Replies to Minor Queries.
Spick and Span New (Vol. iii., p. 330.).
—The corresponding German word is Spann-nagel-neu, which may be translated as "New from the stretching needle;" and corroborates the meaning given by you. I may remark the French have no equivalent phrase. It is evidently a familiar allusion of the clothmakers of England and Germany.
BENBOW.
Birmingham.
Under the Rose (Vol. iii., pp. 300.).
—There is an old Club in this town (Birmingham) called the "Bear Club," and established (ut dic.) circa 1738, formerly of some repute. Among other legends of the Club, is one, that in the centre of the ceiling of their dining-room was once a carved rose, and that the members always drank as a first toast, to "The health of the King," [under the rose], meaning the Pretender.
BENBOW.
Handel's Occasional Oratorio (Vol. iii., p. 426.).
—The "Occasional Oratorio" is a separate composition, containing an overture, 10 recitatives, 21 airs, 1 duet, and 15 choruses. It was produced in the year 1745. It is reported, I know not on what authority, that the King having ordered Handel to produce a new oratorio on a given day, and the artist having answered that it was impossible to do it in the time (which must have been unreasonably short, to extort such a reply from the intellect that produced The Messiah in three weeks, and Israel in Egypt in four), his Majesty deigned no other answer than that done it must and should be, whether possible or not, and that the result was the putting forward of the "Occasional Oratorio."
The structure of the oratorio, which was evidently a very hurried composition, gives a strong air of probability to the anecdote. Evidently no libretto was written for it; the words tell no tale, are totally unconnected, and not even always tolerable English, a fine chorus (p. 39. Arnold) going to the words "Him or his God we no fear." It is rather a collection of sacred pieces, strung together literally without rhyme or reason in the oratorio form, than one oratorio. The examination of it leads one to the conclusion, that the composer took from his portfolio such pieces as he happened to have at hand, strung them together as he best could, and made up the necessary quantity by selections from his other works. Accordingly we find in it the pieces "The Horse and his Rider," "Thou shalt bring them in," "Who is like unto Thee?" "The Hailstone Chorus," "The Enemy said I will pursue," from Israel in Egypt, written in 1738; the chorus "May God from whom all Mercies spring," from Athaliah (1733); and the chorus "God save the King, long live the King," from the Coronation Anthem of 1727. There is also the air "O! Liberty," which he afterwards (in 1746) employed in Judas Maccabæus. Possibly some other pieces of this oratorio may be found also in some of Handel's other works, not sufficiently stamped on my memory for me to recognise them; but I may remark that the quantity of Israel in Egypt found in it may perhaps have so connected it in some minds with that glorious composition as to have led to the practice referred to of prefixing in performance the overture to the latter work, to which, although the introductory movement, the fine adagio, and grand march are fit enough, the light character of the fugue is, it must be confessed, singularly inappropriate.
I am not aware of any other "occasion" than that of the King's will, which led to the composition of this oratorio.
D. X.
Stone Chalice (Vol. ii., p. 120.).
—They are found in the ancient churches in Ireland, and some are preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and in private collections. A beautiful specimen is engraved in Wakeman's Handbook of Irish Antiquities, p. 161.
R. H.
Thanksgiving Book (Vol. iii., p. 328.).
—The charge for a "Thanksgiving Book," mentioned by A CHURCHWARDEN, was no doubt for a Book of Prayers, &c., on some general thanksgiving day, probably after the battle of Blenheim and the taking of Gibraltar, which would be about the month of November. A similar charge appears in the Churchwardens' accounts for the parish of Eye, Suffolk, at a much earlier period, viz. 1684, which you may probably deem worthy of insertion in your pages:
| l. | s. | d. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Payments | ||||||
| "It. | To Flegg for sweepinge anddressinge upp the church the nynth of September beeinge A day of Thanks-givinge for his Maties delivañce from the Newkett Plot | } | 00 | 03 | 00 | |
| "It. | For twoe Bookes for the 9th of September aforesaid | } | 00 | 01 | 00 | |
J. B. COLMAN.
Eye, April 29, 1851.
