Replies to Minor Queries
Voce Populi Halfpenny (Vol. iv., pp. 19. 56.).
—I have four varieties of this coin:
1. The one which J. N. C. describes, and which is engraved by Lindsay, in his work on the coinage of Ireland, and is considered the rarest type.
2. A precisely similar type, with the exception that the "P" is beneath, instead of being on the side of the portrait.
3. A more youthful portrait, and of smaller size than the preceding, and a trifle better executed. It wants the "P" altogether, and has for "MM." a small quatrefoil. The engrailing also very different.
4. A totally different, and older portrait than any of the preceding. "MM." and engrailing the same as No. 3., and it also wants the "P."
The reverses of all four appear to differ only in very minute particulars. Pinkerton, in his Essay on Medals, vol. ii. p. 127., after stating that the Irish halfpence and farthings were all coined in the Tower, and then sent to Ireland, there being no mint in that country, remarks—
"In 1760, however, there was a great scarcity of copper coin in Ireland; upon which a society of Irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, those appeared with a very bad portrait of George II., and 'VOCE POPULI' around it. The bust bears a much greater resemblance to the Pretender; but whether this was a piece of waggery in the engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in drawing, must be left in doubt. Some say that these pieces were issued without any leave being asked or obtained."
E. S. TAYLOR.
I would have referred J. N. C. to either Pinkerton or Lindsay, where he would find a full account about his Irish halfpenny, but as he may not possess a numismatic library, perhaps you will allow me to trouble you with the extracts. Pinkerton says:
"In 1760 there was a great scarcity of copper coin in Ireland upon which a society of Irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, those appeared with a very bad portrait of George II., and 'VOCE POPULI' around it. The bust bears a much greater resemblance to the Pretender; but whether this was a piece of waggery in the engraver, or only arose from his ignorance in drawing, must be left to doubt."
Pinkerton does not here specially refer to the type, where "the letter P is close to the nose:" but if J. N. C. can turn to Lindsay's Coinage of Ireland, 1839, he will find his coin engraved in the fifth supplementary plate, No. 16., and in the advertisement, p. 139., the following remarks on it:
"This curious variety of the 'voce populi' halfpence exhibits a P before the face, and illustrates Pinkerton's remark that the portrait on these coins seems intended for that of the Pretender: it is a very neat coin, perhaps a pattern."
BLOWEN.
Dog's Head in the Pot (Vol. iii., pp. 264. 463.).
—The sign is of greater antiquity than may be expected. See Cocke Lorelle's Bote:—
"Also Annys Angry with the croked buttocke
That dwelled at ye synge Of ye dogges hede in ye pot.
By her crafte a breche maker."
THOS. LAWRENCE.
Ashby de la Zouch.
"O wearisome Condition of Humanity" (Vol. iii., p. 241.).
—As no one has hitherto appropriated these fine lines, as to the author of which your correspondent inquires, I may mention that they are taken from the "Chorus Sacerdotum," at the end of Lord Brook's Mustapha. (See his Works, fol. 1633, p. 159.) The chorus is worth quoting entire:
"O wearisome condition of humanity!
Borne under one Law, to another bound:
Vainely begot, and yet forbidden vanity;
Created sick, commanded to be sound:
What meaneth Nature by these diverse Lawes?
Passion and reason self division cause.
Is it the mark or majesty of power
To make offences that it may forgive?
Nature herself doth her own self defloure
To hate those Errors she herself doth give.
For how should Man think that he may not do
If Nature did not fail and punish too?
Tyrant to others, to herself unjust,
Only commands things difficult and hard,
Forbids us all things, which it knows is lust,
Makes easy pains, impossible reward.
If Nature did not take delight in blood,
She would have made more easy ways to good.
We that are bound by vows and by promotion,
With pomp of holy sacrifice and rites,
To teach belief in good and still devotion,
To preach of Heaven's wonders and delights;
Yet when each of us in his own heart looks,
He finds the God there far unlike his Books."
