MINOR QUERIES.
Epigrams on the Universities.—There are two clever epigrams on the circumstance, I believe, of Charles I. sending a troop of horse to one of the universities, about the same time that he presented some books to the other.
The sting of the first, if I recollect right, is directed against the university to which the books were sent, the king—
"—right well discerning,
How much that loyal body wanted learning."
The reply which this provoked, is an attack on the other university, the innuendo being that the troops were sent there—
"Because that learned body wanted loyalty."
I quote from memory.
Can any of your readers, through the medium of your valuable paper, favour me with the correct version of the epigrams, and with the particular circumstances which gave rise to them?
J. SWANN.
Norwich.
Lammas Day.—Why was the 1st of August called "Lammas Day?" Two definitions are commonly given to the word "Lammas." 1. That it may mean Loaf-mass. 2. That it may be a word having some allusion to St. Peter, as the patron of Lambs.
O'Halloran, however, in his History of Ireland, favours us with another definition; upon the value of which I should be glad of the opinion of some of your learned contributors. Speaking of Lughaidh, he says:—
"From this prince the month of August was called Lughnas (Lunas), from which the English adopted the name Lammas, for the 1st day of August."
J. SANSOM.
Mother Grey's Apples.—At the time I was a little girl,—you will not, I am sure, be ungallant enough to inquire when that was, when I tell you I am now a woman,—I remember that the nursery maid, whose duty it was to wait upon myself and sisters, invariably said, if she found us out of temper—"So, so! young ladies, you are in the sulks, eh? Well, sulk away; you'll be like 'Mother Grey's apples,' you'll be sure to come round again." We often inquired, on the return of fine weather, who Mother Grey was, and what were the peculiar circumstances of the apples coming round?—questions, however, which were always evaded. Now, as the servant was a Cambridge girl, and had a brother a gyp, or bedmaker, at one of the colleges, besides her uncle keeping the tennis court there, I have often thought there must have been some college legend or tradition in Alma Mater, of Mother Grey and her apples. Will any of your learned correspondents, should it happen to fall within their knowledge, take pity on the natural curiosity of the sex, by furnishing its details?
A.M.
Jewish Music.—What was the precise character of the Jewish music, both before and after David? And what variety of musical instruments had the Jews?
J. SANSOM
The Plant "Haemony."—Can any of your readers furnish information of, or reference to the plant Haemony, mentioned in Milton's Comus, l. 638.:—
"—a small unsightly root,
But of divine effect,...
The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,
But in another country, as he said,
Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil:
—More medicinal is it than that Moly,
That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave;
He called it Haemony, and gave it me,
And bade me keep it as of sov'reign use
'Gainst all enchantments," &c. &c.
The Moly that Hermes to Ulysses gave, is the wild garlick, [Greek: molu] by some thought the wild rue. (Odyss. b. x. 1. 302.) It is the [Greek: moluza] of Hippocrates, who recommends it to be eaten as an antidote against drunkenness. But of Haemony I have been unable to find any reference among our ordinary medical authorities, Paulus Aeginata, Celsus, Galen, or Dioscorides. A short note of reference would be very instructive to many of the readers of Milton.
J.M. BASHAM.
17. Chester Street, Belgrave Square.
Ventriloquism.—What evidence is there, that ventriloquism was made use of in the ancient oracles? Was the [Greek: pneuma puthonos] (Acts, xvi. 16.) an example of the exercise of this art? Was the Witch of Endor a ventriloquist? or what is meant by the word [Greek: eggastrimuthos] at Isai. xix. 3., in the Septuagint?
"Plutarch informs us," says Rollin (Ancient History, vol. i. p. 65.), "that the god did not compose the verses of the oracle. He inflamed the Pythia's imagination, and kindled in her soul that living light which unveiled all futurity to her. The words she uttered in the heat of her enthusiam, having neither method nor connection, and coming only by starts, to use that expression [Greek: eggastrimuthos] from the bottom of her stomach, or rather from her belly, were collected with care by the prophets, who gave them afterwards to the poets to be turned into verse."
If the Pythian priestess was really a ventriloquist, to what extent was she conscious of the deception she practised?
