Replies to Minor Queries.
MS. Note in a Copy of Liber Sententiarum (Vol. iv., pp. 188. 282.).
—For the information of W. S. W. I beg to notify that the "mundane era" quoted by him is the Septuagint era of Venerable Bede, who, in his chronology of the world, uses two eras; one of which he calls "juxta Hebraicam veritatem," the other, "juxta septuaginta interpretes."
He makes the concurrence of these with A.D. 1, at the birth of Christ, to be respectively as follows:—
A.M. 3952.
A.M. Sep. 5300.
A.D. 1.
The two latter, as W. S. W. will perceive, are exactly in the same relation as those in the MS. note.
I should also suggest that "S" may be the initial in the writer's name, and not "T": in which case "q̱. T." probably signifies "quam tribuit."
A. E. B.
P.S.—Upon a second reference to the communication of W. S. W. I find that the above dates are not consistent with those quoted by him, but differ by exactly a hundred years: that this should be the exact difference is very singular, and would lead me to suspect that there might have been a mistake in transcription, were it not that in his smaller work Bede has this sentence:
"Hujus anno Dominus nascitur, completis ab Adam annis 3952.—Juxta alios, 5199."
Naturalis proles (Vol. iv., p. 161.).
—Undoubtedly in Latin naturalis is opposed to "adopted;" e.g. "P. Scipio ... naturalis consulis Paulli, adoptione Africani nepos." (Livy, xliv. 44.) I stumbled some time ago upon the following:
"The Act of Settlement by which Napoleon, Emperor of France, was declared King of Italy, with the right of succession to his sons natural or adopted, and male heirs.... He declared that he accepted, and would defend, the iron crown; and that even during his lifetime he would consent to separate the two crowns, and place one of his natural or adopted sons upon the throne."—Alison's History, chap. xxxix. §§ 38, 39.
I have no means of ascertaining whether this is a literal rendering from the French document. If I may trust my Dictionnaire de l'Académie, this sense of the word is unknown to the French language, as well as to ours.
CHARLES THIRIOLD.
Print cleaning (Vol. iv., p. 175.).
—The following method is given as infallible by Mr. Stannard in the Art-Union for 1847, pp. 179. 261.:
"Immerse the print for an hour or so in a lye made by adding to the strongest muriatic acid its own weight in water, and to three parts of this mixture adding one of red oxide of lead, or black oxide of manganese. A print, if not quickly cleaned, may remain in the liquid twenty-four hours without harm. Indian ink stains should in the first instance be assisted out with hot water. Pencil marks, if carefully done, should be partially rubbed out with India rubber or day-old bread; that is, if it can be safely done, as rubbing an engraving is always hazardous. If the print had been mounted, the paste on the back should be thoroughly removed with warm water. The saline crystals left by the solution may be removed by repeated rinsings with warm water."
ALTRON.
Story referred to by Jeremy Taylor (Vol. iv., pp. 208. 262.).
—My copy of Don Quixote has the following note on the passage referred to by Mr. C. H. COOPER:—
"Two old men appeared before Sancho, etc.—I believe this story is told, for the first time, in some of the Talmudic writings; but Cervantes, in all probability, took it from the Legenda Aurea Jacobi de Voragine, in which monkish collection it occurs in these words:
"'Vir quidam ab uno Judæo quamdam summam pecuniæ mutuo accepit, jurans super altare Sancti Nicolai quod quam citius posset sibi redderet. Tenente autem illo diu pecuniam Judæus expostulavit: sed eam sibi reddidisse affirmat. Trahit ergo eum ad judicem et juramentum indicitur debitori: Ille baculum cavatum quem auro minuto impleverat secum detulerat, ac si ejus adminiculo indigeret: Volens igitur facere juramentum Judæo baculum tradidit servandum. Juravit quod plus sibi reddiderat etiam quam debet; et facto juramento baculum repetiit. Et Judæus ignorans astutiæ eum sibi reddidit. Rediens autem qui fraudem fecerat in quodam bivio oppressus corruit somno: Currusque eum, cum impetu veniens, necuit, et baculum plenum auro fregit, et aurum effudit.'