I should like to see a collected edition of the works of the two noble Grevilles, Fulke and Robert, Lords Brook; the first the friend of Sir Philip Sidney, the second the honoured of Milton. The little treatise on Truth of the latter, which Wallis answered in his Truth Tried, is amply sufficient to prove that he possessed powers of no common order.
JAMES CROSSLEY.
Bunyan and the "Visions of Heaven and Hell" (Vol. iii., pp. 70. 89. 289. 467.).
—The work referred to by your correspondents is so manifestly not the Composition of John Bunyan that it is extraordinary that the title-page, which was evidently adopted to get off the book, should ever have imposed upon anybody. The question, however, put by your correspondents F. R. A. and N. H., as to who G. L. was, has not yet been answered. The person referred to by these initials is the real author of the book, who was George Larkin, a printer and author, and great ally and friend of the redoubted John Dunton, who gives a long character of him, in his Life and Errors, in his enumeration of London printers. (See Life and Errors, edit. 1705, p. 326.)
"Mr. Larkin, Senior—He has been my acquaintance for Twenty years, and the first printer I had in London. He formerly writ a Vision of Heaven, &c. (which contains many nice and curious thoughts), and has lately published an ingenious Essay on the noble Art and Mystery of Printing. Mr. Larkin is my alter ego, or rather my very self in a better edition."
The book itself was first published about 1690, and went through many editions in the early part of the last century.
JAMES CROSSLEY.
Pope's Translations or Imitations of Horace (Vol. i., p. 230.; Vol. iv., pp. 58. 122.).
—I am much obliged to MR. CROSSLEY for having corrected the error (for which I cannot account) in the title of the pamphlet in question, which was certainly not by "the author of the Critical History of England," and certainly was by Dennis, as is marked by Pope's own hand in the copy now before me. As MR. CROSSLEY puts hypothetically the correctness of my quotation, I subjoin the whole passages.
"After having been for fifteen years as it were an imitator, he has made no proficiency. His first imitations, though bad, are rather better than the succeeding, and this last Imitation of HORACE the most execrable of them all."—P. 7.
Again:
"An extravagant libel, ridiculously called an imitation of Horace."—P. 11.
And again:
"Of all these libellers the present Imitator is the most impudent and incorrigible."—P. 15.
MR. CROSSLEY says he has a fragment of the "Imitation of the second satire of the first book of Horace," published by Curll in 1716. This, which I never saw, nor before heard of, would solve the difficulty; and I respectfully request MR. CROSSLEY to favour us with a transcript of the title-page, which is the more desirable, because all Pope's biographers, and indeed he himself (to Spence), have attributed his first imitation of Horace to a much later date, certainly subsequent to 1723. The imitation, therefore, of that satire of Horace, printed in 1716 by Curll, is valuable as to Pope's history, and great curiosity and as MR. CROSSLEY states that Lady Mary is not mentioned in that edition, I am curious to know how Pope managed the rhyme now made by her name.
MR. CROSSLEY adds that this imitation was reproduced in "folio, printed by J. Boreman about 1734, with some alterations from the former edition." Would it be trespassing too much on your space and his kindness, to request him to give us a few specimens of the alterations, particularly the "change of initials" which MR. CROSSLEY mentions. MR. CROSSLEY seems to think that this poem was not reprinted after the folio in 1734, till it appeared in a supplement to Cooper's edition in 1756. This is a mistake. It was published by Pope himself, with his other imitations of Horace, in the collection of his works by Dodsley in 1738; and though only entitled "in the manner of Mr. Pope,", excited very natural surprise and disgust. His having deliberately embodied it in the general collection of his works, is Warton's only excuse for having reproduced it.
C.
Prophecies of Nostradamus (Vol. iv., p. 86.).
—In accordance with the wish of your correspondent SPERIEND, I have examined the series of early editors of this celebrated astrologer in the Bibliothèque Nationale, and the following is the result of my inquiries.
