κνάω or κνήθω, πρῖστις or πρῆστις from πρήθω, πύστις from πυνθάνομαι. Verbs of this form introduce the ς into the future and other inflected tenses, as πείσω, πεύσομαι.

Author of "The Whole Duty of Man" (Vol. vi., p. 537.).—It is asserted in the English Baronetage (vol. i. p. 398., 1741), on the authority of Sir Herbert Perrot Pakington, Bart., in support of the claim of Lady Pakington to the authorship, "the manuscript, under her own hand, now remains with the family." Can this MS. now be found?

B. H. C.

Table-turning (Vol. ix., pp. 88. 135., &c.).—In turning over Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History, I observed at b. VI. ch. 34. an account of the transaction already printed in your pages from Ammianus Marcellinus. It is in brief as follows:—Certain philosophers who were opposed to Christianity were anxious to learn who should succeed Valens in the empire. After trying all other kinds of divination, they constructed a tripod (or table with three legs: see Servius on Virgil, Æn. III. 360.) of laurel wood, and by means of certain incantations and formulæ, succeeded (by combining the letters which were indicated, one by one, by a contrivance of some kind connected with the table) in obtaining Th. E. O. D. Now, being anxious and hopeful for one Theodorus to succeed to the throne, they concluded that he was meant. Valens, hearing of it, put him and them to death, and many others whose names began with these letters.

On referring to Socrates, I find that he also names the circumstances just alluded to. Although he does not give all the particulars, he adds one important statement, which serves to identify the thing more closely with modern table-moving and spirit-rapping. "The devil," he says, "induced certain curious persons to practise divination, by calling up the spirits of the dead (νεκυομαντείαν ποιήσασθαι), in order to find out who should reign after Valens." They succeeded in obtaining the letters Th. E. O. D.

I observe a reference to Nicephorus, b. XI. 45., but have not his works at hand to consult.

The use of laurel, in the construction of the table, seems to connect the occurrences with the worship of Apollo. Those who would investigate the subject fully must consult such passages in the classics as this from Lucan [Lucretius?], lib. i. 739-40.:

"Sanctius et multo certa ratione magis, quam

Pythia, quæ tripode ex Phœbi lauroque profatur."

I have a reference to Le Nourry, p. 1345., who, I see, has some remarks upon the passage already given from Tertullian; he, however, throws little light upon the subject.

Henry H. Breen (Vol. viii., p. 330.) says, "It is not unreasonable to suppose that table-turning ... was practised in former ages:" to this I think we may now subscribe.

B. H. C.

Poplar.

Pedigree to the Time of Alfred (Vol. viii., p. 586.; Vol. ix., p. 233.).—The person S. D. met at the "King's Head," Egham, was doubtless Mr. John Wapshott of Chertsey, Surrey (late of Almoner's Barn Farm in that neighbourhood), an intelligent, respectable yeoman, who would feel much pleasure in giving S. D. any information he may require.

B. S. Elcock.

Bath.

Quotation wanted (Vol. ix., p. 421.).—"Extinctus amabitur idem," is from Horace, Epist. II. i. 14. (See Vol. vii., p. 81.)

P. J. F. Gantillon.

"Hic locus odit, amat."—In Vol. v. of "N. & Q.," at p. 8., "Procurator" gives the two quaintly linked lines—

"Hic locus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat

Nequitiam, leges, crimina, jura probos."

as "carved in a beam over the Town Hall of Much Wenlock, in Shropshire." They are to be found also in the ancient hall of judicature of the "Palazzo del Podesta," at Pistoja, in Tuscany. The ancient stone seats, with their stone table in front of them, where the magistrates of the republic administered justice in the days of the city's independence, are still remaining, and these lines are cut in the stone just over the benches. This simple and primitive tribunal was built as it now stands in 1307, and there can be no doubt that the verses in question existed there before they found their way to Much Wenlock. But as it is hardly likely that they travelled direct from Tuscany into Shropshire, the probability is that they may be found in some other, or perhaps in many other places. I have not been able to light on any clue to the authorship or history of the lines. Perhaps some of your correspondents, who have the means of wider researches than this city commands, might be more fortunate.

T. A. T.

Florence, March, 1854.

