Replies to Minor Queries.
Visiting Cards (Vol. iv., p. 133.).—In answer to your 87th Query, it may serve in part to help to show "when visiting cards first came into use," by informing you that about six or eight years ago a house in Dean Street, Soho, was repaired (I think No. 79.), where Allison and Co., the pianoforte makers, now of the Quadrant, formerly resided; and, on removing a marble chimney-piece in the front drawing-room, four or five visiting cards were found, one with the name of "Isaac Newton" on it. The names were all written on the back of common playing cards; and it is not improbable that one or more may still be in the possession of Mr. Allison, 65. Quadrant. The house in Dean Street was the residence of either Hogarth or his father-in-law.
A. MITE.
Sardonic Smiles (Vol. iv., p. 18.).
—I beg to refer such of your readers as take an interest in the discussion of "Sardonic Smiles" to a treatise or memoir on the subject, by a learned scholar and antiquary in the St. Petersburgh Transactions for 1851. The title of the memoir is as follows: Die Talos-Sage und das Sardonische Lachen. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Griechischer Sage und Kunst, von Ludwig Mercklin. The memoir is also printed separately, from the Mémoires des Savants Etrangers.
J. M.
Oxford, August 4.
Darby and Joan (Vol. iii., p. 38.).
—As no one has answered your correspondent by referring him to a copy of this ballad, I have great pleasure in calling his attention to A Collection of Songs, Moral, Sentimental, Instructive, and Amusing, 4to. Cambridge, 1805. At p. 152. of this volume, the "pleasant old ditty" of "Darby and Joan" is given at length, accompanied with the music. The editor, the Rev. James Plumptre, M.A., tells us that it is "attributed to Matthew Prior." As this book is somewhat difficult to procure, your correspondent is welcome to the loan of my copy.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
Marriage of Bishops (Vol. iv., pp. 57. 125.).
—In reference to the inquiry of your correspondent A. B. C., for any instances of bishops and priests who, during the first three centuries, were married after ordination, I may suggest that the Council of Nice in 325 declared it to be then "an ancient tradition of the Church that they who were unmarried when promoted to holy orders should not afterwards marry."—Socrates, Hist. Eccl., lib. i. cap. ii.; Sozomen, Hist. Eccl., lib. i. c. xxiii.
May not the proper translation in the text which he quotes, 1 Cor. ix. 5., be "woman," instead of "wife;" and might not the passage be more accurately rendered by the expression "sister-woman?" Clemens Alexandrinus says (Stromat., lib. iii. edit. Poterii, Venet. 1757, tom. i. p. 526.): "Not as wives but as sisters did the women go round with the apostles:" and see also Matt. xxvii. 55., Mark xv. 41., and Luke viii. 3.
DORFSNAIG.
Winifreda (Vol. iii., p. 27.).
—LORD BRAYBROOKE has furnished your readers with a very curious list of the various printed forms in which, at different times, this popular song has been given to the world; but he has omitted one which I think ought to be placed on record. I allude to a copy contained in the third number of The Foundling Hospital for Wit, a rare miscellany of "curious pieces," printed for W. Webb, near St. Paul's, 8vo. 1746 (p. 23.). This work was printed in numbers, at intervals, the first bearing date 1743; and the sixth, and last, 1749. My copy is particularly interesting as having the blank names filled up in a cotemporary hand, and the authors' names, in many cases, added. The song of Winifreda is assigned to "Mr. G. A. Stevens;" so that, after all, the Edinburgh reviewer may have confounded George Steevens, the "commentator," with his earlier and equally facetious namesake, George Alexander.
George Alexander Stevens was born (if a MS. obituary in my possession may be relied on) "in the parish of St. Andrew's Holborn, 1710." He died (according to the Biographia Dramatica) "at Baldock in Hertfordshire, Sept. 6, 1784."
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
George Chalmers (Vol. iv., 58.).