The earliest edition of the Prophecies of Nostradamus is not to be found in any library in Paris, but was published in 1555 (so says the latest account of the prophet, by M. Eugène Bareste) but contains little more than three centuries (or cantos, as they might be called) of prophecies; each century containing a hundred quatrains. The next edition, which before the French Revolution belonged to the Benedictines of St. Maur, is entitled:
"Les Prophéties de M. Michel Nostradamus, dont il y en a trois cens qui n'ont encore jamais esté imprimées. Adjoustées de nouveau par ledict Autheur. A Lyon, chez Pierre Rigaud, rue Mercière, au coing de rue Ferrandière. Avec permission."
It has, in MS., on the title-page, "1555 et 1558." M. Bareste says of this edition:
"On prétend qu'elle est de 1558; mais nous ne le pensons pas, car elle a été probablement faite l'année même de la mort de l'auteur, c'est à dire, en 1566."
However, as there is no known edition between 1555, the date of the first, and 1566, this doubtless is the earliest containing the ninth century; and at No. 49. of this century is to be seen the following quatrain:
"Gand et Bruceles marcheront contre Anvers, Sénat de Londres mettront à mort leur Roy; Le sel et vin luy seront à l'envers, Pour eux avoir le regne en desarroy."
I can find no edition of Nostradamus dated 1572; but in the editions of 1605, 1629, 1649, and 1650, the prophecy is given as above, almost letter for letter, so that there can be no doubt it was not first known in that form in 1672. As to the number of this quatrain agreeing with the year of King Charles's death, it is most probably an accident; for out of the nine hundred and odd quatrains composing the twelve centuries (the 7th, 11th, and 12th being imperfect), and which are nearly all regularly numbered, it is, I believe, the only one in which this singularity occurs. On the fly-leaf of a copy of Nostradamus in the Bibliothèque de Ste Geneviève (dated 1568, but really printed in 1649), I found, in an old handwriting, a couplet that may be new to the English admirer of the astrologer:
"Falsa damus cum Nostra damus, nam fallere nostrum est
Et cum nostra damus, non nisi Falsa damus."
If SPERIEND wishes for more information on the subject of the life and works of Nostradamus, I should recommend him to look at the work I have quoted above, which treats very fully on all matters connected with this "vaticinating worthy." It is entitled Nostradamus, par Eugène Bareste: Paris, 1840, and will doubtless be found in the British Museum.
H. C. DE ST. CROIX.
I have an edition of 1605 of these prophecies, Revueës et corrigées sur la coppie imprimée à Lyon, par Benoist Rigaud, 1586, but without place or printer's name. It contains (century nine, stanza 49.), the quatrain quoted by SPERIEND.
The following quatrain may be thought to apply to Cromwell (century eight, stanza 76.):
"Plus Macelin que Roy en Angleterre,
Dieu obscur nay par force aura l'empire:
Lasche sans foy sans loy Seignera terre,
Son temps s'aproche si près que je souspire."
The edition of 1605 does not contain the line quoted by SPERIEND, "Sénat de Londres," &c.; nor any address "A mes Imprimeurs de Hongrie;" but, in addition to the ten centuries contained in the edition of 1568 (the original edition), it contains the eleventh and twelfth centuries; also 141 stanzas of additional "Presages, tirez de ceux faicts par M. Nostradamus en années 1555 et suivantes jusques en 1567:" and 58 "Predictions Admirables pour les ans courans en ce Siecle, Recueillies des Memoires du feu M. Nostradamus, par Vincent Seve, de Beaucaire en Languedoc, dès le 19 Mars, 1605, au Chateau de Chantilly."
My edition is not mentioned by Brunet nor in any of the French Catalogues that I have been able to consult.
R. J. R.
Thread the Needle (Vol. iv., p. 39.).
—The following is an extract from a review in the Gentleman's Magazine of Dec. 1849, of the Life of Shirley; it may be interesting as explaining some part of the verse in the game of "Thread the Needle:"
"Lord Nugent, when at Hebron, was directed to go out by the needle's eye, that is, by the small gate of the city; and in many parts of England, the old game of thread the needle is played to the following words:
"'How many miles to Hebron?
Three score and ten.
Shall I be there by midnight?
Yes, and back again.
Then thread the needle,' &c.
