Replies to Minor Queries.
Rev. Thomas Adams, D.D. (Vol. v., p. 80.).
—In addition to the sermons enumerated, I possess two more in small quarto:—1. "Preached at the triennial visitation of the R. R. father in God, the Lord Bishop of London, in Christchurch: text, 15 Actes 36: London, 1625." 2. "The holy choice. at the chappell by Guildhall, at the solemnitie of the election of the Rt. Honble the Lord Maior of London: text, 1 Actes 24. 1625."
E. D.
Wiggan, John (Vol. v., p. 78.).
—John Wiggan, M.D., the editor of Aretæus (Oxon. fol. 1723), was in 1721 a student of Christ Church.
M. D.
"Poets beware!" (Vol. v., p. 78.).
—The words
"Poets beware! never compare
Women to aught in earth or in air," &c.
are the first of a song by Thomas Haynes Bayly, written for and arranged to music by T. A. Rawlings, in The Musical Bijou for 1830, edited by F. H. Burney, published by Goulding and d'Almaine, 20. Soho Square.
E. B. R.
Traditions of Remote Periods, &c. (Vol. v., p. 77.).
—It is a well-known fact that the proud Duke of Somerset, and Prince George, his successor as a Knight of the Garter, occupied the space between 1684 and 1820. The anecdote, however, related of George IV. by your intelligent correspondent C. cannot be correct, because the blue ribbon was conferred upon Lord Moira by the Prince Regent in June, 1812, who advanced him in 1816 to the Marquisate of Hastings, and George III. did not die till 1820. The story, therefore, must belong to the period of the Regency, and not to the commencement of the reign of George IV.
BRAYBROOKE.
Audley End.
There is some error in the statement of C. George IV. succeeded to the throne 29th January, 1820, and the vacancy in the Order of the Garter occasioned by his accession he gave to the Marquess of Buckingham, who was elected 12th June that year. The Earl of Moira was elected and invested in 1812, upon the vacancy created by the death of William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, and was the third knight made during the Regency. (See Beltz's Succession of the Knights, pp. ccxi. and ccxiv.) Lord Moira never occupied the stall of George IV., which before his accession was that of Prince of Wales.
At the time of the death of the Duke of Somerset, in 1748, there were several vacancies; and on the 22d June, 1749, George Prince of Brunswick, afterwards King George III., was elected in the room of John Earl Powlett, and John Earl Granville was elected in the room of the Duke of Somerset. (See Beltz, cciii.)
G.
Heraldical MSS. of Sir Henry St. George Garter (Vol. v., p. 59.).
—M—N, in "N. & Q." of the 17th ultimo, wishes to know what became of these valuable MSS. I understand that, just before the auction at Enmore Castle in 1831, these MSS. passed into the possession of the late Sir Matthew Tierney, Bart., by private contract, or some arrangement of the kind. And most likely they now are in the possession of his brother, Sir Edward Tierney, Bart., who for a long period was the confidential friend, as well as the land and law agent of the fourth Earl of Egmont: in any case, he is the only person who can give M—N the information he requires respecting them: and, if written to on the subject, I have no doubt will communicate all he knows about him.
E. A. G.
Richmond.
Dr. John Ash (Vol. v., p. 12.).
—I am able to afford your correspondent F. RUSSELL but little information respecting Dr. John Ash; but that is authentic, being taken from an entry in his own handwriting in the Admission Book of Trinity College. It is to the following effect:
"Ego Joannes Ash, Fil Josephi Ash, gen. (generosi) de Coventria in Com. Warwick: natus ibidem annos circiter 16 admissus sum com. infer. ordinis (commersalis inferioris ordinis) sub tutamine magistri Geering 4o Die Martii, 1739-40."
There is no other John Ash admitted between 1737 and 1764; therefore it may be presumed this is the same person.
T. W.
Trin. Coll. Oxon.
P.S.—I find by the corrected list of Oxford graduates, just published, that Dr. Ash took his degrees of B.A. Oct. 21, 1743; M.A. Oct. 17, 1746; B.M. Dec. 6, 1750; D.M. July 3, 1754.
Inveni Portum (Vol. v., p. 64.).
—The words "Inveni portum" remind me of Byron's answer to a friend, who claimed his congratulations upon receiving a valuable appointment; "for," said he, "I may now say with truth, 'Portum inveni.'" "I am very glad to hear it," replied Byron, "for you have finished many bottles of mine."
NOTE.
Goldsmith (Vol. v., p. 63.).
—Thanks to your sensible correspondent A. E. B.! A true poet always puts the right word in the right place, and A. E. B.'s good taste assured him of Goldsmith's propriety.
We have it upon record, that Burke asked Goldsmith what he meant by the word "slow," in the first line of his Traveller—
"Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow."
"Do you mean, Dr. Goldsmith, tardiness of locomotion?" "Yes," said Goldsmith. "No!" said Johnson, "you mean no such thing, Sir. You mean vacuity of action."
A true poet ever puts the right word in the right place. A. E. B. has put the argument rightly, and it is to be regretted that he has been obliged to do so. To alter a word of Goldsmith's, is to gild refined gold.