Carved Ceiling in Dorsetshire (Vol. iii., p. 424.).
—Philip, King of Castile (father to Charles V.), was forced by foul weather into Weymouth Harbour. He was hospitably entertained by Sir Thomas Trenchard, who invited Mr. Russell of Kingston Russell to meet him. King Philip took such delight in his company that at his departure he recommended him to King Henry VII. as a person of spirit "fit to stand before princes, and not before mean men." He died in 1554, and was the ancestor of the Bedford family. Sir Thomas Trenchard probably had the ceiling. See Fuller's Worthies (Dorsetshire), vol. i. p. 313.
A. HOLT WHITE.
The house of which your correspondent has heard his tradition is certainly Woolverton House, in the parish of Charminster, near this town.
It was built by Sir Thomas Trenchard, who died 20 Hen. VIII.; and tradition holds, as history tells us, that Phillip, Archduke of Austria, and King of Castile, with his queen Juana, or Joanna, were driven by weather into the port of Weymouth: and that Sir Thomas Trenchard, then the High Sheriff of the county, invited their majesties to his house, and afforded them entertainment that was no less gratifying than timely.
Woolverton now belongs to James Henning, Esq. There is some fine carving in the house, though it is not the ceiling that is markworthy; and it is thought by some to be the work of a foreign hand. At Woolverton House were founded the high fortunes of the House of Bedford. Sir Thomas Trenchard, feeling the need of an interpreter with their Spanish Majesties, happily bethought himself of a John Russell, Esq., of Berwick, who had lived some years in Spain, and spoke Castilian; and invited him, as a Spanish-English mouth, to his house: and it is said he accompanied the king and queen to London, where he was recommended to the favour of Hen. VII.; and after rising to high office, received from Hen. VIII. a share of the monastic lands.
See Hutchins's History of Dorset.
W. BARNES.
Dorchester.
"Felix quem faciunt," &c. (Vol. iii., pp. 373. 431.).
—The passage cited by C. H. P. as assigned to Plautus, and which he says he cannot find in that author, occurs in one of the interpolated scenes in the Mercator, which are placed in some of the old editions between the 5th and 6th Scenes of Act IV. In the edition by Pareus, printed at Neustadt (Neapolis Nemetum) in 1619, 4to., it stands thus:
"Verum id dictum est: Feliciter is sapit, qui periculo alieno sapit."
I was wrong in attributing it to Plautus, and should rather have called it Plautine. By a strange slip of the pen or the press, periculum is put instead of periculo in my note. Niebuhr has a very interesting essay on the interpolated scenes in Plautus, in the first volume of his Kleine Historische und Philologische Schriften, which will show why these scenes and passages, marked as supposititious in some editions, are now omitted. It appears that they were made in the fifteenth century by Hermolaus Barbarus. See a letter from him to the Bishop of Segni, in Angeli Politiani Epistolæ, lib. xii. epist. 25.
To the parallel thoughts already cited may be added the following:
"Ii qui sciunt, quid aliis acciderit, facile ex aliorum eventu, suis rationibus possunt providere."
Rhetoric. ad Herennium, L. 4. c. 9.
"I' presi esempio de' lor stati rei,
Facendomi profitto l' altrui male
In consolar i casi e dolor miei."
Petrarca, Trionfo della Castità.
"Ben' è felice quel, donne mie care,
Ch' essere accorto all' altrui spese impare."
Ariosto, Orl. Fur., canto X.
S. W. SINGER.
The Saint Graal (Vol. iii., p. 413.).
—I see that MR. G. STEPHENS states, that Mons. Roquefort's nine columns are decisive of Saint Graal being derived from Sancta Cratera. I am unacquainted with the word cratera, unless in Ducange, as meaning a basket. But crater, a goblet, is the word meant by Roquefort.