—The printed books and MSS. of the late George Chalmers were disposed of by auction in 1841 and 1842 by Mr. Evans of Pall Mall. The particular MS. inquired after by J. O. occurs in the third part of the printed sale catalogue, and is numbered 1891. It is thus described by Mr. Evans:
"CHALMERS'S BIBLIOGRAPHIA SCOTICA POETICA, or NOTICES OF SCOTTISH POETS AND THEIR WORKS, from 1286 to 1806, 4 vols. Chalmers's Notices of the Scottish Poetry, Drama, and Songs, 2 vols., together 6 vols.
*** These Volumes contain a great fund of Information, and furnish very valuable Materials for a History of Scotch Poetry. They would also be very useful to Collectors."
Lot 1894. is also highly interesting. It is described as—
"RITSON'S BIBLIOGRAPHIA SCOTICA, 2 vols. Unpublished.
*** A very Valuable Account of Scottish Poets and Historians, drawn up with great care and indefatigable Research by Ritson. The Work was intended for Publication. These Volumes were purchased at the sale of Ritson's Library by Messrs. Longman and Constable for Forty-three Guineas, and presented to George Chalmers, Esq., who had edited Sir D. Lyndsay's Works for them gratuitously."
My catalogue of Chalmers's library, unfortunately, has not the prices or purchasers' names; and the firm of the Messrs. Evans being no longer in existence, I have no means of ascertaining the present locality of the above-mentioned MSS.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
The Three Estates of the Realm (Vol. iv., p. 115.).
—W. FRASER is quite right in repudiating the cockney error of "Queen, Lords, and Commons" forming the "three estates of the realm." The sovereign is over the "realm;" a word which obviously designates the persons ruled. W. F. however does not exactly hit the mark when he infers, that "the Lords, the Clergy in convocation, and the Commons" are the "three estates." The phrase "assembled in Parliament" has no application to the Convocation; which moreover does not sit at Westminster, and was not exposed to the peril of the gunpowder plot. The three estates of the realm are the three orders (états) into which all natural-born subjects are legally divided: viz. the clergy, the nobility, and the commonalty. They are represented "in Parliament" by the "Lords Spiritual," the "Lords Temporal," and the "Commons" (elected by their fellows). The three estates thus meet their sovereign in the "chamber of Parliament" at the opening of every session; and there it was that the plot was laid for their destruction.
W. F. is no doubt aware that originally they all deliberated also together, and in the presence of the sovereign or his commissioners: and though, for the freedom of discussion, the sovereign now withdraws, and the Commons deliberate in a separate chamber (leaving the chamber of Parliament to be used as "the House of Lords," both Spiritual and Temporal), yet to this day they all reassemble for the formal passing of every act; and the authority of all three is recited by their proper names in the preamble.
The first and second estates are not fused into one, simply because they continue to deliberate and vote together as all three did at the first.
The Convocation of the Clergy was altogether a different institution, which never met either the sovereign or the Parliament: but their order was represented in the latter by the prelates. It is another mistake (therefore) to think the Bishops sit in the House of Lords as Barons.
CANONICUS EBORACENSIS.
"You Friend drink to me Friend" (Vol. iv., p. 59.).
—When I was a boy, about sixty-five years ago, Mr. Holder (a surgeon of some eminence at that time) was a frequent visitor at our house, and much amused us by several catches in which (under his instruction) we delighted to join; and among which was—
"I friend, drink to thee, friend, as my friend drank to me;
I friend, charge thee, friend, as my friend chargēd me;
Sŏ dŏ thou, friend, drĭnk tŏ thy friend, as my friend drank to me,
For the more we drink liquor the merrier are we."
R. S. S.
56. Fenchurch Street.
Broad Halfpenny Down (Vol. iv., p. 133.).
—Broad halpeny, or broad halfpenny, signifies to be quit of a certain custom exacted for setting up tables or boards in fairs or markets; and those that were freed by the King's charter of this custom, had this word put in their letters-patent: by reason whereof, the freedom itself (for brevity of speech) is called broad halfpenny. (Les Termes de la Ley.) Hence the origin of "Broad-halfpenny Down."