Writings of the Martyr Bradford (Vol. ix., p. 450.).—In reply to Mr. Townsend's inquiry respecting early editions of Bradford's writings, I can add to the information furnished by the Editor that the copy of his Hurt of Hearyng Masse, sold at Mr. Jolley's sale, was purchased subsequently of Mr. Thorpe, and deposited in the Chetham Library. This edition is not noticed by Watt.

In Stevens's Memoirs of the Life and Martyrdom of John Bradford, with his Examinations, Letters, &c., there is no mention of the letter ad calcem of—

"An Account of a Disputation at Oxford, Anno Domini 1554. With a Treatise of the Blessed Sacrament; both written by Bishop Ridley, Martyr. To which is added a Letter written by Mr. John Bradford, never before printed. All taken out of an original manuscript [and published by Gilbert Ironside], Oxford, 1688, 4to."

Bibliothecar. Chetham.

Latin Inscription on Lindsey Court-house (Vol. ix., p. 492.).—Your correspondent L. L. L. gives this inscription as follows:

"Fiat Justitia,

1619.

Hæc domus

Dit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat,

Equitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos."

This couplet, in its correct form, evidently stood thus:

"Hæc custodit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat,

Æquitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos."

That is to say,

"Custodit æquitiam, amat pacem, punit crimina, conservat jura, honorat bonos."

The substantive of æquus is æquitas, not æquitia. If these verses were composed in good Latinity, the first word of the pentameter probably was justitiam.

Blanco White's Sonnet (Vol. vii., pp. 404. 486.; Vol. ix., p. 469.).—This sonnet is so beautiful, that I hope it will suffer no disparagement in the eyes of any of your admiring readers, if I remind them of a passage in Sir Thomas Browne's Quincunx, which I conceive may have inspired the brilliant genius of Blanco White on this occasion. I regret that I have not the precise reference to the passage:

"Light" (says Browne) "that makes things seen, makes some things invisible. Were it not for darkness, and the shadow of the earth, the noblest part of creation had remained unseen, and the stars in heaven as invisible as on the fourth day, when they were created above the horizon with the sun, or there was not an eye to behold them. The greatest mystery of religion is expressed by adumbration; and, in the noblest part of the Jewish types, we find the cherubim shadowing the mercy-seat. Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living: all things fall under this name. The sun itself is but the dark simulacrum, and light but the shadow of God!"

J. Sansom.

Oxford.

"Wise men labour," &c. (Vol. ix., p. 468.).—The following version of these lines is printed in the Collection of Loyal Songs, written against the Rump Parliament between the Years 1639-1661:

"Complaint.

"Wise men suffer, good men grieve,

Knaves devise and fools believe;

Help, O Lord! send aid unto us,

Else knaves and fools will quite undo us."

These four lines constitute the whole of the piece, which is anonymous: vol. i. p. 27., and also on the title-page.

B. H. C.

[We are indebted to S-C. P. J. for a similar reply.]

Copernicus (Vol. ix., p. 447.).—This inscription, as given in "N. & Q.," contains two false quantities, Grātiam and Vēniam. May I suggest the transposal of the two words, and then all will be right, at least as to prosody, which, in Latin poetry, seems to override all other considerations.

C. De la Pryme.

N.B.—What is the nominative to poor dederat?

Meals, Meols (Vol. vii., pp. 208. 298.; Vol. ix., p. 409.).—The word "mielles" is of frequent occurrence in Normandy and the Channel Islands, where it is applied to sandy downs bordering the sea-shore. It is not to be found in French dictionaries, and, like the words hougue, falaise, and others in use in Normandy, has probably come down from the Northmen, who gave their name to that province.

Edgar Macculloch.

Guernsey.

Byron and Rochefoucauld (Vol. ix., p. 347.).—Allow me to refer your correspondent Sigma to "N. & Q.," Vol. i., p. 260., where, under the signature of Melanion, I noted Byron's two unacknowledged obligations to La Rochefoucauld, and the blunder made in the note on Don Juan, canto iii. st. 4. Sigma will also find these and other passages from Byron given among the notes in the translation of La Rochefoucauld, published in 1850 (June) by Messrs. Longman and Co.

C. Forbes.

Temple.