How should graal or greal come from crater? I cannot see common sense in it. Surely that ancient writer, nearly, or quite, contemporary with the publication of the romance, Helinandus Frigidimontanus, may be trusted for the fact that graal was French for "gradalis or gradale," which meant "scutella lata et aliquantulum profunda in quâ preciosæ dapes cum suo jure divitibus solent apponi." (Vide Helinand. ap. Vincentium Bellovacensem, Speculum Historiale, lib. 43. cap. 147.) Can there be a more apparent and palpable etymology of any word, than that graal is gradale? See Ducange in Gradale, No. 3, and in Gradalis, and the three authorities (of which Helinand is not one) cited by him.
A. N.
Skeletons at Egyptian Banquet (Vol. iii., p. 424.).
—The interpretation of this is probably from Jer. Taylor's own head. See, for the history of the association in his mind, his sermon on the "Marriage Ring."
"It is fit that I should infuse a bunch of myrrh into the festival goblet, and, after the Egyptian manner, serve up a dead man's bones as a feast."
Q. Q.
Sewell (Vol. iii., p. 391.).
—Allow me to refer H. C. K. to a passage in the Letters on the Suppression of the Monasteries, published by the Camden Society, p. 71., for an example of the word sewelles. It is there said to be equivalent to blawnsherres. The scattered pages of Duns Scotus were put to this use, after he was banished from Oxford by the Royal Commissioners.
The word is perhaps akin to the low Latin suellium, threshing-floor, or to the Norman French swele, threshold: in which case the original meaning would be bounds or limits.
C. H.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.
Col-fabias (Vol. iii., p. 390.).
—This word is a Latinised form of the Irish words Cul-{f}eabu{s} (cul-feabus), i. e. "a closet of decency" or "for the sake of decency."
FRA. CROSSLEY.
Poem from the Digby MS. (Vol. iii., p. 367.).
—Your correspondent H. A. B. will find the lines in his MS. beginning
"You worms, my rivals," &c.,
printed, with very slight variations, amongst Beaumont's poems, in Moxon's edition of the Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, 1840. They are the concluding lines of "An Elegy on the Lady Markham."
W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.
Umbrella (Vol. iii., pp. 37. 126.).
—I find the following passage in the fourth edition of Blount's Glossographia, published as far back as 1674.
"Umbrello (Ital. Ombrella), a fashion of round and broad Fans, wherewith the Indians (and from them our great ones) preserve themselves from the heat of the sun or fire; and hence any little shadow, Fan, or other thing, wherewith the women guard their faces from the sun."
In Kersey's Dictionarium Anglo-Britannicum, 1708, it is thus noticed—
"Umbrella, or Umbrello, a kind of broad Fan or Skreen, commonly us'd by women to shelter them from Rain: also a Wooden Frame cover'd with cloth to keep off the sun from a window."
"Parasol (F.), a small sort of canopy or umbrello, which women carry over their heads."
And in Phillips's New World of Words, 7th ed., 1720—
"Umbrella or Umbrello, a kind of broad Fan or Skreen, which in hot countries People hold over their heads to keep off the Heat of the Sun; or such as are here commonly us'd by women to shelter them from Rain: Also, a wooden Frame cover'd with cloth or stuff, to keep off the sun from a window."
"Parasol (Fr.), a small sort of canopy or umbrello, which women carry over their Heads, to shelter themselves from Rain," &c.
T. C. T.
The Curse of Scotland (Vol. iii., p. 22.).
—Your correspondent L. says, the true explanation of the circumstance of the nine of diamonds being called the curse of Scotland is to be found in the game of Pope Joan; but with all due deference to him, I must beg entirely to dissent from this opinion, and to adhere to the notion of its origin being traceable to the heraldic bearing of the family of Dalrymple, which are or, on a saltire azure, nine lozenges of the field.
