Replies to Minor Queries.
List of English Sovereigns (Vol. v., p. 28.).
—The principal reason why the names of the Empress Matilda, King Henry junior, and Queen Jane (Grey or Dudley), are not inserted in the lists of English sovereigns, as J. J. S. suggests they should be, arises from the fact of the periods of their supposed reigns being concurrent with those of other monarchs, and our constitution recognising one only at a time. The name of Queen Jane has, however, found a place in some recent lists; following that given in Sir Harris Nicolas's Chronology of History (edit. 1833, p. 330.), where he states that her nominal reign extended from the 6th to the 17th July, 1553. Appended to The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary (printed for the Camden Society), I have given a list of all the public documents or state papers known to be extant which bear date in the reign of Queen Jane, and the last is a letter of the Privy Council to Lord Rich, dated the 19th July; this extends the period two days longer than in the Chronology of History, and was certainly the last public document that recognised Jane's authority. Only one private document so dated has been discovered. It is a deed relating to the parish of St. Dunstan's in Kent (dated 15th July), which was communicated by Mr. Hunter to the Retrospective Review, N. S. vol. i. p. 505. But an act of parliament of the 1st March, 1553-4, legalised all documents that might be so dated from the 6th of July to the last day of the same month (Nicolas, p. 316.). Among our historians, Heylin, in his History of the Reformation, has apportioned a distinct division of his narrative to "The Reign of Queen Jane."
JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.
Moravian Hymns (Vol. v., p. 30.).
—I cannot tell H. B. C. what is the editio princeps of these hymns; but as he appears to know of no edition anterior to 1749, I beg to observe that an edition of Psalms and Hymns for the use of the Moravians was published by the Rev. John Gambold, one of their bishops, at London, in 1738. It is in 12mo. without the name of any printer. There is a copy of this book in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth. But as it is five-and-twenty years, or more, since I saw it, I have no recollection of the particulars of its contents.
H. C.
Thurles.
In 1801 a Moravian Hymn-book was issued, which, being out of print, was reprinted in 1809. I should suppose the book a great improvement upon the old Moravian hymn-books. I have a copy of the edition of 1809: about half the hymns are translations from the German, and the rest selected from Watts, Wesley, Steel, Robinson, and others. The hymn "To you, ye Jesus' wounds" is not in it. The book contains also their simple and beautiful liturgy, offices for baptism, burial, ordination of bishops, priests, and deacons, &c.
JAMES EDMESTON.
Homerton.
The following is the title of a book, printed in 1749, for James Hutton, Fetter Lane:—Hymns composed for the Use of the Brethren by the Right Rev. and most Illustrious C. Z. (Count Zinzendorf?) I transcribe some specimens.
"God's side hole, hear my prayer,
Accept my meditation;
On thee I cast my care,
With childlike adoration.
While days and ages pass, and endless periods roll,
An everlasting blaze shall sparkle from that hole.
Lovely side hole, dearest side hole!
Sweetest side hole, made for me;
O my most beloved side hole!
I wish to be lost in thee.
O my dearest side hole!
Thou art to my bride soul
The most dear and loveliest place;
Pleura's space!
Soul and body in the pass.
The daughters reverence do,
Christess and praise thee too,
Thou happy Kyria, daughter of Abijah;
We reach each sister of Jehovah,
Manness of the man Jeshuah,
Out of the pleura Hosannah."
JAMES CORNISH.
Age of Trees—"Essex Broad Oak" (Vol. v., pp. 10. 40.).