Robert Eden (Vol. ix., p. 374.).—Robert Eden, Archdeacon and Prebendary of Winchester, was the son of Robert Eden, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The Edens of Auckland and the Edens of Newcastle were descended from two brothers. The Archdeacon was fourth cousin of the first baronet. His daughter, Mary, married Ebenezer Blackwell, Esq., and their daughter, Philadelphia, married Lieut.-Col. G. R. P. Jarvis, of Doddington, in Lincolnshire. I am descended from a first cousin of the Archdeacon, and could furnish R. E. C., if I knew his address, with farther particulars respecting the Edens of Newcastle.

E. H. A.

Dates of Maps (Vol. ix., p. 396.).—I think the answer to Mr. Warden's very just complaint respecting maps not being dated is easily accounted for, much more easily, I fear, than reformed. The last published map is considered the most exact and useful; it, therefore, is the interest of the map-seller to sell off all of the old ones that he can; hence it is difficult, unless some pains are taken, to ascertain which is the last. A. publishes a new map of France, B. then publishes one; but both avoid putting the date, as the oldest date would sell fewer, and the newer map proprietor expects a still newer one soon to appear. By A. I do not mean to allude to Mr. Arrowsmith in particular, who is one of the best, if not the best, map-seller we have. But why are large military map-sellers so much dearer with us than on the Continent? I must except the Ordnance map, which is now sold cheaply, thanks entirely to Mr. Hume's exertions in parliament.

A. (1)

Miss Elstob (Vol. iii., p. 497.).—This surname is so uncommon that I have met with but three instances of persons bearing it; one was the lady referred to by your correspondent, the second was her brother, the Rev. William Elstob, and the third was Dryden Elstob, who served for some time in the 3rd Light Dragoons, and also, I believe, in the Royal Navy,—at least I know that he used to wear a naval uniform in the streets of London. I believe that the family was settled at one time at Newcastle-on-Tyne.[^[5]] What is known of the family?

Juverna.

Footnote 5:[(return)]

[Both William Elstob and his learned sister were born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of which place their father, Ralph Elstob, was a merchant.]

Corporation Enactments (Vol. ix., p. 300.).—Your correspondent Abhba having omitted to mention where he found the curious piece of information which under this title he supplied to you, I beg leave to supply the deficiency. The same paragraph, nearly verbatim, has been long since published in a book which is by no means rare, the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. i. p. 226. (No. 29, January 12, 1833), where it appears thus:

"In the town books of the corporation of Youghal, among many other singular enactments of that body, are two which will now be regarded as curiosities. In the years 1680 and 1700, a cook and a barber were made freemen, on condition that they should severally dress the mayor's feasts, and shave the corporation—gratis!"

Is not this the very paragraph which has been supplied to you as an original? The attempt to disguise it by the alteration of two or three words is below criticism. Surely, if passages from common or easily accessible books are to occupy valuable space in the pages of "N. & Q.," it is not too much to expect that reference be honestly given to the work which may be cited.

Arterus.

Dublin.

Misapplication of Terms (Vol. ix., p. 361.).—Your correspondent is quite entitled to the references he demands, and which I had considered superfluous. I beg to refer him to the school dictionaries in use by my boys, viz. Mr. Young's and Dr. Carey's edition of Ainsworth, abridged by Dr. Morell; also to the following, all I possess, viz. Dr. Adam Littleton's, 4to. 4th ed., 1703; Robertson's ed. of Gouldman, 4to., 1674; and Gesner's Thesaurus, 4 vols. fol. I may add that the observations of Horne Tooke are quite to my mind, especially when applied to the "legendary stories of nurses and old women." (Todd's Johnson.)

Working in the same direction as your correspondent who has caused this invasion of your space, I cannot resist the opportunity of protesting against the use of "opened up" and "opened out," as applied to the developments of national enterprise and industry. These expressions, common to many, and frequently to be read in the "leading journal," stand a fair chance of becoming established vulgarisms. It is, however, something worse than slipshod when a paper of equal pretension, and more particularly addressed to the families of the educated classes, informs its readers "that some of the admirers of the late Justice Talfourd contemplate the erection of a cenotaph over his grave in the cemetery at Norwood." (Illustrated News, March 25, 1854.)

Squeers.

Dotheboys.