There can be no doubt that John Dalrymple, 2nd Viscount and 1st Earl of Stair, justly merited the appellation of the "Curse of Scotland," from the part which he took in the horrible massacre of Glencoe, and from the utter detestation in which he was held in consequence, and which compelled him to resign the secretaryship in 1695. After a deliberate inquiry by the commissioners had declared him to be guilty of the massacre, we cannot wonder that the man should be held up to scorn by the most popular means which presented themselves; and the nine diamonds in his shield would very naturally, being the insignia of his family, be the best and most easily understood mode of perpetuating that detestation in the minds of the people.
L. J.
Bawn (Vol. i., p. 440.; Vol. ii., pp. 27. 60. 94.).
—Your correspondents will find some information on this word in Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland, 2nd edit. p. 279.; and in Wakeman's Handbook of Irish Antiquities, p. 141. Ledwich seems to derive the word from the Teutonic Bawen, to construct and secure with branches of trees.
R. H.
Catacombs and Bone-houses (Vol. i., p. 171.).
—MR. GATTY will find a vivid description of the bone-house at Hythe, in Mr. Borrow's Lavengro, vol. i. I have no reference to the exact page.
C. P. PH***.
Bacon and Fagan (Vol. iii., p. 106.).
—The letters B and F are doubtless convertible, as they are both labial letters, and can be changed as b and p are so frequently.
1. The word "batten" is used by Milton in the same sense as the word "fatten."
2. The Latin word "flo" is in English "to blow."
3. The word "flush" means much the same as "blush."
4. The Greek word βρέμω is in the Latin changed to "fremo."
5. The Greek word βορὰ = in English "forage."
6. Herod. vii. 73. Βίλιππος for Φίλιππος; Βρύγες for Φρύγες.
7. Φάλαινα in Greek = "balæna" in Latin = "balène" in French.
8. Φέρω in Greek = "to bear" in English.
9. "Frater" in Latin = "brother" in English.
Many other instances could probably be found.
I think that we may fairly imply that the labials p, b, f, v, may be interchanged, in the same way as the dental letters d and t are constantly; and I see no reason left to doubt that the word Bacon is the same as the word Fagan.
Φιλόλογος.
To learn by Heart (Vol. iii., p. 425.).
—When A SUBSCRIBER TO YOUR JOURNAL asks for some account of the origin of the phrase "to learn by Heart," may he not find it in St. Luke i. 66, ii. 19. 51.?
"To learn by memory" (or by "rote") conveys to my own mind a very different notion from what I conceive to be expressed by the words "To learn by heart." Just as there is an evident difference between a gentleman in heart and feeling, and a gentleman in manners and education only; so there is a like difference (as I conceive) between learning by heart and learning by rote; namely, the difference between a moral, and a merely intellectual, operation of the mind. To learn by memory is to learn by rote, as a parrot: to learn by heart is to learn morally—practically. Thus, we say, we give our hearts to our pursuits: we "love God with all our hearts," pray to Him "with the spirit, and with the understanding," and "with the heart believe unto righteousness:" we "ponder in our hearts," "muse in our hearts," and "keep things in our hearts," i. e. "learn by heart."
J. E.
Auriga (Vol. iii., p. 188.).
—Claudius Minois, in his Commentaries on the Emblemata of Alciatus, gives the following etymology of "Auriga:"—
"Auriga non dicitur ab auro, sed ab aureis: sunt enim aureæ lora sive fræni, qui equis ad aures alligantur; sicut oreæ, quibus ora coercentur."—Alciati Emblemata, Emb. iv. p. 262.
W. R.
Hospitio Chelhamensi.
Vineyards in England (Vol. ii., p. 392.; Vol. iii., p. 341.).
—Add to the others Wynyard, so far north as Durham.
C.
Barker (Vol. iii., p. 406.).
—Mr. Barker lived in West Square, St. George's Fields, a square directly opposite the Philanthropic Society's chapel.