JAMES CORNISH.
Lords Marchers (Vol. v., p. 30.).
—See Historical Account of the Principality of Wales, by Sir J. Dodridge, Kt.—Discourse against the Jurisdiction of the King's Bench over Wales; printed among Hargrave's Law Tracts. The author was Charles Pratt, Esq., afterwards Lord Chancellor Camden: see Hargr. Jurisc. Exerc., vol. ii. p. 301.—Coke, 4 Inst. 244.—Coke's Entries, 549.—Harl. MSS. 141. 1220. contain copies of A Treatise of Lordships Marchers in Wales.
H. S. M.
Foreign Ambassadors (Vol. iv., p. 442.).
—The information solicited in p. 442. has, in some degree, been subsequently given at page 477.; but, I believe, much more distinctly in the Gentleman's Magazine for November and December, 1840, so far, at least, as embracing the French ambassadors to the English court from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. A personal account of each is there given in reply to the inquiry of Mr. John Holmes of the British Museum, and under the signature of
J. R. (Cork.)
Church, whence derived (Vol. v., p. 79.).
—Theophilus Anglicanus supplies a sufficient answer to MR. GEORGE STEPHENS' inquiries respecting the word church.
There can be no doubt about its etymology. The only question of difficulty seems to be, why did the church of Rome adopt the word ἐκκλησία from the Greeks, and not κυριακὴ? Was it that they had a word of their own, viz. Dominica? or was it, that ecclesia was already a naturalised word? However this may be, Dr. Wordsworth bases upon the fact an important argument, tending to show that the Britons did not receive their christianity in the first instance from Rome:
"We may appeal," he says (Part II. chap. ii.), "to the English word church, which is derived, as has been before said, from the Greek κυριακὴ, a term which no Roman ever applied to the church (which he called ecclesia, and by no other name); and it is not credible, that, if the British church had been derived from Rome, it should have been designated by a title alike foreign to Romans and to Britons themselves."
If this argument be of any value in relation to Britain, it (of course) would not be without its worth to those who ascribe the primary conversion of the Teutonic countries, which MR. STEPHENS mentions, to the early British and Irish missionaries.
J. SANSOM.
Cross-legged Effigies (Vol. iv., p. 382.).
—W. H. K. inquires for the latest known example of a cross-legged effigy. The latest I have met with is the very beautiful slab at Norton-Brize, Oxfordshire, to Sir John Daubigné. He appears in plate armour of the earliest kind, and wears the camail, and is surrounded by an inscription, with the date 1346. It is engraved by Skelton, and there is also an admirable woodcut of it in Boutell's Christian Monuments, part ii. p. 141., a work of which the continuation is much to be desired. That this monument was not put down in Sir John Daubigné's lifetime, and the date of his death filled up afterwards, is evident from the perfect correspondence of the costume with the date of 1346. But it is probably the last example left us of the cross-legged position, and even then out of fashion.
C. R. M.
Sir Walter Raleigh's Snuffbox (Vol. v., p. 78.).
—In answer to your question from your correspondent L. H. L. T., I have to inform you that Sir Walter Raleigh's snuffbox is in my possession. It was bought when the Duke of Sussex's collection was sold at Messrs. Christie's, in 1843, by a gentleman of the name of Lake. Mr. Lake having died, his effects were sold by Messrs. Christie, either 1849 or 1850, when it was purchased by me. Should your correspondent wish to see it, he can have the opportunity by applying as below.
R. POLWARTH.
8. Queen's Row, Pimlico.
Epigram on Erasmus (Vol. iv., p. 437.).
—I well remember to have seen this before, in one of the multiplied editions of his Colloquies which I cannot directly indicate. M. Ménage could not recollect, he says, the name of the author[1] of the following singular epigram on the same celebrated writer's character and name:—
"Hic jacet Erasmus, qui quondam bonus erat mus:
Rodere qui solitus, roditur a vermibus."
[1] [The author of the Critique de Marsollier says it was Philip Labbe. See Burigni, tom. ii. pp. 428, 429. Jortin's Life of Erasmus.—ED.]
This distich, it has been remarked, presents two obvious faults of prosodial quantity; the first syllable of bonus being made long, and the first of vermibus short, which the author explained by maintaining that the one nullified and compensated for the other, thus redeeming both.
The best epitaph on Erasmus has always appeared to me to be that of Julius Cæsar Scaliger, expressive of his regret for their long personal hostility, and then rendering ample justice to his deceased adversary. It begins thus:—
"Tunc etiam moreris? ah quid me linquis, Erasme?
Ante meus quam sit conciliatus amor!"
To which may be aptly applied the sentiment expressed by Corneille (Mort de Pompée, Acte V. Sc. 1.):—
"Ah! qu'il est doux de plaindre
La mort d'un ennemi, quand il n'est plus à craindre."
To the portrait of Erasmus have been subscribed these characteristic words, "Vidit, pervidit, risit."
J. R. (Cork.)
General Wolfe (Vol. iv., p. 439.).