—Was not the "Essex Broad Oak" identical with the "Fairlop Oak?" The Fairlop Oak is thus described in Excursions through Essex (Longman, 1818, vol. ii. p. 56.):
"In Hainault Forest, about one mile from Barkingside, stands an oak which has been known through many centuries by the name of Fairlop. For an account of this celebrated tree (which seems to have escaped the attention of the laborious Camden, and his indefatigable continuator, Mr. Gough) we are indebted to the Rev. Mr. Gilpin. 'The tradition of this tree,' says this ingenious writer in his Remarks on Forest Scenery and other Woodland Views, 'traces it half way up the Christian æra. It is still a noble tree, though it has suffered greatly from the depredations of time. About a yard from the ground, where its rough fluted stem is 36 feet in circumference, it divides into eleven vast arms; yet not in the horizontal manner of an oak, but rather in that of a beach. Beneath its shade, which overspreads an area of 300 feet in circuit, an annual fair has long been held on the first Friday in July.' This celebrated tree was for some time fenced round with a close paling about five feet high. Almost all the extremities of its branches have been sawed off, and Mr. Forsyth's composition applied to them, to preserve then from decay; and the injury which the trunk of the tree had sustained from the lighting of fires have been repaired, as much as possible, with the same composition. On one of the branches a board was fixed, with this inscription, 'All good foresters are requested not to hurt this old tree, a plaister having been lately applied to its wounds.'"
If my recollection serves me correctly, a drawing and description of this old tree is contained in one of Hone's publications,—I think his Table Book.[9]
[9] [The drawing and description of this venerable oak is given in the Mirror, vol. ii. p. 81., where it is stated that Mr. Forsyth's precautions were insufficient to protect it from an injurious custom practised by many of its thoughtless visitors, of making a fire within the cavities to cook their provisions; for, in the month of June, 1805, it was set on fire, and continued burning until the following day, by which the trunk was considerably injured. The high winds of February, 1820, at last stretched its massy trunk and limbs on that turf which it had for so many ages overshadowed with its verdant foliage. The wood of which the pulpit and reading-desk of St. Pancras new church are composed was a portion of the Fairlop Oak; and are looked upon as matters of greater curiosity perhaps, on that account, than even the beautiful grained and highly polished material and the splendid carvings.—ED.]
Another large tree is mentioned in the same volume (p. 87.) as being called "Doodle [Query, dole or boundary] Oke."
To conclude (if I have not already trespassed too much upon your space), Is the Fairlop Oak still standing; and, if so, what is its present condition?
J. B. COLMAN.
Eye.
Cypress trees on the continent of America grow to immense ages. By counting the concentric rings observed in the wood, on sawing a trunk across, it appears that 400 years is a common age. There is a gigantic trunk near Santa Maria del Tula, in the province of Oaxaca, in Mexico, whose circumference at the dilated base is no less than 200 feet. Of this, taking 1·6 line as the average growth of a year, the age would be 3512 years. (Lyell's Second Visit to United States, vol. ii. pp. 254, 255. Prescott's Peru, vol. ii. p. 315. 4th edition.) Adanson, the celebrated botanist, calculated the age of one of the famous Baobab trees of Senegal to be 5150 years. (Marquis of Ormonde's Sicily, p. 76.) A tamarind tree in the Mahometan burial-ground at Putelam, in Ceylon, is 39 feet in diameter, or upwards of 117 feet in circumference, from which the age may be calculated on the above scale. (Sirr's Ceylon, vol. i. p. 85.)
T. G.
Arrangement of Books (Vol. v., p. 49.).
—Your correspondent L.'s letter is very valuable. May I add a few contributions?
There is a mode of printing used in Cuvier's Règne Animal, which is exceedingly useful for books of classification, that is, to print those sentences which relate to the primary divisions in a larger type, and full up to the side; the subdivisions to be printed short, as sums are entered in an account book, and in a smaller type. I believe I had the fortune to introduce a slight improvement in indexes. For instance, in your index the subordinate items are arranged according to time, but that gives a great deal of trouble. Under MR. BREEN'S name there are fifteen items; they should be arranged alphabetically, like the principal items, as is done in the same index in the case of notices of books, unavoidably. But such subordinate items had better, in general, have the word on which the alphabetical arrangement turns printed in Italics to catch the eye, rather than invert the order of the words, as must be done in the principal items.