G.
Barker, the original Panorama Painter.—MR. CUNNINGHAM is quite correct in stating Robert Barker to be the originator of the Panorama. His first work of the kind was a view of Edinburgh, of which city, I believe, he was a native.
On his death, in 1806, he was succeeded by his son, Mr. Henry Aston Barker, the Mr. Barker referred to by A. G. This gentleman and his wife (one of the daughters of the late Admiral Bligh) are both living, and reside at Bitton, a village lying midway between this city and Bath.
A SUBSCRIBER.
Bristol, June 2, 1851.
The Tanthony (Vol. iii., pp. 105. 229. 308.).
—ARUN's Query is fully answered by a reference to Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, vol. ii. p. 379., where the bell is shown to be emblematic of the saint's power to exorcise evil spirits, and reference is made to several paintings (and an engraving given of one) in which it is represented. The phrase "A Tantony Pig" is also explained, for which see further Halliwell's Dict. of Arch. and Prov. Words, s.v. Anthony.
C. P. PH***.
Essay on the Irony of Sophocles, &c. (Vol. iii., p. 389.).
—Three Queries by NEMO: 1. The Rev. Connop Thirlwall, now Bishop of St. David's, is the author of the essay in question. 2. Cicero, Tusc. Disp., i. 15. 39.:—Errare mehercule malo cum Platone ... quam cum istis vera sentire; (again), Cicero, ad Attic., l. viii. ep. 7.:—Malle, quod dixerim, me cum Pompeio vinci, quam cum istis vincere. 3. The remark is Aristotle's; but the same had been said of Homer by Plato himself:
"Aristot. [Eth. Nicom. l. i. cap. 6. § 1. ed. Oxon.] is reluctant to criticise Plato's doctrine of Ideas, διὰ τὸ φίλους ἄνδρας εἰσαγάγειν τὰ εἴδη: but, he adds, the truth must nevertheless be spoken:—ἀμφοῖν γὰρ ὄντοιν φίλοιν, ὅσιον προτιμᾶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
"Plato [de Repub., X. cap. 1. p. 595 b.]:—Φιλία τίς με καὶ αἰδὼς ἐκ παιδὸς ἔχουσα περὶ Ὁμήρου ἀποκωλύει λέγειν ... ἀλλ' οὐ γὰρ πρό γε τῆς ἀλήθειας τιμητέος ἄνηρ."
C. P. PH***.
Achilles and the Tortoise (Vol. ii., p. 154.).
—S. T. Coleridge has explained this paradox in The Friend, vol. iii. p. 88. ed. 1850: a note is subjoined regarding Aristotle's attempted solution, with a quotation from Mr. de Quincey, in Tate's Mag., Sept. 1834, p. 514. The passage in Leibnitz which Ἰδιώτης requires, is probably "Opera, i. p. 115. ed. Erdmann."
C. P. PH***.
Early Rain called "Pride of the Morning" (Vol. ii., p. 309.).
—In connexion with this I would quote an expression in Keble's Christian Year, "On the Rainbow," (25th Sun. after Trin.):
"Pride of the dewy Morning!
The swain's experienced eye
From thee takes timely warning,
Nor trusts else the gorgeous sky."
C. P. PH***.
The Lost Tribes (Vol. ii., p. 130.).
—JARLTZBERG will find one theory on this subject in Dr. Asahel Grant's book, The Nestorians; or, the Lost Tribes, published by Murray; 12mo.
C. P. PH***.
"Noli me Tangere" (Vol. ii., pp. 153. 253. 379.).
—There is an exquisite criticism upon the treatment of this subject by various painters, accompanied by an etching from Titian, in that delightful book, Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, vol. i. pp 354. 360.; and to the list of painters who have illustrated this subject, add Holbein, in the Hampton Court Gallery. (See Mrs. Jameson's Handbook to the Public Galleries, pp. 172. 353., 1845.)