—To the inquiries of Ȝ. relative to General Wolfe, I can only answer that the northern English county to which his ancestor, Captain George Woulfe, made his escape in 1651 from Ireton's proscription, was understood to be Yorkshire. After his expatriation and change of religion, the family in Clare lost, in a great measure, sight of him and of his descendants, until, like Epaminondas and Nelson, crowned with victory and glory at his death.
I may be here permitted to observe that your correspondent distinguishes me as J. R. (of Cork); but, whether with the single initials, or the local addition, the signature is mine, though latterly, to avoid all mistake, I append my locality.
J. R. (Cork.)
Ghost Stories (Vol. iv., p. 5.; Vol. v., p. 89.).
—Baron Reichenbach has evidently overrated the importance of his discovery, but his system may be advantageously applied to the explanation of corpse-candles, illuminated church-yards, and other articles of Welsh and English superstition. Aubrey tells us, that "when any Christian is drowned in the river Dee, there will appear over the water where the corpse is a light, by which means they do find the body." The Welsh also to this day believe that the body of a secretly buried person may be discovered by the lambent blue flame which hovers round the grave at night.
I would also refer DR. MAITLAND to Baxter's Certainty of the World of Spirits, and the chapter on "Spectral Lights" in Mrs. Crowe's Night-side of Nature.
T. STERNBERG.
Epigram on Burnet (Vol. v., p. 58.).
—Odd enough!—at the moment when your No. 116. reached me, a volume of the State Poems was before me, in which I read the very epigram to which your correspondent alludes, where it thus stands:—
"ELEGY ON COLEMAN.
"If heaven be pleased, when sinners cease to sin,
If hell be pleased, when souls are damned therein,
If earth be pleased, when its rid of a knave,
Then all are pleased, for Coleman's in his grave."
State Poems, vol. iii. 1704.
Qy. Who was Coleman?
JAMES CORNISH.
[We are indebted to another correspondent, LOUISA JULIA NORMAN, for pointing out the same epigram on Coleman in The Panorama of Wit (1809). Coleman, on whom the epigram appears to have been originally written, is obviously the Jesuit of that name executed in the reign of Charles II.]
"Son of the Morning" (Vol. iv., pp. 209. 330. 391.).
—As none of your correspondents have been able to explain the meaning of this passage in Childe Harold, I may now tell you that the phrase is an orientalism for "traveller," in allusion to their early rising to avoid the heat of the mid-day sun. Lord Byron invites the traveller to visit the ruins of Greece, but not to molest them as some former travellers had done; then he turns upon Lord Elgin, and attacks him for his misdeeds in that way.
AN OLD BENGAL CIVILIAN.
Haberdasher (Vol. ii., pp. 167. 253.).
—In Todd's edition of Johnson's Dictionary, the word haberdasher is derived from berdash, which is said "to have been a name formerly used in England for a certain kind of neck-dress, whence the maker or seller of such clothes was called a berdasher; and thence comes haberdashers." This etymology is hardly admissible. Can an early reference be given to the use of the term berdash, as an article of dress? Minsheu, Todd remarks, ingeniously deduces it from Habt ihr dass, German, Have you this? the expression of a shopkeeper offering his wares to sell. But the derivation of the term haberdasher furnished by your correspondent (Vol. ii., p. 253.) is certainly the most satisfactory.
At the end of the sixteenth century (about 1580) the shopkeepers that went under this designation dealt largely in most of the minor articles of foreign manufacture; and among the "haberdashery" of that period were "daggers, swords owches, broaches, aiglets, Spanish girdles, French cloths, Milan caps, glasses, painted cruizes, dials, tables, cards, balls, puppets, ink-horns, tooth-picks, fine earthen pots, pins and points, hawks' bells, salt-cellars, spoons, knives, and tin dishes." A yet more curious list of goods vended by the "milloners or haberdashers" who dwelt at the Royal Exchange within two or three years after it had been built, occurs in Stow's Annals by Howe (p. 869.), where we are informed that they "sould mouse-trappes, bird-cages, shooing-hornes, lanthornes, and Jew's trumpes."
The author of that curious tract, Maroccus Extaticus, 1595 (which I reprinted in the Percy Society) speaks of a "felow" loading his sleeve with "fuel from the haberdashers."
The more ancient name of these traders was milainers, an appellation derived from their dealing in merchandize chiefly imported from the city of Milan. They were also, I believe, called hurrers, from dealing in hats and caps.
It is evident, from the above, that "a retailer of goods, a dealer in small wares," is the true meaning of the word haberdasher.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
Vincent Kidder (Vol. iv., p. 502.).
—The ancestors of this personage resided at a house called the "Hole," in the parish of Maresfield. In the time of Henry VII., and earlier, they held the office of bailiffs of the Forest of Ashdown, otherwise called Lancaster Great Park. I believe that most of the existing families of Kidder are branches of this parent stock. From a branch long settled at Lewes sprang Dr. Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lost his life in the great storm of 1703. I believe that the Irish branch had previously been settled in London. A third branch settled in the American colonies in the seventeenth century, and has produced a highly respectable and wealthy progeny still resident in the New England states, and elsewhere. I have at hand materials for a complete pedigree of the Sussex or elder line of the family, down to the time of its extinction. Perhaps your correspondent will communicate with me on this subject by a private letter.