In what books the old spelling should be retained is a matter of individual question, upon which no rules can be laid down. Walpole complained that the Paston Letters were printed with the old spelling, and that, though a version is on the opposite page; but few persons will agree with him in that. In such books we have a right to see the old spelling in order to judge whether the version is right, as well as for general information.
C. B.
The Ring-finger (Vol. iv., pp. 150. 198. 261.).
—The two questions mooted concerning the ring-finger, i.e. why the third finger is the ring-finger, and why the wedding-ring is worn on the third finger of the left hand? have not yet been satisfactorily answered.
The third finger is the only recognised ring-finger. Hence all who wear rings ex officio, wear them on that finger. Cardinals, bishops, doctors, abbots, &c., wear their ring on the third finger. The reason is that it is the first vacant finger. The thumb and the first two fingers have always been reserved as symbols of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. When a bishop gives his blessing, he blesses with the thumb and first two fingers. Our brasses and sepulchral slabs bear witness to this fact. And at the marriage ceremony, the ring is put on to the thumb and the first two fingers, whilst the names of "The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost" are pronounced. Thus the third is the first vacant finger, and the ring-finger. The wedding-ring is worn on the left hand to signify the subjection of the wife to her husband. The right hand signifies power, independence, authority; according to the words:
"The salvation of his right hand is in powers."
Psalm xx. 6.
"The change of the right hand of the Most High."
Psalm lxxvii. 10.
The left hand signifies dependence or subjection. Married women, then, wear the wedding-ring on the third finger of the left hand, because they are subject to their husbands.
Bishops, because they have ecclesiastical authority, and doctors, because they have authority to teach, wear the ring on the ring-finger of the right hand.
CEYREP.
Count Königsmark (Vol. v., p. 78.).
—The Queries put by MR. MARKLAND will be found solved in that excellent book, The English Causes Célèbres, edited by Mr. Craik, and published in 1840. It is a great pity that Mr. Craik's undertaking was not prosecuted beyond vol. i.
Walpole was wrong, and Sir Egerton Brydges right. Charles John Count Königsmark was the instigator of the assassination of Mr. Thynne. Philip Christopher von Königsmark, the younger brother of Charles John, was the presumed lover of Sophia of Zell.
Charles John von Königsmark was mortally wounded at the battle of Argos, on the 29th August, 1686.
The presumed "foul play" in the Königsmark case consisted, I suppose, in Chief Justice Pemberton summing up strongly, in accordance with the known wish of the king, that the Count should be acquitted.
JOHN BRUCE.
MR. MARKLAND will find his inquiries as to the two Königsmarks answered in a late number of the Quarterly Review (I think that for October, 1851), in an article on the Lexington Papers.
C.
Petition respecting the Duke of Wellington (Vol. iv., pp. 233. 477.; Vol. v., p. 43.).
—I thank ÆGROTUS for the clue he has afforded me, as to the date of the document he inquired for, and can now give him some further particulars. At a Court of Common Council held Feb. 23, 1810, in consequence of a proposition in the House of Commons to settle upon Lord Wellington 2000l. per ann. for three lives, a motion was made, and carried by sixty-five to fifty-eight, to petition the House against it. The petition is very long, but it is to the following tenor: it commences by objecting to the grant on the ground of economy, and that his services have not deserved it; "that his gallant efforts in Portugal have lead only to the disgraceful and scandalous Convention of Cintra, signed by his own hand;" that the result of the battle of Talavera was a retreat, with the abandonment of sick and wounded; that as yet they have seen no inquiry into either of these campaigns; that he and his family have held lucrative appointments in the East Indies; that no provision has been made for the family of the highly deserving Sir John Moore. It then goes on to say, "that it appears a high aggravation of the misconduct of his Majesty's incapable and unprincipled advisers;" that they advised his Majesty to refuse to receive from the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, either at a levee, or personal audience, a petition from the livery praying an inquiry into the conduct of the commanders of the late campaign. This is the substance of the petition which I should think might be readily seen in extenso by a reference to a file of newspapers of the date.
E. N. W.
Southwark.
