Minor Queries.
The Cross on Counsels' Briefs.
—Can any of your correspondents inform me as to the origin and present use of the cross on counsels' briefs?
H. EDWARDS.
Sir James Hayes, of Bedgebury, Kent.
—It is mentioned in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1792, p. 21., that on the foundation stone of Old Bedgebury House in Kent, was found, many years ago, an inscription recording the building of that house in 1688 by Sir James Hayes, and Rachel Viscountess Falkland, his wife. Allusion is made in the inscription to his having attained great wealth from the depths of the ocean; and there was a tradition that he had made his fortune by diving. Can any of your readers supply information upon this subject? Was he one of the party who under Phipps (the ancestor of the house of Mulgrave) recovered 200,000l. out of a Spanish vessel, sunk of the coast of Hispaniola in 1687? and where can the full particulars of that adventure be met with?
J. E. T.
Authorship of the Song "Oh Nanny," &c.
—A question as to the nationality, if not the authorship, of this celebrated song was discussed (if I remember aright) not long ago in letters printed in one of the literary periodicals, probably the Gentleman's Magazine, but I have not a reference at hand. It may be, that the facts I am about to mention were adverted to in that discussion, and that the words are admitted to be of English origin, and to have been written by Dr. Percy, yet I am induced to send you this communication. In the drawing-room at Ecton House, the mansion of Sam. Isted, Esq., at Ecton, a village about five miles from Northampton, there was, in 1814, a portrait of the wife of Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore (father of Mrs. Isted), holding in her hand a scroll, on which is the celebrated song "Oh Nanny!" she being the original, and the lines having been addressed to her before marriage by the bishop. (Account of a Tour, &c., published in the Scarborough Repository, by Cole, 1824.)
Perhaps some correspondent of yours in that vicinity would kindly say whether the picture remains at Ecton; or, if not, what has become of it?
W. S. G.
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Hexameter Poem on English Counties.
—Will any of your correspondents be kind enough to furnish me with a copy of a poem in hexameter verse, and in an abbreviated form, enumerating the shires or counties in England? In my early days it was very common in public schools, and I am enabled to give a portion of one verse, viz.—-—-"Dev. Dors. Gl. Oxfo. Buck. Hart. Ess."
M.
Dublin.
Wild Oats, Origin of the Phrase.
—Can any of your correspondents favour me with the origin and definition of the phrase "To sow your wild oats?" It has never been very clear to me why "oats" should be the grain selected as emblematical of the dissipations and excesses of youth. They constitute the food of the inhabitants of the poorest regions only, and where the absence of all aid from climate and sunshine, renders almost unceasing toil necessary, in order to obtain a meagre subsistence.
The "oat" appears to me so little the companion of luxury and pleasure, that I am wholly at a loss to account for the origin of this phrase, which is in the mouth of every one.
BEAU NASH.
Bath.
The Dr. Richard Mortons.
—I shall feel greatly indebted to any reader of "N. & Q." who can give me some account of Dr. Richard Morton, a celebrated physician of Greenwich, temp. William and Mary, and of his son Dr. Richard Morton, who died in 1730. Were they descended from the Mortons of Severn Stoke, co. Worcester? and what was the precise degree of their relationship with the Mortons of Slaugham, co. Sussex?
MARK ANTONY LOWER.
General Lambert (Vol. iv., p. 339.).
—A correspondent shows the probability or certainty that the hitherto received opinion as to the long confinement and death in Guernsey of this old parliamentary general is not correct. But Mr. Hallam and others who report this, report also that he was tried with Sir Harry Vane; and that his "submissive behaviour" was such a contrast to that of his noble fellow-prisoner that it perhaps influenced his sentence. Where is the proof of his behaviour to be found? Vane's trial has been published separately. It is also in the State Trials, with the trials of the regicides; but neither there nor elsewhere can I find the trial of Lambert.
G. L.
Cross-legged Effigies and Collars of SS.
—As some of your correspondents are sending to "N. & Q." accounts of sepulchral effigies bearing SS. collars, I should be obliged to them if they would mention when such effigies are cross-legged. Does any effigy in this attitude exist bearing a date as late as 1350?
W. H. K.
The Crooked Billet.
—Can any of your readers inform me whether there be any legend connected with the "Crooked Billet," which is frequently used in this neighbourhood as a sign to a village inn? The sign itself is formed of a crooked piece of wood, or two or three pieces joined, and suspended over the door of the public-house.
T. D.
Gainsbro'.
Collins the Poet, and his Ode on the Music of the Grecian Theatre.
—In Seward's Anecdotes of distinguished Persons there is a letter from Collins to Dr. Hayes, professor of music, Oxford, in which, after alluding to his "Ode on the Passions," he mentions another Ode, which appears to have been actually written.
"The subject," he states, "is the Music of the Grecian Theatre, in which," he goes on to say, "I have, I hope naturally, introduced the various characters with which the chorus was concerned, as Œdipus, Medea, Electra, Orestes, &c. &c. The composition too is probably more correct, as I have chosen the ancient tragedies for my models, and only copied the most affecting passages in them."
The letter is dated "Chichester, November 8, 1750." Collins died in 1756. The Ode is lost; but assuredly every effort should be made to bring it to light.
Bishop Kidder's Autobiography.