MARK ANTONY LOWER.
Lewes.
Tripos, What is the Origin of the Term? (Vol. iv., p. 484.).
—Tripos, a long piece of white and brown paper, like that on which the commonest ballads are printed, containing Latin hexameter verses, with the author's name, &c. The Cambridge tripos, it has been conjectured, was probably in old time delivered, like the Terræ Filius, from a tripod, a three-legged stool, in humble imitation of the Delphic oracle. It is mentioned in the statute De tollendis ineptiis in publicis disputationibus,[2] an 1626—ut prævaricatores, tripodes, alii que omnes disputantes veterum academia formam, &c.
[2] The following, from the facetious Fuller, will serve to show to what lengths they went formerly in ineptiis (See his Worthies, edit. 1684):—"When Morton, afterwards Bishop of Durham, stood for the degree of D.D. at Cambridge, he advanced something which was displeasing to the professor, who exclaimed, with some warmth, 'Commosti mihi stomochum.' To whom Morton replied, 'Gratulor tibi, Reverende Professor, de bono tuo stomacho, cœnabis apud me hâc nocte.' The English word stomach formerly signified 'passion, indignation.' Archbishop Cranmer appointed one Travers to a fellowship at Trinity College, who had been before rejected (says my author) on account of his 'intolerable stomach.' This would be thought a singular discommendation in the present day." To add another story from Fuller relating to Publicis Disputatianibus:—"When a professor of logic pressed an answerer with a hard argument, 'Reverende Professor,' said he, 'ingenue confiteor me non posse respondere huic argumento.' To whom the Professor, 'Recte respondis.'"—Holy and Profane State. Vide Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, a little book published by W. J. and J. Richardson, 1803.
JAMES CORNISH.
Monody on the Death of Sir John Moore (Vol. i., p. 445.).
—If any person entertains a doubt that the Rev. Charles Wolfe was the author, I trust that the following statement will have the effect of removing it. In the October number of the Dublin University Magazine, 1851, there is a short biographical notice of the late much lamented Rev. Samuel O'Sullivan, which contains the following passage:
"One of his intimate acquaintances was Charles Wolfe. The exquisite lines on the burial of Sir John Moore were suggested by O'Sullivan reading to him the description in the Annual Register of the retreat from Corunna. Immediately after, the two friends went out to wander in the fields. During their ramble Wolfe was silent and moody. On their return to their College chambers he repeated the first and last stanzas of the ode that has made his name immortal."
Knowing the source from which this assertion emanates, I have no reason to suspect the veracity of the writer.
There is an additional proof, which is well worthy of being recorded in your pages, and of which I have had ocular demonstration. In the Royal Irish Academy there is an original letter, framed, in the handwriting of Wolfe, of which I send you an exact fac-simile. You will perceive that it contains a copy of the poem, and that his signature is attached to it, I need not add any more.
CLERICUS.
Dublin.
Many Children at a Birth (Vol. iii., pp. 64. 347.).
—In The Natural History of Wiltshire: by John Aubrey, F.R.S., edited by John Britton, Esq., is the following passage:
"At Wishford Magna is an inscription to Thomas Bonham and Edith his wife, who died 1473 and 1469. Mrs. Bonham had two children at one birth the first time; and he being troubled at it, travelled, and was absent seven years. After his returne, she was delivered of seven children at one birth. In this parish is a confident tradition that these seven children were all baptized at the font in this church, and that they were brought thither in a kind of chardger, which was dedicated to this church, and hung on two nailes, which are to be seen there yet, neer the belfree on the south side. Some old men are yet living that doe remember the chardger. This tradition is entred into the Register-booke there, from whence I have taken this narrative," 1659.—See Hoare's Modern Wilts, p. 49. J. B.
The following is also from the same book:
"Dr. Wm. Harvey, author of The Circulation of the Blood, told me that one Mr. Palmer's wife, in Kent, did beare a child every day for five daies together."
C. DE D.
"O Leoline," &c. (Vol. v., p. 78.).
—If no one sends in better information, I beg to inform H. B. C. that I have had the lines he alludes to for many years in MS. as the composition of Aaron Hill. He was a dramatist, but I observe that the Cyclopædia says only two of his dramatic pieces are now remembered, Algira and Zara, both of them adaptations from Voltaire. He was born 1684, and died 1750. My verses differ slightly from the version of H. B. C.
"Let never man be bold enough to say,
Thus, and no farther, shall my footsteps stray.
The first crime past compels us into more,
And guilt grows fate, that was but choice before."
HERMES.
[O. P. W. has forwarded a similar reference to Aaron Hill.]
The Ballad on the Rising of the Vendee (Vol. iv., p. 473.).
—It is by Smythe, the member for Canterbury, and was published in his Historic Fancies.