"The conclusion of the story is, that the Jew having received his money, was earnestly entreated to acknowledge his sense of the Divine interposition in his favour, by receiving baptism. He said he would do so if Saint Nicholas would, at his prayer, restore the dead man to life. The saint was, without much difficulty, induced to do this, and the Jew became an edifying specimen of conversion. See the chapter de Sancto Nicolao."—The History of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha; translated from the Spanish by Motteux. A new Edition, with copious Notes, &c. Edinburgh, 1822, vol. v. p. 334.
May not Jeremy Taylor, in the passage cited from the Ductor Dubitantium ("NOTES AND QUERIES, Vol. iv., p. 208.), have been quoting from memory, and confused the Talmudic(?) legend with a well-known passage in Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 199-207.? Compare—
"The Greek that denied the depositum of his friend, and offered to swear at the altar,"
with
"Spartano cuidam respondit Pythia vates;
Haud impunitum quondam fore, quod dubitaret
Depositum retinere et fraudem jure tueri
Jurando."
The Spartan's name was Glaucus. The story is told at large in Herodot. vi. 86. See Stocker's note on Juv. Sat. xiii. 199. The use of "sibi," in the extract from the Legenda Aurea, is new to me. Is it common in monkish Latin?
C. FORBES.
Temple.
Anagrams (Vol. iv., pp. 226. 297.).
—MR. BREEN put another Query besides "Where shall we find six good anagrams?" He asked, "How comes it that a species of composition once so popular should have become extinct?"
Let me venture to refer MR. BREEN to The Spectator for an answer to this inquiry; where, in Addison's brilliant papers on "False Wit" (Nos. 58. &c.), he will find the whole family of ingenious quibblings,—anagrams, acrostics, chronograms, puns, bouts-rimes, &c.,—mown down to their just level. And MR. BREEN cannot, I am sure, as a man of taste, fail to be delighted, even although he may think the following passage (which I quote chiefly as a warning against the rise of an anagrammatric epidemic among your correspondents) a little severe on his old friends:
"The acrostic was probably invented about the same time with the anagram, though it is impossible to decide whether the inventor of the one or the other were the greater blockhead."
It is a tempting folly I admit for an idle hour, and I must plead guilty to having (in consequence of MR. BREEN'S letter) wasted nearly a whole evening in discovering that
"NOTES AND QUERIES"
"Enquires on Dates!"
and also offers the following warning to its contributors—
"Send quite Reason;"
while as an encouragement it observes (so an ingenious friend informs us)—
"O send in a Request."
HERMES.
Battle of Brunanburgh (Vol. iv., p. 249.).
—The Egils Saga describes the duel between the armies of Olaf and Athelstan to have been fought in a champ clos, inclosed with branches of hazel, upon a space called the Vinheidi, or heidi of Vin, situate near (vid) or in (á) the Vinskogr, or forest of Vin. Heidi is a rough open space, with scrubs or bushes, such as furze, juniper, broom, &c. The heidi and the skogr were distinct, the latter affording shelter to the fugitives from the former, p. 290. The text, both Norse and Latin, says, "Then he brought his army to the Vin-heidi. A certain town stood towards the north of the heidi." But a various reading in the note says, "to the town of Vinheidi, which was to the north of the heidi." But it seems as unreasonable for the town to be called Vinheidi, as Vinskogr. Vin should be taken for the name of the town, and the root of the other phrases. The downs or brakes called Vinheidi were inclosed with hazel, and lay between the forest, or skogr, and some river. The town, being Olaf's head quarters, lay north of them. Athelstan occupied the nearest town to the south of the heidi. [Query, whether south of the river?] The northern town Vin is no doubt the Weon from which the Weon-dune (downs of Weon, or heidi of Vin) was called. The other name given by Simeon Dunelmensis to that space is curious, as showing how well the spot was adapted for attack and pursuit, "eth-runnan-werc," that is, "facilis-ad-opus-currendi." The name Brunanburg, probably signifying "the town of bourns," or watercourses, is unequivocally that of a town. Since Olaf or Arlaf had his quarters at Vin, it was probably at that place where Athelstan was stationed. Find these two places, Vin the northern-most of the two, and find the river. The heidi and the skogr are probably grubbed and ploughed up.