FRANCISCUS.
Whence the name I cannot say, but would just note the fact, that sixteen miles from London, on the Brighton railway, is a breezy upland called Farthing Down. The country folk deem it a sufficiently famous place, and one told me "that was once London;" meaning, a town stood there before London was built. It is a locality well known to those who hunt with the Croydon pack.
P. M. M.
Horner Family (Vol. iv., p. 131.).
—Is it true that the following rhymes apply to one of the Horners of Mells?
"Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said what a good boy am I."
The plum being 100,000l. I have been told a long story on the matter by Somersetshire people.
P. M. M.
The Man of Law (Vol. iv., p. 153.).
—The lines so felicitously quoted by Mr. Serjeant Byles at a recent trial were thus given in The Times:
"The man of law who never saw
The way to buy and sell,
Wishing to rise by merchandise,
Shall never speed him well."
This version is rather nearer the original than that of your correspondent MR. KING, who avowedly writes from memory. The author of the lines was Sir Thomas More. They are thus given in "A Mery Jest how a Sergeant would learn to play the Freere. Written by Maister Thomas More in hys youth:"
"A man of lawe that never sawe
The wayes to bye and sell,
Wenyng to ryse by marchaundyse,
I praye God spede hym well!"
My quotation is at second-hand from Warton's History of English Poetry, sect. xliii.
C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge, August 30. 1851.
[We are also indebted to T. LAWRENCE and BARTANUS for replying to this Query. The latter adds, "The poem is given at length in the History of the English Language prefixed to the 4to. edition of Johnson's Dictionary.">[
Riddle (Vol. iv., p. 153).
—The riddle (query rebus?) for the solution of which your correspondent A. W. H. inquires, may be found printed in vol. i. pp. 109, 110. of the poems of Dr. Byrom, well known as the author of the "Pastoral," inserted with much commendation by Addison in the 8th volume of the Spectator, and the supposed inventor of the universal English short-hand. The author of the rebus seems to have been then unknown (1765), and it is said to have been "commonly ascribed to Lord Chesterfield." Whether this was asserted in jest, does not appear: but Dr. Byrom, to whom application for a solution had been made, in the course of his reply, given in his own peculiar style, has the following passage, which may be a guide to those who may now seek to arrive at the mystery:—
"Made for excuse, you see, upon the whole,
The too great number of words, that poll
For correspondency to ev'ry line;
And make the meant one tedious to divine:
But we suspect that other points ambiguous,
And eke unfair, contribute to fatigue us.
For first, with due submission to our betters;
What antient city would have eighteen letters?
Or more?—for, in the latter lines, the clue
May have one correspondent word or two:
Clue should have said, if only one occurr'd,
Not correspondent words to each, but word.
From some suspicions of a bite, we guess
The number of the letters to be less;
And, from expression of a certain cast,
Some joke, unequal to the pains at last:
Could you have said that all was right and clever,
We should have try'd more fortunate endeavour.
It should contain, should this same JEU DE MOTS,
Clean-pointed turn, short, fair, and >A PROPOS;
Wit without straining; neatness without starch;
Hinted, tho' hid; and decent, tho' tis arch;
No vile idea should disgrace a rebus—
SIC DICUNT MUSÆ, SIC EDICIT PHŒBUS."
T.W. (1)
[We are also indebted to R. P. for a similar Reply.]
Speculative Difficulties (Vol. iii., p. 477.).
—As L. M. M. R. is not certain as to the title and author of the book he inquires about, perhaps he may find it under the title of The Semi-sceptic, or the Common Sense of Religion considered, by the Rev. J. T. James, M.A.; London, 1825. This is a very unpretending but very beautiful work, of some 400 pages. The author died Bishop of Calcutta.
O. T. DOBBIN.
St. Paul (Vol iii., p. 451.).