P.S.—The petition from the Livery, doubtless agreed to in Common Hall, which the king refused to receive, and which is referred to above, is most probably the one which ÆGROTUS inquires about, and of which the Duke complains in his dispatch of Jan. 1810. I have not been able to see it; but if I can find it, will send you notes of it; the mem. I have sent establishes the fact of its having been carried.
Reichenbach's Ghosts (Vol. iv., p. 5.; Vol. v., p. 89.).
—If A. N. will do me the favour to refer to my question, he will see that his remarks do not furnish a reply. Reichenbach says, that "thousands of ghost stories will now receive a natural explanation," from his discovery that the decomposition of animal matter is accompanied by light, or luminous vapour, which is visible to certain sensitive persons. As I originally stated, "my Query is, where to find the 'thousands of ghost stories' which are explained by it." I now repeat that Query in unaffected ignorance. I have read a good many ghost stories, British and foreign; but I know that some of the writers in "N. & Q." are much better acquainted with German literature and superstitions than I am; and I ask them if they can tell me where to find such stories,—that is, ghost stories explained by Reichenbach's discovery? I do not ask for "thousands," nor even hundreds—a score or two will be quite enough; or even a dozen, if they are good ones.
S. R. MAITLAND.
Gloucester.
The Broad Arrow.
—I can only offer the following note on the above subject as a conjecture, probably most of your readers will think a very wild one.
It has sometimes occurred to me that the origin of the symbol now generally known as the "broad arrow" might be traced back to the mysteries of Mithras. At all events, it is known that the same figure occurs on coins, gems, &c. as the symbol of Mithras as the Sun. Now, so widely was the worship of Mithras spread throughout the Roman empire, that I believe no one would feel any surprise at the adoption of a Mithraic symbol even in the remotest parts of the empire; and indeed the fact that Carausius, during his usurpation of the imperial authority in Britain, issued coins with the inscription Ἡλίῳ Μίθρᾳ ἀνικήτῳ, brings the worship of Mithras, as it were, home to our own doors. Whether the symbol of the sun was ever employed for any such purpose as our modern broad arrow, is a question on which I hope some of your readers may be able to throw some light. Meanwhile, being quite ignorant as to the antiquity of our Ordnance mark, the above is merely thrown out as a conjecture. It is perhaps, to some extent, confirmed by a statement of Grimm's (Deutsche Mythologie), that the symbol of the Moon was used by the ancient Germans precisely as our broad arrow, viz. on boundary stones, &c.
I think there is more probability in another conjecture of mine, that the same symbol occurs elsewhere, and for a very different purpose, viz. in our churches, and as symbolical of the Sun of Righteousness. Our painted windows and our altar-cloths contain the symbol ↑, which I believe generally goes by the name of the "three sacred nails,"—an explanation which I always thought ridiculous, even at a time when I could give no other. Is it not far more in accordance with the principles of symbolism, and the practice of the early Christians, to believe it to be the adoption of a heathen symbol, and its application to Christian purposes?
J. M. (4).
St. Mary Tavy, Tavistock.
Quarter Waggoner (Vol. v., p. 11.).
—I have met with a gentleman in the navy who informs me that these words should be "Quarter Wagner," and was so called from the publisher's name, "Wagner," who published the charts in four parts answering to the four quarters of the globe. These charts so called have been disused for near thirty years; and it was commonly observed that they who did not make alteration by improvement in the charts, or who knew not of anything beyond what was then known in maritime affairs, did not know anything beyond what was noted on the then existing charts by Wagner. Hence the phrase.