R. D. H.
House at Welling (Vol. iv., p. 502.).
—Your correspondent appears to have made a confusion between Welling in Kent and Welwyn in Herts. Of this latter place Young, the author of the Night Thoughts, was rector, and the house in which he resided is now standing.
A. W. H.
Pharetram de Tutesbit (Vol. iv., p. 316.).
—Pharetram de Tutesbit must be a quiver manufactured by a person of the name of Tutesbit. This indeed is conjecture, as I have not been able to find any allusion to the word; but it does not appear that there is any place of that name.
Flectatas sagittas may be translated arrows ready dressed, or fletched. A flecher is one who fashions and prepares arrows; hence the common use of the word as a proper name now-a-days.
H. G. R.
Preston.
Ruffles, when worn (Vol. v., p. 12.).
—These appendages to our ancient costume were originally termed handruffs. They may be traced in some of our early monumental effigies. The earliest written notice of them, that I remember, is in the following extract from an inventory of Henry VIII.'s apparel quoted by Strutt:
"One payer of sleves, passed over the arme with gold and silver, quilted with black silk, and ruffled at the hand with strawberry leaves and flowers of gold, embroidered with black silk."
In the reign of Elizabeth, the handruffs are seen pleated and edged with rich lace; and in the three succeeding reigns, they were generally worn of fine lawn or cambric. When the Hanoverian race ascended the English throne, many changes took place in the national costume; but the ruffle was retained, and continued during the century.
Some of your readers may recollect the print of Garrick's Macbeth, with cocked hat of the last London cut, bag-wig, full court dress and ruffles!
In 1762, the rage for large ruffles was beginning to decline. A writer in the London Chronicle for that year (p. 167.) says (speaking of the gentlemen's dress):—
"Their cuffs cover entirely their wrists, and only the edge of their ruffles are to be seen; as if they lived in the slovenly days of Lycurgus, when every one was ashamed to show clean linen."
The French Revolution of 1789 very much influenced the English fashions in costume; the cocked-hat and ruffles were discarded to make room for the ugly "round hat" and "small cuffs" of the Parisian butchers.
It would be difficult to fix upon the period for the total disuse of any particular fashion. Fashions of a "hundred years ago" may still be seen in some of our country churches; and I should not be surprised to find ruffles among their number.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
Allen of Rossull (Vol. v., p. 11.).
—There seems some little doubt about the arms of Allen of Rossull. A MS. at Burton Constable, Yorkshire, gives the following as the arms of the family:—Allen, Rossall (not Rossull, though sometimes Rushall, Rossal, &c.): argent, a chevron engrailed azure, between three griffins' heads erased; on a chief of the second an anchor, or, between two bezants.
The windows of Ushaw College, Durham, however, frequently present a coat far different from this, surmounted by a cardinal's hat. The arms there are Argent, a cross gules for the college of Douay;—impaling for the founder, William Allen, argent, three conies in pale sejant, sable. The first seems to have belonged to the family; the last—if assumed by the cardinal himself—seem singularly indicative of his peculiar propensity for endeavouring to undermine sound doctrine by his heretical works and acts.
G. S. A.
Serjeants' Rings (Vol. v., pp. 59. 92. 110.).
—The happiest motto which comes to my recollection is that adopted by the first serjeants who were called after the decision of the Court of Common Pleas in January, 1840, overturning the warrant issued by King William IV., which opened the court to all members of the bar. Five new serjeants were then called, who gave rings with this motto, in allusion to the restoration of their rights:—
"Honor nomenque manebunt."
Is your correspondent E. N. W. right as to Serjeant Onslow's motto? As all the serjeants called at the same time have the same motto inscribed on the rings they respectively give, it is not likely, if others were joined in the same call with him, that a motto should have been adopted which applied only to one of the number. If indeed he happened to be called alone, it is possible he may have used it; but I am inclined to think E. N. W. has confounded the motto of the family with that of the serjeant.
EDWARD FOSS.
Clerical Members of Parliament (Vol. v., p. 11.).
—John Horne Tooke, the reformer, who was in priest's orders, having been presented to the borough of Old Sarum by Lord Camelford, in February, 1801, an act was passed (41. Geo. III. c. 73.) to exclude the clergy from parliament; but as it did not vacate the seat of any member then elected, Mr. Tooke remained in the house till the dissolution in June, 1802. In the course of the debate, the case of Mr. Edward Rushworth, member for Newport, in the Isle of Wight, in 1784, was referred to. He was in deacon's orders, and a petition presented against his return, but was allowed to retain his seat. He is supposed to have been one of the two ministers of the Church of England alluded to by Sir James Johnstone in his speech in the debate on the Test and Corporation Acts, 8th May, 1789, as then being members of the House.
W. S. S.
Cabal (Vol. iv., pp. 443. 507.).