C. P. PH***.
"The Sicilian Vespers" (Vol. ii., p. 166.).
—Your correspondent is referred to The War of the Sicilian Vespers, by Amari, translated by the Earl of Ellesmere, published very lately by Murray.
C. P. PH***.
Antiquity of Smoking (Vol ii., pp. 216. 521.)
—C. B. says, alluding to JARLTZBERG's references, "there is nothing in Solinus;" I read, however, in Solinus, cap. xv. (fol. 70. ed. Ald. 1518), under the heading, "Thracum mores, etc.":
"Uterque sexus epulantes focos ambiunt, herbarum quas habent semine ignibus superjecto. Cujus nidore perculsi pro lætitiâ habent imitari ebrietatem sensibus sauciatis."
JARLTZBERG's reference to Herod. i. 36. supplies nothing to the point: Herod. iv. 2. mentions the use of bone pipes, φυσητῆρας ὀστεΐνους, by the Scythians, in milking; but Herodotus (iv. 73. 75.) describes the orgies of the Scythians, who produced intoxicating fumes by strewing hemp-seed upon red-hot stones, as the leaves and seed of the Hasisha al fokara, or hemp-plant, are smoked in the East at the present day. (See De Sacy, Chrestom. Arabe, vol. ii. p. 155.) Compare also Plutarch de Fluviis (de Hebro, fr. 3.), who speaks of a plant resembling Origanum, from which the Thracians procured a stupefying vapour, by burning the stalks:
"Ἐπιτιθέασι πυρὶ ... καὶ τὴν ἀναφερομένην ἀναθυμίασιν δεχόμενοι ταῖς ἀναπνοίαις, καροῦνται, καὶ εἰς βαθὺν ὕπνον καταφέρονται" [Opera Varia, vol. vi. p. 444. ed. Tauchn.]"
C. P. PH***.
Milton and the Calves-Head Club (Vol. iii., p. 390).
—Dr. Todd, in his edition of Milton's Works, in 1809, p. 158., mentions the rumour, without expressing any opinion of its truth. I think he omits all mention of it in his subsequent edition in 1826, and therefore hope he has adopted the prevailing opinion that it is a contemptible libel. In a note to the former edition is a reference to Kennett's Register, p. 38., and to "Private forms of Prayer fitted for the late sad times," &c., 12mo., Lond., 1660, attributed to Dr. Hammond. An anonymous author, quoting the verbal assurance of "a certain active Whigg," would be entitled to little credit in attacking the character of the living, and ought surely to be scouted when assailing the memory of the dead. In Lowndes' Bib. Man. it is stated that
"This miserable trash has been attributed to the author of Hudibras."
J. F. M.
Voltaire's Henriade (Vol. iii., p. 388.).
—I have two translations of this poem in English verse, in addition to that mentioned at p. 330., viz., one in 4to., Anon., London, 1797; and one by Daniel French, 8vo., London, 1807. The former, which, as I collect from the preface, was written by a lady and a foreigner, alludes to two previous translations, one in blank verse (probably Lockman's), and the other in rhyme.
J. F. M.
Petworth Register (Vol. iii., p. 449.).
—Your correspondent C. H. appears to give me too much credit for diligence, in having "searched" after this document; for in truth I did nothing beyond writing to the rector of the parish, the Rev. Thomas Sockett. All that I can positively say as to my letter, is, that it was intended to be courteous; that it stated my reason for the inquiry; that it contained an apology for the liberty taken in applying to a stranger; and that Mr. Sockett did not honour me with any answer. I believe, however, that I asked whether the register still existed; if so, what was its nature, and over what period it extended; and whether it had been printed or described in any antiquarian or topographical book.
Perhaps some reader may have the means of giving information on these points; and if he will do so through the medium of your periodical, he will oblige both C. H. and myself. Or perhaps C. H. may be able to inquire through some more private channel, in which case I should feel myself greatly indebted to him if he would have the goodness to let me know the result.
