Minor Queries.
300. "No Cross no Crown."
—Where did Penn get the title of his well-known work? St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in allusion to the custom of crowning crosses, has these lines:—
"Cerne coronatam Domini super atria Christi,
Stare crucem, duro spondentem celsa labori
Præmia: tolle crucem, qui vis auferre coronam."
"See how the cross of Christ a crown entwines:
High o'er God's temple it refulgent shines;
Pledging bright guerdon for each passing pain:
Take up the cross, if thou the crown would'st gain."
Vide Dr. Rock's Hierurgia. Quarles says, in his Esther:
"The way to bliss lies not on beds of down,
And he that had no cross deserves no crown."
MARICONDA.
301. Dido and Æneas.—
"When Dido found Æneas did not come,
She wept in silence, and was—di-do-dum."
Who was the author of the above well-known bit of philology?
A. A. D.
302. Pegs and Thongs for Rowing: Torture among the Athenians.
—Dr. Schmitz (in Smith's Antiq., article SHIPS) speaks of "the pegs, σκαλμοί, between which the oars move[d], and to which they were fastened by a thong, τροπωτήρ." What is the authority for two pegs, between which, &c? A single peg and thong, as still in frequent use, would be intelligible!
Dr. Smith observes (ap. id. p. 1139.) that the decree of Scamandrius, which ordained that no free Athenian should be tortured, "does not appear to have interdicted torture as a means of execution, since we find Demosthenes (de Cor. 271.) reminding the judges that they had put Antiphon to death by the rack." Does it not escape him that Antiphon was then an alien, having suffered expulsion from the Lexiarchic list. (See Dem. l.c.)
A. A. D.
303. French Refugees.
—Where is the treaty or act of parliament to be found which guaranteed compensation to the French refugees at the end of the war? Is it possible to obtain a list of those who received compensation, and the amount paid; and if so, where?
S. QUARTO.
304. Isabel, Queen of the Isle of Man.
—In Charles Knight's London mention is made, amongst the noble persons buried in the church of the Grey Friars, of Isabel, wife of Baron Fitzwarren, sometime queen of the Isle of Man. Will you or some of your correspondents be so kind as to tell me who this lady was, and when the Isle of Man ceased to be an independent kingdom?
FANNY.
305. Grand-daughter of John Hampden.
—According to the Friend of India of 4th September, 1851, there is at Cossimbazar the following inscription:—
"SARAH MATTOCKS,
Aged 27.
Much lamented by her husband,
Lieutenant-Colonel JOHN MATTOCKS.
Was the grand-daughter of the
Great JOHN HAMDEN, Esq.,
Of St. James's, Westminster."
In the following number (dated 11th September, 1851), the editor offers an apology for having omitted the date of the decease of Mrs. Mattocks, viz. 1778; and then remarks that—
"As she was twenty-seven years old at her death, she must have been born in 1751; it was therefore impossible that she should have been the grand-daughter of the great John Hampden, that died in 1643, one hundred and eight years before her birth."
Query, Can any of your correspondents give me any information respecting the subject?
SALOPIAN.
306. Cicada or Tettigonia Septemdecim.
—In Latrobe's Rambler in North America, London, 1835, vol. ii. p. 290., is a curious account of this insect, which visits Pennsylvania every seventeenth year, and appears about May 24. It is under an inch in length when it first appears early in the morning, and gains its strength after the sun has risen. These insects live ten or fifteen days, and never seem to eat any food. They come in swarms, and birds, pigs, and poultry fatten on them. The female lays her eggs in the outermost twigs of the forest; these die and drop on the ground. The eggs give birth to a number of small grubs, which are thus enabled to attain the mould without injury, and in it they disappear; they are forgotten till seventeen years pass, and then the memory of them returns, and they rise from the earth, piercing their way through the matted sod, the hard trampled clay, &c. They appeared in 1749, &c., to 1834, and are expected in 1851. Has this expectation been fulfilled?
307. The British Sidanen.
—Under this title (the proper spelling in which should be Sina or Senena) an article appears in Vol. iv., p. 120., comprising a portion of the genealogy of the Welsh princess, in which three of her sons are mentioned, viz., Owen, Llewellyn, and David. But there was a fourth son, Roderic, who settled in England, and appears to have been residing there for some time, when the fatal rupture occurred between the two countries. It would appear that descendants of his have lived, and are living in our own times; among them, the late Dr. John Mawer, of Middleton Tyas, whose remarkable epitaph was given in a former number of "NOTES AND QUERIES." My first inquiry is, Is there known to exist any genealogy assuming to extend between the Rev. and learned gentleman just named and Prince Roderic? I am told there was one published in the British Peerage for 1706, at which time John Mawer would be three years of age; is such the fact? I wish also to ask, whether Prince Owen was in existence at the time of the deaths of Llewellyn and David—whether in Wales or England? and whether he was the ancestor of Owen Tudor, the proud father of Henry VII.; and, if not, who was Owen Tudor's ancestor?
AMANUENSIS.
308. Jenings or Jennings.
—Was the late Mr. Jenings of Acton Hall, Suffolk, descended from the family of Jenings, formerly of Silsden, Skipton in Craven, and afterwards of Ripon, Yorkshire; and if so, where can information as to the pedigree be obtained?
A. B. C.
Brighton.
309. Caleva Atrebatum, Site of.
—May not the site of Caleva Atrebatum have been at Caversham, on the north of the Thames, near Reading?
The distance of Caleva from Londinium was forty-four Roman miles, making forty English; and from Venta Belgarum, thirty-six Roman or thirty-three English miles.
Caleva, according to Ptolemy's map, was on the north of the Thames; a portion of the present Oxfordshire being in the country assigned by the same geographer to the Atrebates.
G. J.
310. Abigail.
—Whence, or when, originated the application of Abigail, as applied to a lady's maid? It is used by Dean Swift in this sense; but in a way that shows that it was no new phrase in those days.
J. S. WARDEN.
Balica.
311. Etymology of Durden.
—Jacob, in his Law Dictionary, giving Cowel as his authority (who, however, advances no further elucidation), derives the word from dur-den, a coppice in a valley. Does the word dur signify wood, or, if the British dwr, is it not water?
F. R. R.
312. Connecticut Halfpenny.
—I have a halfpenny, apparently American, bearing on the obverse, a head to the right, and "Auctori Connect.;" and on the reverse, "Inde." for independence, and "Lib." for liberty; date in the exerg., 1781 or 1787; and between "Inde." and "Lib." five stars. Can any of your correspondents tell me if my explanation of the reverse is the correct one? and also who was the "Auctori Connect.," or founder of the state of Connecticut?
J. N. C.
King's Lynn.