—The following extract from a curious book in my possession, entitled Theophania; or severall Modern Histories represented by way of Romance (see "N. & Q." Vol. i., p. 174.), shows a much earlier use of this word than that of Burnet's. The date of Theophania is 1655:
"He was at length taken prisoner, and, as a sure token of an entire victory, sent with a strong guard into Sicily; where Glaucus and Pausanias, fearing time might mitigate the queen's indignation, caused his process to be presently dispatched; and the judges, being all of the same Cabal, without consideration of his many glorious achievements, they condemned him to an ignominious death."—Theophania, p. 147.
T. HENRY KERSLEY, B.A.
Latin Verse on Franklin (Vol. iv., p. 443.; Vol. v., p. 17.).
—The line on Franklin—
"Eripuit cœlo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis,"
was written by Turgot, Louis XVI.'s minister and controller-general of finance. This verse, however, so happily applied to the American philosopher and statesman's double title to renown, is merely the modification of one in the Anti-Lucretius of Cardinal Polignac, the 37th of the first book, "Eripuitgue Jovi fulmen, Phœboque sagittas," which again had for its model that of Marcus Manilius, a poet of the Augustan age. It is the 104th of his Astronomicon, where he says of Epicurus (lib. v.), "Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, viresque Tonanti." This appears to be the original source of the phrase, so far as I could trace it. Turgot, though highly appreciated by his sovereign, and promoted to the prime ministry in consequence, was only suffered to hold the responsible situation for a short time, from August, 1774, to May, 1776, when he fell a sacrifice to court intrigues, which the weak king had not the energy to resist, while emphatically saying, "Il n'y a que Turgot et moi qui aimions le peuple." This eminent statesman's advocacy of the freedom of commerce, state economy, and general liberty of the subject, exposed him not only to courtly but to popular hostility. The French were certainly ill prepared for such innovations on their policy or habits, nor, I may add, even now, notwithstanding the constantly alternating schemes of government, from despotic to constitutional, in the long interposed period, do they appear fully to appreciate, or anxious to introduce these desirable improvements.
J. R. (Cork.)
Job (Vol. v., p. 26.).
—The Rev. T. R. BROWNE interprets one of the Persepolitan inscriptions as representing the coronation and titles of Job. As no previous commentator had supposed Job to be a Persian prince, and as (among other unexpected results) it would follow that the poem bearing his name was a translation into Hebrew by some unknown hand, I hastened at once to the Bodleian to examine the authorities on which MR. BROWNE bases his interpretation.
On one glance at the work cited (Kaempferi Amœnitatum Exoticarum Fasciculi V.) it was plain enough that Kaempfer had made his transcription so carelessly, that barely one letter in a hundred was correct; and, on turning to Niebuhr's copy of the same inscription (plate xxiv. A.), and to Porter's (vol. i. plate xliv. p. 631.), my suspicions were amply confirmed. But the most singular part was to come. Aided by the minute identifications which MR. BROWNE gives of the words which he translates, Aiub taij, I discovered that the reverend gentleman had mistaken two letters for two words. His whole theory, therefore, falls to the ground.
As some of your readers may like to know the real interpretation of this inscription, I give the translation of Rawlinson as amended from Westergaard's notes, and which is undoubtedly correct:
"The great God Ormazd, who has given this world, who has given that heaven, who has given mankind, who has given life to mankind; who has made Xerxes king, both the king of the people, and the law-giver of the people. I am Xerxes the king, the great king, the king of kings, the king of many-peopled countries, the supporter also of this great world, the son of King Darius the Achæmenian," &c.
RECHABITE.
Poniatowski Gems (Vol. v., pp. 30. 65.).
—I thank M—N for his note, but it does not at all afford the information I seek. My Query referred to the original sale in London of the gems. Lord Monson's collection, to which M—N refers, was, I believe, purchased by his lordship from a dealer who bought them at the original sale, the date of which I seek.
A. O. O. D.
Sleck Stone, Meaning of (Vol. iii., p. 241.; Vol. iv., p. 394.).
—The expression sleck-stone has, I think twice, been spoken of in "N. & Q." as equivalent to whet-stone: this is a mistake. The first word is possibly misprinted in the work in which it is found, but at all events the thing intended is a sleek-stone (Old Fr. Calendrine) an implement formerly used by calendrers; often, if not always, made of glass, and in shape much like a large mushroom: it is used reversed, the stalk forming the handle. Those which I have seen were about four inches in diameter, some more and some less. Sleek-stones are now, I believe, entirely superseded by machinery.
R. C. H.
Bishop Bridgeman (Vol. v., p. 80.).
—The matriculation registers of the University of Cambridge, could MR. CLAY ascertain the year Bridgeman entered (and this might be found by searching them), will give his age at that time, the Christian names of his parents, and their place of residence. I do not know whether it is the case at Cambridge, but at Oxford one has to pay half a guinea for an extract from the archives. Surely these important records should be more accessible to the student in this respect.
CRANMORE.
Bow Bell (Vol. v., p. 28.).
—In Eastward Hoe, by Ben Jonson, John Marston, and George Chapman, printed 1605, Girtred, the proud daughter of the citizen Touchstone (Act I. Sc. 1.), taunts her modest sister Mildred, who is endeavoring to check her arrogant manner, with the scornful expression "Bow Bell!" evidently intending to reproach her as a Cockney. She afterwards asks her intended husband, Sir Petronel Flash, to carry her out of the scent of Newcastle coal and the hearing of Bow Bell.