A. N.
Praed's Works (Vol. iv., p. 256.).
—Some three years ago I saw a prospectus announcing that they would be published by Mr. Parker of Oxford, under the direction of Mrs. Praed; but I believe nothing has been done in the matter since.
W. J.
Sir J. Davies (Vol. iv., p. 256.).
—Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, 191. Piccadilly, have, or had recently, an original MS. of this eminent lawyer and poet. Perhaps L. GYFFES would learn something of it by communication with them, and, if curious, oblige your readers with an account of it.
R.
Coins of Constantius Gallus (Vol. iv., p. 238.).
—MR. TAYLOR appears to me not altogether correct in his distinctions of these coins. The name VAL. certainly generally denotes Constantius Chlorus, but there are coins of Constantius II. also with VAL. It is impossible for a practised numismatist to confound the coins of these emperors, not only from the difference of lettering and workmanship, but from the change in the size, thickness, &c. of the coins. I have coins of Constantius II. with VAL. bearing the same reverse as others with IVL. (PROVIDENTIAE CAESS) in my cabinet. I have also several coins of Constantius II. with P.F.AVG., which have A. behind the head. I refer above only to coins of bronze, second and third sizes; but I should suppose the rules would apply also to the gold coins. I see "NOTES AND QUERIES" only monthly, or I should have written sooner, but I hope not to be too late.
W. H. S.
Edinburgh.
Passage in Sedley (Vol. iii., p. 476.).—
"Let fools the name of loyalty divide
Wise men and gods are on the strongest side."
I much fear your correspondent HENRY H. BREEN suggests an alteration in Sir Charles Sedley's couplet more favourable to the witty baronet's principles than facts will admit. It is too probable that he conceived the sentiment just as it stands; for we must remember that he belonged to that school of loose wits of the Restoration, who, "Regis ad exemplar," made a mock of all which tended to place "virtue" above "interest," or to make men "too fond of the right to pursue the expedient."
Charles II. and his long train of licentious courtiers now stand at the bar of history, and the verdict on him must be, that if he had a principle in latter life it was this,—that he would never endanger himself for any abstract rule of right; or as Sir W. Scott, in Peveril, accurately says: "he had sworn never to kiss the block on which his father suffered," when yielding to the current would save him from it; hence, there is too good reason to think that, in his estimation, and in the judgment of the school he formed, "loyalty" was "folly," and to take the strongest side "wisdom."
The reference in Sedley's couplet to the line—
"Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni"—
is too obvious to need notice; and it is but too certain that in the estimation of a courtier of Charles II., Cato dying for his country would be but "a fool for his pains." It is painful to be obliged to remind MR. BREEN that, in order to understand Sedley's meaning, we are not to look for what would be "most consistent with truth," but for what was most probably accordant with the lax morality of the author.
A. B. R.
Belmont, Oct. 6. 1851.
Buxtorf's Translation of Elias Levita's "Tub Taam" (Vol. iv., p. 272.).
—This work was printed at Venice in 1538, in 4to. Münster republished it in the next following year, with an epitome of its contents in Latin. (G. B. de' Rossi, Dizionario Storico, &c., art. "Levita.").
T. T.
Manchester.
Stonehenge (Vol. iv., p. 57.).
