Minor Queries.
"Inveni portum"—"For they, 'twas they."
—You will much oblige me by permitting me to ask, through the medium of your entertaining publication, from whence the two following quotations were cited:
"Inveni portum.—Spes et fortuna valete:
Sat me lusistis; ludite nunc alios."
"For they, 'twas they, unsheath'd the ruthless blade,
And Heav'n shall ask the havock it has made."
The first will be found in Gil Blas, livre 10ième, chapitre 10ième; and the second is used by the renegade Paul Jones in his mock-heroic epistle to the Countess of Selkirk, in extenuation of his having plundered the family seat in Scotland of the plate, on the 23rd April, 1778.
I should not trouble you, but I have asked many, of extensive reading and retentive memories, for solution of these Queries ineffectually.
AMICUS.
Matthew Walker.
—Can any of your correspondents, learned in naval antiquities and biographies, give any account of Matthew Walker, whose knot (described and figured in Darcy Lever's Sheet Anchor) is known by his name all over the world; and truly said to be "a handsome knot for the end of a Lanyard?"
REGEDONUM.
Aleclenegate.
—The east gate of the town of Bury St. Edmund's, which was always under the exclusive control of the abbot, is sometimes mentioned as "the Aleclenegate." What is the origin of the word?
BURIENSIS.
Smothering Hydrophobic Patients.
—I can recollect, when I was a boy, to have been much surprised and horrified with the accounts that old people gave me, that it was the practice in decided cases of rabies canina to suffocate the unfortunate patient between feather beds. The disease being so suddenly and so invariably fatal, where it appeared unequivocally to attack the sufferer, might dispose the world to ascribe the death to what surely may be termed foul play; but perhaps some of your readers may be able to state where mention is made of such treatment, or what could give rise to such an opinion in the public mind.
INDAGATOR.
Philip Twisden, Bishop of Raphoe.
—In Haydn's Book of Dignities, p. 475., there is the following note on the name of the prelate:—
"Sir James Ware, or, more properly, the subsequent editors of his works, narrate some very extraordinary circumstances that rendered the close of the life of this prelate very remarkable and unfortunate; but we feel unwilling to transcribe them, though there seems to be no doubt of their truth."
As Sir James Ware died in 1666, and the latest edition of his work on the Bishops of Ireland (by Walter Harris) was published in 1736, it is impossible that either he, or his subsequent editors, could have recorded anything of the last days of a prelate who died Nov. 2, 1752.
Mr. Haydn, however, speaks as if he had actually before him the mysterious narrative which he has gone so far out of his way to allude to, and which for some equally mysterious reason he was "unwilling to transcribe," although he thought it necessary to call attention to it, and to express his inclination to believe in its truth.
If this should meet his eye, would Mr. Haydn have the kindness to say where he found the story in question, as it is certainly not in Ware? I know of two stories, one of which is probably that to which Mr. Haydn has called the attention of his readers; but I have never seen them stated with such clearness, or on such authority, as would lead me to the conclusion that "there seemed no doubt of their truth."
JAMES H. TODD.
Trinity College, Dublin.
"Sir Edward Seaward's Narrative," edited by Miss Jane Porter.
—I am in possession of a copy of the above work, presented to my father by the late amiable authoress, Miss Porter. It is, as you are no doubt aware, a journal of adventure in the Carribean Sea and its islands, between 1733 and 1749; but on the publication of the first edition its authenticity was questioned, and a suggestion made by some of the critics that the editor was also the author. This, Miss Porter assured me was not the fact, and that the work is a genuine diary, placed in her hands for publication by the family, still existing, of the original writer. The name I think she intimated was not Seaward, but she expressed some hesitation to detail the circumstances of its coming into her possession. She makes, in a preface to the second edition, an assurance to the same effect as to the genuineness of the Narrative, and says the author died at his seat in Gloucestershire in the year 1774.
Can any of your readers throw further light on this story, or inform who the hero of the Narrative really was?
W.W.E.T.
Warwick Square, Belgravia.
Clerical Members of Parliament.
—In a note in p. 4. of The Lexington Papers, recently published, mention is made of a Mr. Robert Sutton, who, after having taken deacon's orders, and having accompanied his relative, Lord Lexington, to Vienna, in the joint capacity of chaplain and secretary, was, on his recall in 1697, appointed resident minister at the Imperial Court; was subsequently sent as envoy extraordinary to the Ottoman Porte; in 1720, succeeded Lord Stair as British minister at Paris; in 1721, was elected M.P. for Notts; and in 1725, was created Knight of the Bath. The editor adds this remark:
"It is well known that holy orders were not at that time considered any disqualification for civil employments, but I do not recollect any other instance of a clerical Knight of the Bath."