W. S. S.
Fees for Inoculation (Vol. iv., p. 231.).
—For the information of R. W. B. I beg to send you the following extract from the vestry-book of this parish:
"22 Jan. 1772.
"It is further ordered that such of the poor persons belonging to this parish who like to be inoculated for the small-pox may be inoculated at the expence of this parish, not exceeding five shillings and threepence each person, provided it is done within six weeks of the date hereof. And that each person to be inoculated shall first produce a certificate under the hands of one justice and one churchwarden to the inoculating surgeon, and that the parish shall not pay for any one inoculated without such certificate of the person belonging to Maidstone."
JOHN BRANFILL HARRISON.
Maidstone.
Salting of Infants (Vol. v., p. 76.).—
"Thou wast not salted at all."
"Et saliendo non salita eras."
"Tenera infantium corpora dum adhuc uteri calorem tenent, et primo vagitu laboriosæ vitæ testantur exordia, solent ab obstetricibus sale contingi, ut sicciora sint et restringantur."—Hieronymus.
"Observat et Galenus De Sanit., i. 7.: 'Sale modico insperso cutem infantis densiorem solidioremque reddi.'"—Rosenmuller ad locum.
C. B.
Age of Trees (Vol. v., p. 8.).
—Living near the Forest of Dean, I wish to state that it is not known that any trees exist there which can possibly be of anything approaching to the age of Edward III.; that the word forbid savours of a reservation of timber for the use of the mines, if the privileges of the free-miners can really be carried back to that time. The intelligence in Pepys was derived from Sir John Winter, the person who bought the whole forest in perpetuity from Charles I., but was allowed by Charles II. only to make the most of it he could in his own time. Some trees may have survived the smash which he made, but they must either have been young, or worthless from age or decay.
C. B.
Objective and Subjective (Vol. v., p. 11.).
—I would beg to refer X. to the first of the five Sermons by W. H. Mill, D.D., preached before the University of Cambridge, in Lent, 1844. When he has carefully perused it, he will be enlightened as to the precise meaning of the terms objective and subjective; being made aware that there is one great object of faith, though, with some writers, the subject, man, may be made the most prominent. X. will there find that what he styles "exoteric jargon" has, in the hands of so judicious a writer and so excellent a divine as Dr. Mill, been "translated into intelligible English."
J. H. M.
Parish Registers (Vol. v., p. 36.).
—I am sorry not to be able to agree with MR. CHADWICK in thinking "that no fee is legally payable for searching the register-books of baptisms and burials, nor even for making a copy," &c. It is quite certain that even parishioners have no right to inspect the parish books, except for ordinary parochial purposes. In the case of Rex v. Smallpiece, 2 Chitt. Rep. 288., Lord Tenterden said, "I know of no rule of law which requires the parish officers to show the books, in order to gratify the curiosity of a private individual." Therefore the "genealogical or archæological inquirer" has in general no right to inspect, much less copy the register-books: consequently he must pay the fees demanded for being allowed to do so.
J. G.
Temple.
"'Tis Tuppence now," &c. (Vol. iv., pp. 314. 372.).
—The lines quoted by FANNY I immediately recognised as Thomas Ingoldsby's. On the appearance of REMIGUS' Query, I looked through the Ingoldsby Legends as the most likely place to find the lines in, but failed, in consequence of an alteration of the last stanza, which in my edition (the third, 1842) runs thus:
"I thought on Naseby, Marston Moor, on Worc'ster's 'crowning fight;'
When on mine ear a sound there fell, it chill'd me with affright,
As thus in low unearthly tones I heard a voice begin,
'This here's the cap of Giniral Monk! Sir, please put summut in!'"
"Cætera desiderantur," Ingoldsby Legends, 2nd Series, pp. 119, 120.
ED. S. JACKSON.
Saffron Walden.
Chatterbox (Vol. iv., p. 344.).
—I doubt whether your correspondent J. M. will succeed in limiting the term chatter-box to the female sex. His rendering buxom by womanly will hardly stand the test of criticism. In the old matrimonial service, as elsewhere, it originally signified obedient, compliant, and was equivalent to the German biegsam. It was applied indifferently to men and women. Thus, in Chaucer's Shipmanne's Tale—
"They wolden that hir husbondes shulden be
Hardy and wise and riche, and thereto free,
And buxom to his wife, and fresh a-bed."
And in the Clerke's Tale, speaking of the vassals,
"And they with humble heart ful buxomly,
Kneeling upon hir knees ful reverently,
Him thonken all."
The peasantry in Cheshire, instead of chatter-box, say chatter-basket.
Churchill the Poet (Vol. v., p. 74.).
—If Churchill was, as C.R. states, "already imprudently married," how could he be eligible to a scholarship in Trinity? I believe, in Churchill's days, a Westminster scholar was entitled, as of course, to a Fellowship in Trinity. Married men, as undergraduates, are, I suspect, of recent date in the universities, even as Fellow Commoners or Pensioners.