—In the Lives of the Bishops of Bath and Wells, by the Rev. Stephen Hyde Cassan (Rivingtons, 1829), the greater portion of the notice there given of that learned writer and excellent divine, Richard Kidder, bishop of that see from 1691 to 1703, is derived from an autobiographical memoir, of which Mr. Cassan says, "the MS., one of undoubted authority, exists in original at Wells." The reasonable inference from this statement would be, that the MS. is in the Cathedral Library there; but from what I have recently been able to ascertain, through the kindness of a gentleman at Wells, it would appear that Kidder's autobiography is not in the Cathedral Library, nor in the hands of any individual in that place or its neighbourhood: the probability therefore is, that it is in some private collection; and as I believe it contains many particulars connected with the bishop's personal history, which Mr. Cassan has passed over, I shall be glad if any of your readers can inform me where it is to be met with. The bishop's birthplace has been left in some doubt; it has been stated that he was born at Lewes, at Brighthelmstone, and in Suffolk; in the memoir referred to, the question is set at rest, for he says that he was born at East Grinstead, Sussex, in 1633. While upon this subject I would beg information as to the name and family of the bishop's wife, who was killed with him in the great storm of Nov. 1703. I learn from the baptismal registers of their children that her christian name was Elizabeth.
JAS. CROSBY.
Strantham.
Shrine of Edward the Confessor.
—Is there any print or drawing, or any written description, which would show the condition of the shrine of King Edward the Confessor previously to the great Rebellion, or in any way throw light upon the various changes, mutilations, and restorations it has undergone, beyond such as is to be derived from the ordinary histories of the abbey?
GEO. S. SCOTT.
"Wise above that which is written."
—Can any of your correspondents inform me where the words originally occur, "Wise above that which is written?" I was for a long time under the impression that they were taken from one of St. Paul's Epistles, or at least were to be found somewhere in the Bible; but, after having searched Cruden diligently, though ineffectually, I am pretty sure they are not to be found in Holy Writ.
I am convinced that most persons share in the opinion I formerly held, and I have often seen them quoted in sermons just as if they were a passage of Scripture, though, of course, without giving any reference.
R. C. C.
Oxon.
"Hoffman," a Tragedy by Chettle.
—Can any correspondent of the "N. & Q." throw any light upon the source of the plot of Hoffman, a Tragedy, by Henry Chettle, 4to. 1631? The scene is laid at Dantzig in Prussia; the hero revenges his father's death, which was caused by the Duke of Lüneburg and other princes, by means of a red-hot iron crown placed on his head. He kills the son of the Duke of Lüneburg in the same manner, and assumes his character; is adopted by the Duke of Prussia, and avenges himself by the murder of the duke, and others of his father's judges; is finally discovered, and put to death by means of the iron crown.
I have in vain searched the German chronicle of the period: from the geographical localities being well preserved, as well as the German names (a peculiarity in the old drama), the presumption is, that it has been taken from an historical source. Mention is made in Menzel's History of Germany, of a Count Jordan who suffered death by means of an iron crown; and in Goldsmith's Traveller, the line of—
"Luke's iron crown and Damon's bed of steel,"
is illustrated by a note in Bohn's edition of that author, of two brothers, George and Luke Leck, who had created a rebellion in Hungary, and of one of them suffering death in this manner; but neither of these two cases apply at all to the subject.
H. B. L.
Inverted Commas.
—When were inverted commas first introduced to indicate quotations in writing?
S. W. RIX.
Quotations Wanted.
—If the subjoined Queries could be inserted early, it would greatly oblige me. I want them for a work, of which the first proofs are now before me.
I should be glad if any of the readers of "N. & Q." could refer me to the precise places from whence the following quotations are made:—
1. "Qui vult plenè et sapidè Christi verba intelligere, oportet ut totam vitam suam Illi studeat conformare."
2. "Gaudium suum ob renascentes literas non sine metu exprimet, unus scrupulus habet animum meum, ne sub obtentu priscæ literaturæ caput erigere tentet paganismus.... Optarim frigidas istas argutias (humanæ eloquentiæ logicarumque subtilitatum) amputari prorsus, Christumque illum simplicem et purum restitui, penitusque humanis mentibus inseri."
Erasmus. Query—where?
3. "Cujus vita despicitur, restat ut ejus prædicatio contemnatur."
S. Gregory.
W. D—N.
Deacons, a Phrase used by Foxe.
—In the martyrology of John Foxe we read—
"King Edward died, the world being unworthy of him: the Duke of Northumberland came down to Cambridge with an army of men, having commission to proclaim Lady Jane queen.... The duke sent for Doctor Sandys, being vice-chancellor, for Doctor Parker, for Doctor Bill, and Master Leaver to sup with him. Amongst other speeches he said, Masters, pray for us, that we speed well; if not, you shall be made bishops, and we deacons. And even so it came to pass: Doctor Parker and Doctor Sandys were made bishops; and he and Sir John Gates, who were then at the table, were made deacons, ere it was long after, on the Tower-hill."
I should be glad to know the allusion here, and how men who were executed could be said to be thereby made deacons.
W. D—N.
The Count de Vordac.
—When did the Count de Vordac, a general in the army of the Emperor of Germany, die? His memoirs are scarce; the copy which I have is reprinted at Paris in 1709. He was an Italian, bred for the church, which he relinquished for the profession of arms. He was born about 1660; his memoirs break off abruptly in 1695 when in midlife, and he was serving under our William III. He closes his memoirs with an account of his being at the siege of Namur, which he says cost his own party dear, and himself more particularly. It is very probable he fell at this siege if he continued his narrative while in the camp. His memoirs are curious and very entertaining. I find there that he was much esteemed at Vienna, and his conduct in rescuing the wife of one of the German nobility from a horrible imprisonment with the corpse of the man of whom her lord was jealous, is full of interest as well as horror, from the mode in which it was accomplished. He was personally acquainted with William III., who entrusted him with important commands. His narrative makes the reader anxious to know something of his subsequent history, if he were not a victim to the sword before the close of the war of which he spoke.
CYRUS REDDING.