Do you, Mr. Editor, or any of your readers, recollect any other instance since the Reformation, of a clerical member of parliament, before the celebrated one of Horne Tooke? Were any such instances quoted in the debates on the bill for excluding clergymen from Parliament?
CLERICUS.
Allens of Rossull.
—Can any of you correspondents furnish me with the arms borne by the Allens of Rossull and Redivales, Lancashire? Of this family was the celebrated Cardinal Allen. Also the arms borne by the Pendleburys, another Lancashire family?
J.C.
Number of the Children of Israel.
—In Exod. xii. 37. it is stated that the numbers of the children of Israel constituting the Exodus was "600,000 men," "besides children." No specific mention is made of women: it will be diminishing the difficulty if the 600,000 are considered the aggregate of the adults of both sexes. It is said that the time the Israelites remained in Egypt was 430 years (Ex. xii. 40.). The number who were located in Egypt was seventy (Gen. xlvi. 27.). I wish to ascertain from some competent statistician what, under the most favourable circumstances, would be the increase of seventy people in 430 years? I am aware that Professor Lee, in his invaluable translation of the Book of Job, is of opinion that 215 years is the time the Israelites actually remained in Egypt; and the remainder must be considered the previous time they were in Canaan. If the Professor's calculation be adopted, the statistician could easily show the difference at 215 and 430 years.
ÆGROTUS.
Computatio Eccles. Anglic.
—In Bishop Burnet's "Hist. of the Reform.," vol. ii. of first folio edition, London, 1679, Coll. of Records, b. ii. p. 100. No. XL. is "An instrument of the speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Chicheley) made to the House of Commons about it," scilicet, Statute of Provisors. It begins as follows:—
"Die Veneris, penultimo mensis Januarii, A.D. secundum cursum et computationem Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ millesimo quadringentesimo decimo septimo, indictione sexta, pontificatus.... Martini Papæ quinti anno undecimo."
Now as Martin V. was chosen Pope by the Council of Constance, November 11, 1417, his eleventh year would extend over January, 1428, and the sixth indiction answers to the same year, which would, however, be styled 1427 in ecclesiastical documents till March 25. Can the Computatio Eccles. Anglic. mean anything more than a reference to the distinction between the ecclesiastical and historical times of commencing the year? If it does not, decimo septimo must be an error for vicesimo septimo, made in transferring the numeral letters into words. Has this error been corrected in subsequent editions of Burnet?
H.W.
Martinique.
—Will any of your correspondents, acquainted with the history of the French islands, inform me why was the island of Martinique so called? English writers style the island Martinico, but none have gone so far as to give the derivation or meaning of the word.
W.J.C.
St. Lucia.
Objective and Subjective.
—Will some of your intelligent readers deign to enlighten a merely physical ignoramus as to the precise meaning (always supposing there be a meaning) of the oft-recurring words "objective" and "subjective" ("omjective" and "sumjective," according to Mr. Carlyle) in the Highgate "talk", supposed by sundry transcendental sages of our day to be the expression of an almost inspired wisdom. Is this exoteric jargon translateable into intelligible English? or is it not (as Chalmers called it, speaking Scottice) "all buff?" Most assuredly he who really understands it (not affects to understand it) need not, as Southey used to say, be afraid of cracking peach-stones.
X.
Quarter Waggoner.
—The master of a ship of war has the charge of navigating her from port to port, under the direction of the captain; and he is moreover charged to make what improvements he can in the charts. Now the masters were sometimes rather slack in the latter department, in which case they procured certificates from their captains to the Navy Board, stating that they had seen nothing but what was already in the general "Quarter Waggoner."
Can any of your correspondents describe this Quarter Waggoner? And, as the master keeps the official log-book, can you kindly tell me how that recondite volume came to be so designated?
W. H. SMYTH.
Sir Roger Wilcock.
—Can any of your antiquarian readers favour me with the armorial ensigns of Sir Roger Wilcock, knight, whose daughter and heiress, Agnes, was wife to Sir Richard Turberville, of Coyty Castle, in Glamorganshire, and by him mother of two sons, Sir Payn, afterwards Lord of Coyty, and Wilcock Turberville, who by his wife Maud, heiress of Tythegstone, in the same county, was ancestor of the Turbervilles of that place, and of Penlline Castle.