J.H.L.
Hieroglyphics of Vagrants and Criminals (Vol. v., p. 79.).
—Consult Mayhew's London Labour and London Poor for an elucidation of these signs.
CRANMORE.
Paring the Nails (Vol. iii., p. 462.).
—The following Rabbinical quotation on the subject of paring the nails, is certainly curious as bearing on the superstitions connected with the nails:
"Ungues comburit sanctus; justus sepelit eos; impius vero spargit in publicum, ut maleficæ iis abutantur."
Nidda, 17. 1.
W. FRASER.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
Murray's Official Handbook of Church and State, containing the Names, Duties, and Powers of the principal Civil, Military, Judicial, and Ecclesiastical Authorities of the United Kingdom and Colonies; with Lists of the Members of the Legislature, Peers, Baronets, &c., is, as to its objects, sufficiently described by its ample title-page. An examination of its pages will show the great amount of information illustrative of the rise, nature, and peculiar duties of the numerous branches of the executive government of this vast empire, which the editor justly claims the credit of having sought for from various sources, and now for the first time gathered together. It must soon, therefore, find its way on to the desks of all men in office—not indeed as superseding the old Red Books and Official Calendars—but as an indispensable companion to them.
When speaking of the translation of Huc's Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China, which we noticed some few weeks since, we gave our readers the best possible evidence of the value of the work. That Messrs. Longman have done wisely in including a condensed translation of these interesting Recollections of a Journey through Tartary, Thibet, and China, from the practised pen of Mrs. Percy Sinnett, in their Traveller's Library, we cannot therefore doubt; and we shall be much surprised if the book does not prove to be one of the most popular in the admirable series of which it forms the 14th and 15th Parts.
By way of answering the inquiry of a correspondent, and for the purpose of forwarding the very admirable and important objects of The Chronological Institute, we have procured a copy of the prospectus which has been circulated by its projectors, and have inserted it in full in our advertising columns.
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.
FIELDING'S WORKS. 14 Vols. 1808. Vol XI. [Being 2nd of Amelia].
SHADWELL. Vols. II. and IV. 1720.
ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON. Vol. IV. 1819.
BARONETAGE. Vol. I. 1720.
Ditto. Vols. I. and II. 1727.
CHAMBERLAYNE'S PHARONNIDA. (Reprint.) Vols. I. and II. 1820.
HOLCROFT'S LAVATER. Vol. I. 1789.
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA. Vol. I. Third edition, published in 1794, Edinburgh, for A. Bell.
DRECHSLERUS DE LARVIS. Lipsiæ, 1674.
GIBBON'S DECLINE AND FALL. Vol. II. Dublin. Luke White. 1789.
ELSLEY ON THE GOSPEL AND ACTS. London, 1833. Vol. I.
SPENSER'S WORKS. Pickering's edition, 1839. Sm. 8vo. Vol. V.
WHARTON'S ANGLIA SACRA. Fol. Vol. II.
ARISTOPHANES, Bekker. (5 Vols. edit.) Vol. II. London, 1829.
LYDGATE'S BOKE OF TROYE. 4to. 1555. (Any fragment.)
COLERIDGE'S TABLE TALK. Vol. I. Murray. 1835.
THE BARBERS (a poem), by W. Hutton. 8vo. 1793. (Original edition, not the fac-simile.)
THE DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME TRULY REPRESENTED, by Edw. Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, edited by William Cunningham, Min. Edinburgh.
A CATECHISM TRULY REPRESENTING THE DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME, with an Answer to them, by John Williams, M.A.
DODD'S CERTAMEN UTRIUSQUE ECCLESIÆ; or a List of all the Eminent Writers, Catholics and Protestants, since the Reformation. 1724.
THE SALE CATALOGUE of J.T. Brockett's Library of British and Foreign History, &c. 1823.
DODD'S APOLOGY FOR THE CHURCH HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 1742. 12mo.
SPECIMENS FOR AMENDMENTS FOR DODD'S CHURCH HISTORY, 1741. 12mo.
JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. Vol. I. Part I. (Several Copies are wanting, and it is believed that many are lying in London or Dublin.)
CH. THILLON (DE HALLE) NOUVELLE COLLECTION DES APOCRYPHES. Leipsic, 1832.
THEOBALD'S SHAKSPEARE RESTORED, ETC. 4to. 1726.
A SERMON preached at Fulham in 1810 by the Rev. JOHN OWEN of Paglesham, on the death of Mrs. Prowse, Wicken Park, Northamptonshire (Hatchard).
FÜSSLEIN, JOH. CONRAD, BEYTRÄGE ZUR ERLÄUTERUNG DER KIRCHEN-REFORMATIONS-GESCHICHTE DES SCHWEITZERLANDES, 5 Vols. Zurich. 1741.
VERUS CHRISTIANUS, OR DIRECTIONS FOR PRIVATE DEVOTIONS, &c., with Appendix, by David Stokes. Oxford, 1668.
*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.