—P. P.'s objection to Sir R. C. Hoare's derivation of Stonehenge seems hardly justifiable. Surely the horizontal stones there may be said to hang, μετέωροι, or μετάρσιοι, sublime: as in the case of "Rocq Pendant" of Alderney, the term "hanging" is loosely applied. That leans forth from the cliff at a considerable angle out of the perpendicular, and is "hanging," in another sense of the word, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and as, in another acceptation, the famous terrace gardens of Babylon are called the Hanging Gardens.
THEOPHYLACT.
Glass in Windows formerly not a Fixture (Vol. iv., p. 99.).
—Referring to this subject, allow me to add a Note I have from the will of Robert Birkes, of Doncaster, alderman, proved at York, July 30, 1590, in further illustration. The testator gives to his son Robert all "the seeling work and portalls" in and about the house where he dwelt, "with all doors, glass windows," &c., in full of his child's portion of his goods; and then his house he gave to his wife for her life. If by "seeling work and portalls" are meant what we now understand by those terms, the above extract shows that other essential parts of a house besides glass windows were formerly considered as moveable chattels.
C. J.
Fortune, infortune, fort une (Vol. iv., pp. 57. 142.).
—The explanation offered by a writer in the Magasin Pittoresque for 1850, seems perfectly clear without the proposed transposition of the adverb fort into fait of your correspondent D. C.
If the sentence be read according to the French explanation D. C. has quoted, viz. by reading infortune as a verb, fort the adverb to it, it must be plain that the reading of the sentence must be:
"Fortune fort infortune une."
(Fortune very much afflicts one.)
If we turned fort into fait, it would entirely spoil the sentence.
Query, But is "infortuner" to be found as a verb in any old dictionary? We have the adjective "infortuné," which looks much like a participle.
J. C. W.
Francis Terrace, Kentish Town.
Matthew Paris's "Historia Minor" (Vol. iv., p. 209.).
—MR. SANSOM will find the desired MS. in the British Museum, 14 C. vii. (Macray's Manual of Brit. Hist., p. 26. Lond. 1845.)
R. G.
In the Cottonian library, Claudius D. vi. 9., will be found "Abbreviatio compendiosa Chronicorum Angliæ, ab Ao 1000, ad A. 1255. Scripsit quidam ad calcem, 'Hic desinit Mat. Paris Historia Minor, quæ est epitome Majoris, quæ ad A.D. 1258 continuatur.'"
The Bibliothecæ Regiæ, 14 C. vii., contains "Historiæ M. Paris. Continuatio ad A.D. 1273, alia manu. De possessione hujus Codicis multa fuit altercatio." (See Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. lxxxviii. edit. 1840.) There are also MSS. at Corpus Christi College (No. 56.) and Ben'et College, Cambridge (No. 31.). Macray states, that the Historia Minor was made out of the Historia Major by Paris, both from Wendover to 1235, and his own large additions after that period.
J. Y.
Hoxton.
Sanford's "Descensus" (Vol. iv., p. 232.).
—The work of Hugo Sanfordus, De Descensu Domini nostri Jesu Christi ad inferos, was published as a separate work at Amsterdam in 1611, and its title is inserted in the printed catalogue of the Bodleian Library. Can ÆGROTUS give a specific reference to the book, page, and edition of Gale's Court of the Gentiles in which it is spoken of, and also his authority for the statement that it was published in the works of a bishop who survived him?
TYRO.
Death of Pitt (Vol. iv., p. 232.).
—MR. NATHANIEL ELLISON will find in the Memoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope, vol. iii. p. 141., a passage which pretty nearly confirms the account of the desertion of Pitt's death-bed. She said that James, a servant, was the only person present with Pitt when he died, and that she herself was the last person who saw him alive except James. She also stated that Dr. Pretyman, who seems to have been in the house, was fast asleep at the time; and that Sir Walter Farquhar, the physician, was absent. The account of Pitt's last moments in Gifford's life of him, where a prayer for forgiveness, &c. is put into his mouth, she pronounced to be all a lie.
J. S. W.
Stockwell.
History of Hawick (Vol iv., p. 233.).