"Now this explains and modifies one of the strongest and most startling passages of Scripture, on the subject of riches; for the camel can go through the needle's eye but with difficulty, and hardly with a full load, nor without stooping."
The above was copied out from the magazine on account of its explaining the camel and the needle's eye: it does not tell much upon the Query concerning the game of "Thread the Needle;" but it may be interesting, and so is sent with pleasure by
E. F.
P.S. A friend suggests, could the game have come from the Crusades?
A line of players, the longer the better, hold hands and one end of the line, which thus becomes almost a circle, runs and drags the rest of the line after it through the arch made by the uplifted arms of the first couple of the other end of the line—a process nearly enough resembling threading a needle. There are subsequent evolutions by which each couple becomes in succession the eye of the needle.
C.
Salmon Fishery in the Thames (Vol. iv., p. 87.).
—Those of your readers who know that I am connected with Billingsgate market would look to me for the reply to R. J. R.'s Query. I must therefore inform them that only thirty or forty years back salmon were taken in rather large quantities in the Thames; but since the introduction of steam-boats and the increase of traffic, the fish have gradually, I might say suddenly, disappeared, for during the last twenty years very few salmon indeed have been taken: those that found their way to market have realised high prices; not that Thames salmon was ever esteemed for its flavour, but only for its extreme rarity of late years.
The hindrance to salmon taking the Thames is the steam-boat and other traffic, which, agitating the water, frightens them (they being a very timid fish), and stirs up the mud, which chokes them; for there is no doubt that ever after a salmon enters a river, it lives by suction. It is possible that one or two salmon a season even make up our river now, for becoming frightened, and rushing on having back and head nearly out of water, and the tide with them, they would get a long way in a night, and possible reach clear water above bridge with life, but in a very weak state. I believe that, under the most favourable circumstances, salmon would not again frequent the Thames in any large quantities, it being too southern; and there is no doubt but that the fish have been fast decreasing of late years, for some of the best rivers in the north are now without salmon.
BLOWEN.
Billingsgate.
Entomological Query (Vol. iv., p. 101.).
—The insect which J. E. found on the Linaria minor is probably either the Euphitecia Linariata or E. Pulchellata. The former species is known to feed on Toad flax, and there is little doubt that the latter does also. If J. E. found any of the caterpillars he may identify them by referring to Westwood's British Moths, vol ii. p. 59., where the caterpillar of Euphitecia Linariata is engraved and described as "yellow or greenish, with dark chesnut spots on the back and sides."
B. P. D. E.
School of the Heart (Vol. iii., p. 390.).
—The editor of the Christian Poet referred to in a paragraph signed S. T. D. has not the School of the Heart by Quarles at hand, and cannot now examine whether the two small pieces quoted in the former volume under the name of Thomas Harvey from SCHOLA CORDIS in forty-seven emblems, 1647, belong to one or the other writer. The only authority, from which he recollects to have gathered them, he believes to be Sir Egerton Brydges' Censura Literaria, or his Restituta, which are very voluminous and miscellaneous, and are at present beyond his research. From internal evidence, he thinks the two poems are not by Quarles, though not unworthy of him in his best vein.
J. M. G.
Hallamshire.
P.S. Since the foregoing note was written, I have found the copy of Sir E. Brydge's Restituta, from which I copied the extract of Schola Cordis, in the Christian Poet.
"Schola Cordis: or the Heart of itself gone away from God, brought back again to Him, and instructed by Him. In 47 Emblems. 1647. 12mo. pp. 196."
Inscribed, without a signature,
"To the Divine Majestie of the onely-begotten, eternall, well-beloved Son of God and Saviour of the World, Christ Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords; the Maker, the Mender, the Searcher, and the Teacher of
The Heart:
the Meanest of his most unworthy Servants
offers up this poore Account of his Thoughts,
humbly begging pardon for all that is
amisse in them, and a gracious
acceptance of these weak endeavours
for the Advancement of his
Honour in the Good of others."