J. C. ROBERTSON.
Beakesbourne.
Apple-pie Order (Vol. iii., p. 330.).
—The solution of J. H. M. to MR. SNEAK's inquiry is not satisfactory. "Alternate layers of sliced pippins and mutton steaks" might indeed make a pie, but not an apple-pie, therefore this puzzling phrase must have had some other origin. An ingenious friend of mine has suggested that it may perhaps be derived from that expression which we meet with in one of the scenes of Hamlet, "Cap à pied;" where it means perfectly appointed. The transition from cap à pied, or "cap à pie," to apple-pie, has rather a rugged appearance, orthographically, I admit; but the ear soon becomes accustomed to it in pronunciation.
A. N.
[MR. ROBERT SNOW and several other correspondents have also suggested that the origin of the phrase "apple-pie order" is to be found in the once familiar "cap à pied.">[
Durham Sword that killed the Dragon (Vol. iii., p. 425.).
—For details of the tradition, and an engraving of the sword, see Surtees' History of Durham, vol. iii. pp. 243, 244.
W. C. TREVELYAN.
Malentour (Vol. iii., p. 449.)
—Your correspondent F. E. M. will find the word Malentour, or Malæntour, given in Edmondson's Complete Body of Heraldry as the motto of the family of Patten alias Wansfleet (sic) of Newington, Middlesex: it is said to be borne on a scroll over the crest, which is a Tower in flames.
In the "Book of Mottoes" the motto ascribed to the name of Patten is Mal au Tour, and the double meaning is suggested, "Misfortune to the Tower," and "Unskilled in artifice."
The arms that accompany it in Edmondson are nearly the same as those of William Pattyn alias Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor temp. Hen. VI.—the founder of Magdalen College, Oxford.
F. C. M.
The Bellman and his History (Vol. iii., pp. 324. 377.).
—Since my former communication on this subject I have been referred to the cut of the Bellman and his Dog in Collier's Roxburghe Ballads, p. 59., taken from the first edition of Dekker's Belman of London, printed in 1608.
C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge, May 17, 1851.
"Geographers on Afric's Downs" (Vol. iii., p. 372.).
—Is your correspondent A. S. correct in his quotation? In a poem of Swift's, "On Poetry, a Rhapsody," are these lines:—
"So geographers, in Afric maps
With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o'er unhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns."
Swift's Works, with Notes by Dr. Hawksworth, 1767, vol. vii. p, 214.
C. DE D.
"Trepidation talk'd" (Vol. iii., p. 450.).
—The words attributed to Milton are—
"That crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
The trepidation talk'd, and that first moved."
Paterson's comment, quoted by your correspondent, is exquisite: he evidently thinks there were two trepidations, one talked, the other first moved.
The trepidation (not a tremulous, but a turning or oscillating motion) is a well-known hypothesis added by the Arab astronomers to Ptolemy, in explanation of the precession of the equinoxes. This precession they imagined would continue retrograde for a long period, after which it would be direct for another long period, then retrograde again, and so on. They, or their European followers, I forget which, invented the crystal heaven, an apparatus outside of the starry heaven (these cast-off phrases of astronomy have entered into the service of poetry, and the empyreal heaven with them), to cause this slow turning, or trepidation, in the starry heaven. Some used two crystal heavens, and I suspect that Paterson, having some confused idea of this, fancied he found them both in Milton's text. I need not say that your correspondent is quite right in referring the words first moved to the primum mobile.
Again, balance in Milton never weighs. Scale is his word (iv. 997. x. 676.) for a weighing apparatus. Where he says of Satan's army (i. 349.),
"In even balance down they light
On the firm brimstone,"
he appears to mean that they were in regular order, with a right wing to balance the left wing. The direct motion of the crystal heaven, following and compensating the retrograde one, is the "balance" which "was the trepidation called;" and this I suspect to be the true reading. The past tense would be quite accurate, for all the Ptolemaists of Milton's time had abandoned the trepidation. As the text stands it is nonsense; even if Milton did dictate it, we know that he never saw it; and there are several passages of which the obscurity may be due to his having had to rely on others. Witness the lines in book iv. 995-1002.