—In reply to the Query of your correspondent H. L., I have to inform him that there have been published two histories of Hawick, viz.,—
1. Robert Wilson's Sketch of the History of Hawick, a small 8vo. printed in 1825. It contains a notice of the altercations between the Abbot of Melrose and Langlands the Baron of Wilton, relative to the arrear of tithes due to the abbacy of Melrose. A copy of this work can be procured for about 5s.
2. James Wilson's Annals of Hawick, 1214-1814, a small 8vo. printed in 1850. This work, under date 1494-5, has a notice of the murder of the chaplain by Langlands. This book can be had for 6s. 6d.
A notice of the trial of Langlands for the murder will also be found in Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. i. p. 20.
T. G. S.
Edinburgh, Oct. 6. 1851.
"Prophecies of Nostradamus" (Vol. iv., pp. 86. 140. 258.).
—J. R. says that "the first edition of the Prophecies of Nostradamus is not only in the National Library, but in several others, both in Paris and elsewhere." Does J. R. speak from personal observation or at second-hand? When I was in Paris I spent some hours in searching the catalogue and shelves of both the National Library and that of St. Geneviève, but I could find no edition of Nostradamus dated 1555 in either. To convince myself that my search had been accurate, I turned to Nostradamus, par Eugène Bareste, Paris, 1840, and there found it distinctly asserted that there is no copy of the first edition of the book (viz. that of 1555) in any public library in Paris, and that the copy used in compiling that edition of 1840 was borrowed from a private collection. I cannot give the exact words of M. Bareste, as I only made a "Note" of their purport; but if J. R. will say upon what authority his statement as to this rare little book is based, I will certainly some day renew my search for it at the National Library.
H. C. DE ST. CROIX.
Bourchier Family (Vol. iv., p. 233.).
—Monuments, with inscriptions, to William Bourchier, Earl of Bath, 1623; Henry Bourchier, Earl of Bath; many of the family of Bourchier-Wrey, and others allied to them, are in the church of Tavistock, in the county of Devon; and the whole of them have been carefully transcribed with notes of the heraldry.
S. S. S.
William III. at Exeter (Vol. iv., p. 233.).
—Jenkins, the historian of Exeter, in relating the prince's public entry into that city, states that he was preceded by the Earl of Macclesfield and two hundred horsemen, most of whom were English nobles and gentlemen. There is in the Bodleian Library a fo. broadsheet entitled, A True and Exact Relation of the Prince of Orange, his Publick Entrance into Exeter, which, if I remember right, was reprinted in Somers' Tracts, but I do not think any names of those gentlemen are therein mentioned.
S. S. S.
Passage in George Herbert (Vol. iv., p. 231.).
—Does not Herbert imply in these lines—
"Take one from ten, and what remains?
Ten still, if sermons go for gains."
that the payer of tithes receives an equivalent in the ministrations of the priest?
S. C. C.
Corfe Castle.
This passage alludes doubtless to the tithe of the parson, and maintains that the tithe-payer is no loser if the sermons for which tithe is paid produce their effects. In fact, it is a paraphrase of Proverbs, iii. 9, 10.:
"Honour the Lord with all thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."
J. A. PICTON.
Liverpool.
Suicides buried in Cross Roads (Vol. iv., pp. 116. 212.).
—This was formerly the general practice in the South of England, and it has occasionally been resorted to within the last thirty years. At Chalvington, in Sussex, there once resided, according to a popular tradition, the only honest miller ever known. About a century since, this person, finding it impossible to succeed in business, hanged himself in his own mill, and was buried in a neighbouring "crossways." An oaken stake, driven through his body, taking root, grew into a tree, and threw a singular shrivelled branch, the only one it ever produced, across the road. It was the most singular tree I ever saw, and had something extremely hag-like and ghostly in its look. The spot was of course haunted, and many a rustic received a severe shock to his feelings on passing it after nightfall. The tradition was of course received by the intelligent as a piece of superstitious folk-lore, and the story of the "only honest miller" was regarded as a mere myth, until about twenty-five years ago, when a labourer employed in digging sand near the roots of the scraggy oak tree, discovered a human skeleton. This part of the history I can vouch for, having seen, when a schoolboy, some of the bones. I must not omit to mention that the honest miller of Chalvington owned the remarkable peculiarity of a "tot" or tuft of hair growing in the palm of each hand!