The third edition, dated 1675, ascribes these emblems to the author of The Synagogue, annexed to Herbert's Poems. This, according to Sir John Hawkins, in his notes on Walton's Angler, was Christopher Harvie: but Wood, in his Athenæ, positively affirms that the author of The Synagogue, in imitation of the divine Herbert, was Thomas Harvey, M.A., and first Master of Kingston School in Herefordshire. To him, therefore (adds Sir Egerton Brydges), we may presume to assign it, until a stronger testimony shall dispossess him of a tenure, which reflects honourable reputation on the copiousness of his fancy and the piety of his mind.
Fortune, Infortune, Fort une (Vol. iv., p. 57.).
—I agree with MR. BREEN that this inscription on the tomb of Margaret of Austria, in the beautiful church of Brou, is "somewhat enigmatical," a literal translation failing entirely to make sense of it. But perhaps MR. BREEN may be willing to accept the interpretation offered by a writer in the Magasin Pittoresque for 1850, where, describing the monuments in the church of Notre Dame de Brou (p. 22.), he says:
"Cette légende bizarre est assez difficile à expliquer, si l'on ne regarde pas le mot infortune comme un verbe. Avec cette hypothèse, la devise signifierait: 'La fortune a rendu une personne très-malheureuse?' Cette explication est d'autant plus plausible que la vie de Marguérite d'Autriche fut affligée de bien de revers. Destinée à regner sur la France, elle est répudiée par Charles VIII., son fiancé; elle épouse le fils du roi d'Aragon, qui la laisse bientôt veuve avec un fils qu'elle a aussi la douleur de perdre peu après; enfin, remariée à Philibert le Beau, elle le voit mourir au printemps de son âge."
There is little doubt, I think that the inscription was meant to typify the misfortunes of Margaret; but the preceding solution is still, in a grammatical point of view, unsatisfactory. If fort could be transposed to fait, the reading would be simple enough; but in these cases we are bound to take the inscriptions as we find them, and the Rebus in stone was the especial delight of the sculptors of the fifteenth century.
D. C.
St. John's Wood, July 28. 1851.
Ackey Trade (Vol. iv., p. 40.).
—Ackey weights were, and I believe are, used on the Guinea Coast for weighing gold dust: 1 ackey=20-1/32 grains Troy. The Ackey Trade must be, I suppose, the African gold dust trade.
W. T.
Curious Omen at Marriage (Vol. iii., p. 406.)
—H. A. B. asks at the end of his Note, "Why a coruscation of joy, upon a wedding day, should forebode evil?" and "Whether any other instances are on record of its so doing?"
As these questions have remained unanswered for some weeks, I am tempted to suggest that your correspondent may have laid too much stress on the fact of the joy having been expressed at a wedding, and that the passage he quoted from Miss Benger's Memoirs of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, may be simply an allusion to the old belief (still more or less prevalent) of "high spirits being a presage of impending calamity or of death." (See Vol. ii., pp. 84. 150.)
The late Miss Landon, in one of her novels, furnishes an additional notice of this belief:
"The ex-queen of Sweden has had one of the gentlemen of her suite put to death in a manner equally sudden and barbarous; and what excites in me a strong personal feeling on the subject is, that Monaldeschi, the cavalier in question, dines with me the very day of his murder, as I must call it. Such a gay dinner as we had! for Monaldeschi—lively, unscrupulous, and sarcastic—was a most amusing companion. His spirits, far higher than his usual bearing, carried us all along with them: and I remember saying to him, 'I envy your gaiety: why, Monaldeschi, you are as joyous as if there were nothing but sunshine in the world.' He changed countenance, and becoming suddenly grave, exclaimed, 'Do not call me back to myself. I feel an unaccountable vivacity, which I know is the herald of disaster.' But again he became cheerful, and we rallied him on the belief, which he still gaily maintained, that great spirits were the sure forerunners of misfortune."—Francesca Carrara, vol. ii. chap. 6.
Perhaps some of your readers may be able to say whether Miss Landon had the authority of any cotemporary writer for the anecdote. Is not the warning, "Sing before noon, and you'll sigh before night," also a proof of the dread with which "coruscations of joy" were looked upon by our forefathers?
C. FORBES.
Temple.