Minor Queries.
Count Konigsmark.
—Horace Walpole, in his Reminiscences, says distinctly that Count Konigsmark, the admirer of the ill-fated Princess Sophia Dorothea of Zelle, was the same person as the instigator of Mr. Thynne's assassination. Sir E. Brydges, in his edition of Collins's Peerage, on the other hand, calls them brothers. Which of these writers is correct? The fact may not be important otherwise than as giving us an instance (if Walpole be correct) of the righteous judgment of heaven in visiting a murderer with such fearful retribution. I cannot find what became of Konigsmark, after the murder of Mr. Thynne, in 1681-2. It is said in the Harleian Miscellany, that he was taken by one of Monmouth's attendants, who seized him as he was going on ship-board. The three actual assassins were, we know, executed; but it is added, "by some foul play, Konigsmark, who had employed them, and came over to England expressly to see they executed their bloody commission, was acquitted." What was this foul play, and how came the greatest villain of the four to escape? I have not the State Trials to refer to: that work may give some explanation.
Walpole, who was familiar from childhood with the events of the courts of the first three Georges, is likely to have been accurate as to the identity of Konigsmark; but his occasional mistakes and misrepresentations, as we are aware, have been frequently exposed by Mr. Croker.
J. H. MARKLAND.
"O Leoline! be absolutely just."—
"O Leoline! be absolutely just,
Indulge no passion and betray no trust.
Never let man be bold enough to say
Thus and no farther shall my passion stray.
The first step past still leads us on to more,
And guilt proves fate which was but choice before."
Who is the author of the above?
H. B. C.
Lyte Family.
—When did the Lyte family first settle at Lytes Carey, Somersetshire? On what occasion, and by whom, was the fleur de lis added to their crest? And when did a part of the family alter the spelling of the name from Lyte to Light?
The family is an ancient one, and in the reign of Elizabeth of considerable literary distinction.
J. L.
Sir Walter Raleigh's Snuff-box.
—What has become of Sir Walter Raleigh's snuff-box? It was a favourite box, in constant use by the late Duke of Sussex, and was knocked down at his sale for 6l. It is the box out of which Raleigh took a pinch of snuff on the scaffold.
L. H. L. T.
"Poets beware."
—Where are the following lines to be found:
"Poets beware; never compare
Women to aught in earth or in air," &c.
E. F. L.
Guanahani, or Cat Island.
—Why is this small island, one of the Bahama group, so called? It is supposed that cats of large size, and quite wild, used to be shot on this island; but none of the many writers on the West Indies have touched on Guanahani, or Cat Island.
W. J. C.
St. Lucia.
Wiggan, or Utiggan, an Oxford Student.
—To assist in deciphering a MS. I should be glad to know the name of a senior student of Christ Church, Oxford, April, 1721, which seems to be Wiggan, Utiggan, or some such like name.
W. DN.
Prayers for the Fire of London.
—When were the "Prayers for the Fire of London" first introduced into the Book of Common Prayer, and when were they discontinued?
I have never seen them except in the Prayer Book prefixed to the Bibles "Printed at the Theater, Oxford; and are to be sold by Peter Parker at the Leg and Star in Cornhil. London MDCLXXXII." The Prayer Book bears the same colophon.
W. E.
Donkey.
—An omission in our dictionaries of a curious kind is that of the word donkey, which is not to be found in any that I know of. There may, however, be doubts as to the antiquity of this term; I have heard ancient men say that it has been introduced within their recollection. What is its origin? Whence also the name "moke," commonly applied to donkeys in and about London? Is the word used in other parts of England?
C. W. G.
French and Italian Degrees.
—Can you inform a young Englishman (of good general knowledge, and possessing a thorough knowledge of the French and Italian languages), who is desirous of obtaining a French or Italian degree as inexpensively as possible, how to proceed in order to obtain the same, the expense, &c.?
SEPTIMUS.
Buntingford, Hertfordshire.
The Shadow of the Tree of Life.
—Can any of your readers oblige me with information respecting the author of a little book, the title of which runs as follows:—
"Φαρμακα ουρανοθεν: The Shadow of the Tree of Life; or a Discourse of the Divine Institution and most Effectual Application of Medicinal Remedies, in order to the Preservation and Restoration of Health, by J. M. London, 1673."
S. (An Original Subscriber.)
Sun-dials.
—The following is an inscription on a sun-dial on the wall of a monastery, now suppressed, near Florence. I copied it on the spot in 1841.
"A. D. S.
Mia vita è il sol: Dell' uom la vita è Dio,
Senza esso è l'uom, qual senza sol son' io."
What signification has A. D. S.?
L. S.
Nouns always printed with Capital Initials.
—P. C. S. S. is desirous of information respecting the origin and subsequent disuse of the practice which appears to have prevailed among printers in the last, and towards the end of the preceding century, of beginning every noun-substantive with a capital letter. It prevailed also, to a certain extent, in books published in France and Holland during the same period; but P. C. S. S. is not aware of any other European language in which it was adopted.
P. C. S. S.
John of Padua.
—Who was this person, who in various accounts of Henry VIII.'s time is styled "Deviser of his majesty's buildings?" Where was he educated? and what were his works previous to his arrival in England? He survived his royal master, and enjoyed the favour of the Protector Somerset, who employed him to build his famous palace in the Strand.
From a warrant dated 1544, printed in Rymer's Fœdera, it appears that Johannes de Padua was a "musician" as well as an architect.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
St. Kenelm.
—Can any of your readers inform me where the life or legend of St. Kenelm, spoken of by Leland, in his Itinerary and Collectanea, may be seen, if it is now in existence. Leland says, in speaking of the murder of Kenelm, in Clinte in Cowbage, near Winchelcumb (now Winchcomb), Gloucestershire:—
"He (Averey parson of Dene) tolde me that it is in S. Kenelme's Lyfe that Ascaperius was married to Quendreda, &c. &c."
"He sayth that it aperithe by Seint Kenelme's Legend that Winchelcombe was oppidum muro cinctum."
What does Clinthe or Clent in Cowbage mean in the Anglo-Saxon?
E. T. B.
Hereford.
Church.
—What is the derivation of this word? and if from the Greek, how is it that it prevails only in the Teutonic countries (England, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Germany), while the Latin Ecclesia prevails in the rest of Europe?
GEORGE STEPHENS.
Copenhagen.