MARK ANTONY LOWER.
Armorial Bearings (Vol. iv., p. 58.).
—The coat of arms described by F. I. B. is given by Robson and by Burke to the family of Kelley of Terrington, co. Devon, and the crests are similar, but I can find no authority for the coat in any work relating to that county. The ancient family, Kelly of Kelly, in Devon, bore a very different coat and crest. There is no such place as Terrington in that county, unless Torrington be meant, but no family of note bearing the name of Kelley had possessions there. I conclude, therefore, that there must be a mistake as to the county.
S. S. S.
"Life of Cromwell" (Vol. iv., p. 117.).
—No life of Cromwell was ever written by "one Kember;" there is a Life of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the second edition (London, 1725) of which, greatly enlarged from the first, is now before me, and which has the autograph of Malone, who has on the fly-leaf asserted it to have been "written by Isaac Kimber, a Dissenting minister, who was born at Vantage in Berkshire, Dec. 1, 1692. His son, Edward Kimber, refers to it as the work of his father, in a history of England in ten volumes, which he published."
Kimber's life is a much better one than Carlyle's; but the best biography of that most extraordinary man is by Thomas Cromwell, published some twenty or thirty years since, and of which there was a second edition.
J. MT.
Harris, Painter in Water Colours (Vol. iii., p. 329.).
—In answer to the inquiry of T. C. W., relative to a Bible (Reeves, 1802) in the possession of his friend, I beg leave to state that the said Bible was illustrated with original drawings by my father, J. Harris of Walworth, who died seventeen years since, and that I am his only son surviving him in his profession. Any further communication relative to him I shall be most happy to give on a personal interview.
J. HARRIS.
40. Sidmouth Street, Regent Square,
Sept. 27. 1851.
"Son of the Morning" (Vol. iv., p. 209.).
—AN OLD BENGAL CIVILIAN is informed that, no matter whom Byron may have intended to designate by the above glorious appellation, there is but ONE to whom it properly belongs. If your correspondent will consult the 110th Psalm, he will find David representing God the Father as thus addressing God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ: "The dew of Thy birth is of the womb of the morning."
G. L. S.
Pemb. Coll. Oxon., Sept. 20. 1851.
This seems to be an invocation to the personification of Light, Lucifer, or φωσφορος, the "son of the morning," by which intellectual light is indicated, through whose assistance we are enabled to discover the true faith.
The poet enters a caveat that the latter do not act the part of an Iconoclast, as has too often been her wont. At least this appears to me to be the interpretation.
E. I. U. S. Club.
Grimsdyke or Grimesditch (Vol. iv., p. 192.).
—Your Querist NAUTICUS describes the vallum or ditch called "Grimsdyke, or Grimesditch, or the Devil's Ditch," running from Great Berkhampstead, Hants, to Bradenham, Bucks, and then puts two Queries.
NAUTICUS assumes that this ditch had, at some distant day, been an artificial earthwork; but at the same time he points out that, "from its total want of flank defence, it could hardly hold an enemy in check for long; and that it does not seem to have been a military way." He asks, "Are there other earthworks of the same name (Grimsdyke) in England?" I find no trace of any other earthworks of that name in England; and it may be very questionable whether this ditch be of ancient earthwork, or of its original natural formation.
But there is, in Cheshire, a brook or rivulet in its pristine state, called Grimsditch. This brook or rivulet is one of the contributory streams of Cheshire to the great rivers, the Mersey and the Weaver; and is described by the author of King's Vale Royal of England, or the County Palatine of Chester illustrated, published in 1656, as follows:
"The Grimsditch cometh from the Hall of Grimsditch, by Preston, Daresbury, Keckwith, and so falleth into the Marsey."