—In answer to EMUN, allow me to name a Life of St. Paul by the Rev. Dr. Addington, an eminent dissenting minister of the close of the last century; a work on the life and epistles of St. Paul by Mr. Bevan, a member of the Society of Friends; and two books by Fletcher and Hannah More on the character of the same apostle.
O. T. D.
Commissioners on Officers of Justice in England (Vol iv., p. 152.).
—I can give no information respecting the commission of July 27, 1733; but on June 2, 8 GEO. II. [1735], a commission issued to Sir William Joliffe, Knt., William Bunbury, Simon Aris, Thomas Brown, Thomas De Veil, Esquires, and others, for inquiring into the officers of the Court of Exchequer, and their fees, "and for the other purposes therein mentioned." I imagine this commission also extended to other courts. The names of the jurors impannelled and sworn as to the Court of Exchequer, July 9, 1735; their oath, presentment, and six schedules of fees, are given in Jones's Index to the Originalia and Memoranda Records (London, fo. 1793), vol, i. Preface, xxxiii.-xliv.
C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge.
Noble and Workhouse Names (Vol. iii., p. 350.).
—I can enumerate several old names, some Anglo-Saxon, in the parishes of Burghfield and Tylchurst, in Berks, belonging to the peasantry, many of whom may have been gentry in bygone years; such as Osborne, Osman, Seward, Wolford, Goddard, Woodward, Redbourne, Lambourne, Englefield, Gower, Harding, Hussey, Coventry, Avery, Stacy, Ilsley, Hamlin, Pigot, Hemans, Eamer, and Powel. A respectable yeoman's widow, whose maiden name was Wentworth, told me she was of the same family as Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, beheaded in Charles's reign.
JULIA R. BOCKETT.
Southcote Lodge.
Poulster (Vol. iv., p. 152.).
—The meaning of this word is undoubtedly as D. X. surmises. The original term was upholder, which is still in occasional use; next upholster; and, thirdly, upholsterer. In Stowe's Survey of London, it appears in the second form: and so also poulter, which still exists as a surname. "Mr. Richard Deakes, Uphoulster," was buried at St. Dunstan's in the West, London, in 1630. (Collectanea Topog. et Geneal., v. 378.) It would be worth inquiry when the incorrect duplication of termination first produced our modern words upholsterer and poulterer? Mr. Pegge remarks, that "Fruiterer seems to be equally redundant;" and that "cater-er is written cater in the margin of the Life of Gusmand de Alfarache, folio edition, 1622, p. 125. (Anecdotes of the English Language, edit. Christmas, 1844, p. 79.)"
J. G. N.
Judges styled Reverend (Vol. iv., p. 151.).
—Your correspondent. F. W. J., before he receives an answer to his Query, "When did the judges lose the title of Reverend and Very Reverend?" must first show that they ever bore it. By the example he quotes he might as well argue that they bore the title of "Très Sages," as that of "Très Reverend." The fact is, that, as a title, it was never used by them, the words quoted being nothing more than respectful epithets applied to eminent men of a past age, by the editors or publishers of the work.
I very much doubt also whether the style of "The Honorable" is properly given to the judges.
It would be curious to trace the commencement of the practice of addressing a judge on the bench as "My Lord." In the Year Books are numerous instances of his being addressed simply "Syr." Off the bench the chief alone is entitled to the designation "My Lord," and that address can be properly given to the puisne judges only when they are on the circuit, and then because they are acting under a special royal commission.
EDW. FOSS.
The Ring Finger (Vol. iv., p. 150.).
—In the ancient ritual of marriage, the ring was placed by the husband on the top of the thumb of the left hand, with the words "In the name of the Father;" he then removed it to the forefinger, saying, "and of the Son;" then to the middle finger, adding, "and of the Holy Ghost;" finally, he left it as now, on the fourth finger, with the closing word "Amen."
R. S. H.
Morwenstow.