M.
Registry of Dissenting Baptisms in Churches (Vol. iii., p. 370.).
—I forward extracts from the Registers of the parish of Saint Benedict in this town relating to the baptism of Dissenters. (Mr. Hussey, mentioned in several of the entries, was Joseph Hussey, minister of a Dissenting congregation here from 1691 to 1720. His meeting-house on Hog Hill (now St. Andrew's Hill) in this town was pillaged by a Jacobite mob, 29th May, 1716. He died in London in 1726, and was the author of several works, which are now very scarce.)
"1697. October 14th. William the Son of Richard Jardine and Elisabeth his Wife was baptiz'd in a Private Congregation by Mr. Hussey in ye name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Witnesses, Robert Wilson, Richd. Jardine.
"1698. Henery the Son of John and Sarah Shipp was baptized in a Private Congregation by Mr. Hussey December 1. Elisabeth the Daughter of Richard and Elisabeth Jardine was born ye twenty-first day of January and baptized the second day of February 1698-9 in a Private Congregation.
"1700. Walter the Son of Richard and Elisabeth Jardine born July 23 and said to be baptized in a Separate Congregation by Mr. Hussey Aug. 20.
"1701. Elisabeth Daughter of Richard Jardine and Elisabeth his wife born October 7. and said to be baptized at a Private Congregation Novemb. 3d.
"1702. June 22. Miram the Son of Thomas Short and Mary his Wife said to be baptized at a Separate Congregation. Jane the Daughter of Richard Jardine and Elizabeth his Wife said to be baptized at a Separate Congregation Dec. 21.
"1703. John the Son of Alexander Jardine and Elisabeth his Wife said to be baptized at a Separate Congregation, Mar. 31.
"1705. Alexander the Son of Alexander Jardine and ... his Wife was as 'tis said baptized in a Separate Congregation July 1705.
"1706. John the Son of Alexander Jardine and Elisabeth his Wife said to be baptized at a Private Congregation Dec. 11.
"1707. Nov. 11. John the Son of Alexander and Elis. Jardine was said to be baptized in Separate Congregation.
"1710. Aug. 23. John ye Son of Bryan and Sarah Ellis was said to have been baptized in Separate Congregation.
Nov. 15. Nath. ye Son of Alexander and Elisa Jardine was said to be baptiz'd in a Separate Congregation.
I have no recollection of having met with similar entries in any other Parish Register.
C. H. COOPER.
Redwing's Nest (Vol. iii., p. 408.).
—I think that upon further consideration C. J. A. will find his egg to be merely that of a blackbird. While the eggs of some birds are so constant in their markings that to see one is to know all, others—at the head of which we may place the sparrow, the gull tribe, the thrush, and the blackbird—are as remarkable for the curious variety of their markings, and even of the shades of their colouring. And every schoolboy's collection will show that these distinctions will occur in the same nest.
I also believe that there has been some mistake about the nest, for though, like the thrush, the blackbird coats the interior of its nest with mud, &c., it does not, like that bird, leave this coating exposed, but adds another lining of soft dried grass.
SELEUCUS.
Champak (Vol. iii., p. 84.).
—A correspondent, C. P. PH***., asks "What is Champak?" He will find a full description of the plant in Sir William Jones's "Botanical Observations on Select Indian Plants," vol. v. pp. 128-30. Works, ed. 1807. In speaking of it, he says:
"The strong aromatic scent of the gold-coloured Champac is thought offensive to the bees, who are never seen on its blossoms; but their elegant appearance on the black hair of the Indian women is mentioned by Rumphius; and both facts have supplied the Sanscrit poets with elegant allusions."