Here then we have the name of a place which gives the name of Grimsditch to the brook or rivulet; and it is, moreover, shown by the County History that the place (the hamlet or lands of Grimsditch) has been in the possession of a family of the name of Grimsditch from the time of Henry III.
From the words of the original grant this hamlet, by which Thomas Tuschet, in 10 Hen. III. 1226, grants to Hugo de Grimsditch "totam terram de Grimsdich pertinentem ad villam de Witeleigh" (Ormerod's Chesh. i. 488.), it may be inferred that the place went by the name of Grimsditch prior to the Norman Conquest. There can therefore be but little doubt that the name is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
The present possessor of the property is Thomas Grimsditch, Esq., late M.P. for the borough of Macclesfield.
The second Query of NAUTICUS applies to the etymology of the word Grimsditch.
This is a very difficult question to solve. Take the first syllable: Grim, grime, dirt, sullying blackness.
"She sweats; a man may go over shoes in the grime of it."—Shakspeare.
Then the word ditch: this is derived from dic (Saxon), dük (Erse); but whatever may be the true etymology of the word, it can scarcely be doubted that it is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
I may however add that there is a tradition in the Grimsditch family of Cheshire, said to have been handed down for many ages, as to the origin of the name, to the following effect:
That in remote ages their first parents were warriors; that one of these warriors was attacked by a griffin; that a fierce contest ensued; and that the man was the conqueror of that fabulous bird or beast, the battle-ground being a dyke or ditch.
Hence, says the tradition, emanated the family coat of arms, which are certainly very singular, viz. Azure, a griffin or, about to tear, and ramping upon, a warrior, completely armed in plate armour, in bend dexter, across the lower part of the shield. Crest, a Talbot.
WILLIAM BEAUMONT.
In reply to your correspondent NAUTICUS, who inquires whether there are any ancient entrenchments in England known by the name of Grimsdyke, besides the one he mentions in Hants, I beg to remind him that the Roman wall (or ditch and rampart) executed between the Firths of Forth and Clyde during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, is popularly called by the above name. To account for the name, it has been said that it originated in the circumstance of a chieftain of the name of Graham having been the first to force his way through it; but those who gave such a derivation of the word could scarcely have been aware that it bears this name in common with at least two others, viz., that mentioned by NAUTICUS as existing at Great Berkhampstead, Hants; and the other pointed out by W. S. G. as near Salisbury.
L. D. L.
Cagots (Vol. iv., p. 190.).
—In reply to the inquiry of RUSTICUS, I rather imagine the Cagots are the remains of the Paulician "Churches" of Thoulouse Albi and Cahors (Charhagensis) of Maitland's Albigenes and Waldenses, p. 428.; and that the Cretins are no other than credentes (cf. Maitland passim), probably remnants of the same body of heretics.
AJAX.
Is there any resemblance between them and Cretins? Are there any families or races of Cretins ever heard of?
C. B.
The Serpent represented with a human Head (Vol. iv., p. 191.).
—I send you two instances of the serpent being represented with a human head; the first occurs in the Arundel MS. No. 23., in this College, containing the genealogical descent of King Edward IV., and apparently coeval with that sovereign. The other is a beautifully executed sketch of Adam and Eve in a MS., also in this College, of the time of Henry VII., at the commencement of The Genealogy of the Saxon Kings from Adam. They are both female heads, the latter, however, being the entire bust.
THOMAS W. KING (York Herald).
College of Arms.
In the stained glass of the east window in the Lady Chapel, Wells Cathedral (temp. Edw. III.), the serpent, which is entwined round a tree, and holds an apple, has not only the head but the upper half of a human figure. On a scroll is written in uncial letters, "Si comederitis de ligno vitæ eritis sicut Dii scientis bonis et malis;" and in a straight line below the subject, "Arbor cum Serpente."
