Minor Queries.
56. Was Milton an Anglo-Saxon Scholar?
—I have long been very curious to know whether Milton was an Anglo-Saxon scholar. He compiled a history of the Saxon period: had he the power of access to the original sources? Is there any ground for supposing that he had read our Saxon Paradise Lost; I mean the immortal poetry of Cædmon? If he really knew nothing of this ancient relic, then it may well be said, that the poems of Cædmon and of Milton afford the most striking known example of coincident poetic imagination.
I should be extremely obliged to any of your learned correspondents who would bring the faintest ray of evidence to bear upon this obscure question.
The similarity of the two poems has been noticed long ago, e.g. by Sir F. Palgrave in The Archæologia, xxiv. I know not whether he was the first; I think Conybeare was beforehand with him.
J. E.
Oxford, Aug. 2. 1851.
57. Tale of a Tub.
—What is the origin of this popular phrase? It dates anterior to the time of Sir Thomas More, an anecdote in whose chancellorship thus illustrates it. An attorney in his court, named Tubb, gave an account in court of a cause in which he was concerned, which the Chancellor (who, with all his gentleness, loved a joke) thought so rambling and incoherent, that he said at the end of Tubb's speech, "This is a tale of a Tubb;" plainly showing that the phrase was then familiarly known.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
58. Cleopatra's Needle.
—When was the obelisk in Egypt first so called? Why was it so called? What is the most popular work on Egypt for a full description of it?
J. B. J.
Liverpool, July 28. 1851.
59. Pair of Curols.
—In a list of the rating of the incumbents of the diocese of Ely, A. D. 1609, towards the support of the army, preserved by Cole, several are returned for "a pair of curols."
"Mr. Denham for his vicarage of Cherry Hinton to find (jointly with the Vicar of Impington and Caldecote) a pair of Curols with a pike furnished."
What is the meaning of the word "Curol," supposing Cole to have used it aright?
E. V.
60. Cowper Law.
—Lord Mahon, in his History of England, second edit. vol. ii. p. 66., in speaking of the death of the first Earl Cowper, after saying "His memory deserves high respect," &c., adds, "And though it seems that a by-word was current of 'Cowper law, to hang a man first and then judge him,' I believe that it proceeded from party resentment, rather than from any real fault;" and in a note refers to the evidence at Lord Wintoun's trial. Is not Lord Mahon mistaken in supposing that this saying refers to Lord Cowper? Should it not be "Cupar Law," meaning the town of that name? I see in Lord Wintoun's trial, where his lordship uses the expression, he adds, "as we used to say in our country." If my supposition is correct, can any of your correspondents say how the proverb arose?
C. DE D.
61. Order of Greenwich.
—I have an impression of an oval ecclesiastical seal, the matrix of which is said to have been found near Kilkenny. The device is the Ascension of the Virgin, beneath which is a shield charged with the royal arms; the three fleur de lis in the first and fourth quarterings showing the seal to be, comparatively speaking, modern. The legend, in Lombardic capitals, runs as follows:—"+ SGILLVM + GĀRDIĀNI + GRV̅WVCĒSIS +." Query, Does "GRV̅WVCĒSIS" mean "of Greenwich?"
In the State Papers, temp. Hen. VIII., vol. iii. p. 285., an abbey in Ireland is said to be of the "order of Greenewich." Query, What order was this?
JAMES GRAVES.
Kilkenny, July 19. 1851.
62. House of Yvery.
—This work is rarely to be met with in a perfect state; but there is one plate about which there exists a doubt, viz. a folding plate or map of the estates of John Perceval, Earl of Egmont.
It would be satisfactory perhaps to many of the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES," as well as to myself, to know whether any gentleman possesses a copy of the work with such a plan.
H. T. E.
Clyst St. George.
63. Entomological Query.
—Can any of your botanical or entomological correspondents help me to the name of the grub that is apt to become a chrysalis on the Linaria minor (Antirrhinum minus of Linnæus)? For yesterday, in a chalky field in Berkshire, I found several cocoons of one particular kind on the above plant (itself not common in these parts), and I did not see it on any other plant in the field, although I spent some time in looking about.
J. E.
Oxford, July 29.
64. Spenser's Portraits (Vol. iv., p. 74.).
—VARRO states he is "well acquainted with an admirable portrait of the poet, bearing date 1593." Perhaps he could give a satisfactory answer to a Query relative to the engraved portraits of Spenser which appeared in one of the numbers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" for last April, and which was not been yet answered.
E. M. B.
65. Borrow's Bible in Spain.
—In the Athenæum for Aug. 17, 1850, in a review of Wallis's Glimpses of Spain, I find the following remark:—
"Mr. Wallis imputes a want of judgment and of 'earnest desire' for the objects of his mission to Mr. Borrow personally, on the ground that he—being, as all know, sent out by the Bible Society to circulate the Protestant Scriptures—did not, instead of attempting to fulfil that special object of his mission, employ himself in diffusing the Roman Catholic version of the Vulgate set forth by the Spanish hierarchy."
It is well known that the Bible Society keeps on its shelves both the Protestant and Roman Catholic versions of French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Its endeavours at present are, I believe, confined to attempting to circulate the Roman Catholic versions, on the ground that it is impossible to circulate the more correct Protestant ones. My Queries are:—
1. Was Mr. Borrow sent out by the Bible Society to circulate the Protestant Scriptures?
2. Whose translation of the Vulgate was set forth by the Spanish hierarchy?
E. M. B.
66. Dogmatism and Puppyism.—
"Dogmatism is nothing but puppyism come to its full growth."
I find this quotation in a leader of The Times. Can you or any of your readers inform me of its origin?
?
67. A Saxon Bell-house.
—A reader of "NOTES AND QUERIES," who subscribes himself A LOVER OF BELLS, has kindly referred me to a passage in Hume's History of England, in which it is said that, according to a statute of Athelstan, "a ceorle or husbandman who had been able to purchase five hides of land, and had a chapel, a kitchen, a hall, and a bell," was raised to the rank of a Thane. The marginal reference in Hume is to Selden's Titles of Honor; and in that work the statue is then given:
"If a churle or a countryman so thrived that hee had fully five hides of his owne land, a church, and a kitchen, a bel-house, a borough-gate with a seate, and any distinct office in the king's court, then was he henceforth of equall honour or dignitie with a Thane."
Selden considers that the bel-house was the dining-hall to which the guests and family were summoned by the ringing of a bell. He thinks the word corresponds with tinello, tinelo, and tinel, the Italian, Spanish, and French words for a "public hall" or "dining-room,"—"so named, because the tin or tingling of a bell at the times of dinner or supper in it were signified by it."
I beg to ask whether the existing knowledge of the details of Saxon architecture substantiates Selden's view; and whether this bell was also the alarum-bell of the castle, hanging in an outside turret?
Many thanks to my correspondent, and to "NOTES AND QUERIES" for the introduction to his notice.
ALFRED GATTY.