J. SANSOM.
Statue of French King, Epigram on.—Can any of your readers inform me who was the author of the following epigram, written on the occasion of an equestrian statue of a French king attended by the Virtues being erected in Paris:—
"O la belle statue! O le beau Piedestal!
Les Vertus sont à pied, le Vice est à cheval!"
AUGUSTINE.
Lux Fiat.—Who was the first Christian or Jewish writer by whom lux fiat was referred to the creation of the angels?
J. SANSOM.
Hiring of Servants.—At Maureuil, in the environs of Abbeville, a practice has long existed of hiring servants in the market-place on festival days. I have observed the same custom in various parts of England, and particularly in the midland counties. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of this?
W.J.
Havre.
Book of Homilies.—Burnet, in his History of the Reformation in anno 1542, says,—
"A Book of Homilies was printed, in which the Gospels and Epistles of all the Sundays and Holidays of the year were set down with a Homily to every one of these. To these were also added Sermons upon several occasions, as for Weddings, Christenings, and Funerals."
Can any learned clerk inform me where a copy of such Homilies can be seen?
B.
Collar of SS.—Where can we find much about the SS. collar? Is there any list extant of persons who were honoured with that badge?
B.
Rainbow.—By what heathen poet is the rainbow spoken of as "risus plorantis Olympi?"
J. SAMSON.
Passage in Lucan.—What parallel passages are there to that of Lucan:—
"Communis mundo superest rogus, ossibus astra
Misturus?"
J. SAMSON.
William of Wykeham.—Is there any better Life of William of Wykeham than the very insufficient one of Bishop Lowth?
What were the circumstances of the rise of William of Wykeham, respecting which Lowth is so very scanty and unsatisfactory?
Where did William of Wykeham get the wealth with which he built and endowed New College, Oxon, and St. Mary's, Winchester; and rebuilt Winchester Cathedral?
What are the present incomes of New College, and St Mary's, Winchester?
Is there a copy of the Statutes of these colleges in the British Museum, or in any other public library?
W.H.C.
April 22, 1850.
Richard Baxter's Descendants.—Can any of your correspondents inform me of the whereabouts of the descendants of the celebrated Richard Baxter? He was a Northamptonshire man, but I think his family removed into some county in the west.
W.H.B.
Passage in St. Peter.—Besides the well-known passage in the Tempest, what Christian writers have used any kindred expression to 2 Pet. iii. 10.?
J. SANSOM.
8. Park Place, Oxford, June 1. 1850.
Juice-cups.—Is it beneath the dignity of "NOTES AND QUERIES" to admit an inquiry respecting the philosophy and real effect of placing an inverted cup in a fruit pie? The question is not about the object, but whether that object is, or can be, effected by the means employed.
N.B.
Derivation of "Yote" or "Yeot."—What is the derivation of the word "yote" or "yeot," a term used in Glocestershire and Somersetshire, for "leading in" iron work to stone?
B.
Pedigree of Greene Family.—At Vol. i., p. 200., reference is made to "a fine Pedigree on vellum, of the Greene family, penes T. Wotton, Esq."
Can any person inform me who now possesses the said pedigree, or is there a copy of it which may be consulted?
One John Greene, of Enfield, was clerk to the New River Company: he died 1705, and was buried at Enfield. He married Elizabeth Myddelton, grand-daughter of Sir Hugh. I wish to find out the birth and parentage of the said John Greene and shall be thankful, if I may say so much, without adding too much to the length of my Query.
H.T.E.
Family of Love.—Referring to Dr. RIMBAULT'S communication on the subject of this sect (Vol. ii., p. 49.), will you allow me to inquire whether there is any evidence that its members deserved Fuller's severe condemnation? Queen Elizabeth might consider them a "damnable sect," if they were believed to hold heterodox opinions in religion and politics; but were their lives or their writings immoral?
N.B.
Sir Gammer Vans.—Can any one give any account of a comic story about one "Sir Gammer Vans," of whom, amongst other absurdities, it is said "that his aunt was a justice of peace, and his sister a captain of horse"? It is alluded to somewhere in Swift's Letters or Miscellanies; and I was told by a person whose recollection, added to my own, goes back near a hundred years, that it was supposed to be a political satire, and may have been of Irish origin, as I think there is some allusion to it in one of Goldsmith's plays or essays.
C.