T. WT.
Fire Unknown (Vol. iv., pp. 209. 283.).
—At the time when Leibnitz wrote, curious references to accounts of savages were not infrequent. All your readers will remember Locke's reference to some account of savages who had neither idea of God nor of being superior to man. It may be that narratives of tribes who did not use fire, who lived on dried flesh or fish, for instance, may have given rise to an idea of their not knowing fire. I think I remember to have seen it stated that some of the savages of Australia did not know fire. On this, five-and-twenty years ago, I made a note from Mr. Barron Field's Collection of Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales. Two wrecked Englishmen passed some time among the natives, and found they had no knowledge that water could be heated; but the very story seems to show that they knew of fire. On boiling some in a tin pot,
"The whole tribe gathered round them, and watched the pot till it began to boil, when they all took to their heels, shouting and screaming, nor could they be persuaded to return till they saw them pour the water out and clean the pot, when they slowly ventured back and carefully covered the place where the water was spilt with sand."
These two Englishmen were treated with great attention by the natives, they were painted twice a day, and it was quite their own faults that they did not have their noses bored and their bodies scarified.
Plant in Texas (Vol. iv., p. 208.).
—The following is an extract from a periodical of 1848 or 1849:
"According to the Medical Times, Major Alvord has discovered on the American prairies a plant possessing the property of pointing north and south, and has given it the name of Sylphium laciniatum."
G. P***.
Copying Inscriptions (Vol. iv., p. 266.).
—M. Lottin de Laval, "by a new process," has produced the most accurate copies of cuneatic inscriptions that have yet been published. It is said that he has copied by his process (which must, I think, be some kind of heliography) 1200 inscriptions from the Sinaitic peninsula, the publication of which may be speedily expected, so that MR. BUCKTON'S wishes on this point are anticipated. These inscriptions have been already deciphered.
E. H. D. D.
Chantrey's Statue of Mrs. Jordan (Vol. iv., p. 58.).
—MR. CORNISH will find this statue at Mapledurham in Oxon, the living of the lady's son. It remains there, it is stated, until an appropriate site can be obtained.
W. A.
Portraits of Burke (Vol. iv., p. 271.).
—I doubt that Sir Joshua Reynolds ever painted a miniature, and I should say certainly not after Mr. Burke "had passed the meridian of life." His sister, Miss Reynolds, was a professed miniature painter, and I have little doubt must have painted Mr. Burke, as she certainly did Johnson; but the description given of this miniature is very unlike Mr. Burke. The name of the possessor might, in some degree, enable us to ascertain whether the portraits mentioned are really of the great statesman.
C.
Martial's Distribution of Hours (Vol. iv., p. 273.).
—Martial's distribution of hours and employments seems to me to be as follows:—From 6 till 8 the visits of the "salutantes" are received; from 8 till 9 the law tribunals are attended; from 9 till 11 the "varii labores" occupy; from 11 till 12 the "quies." The expression "in quintam" must bring us to the end of the 5th hour; and the "sexta hora" must be that which concludes at 12.
Your inquirer A. E. B. might have further asked what is the difference between the "quies" of the "sexta," and the "finis" of the "septima." To understand this is to understand the difficulty which he propounds. I apprehend the "quies" not to mean the "siesta," but that gradual and perhaps irregular cessation or suspension of employments which precedes the close of business for the day. The "siesta" is the "finis" of Martial, which would thus fall between 12 and 1; that time of the day at which A. E. B. fixes it rightly. I think he errs in identifying the "siesta" with the "sexta hora."
To question 214 I may be allowed to reply, that the effect of moonlight upon the face of those who sleep exposed to it in hot climates is very severe indeed, producing an appearance not very unlike that of a swollen and putrescent corpse. The Psalmist refers to it Ps. cxxi. 6.; and all who have lived in the East Indies are well acquainted with the phenomenon.
THEOPHYLACT.