†
In connexion with the notes of BOLTON CORNEY, I would mention that I have a ponderous folio volume, with thick oak backs, covered with canvas, on which is the name of the book, The Dutch Waggoner: the printed title is—
"The Lightning Columne or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern, and Western Navigation; Setting forth in divers necessarie Sea-Cards, all the Ports, Rivers, Bayes, Roads, Depths and Sands, very curiously placed on its due Polus heigt furnished, With the discoveries of the chief Countries, and on what cours and distance they lay one from another. Never theretofore so clearly laid open, and here and there very diligently bettered and augmented for the use of all Seamen. As also the Situation of the Northernly Countries, as Islands, the Strate Davids, the Isle of Jan Mayen, Bear's Island, Old Greenland, Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla: Adorned with many Sea-Cards and Discoveries, gathered out of the Experience and Practice of divers Pilots and Lovers of the famous Art of Navigation. Whereunto is added a brief Instruction of the Art of Navigation, together with New Tables of the Sun's Declination, wit an New Almanach. At Amsterdam. Printed by Casparus Loots-man, Bookseller upon the Water in the Loots-man, 1689. With previledge for fiftheen Iears."
The "priviledge" is signed "Arent Baron van Waggenaer. By the appointment of the States, Symon van Beaumont." The book is full of very curious charts, sections, and headlands, and other engravings, and is very rare; but I merely mention it to show that books of charts, &c. were known as waggoners.
L. JEWITT.
MR. BOLTON CORNEY has traced the "Waggoner" to Wagenaer's work satisfactorily; but surely the Quarter is merely Quarto. I believe the term is not now used in the navy, and apparently was never officially recognised: at least it does not occur in the Admiralty Instructions for the Navy of 1747, 1790, or 1808. I may add a reference to Falconer's Marine Dictionary, where "Waggoner" is explained to be a "book of charts, describing the coasts, rocks, &c.," and to Dalrymple's Charts and Memoirs (1772), where a work called The English Waggoner is mentioned.
Log-book is so called because the rate of sailing of the ship, as ascertained by heaving the log, is one of the most frequent and important entries.
B. R. I.
Cibber's Lives of the Poets (Vol. v., p. 25.).
—I have not Croker's last edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson to refer to, to see what is there said respecting Cibber's title to the authorship of this book; but I find the following MS. note on the fly-leaf of the first volume of my copy of the Lives of the Poets:—
"Steevens says that not the smallest part of the work called 'Cibber's Lives of the Poets' was the compilation of Cibber; being entirely written by Mr. Shiells, amanuensis to Dr. Johnson, when his Dictionary was preparing for the press. T. Cibber was in the King's Bench, and accepted of ten guineas from the booksellers for leave to prefix his name to the work, and it was purposely so prefixed as to leave the reader in doubt whether he or his father was the person designed."
The American edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon, at vol. iii. p. 190. makes the same statement, but without giving any authority. The name of Robert Shiells, a Scotchman, is here given as the author of the Lives of the Poets.
P. T.
Shakspere and the English Press (Vol. iv., p. 344.).
—The Second part of Henry the Sixt, ascribed to Shakspere by Heminge and Condell, is founded on a play entitled The first part of the contention betwixt the two famous houses of Yorke and Lancaster, which was first printed anonymously in 1594. It was reprinted anonymously in 1600; and, as the work of Shakspere, about 1619. The amended play first appeared in the folio of 1623. The passage in which Jack Cade reproaches lord Say with having promoted education, stands thus in the editions of 1594 and 1623:
"Thou hast most traitorously erected a grammer schoole, to infect the youth of the realme, and against the kings crowne and dignitie, thou hast built vp a paper-mill."—1594. (J. O. H.)
"Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar-school: and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; and, contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill."—1623. (J. P. C.)
Fabian gives no information on the charges made against lord Say; nor do the subsequent chroniclers. The received text contains two undoubted anachronisms—to what extent, it would require a volume to decide. On comparing the extracts, it appears that we must ascribe the anachronism on paper-making to the earlier dramatist, and that on printing to William Shakspere—who also borrowed the allusion to the score and the tally from a former speech in the work of his unknown precursor.
Malone, when he edited The plays and poems of William Shakspere, undertook to distinguish by inverted commas the lines of this play which the poet "retouched and greatly improved," and by asterisks, those which were "his own original production." The design was commendable, but in the execution of it he committed numerous oversights.
BOLTON CORNEY.