The lineage of this ancient and knightly family of Turberville is not given correctly in Burke's Dictionary of the Landed Gentry for the year 1847. The marriage of Christopher Turberville of Penlline (sheriff for Glamorgan in 1549 and 1568) with Agnes Gwyn,[5] heiress of Ryderwen in the county of Caermarthen, and widow of Henry Vaughan, Esq., is altogether omitted in Burke, and for the correctness of which see Lewis Dwnn's Heraldic Visitation into Wales and its Marches, vol. ii. (near the commencement) title "Ryderwen;" and in vol. i. of the same work, p. 140., title "Ystradcorwg," Catherine, the issue of that marriage, and one of the daughters and coheiresses of Christopher Turberville, is mentioned as the wife of David Lloyd of that place, in the parish of Llanllawddog, co. Caermarthen, sheriff in 1590 and 1601. In further corroboration of this, we find that the Lloyds of Glanguelly and Ystradcorwg, descendants of the said marriage, ever afterwards quartered the arms of Turberville, viz. "chequy or and gu. a fesse ermine," with their own paternal shield. It is not improbable that the marriage of Christopher Turberville with the aforementioned Agnes, kinswoman of the Rices, may have had some influence in allaying the deadly animosity which had previously existed between the rival houses of Dynevor and Penlline.
[5]According to Lewis Dwnn, this Agnes Gwyn was daughter and coheiress (by Margaret his wife, daughter of Sir Rhys ab Thomas, K.G.) of Henry ab John of Ryderwen, son and heir (by Mabli, or Eva, his wife, daughter and coheiress of Henry ab Guilym, of Curt Henri and Llanlais, in the vale of Llangathen, Caermarthenshire) of John ab Henry (otherwise Penry), kinsman to the aforesaid Sir Rhys ab Thomas, and a branch of the Penrys of Llanelli, derived from a common origin with the ancient and noble house of Dynevor.
Again, in vol. iv. of Burke's History of the Commoners for the year 1838, Jenkyn Turberville of Tythegstone, fourth in descent from Wilcock Turberville, is stated to have wedded Florence, daughter of Watkyn ab Rasser Vaughan, and to have had issue by her two sons, Richard,[6] who continued the line at Tythegstone, and Jenkyn, father of the said Christopher, of Penlline Castle, Glamorgan. By reference to Lewis Dwnn's work, edited by the late talented and much lamented antiquary, Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, article "Vaughan of Bretwardine, co. Hereford, and Pembrey Court, Caermarthenshire," we find that Jenkyn Turberville married Denis, daughter of Watkyn ab Sir Roger Vaughan, knight, with the following remark in Welsh: "Ag ni bu dim plant o Derbil iddi ag wedi guraig Morgan ab Jenkyn gur Tre Dineg;" that is to say, "She had no children by Turberville, and she afterwards became the wife of Morgan ab Jenkyn,"—I presume, of Tredegar, in Monmouthshire. Is it not, therefore, likely that he married twice; that his first wife was Cecil Herbert, and the mother of his two sons?
[6] This gentleman had an ode addressed to him by the celebrated Welsh bard, Lewis of Glyn Cothi.—Vide Burke's work.
A correct lineage of the Turbervilles, with the ensigns they were entitled to quarter, down to Christopher Turberville's co-heiress Catherine, the wife of David Lloyd, would greatly oblige.
W. G. T. T.
Caermarthen.
Ruffles, when worn.
—At what time did the fashion of wearing ruffles come in? and when did it go out?
Many persons living at the present time remember their being generally worn in respectable, and occasionally in what may be called minor life.
The clergy did not wear them.
So general was their use in the early part of the reign of George III., that the Rev. William Cole, of Milton, in the account of his Journey to France, in 1765, says he was taken for an English clergyman because he did not wear them, and in consequence addressed "M. l'Abbé."
Dr. John Ash.
—I should feel exceedingly obliged by information respecting the birth-place and early history of Dr. John Ash, formerly an eminent physician practising in Birmingham, and the founder of the General Hospital in that town. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford; his doctor's degree was taken in 1764. He died at Brompton, Knightsbridge, in 1798. Every available source has been searched in vain for information on this subject. It is required for literary purposes.
F. RUSSELL.