Minor Queries Answered.
Hoare's Charity.
—Inside the cover of a copy of The Whole Duty of Man (8vo., London, 1727, John Baskett) now before me, is pasted a slip of paper, containing a coat of arms, "Sable, a double eagle expanded or (?) in a bordure argent," surrounded by mantling, and surmounted by helmet and crest; below this is the following:—
"The gift of HENRY HOARE, Esq., who died March 12, 1724-5, aged forty-seven, and by his last Will and Testament hath vested the sum̅e of two thousand pounds in trustees, who are to apply the yearly interest, rents, and profits arising out of the said sum̅e to the purchasing, dispensing, and giving away, yearly, Bibles, Common Prayer-Books, and such other books as are intirely agreeable to the principles and doctrine of the Church of England, as now by law established, and most conducive to the advancement of Christian faith and piety in the world."
I shall be glad to learn whether this charity is still bestowed, and where: any particulars relative to the original donor will be acceptable. Permit me to add the Query,—Is mine the first edition of The Whole Duty of Man? if not, when was it first published, and who was the author?
W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.
[Mr. Henry Hoare was a son of Sir Richard Hoare, Lord Mayor of London, and an intimate friend of that worthy man, Robert Nelson, author of the Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England; a work which Dr. Johnson recommends as being a most valuable help to devotion, and as having had the greatest sale of any book ever printed in England, except the Bible. Mr. Hoare's name occurs in several parts of Robert Nelson's will, viz. "I give and bequeath to Mr. Henry Hoare, of London, goldsmith, one of my executors, 200l., upon trust to distribute 100l., part thereof, in such manner as shall be directed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and the other 100l. to be employed by him in promoting parochial libraries.... I give and bequeath to Mrs. Jane Hoare, wife of the said Mr. Henry Hoare, two pair of little silver candlesticks for her closet." It is also worthy a note in our pages that the first legacy received by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was that of Robert Nelson's, which is thus entered on the minutes of the Society:—"3d Feb. 1714-15. Mr. Hoare reported, that Mr. Nelson, lately deceased, had ordered him by his will, as one of his executors, to pay 100l. to the Society for promoting their designs; and also 50l. towards supporting the charity-school at St. George's Chapel." The name of Mr. Henry Hoare occurs among the list of subscribers in the first volume of Jeremy Collier's Ecclesiastical History, fol. 1708; and some of his letters to John Strype, the historian, will be found among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum, No. 5853. No biographical notice of Mr. Henry Hoare appears to have been preserved. See Herbert's History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies, vol. ii. p. 285., for a notice of his gift to the Goldsmiths' Company.
The first edition of The Whole Duty of Man was published in 1657. Like the enigmatical Junius, its authorship still remains a problem; but we believe it is now generally supposed to be written either by Lady Packington or Archbishop Sterne. Our correspondent will find the question discussed in the Rev. W. B. Hawkins's Introduction to Pickering's edition of this work, published in 1842; as well as in the valuable communication of J. E. B. Mayor, Esq., of Marlborough College, in our second volume, p. 292.]
Dr. Sacheverell's "Sermon at Derby."
—Can any of your correspondents furnish me with information as to the various editions which were published of Dr. Henry Sacheverell's Sermon at Derby in 1709? I am anxious to ascertain how many editions were issued, with their dates and other particulars.
L. J.
[We think our correspondent will not be able to obtain the information he requires, owing to the great demand at the time for the two Sermons for which the Doctor was prosecuted. Mr. Lathbury states (History of the Nonjurors, p. 237) that "of the Sermon 'Perils among False Brethren,' no less than forty thousand copies were sold in a few weeks." We have also now before us two copies of the Derby Sermon, both printed in 1709, 8vo., but no intimation on the title-page of their being different editions, which they evidently are, on an examination of their typographical composition. The Bodleian contains a quarto edition of the latter Sermon, 1710.]
Lucas Lossius.
—I have an old 12mo. volume with the following title-page:
"Annotationes Scholasticæ in Evangelia Dominicalia et ea quæ in Festis IESV CHRISTI, et Sanctorum ejus præcipuis, leguntur in Ecclesia, per totius Anni circulum: non inutile futuræ puerilibus Scholis.
"His adjectæ sunt in singula Evangelia Disticha, Argumenta, Doctrinæ Summariæ, Loci et Objectiones præterea, cum brevibus ac veris earum solutionibus Dialecticis, exercendæ adolescentiæ causa.
"Collecta et dictata à Luca Lossio, in Schola Lunæburgensi.
"⁕ ☞ ⁕
"Adiecimus et iam recens erudita Evangeliorum Dominicalium et Festivalium Disticha, inundæ memoriæ causa, à Vuendelino Helbachio conscripta.
"⁕
"Franc. Apud Hæred. Christ. Egen.
"M.D.LXXVIII."
The words, and parts of words, in Italics are rubricated.
As I live at a distance from any large library, and have consulted in vain such biographical works as my own scanty shelves afford, I shall be greatly obliged to any of your correspondents who have access to our public libraries, to inform me who Lucas Lossius was, and where any account of him may be met with? Also, who Wendelinus Helbachius, Stigelius, and Bernardus Bomgardius were, whose "Disticha" are interspersed throughout the volume? In the "Epistola Nuncupatoria" mention is made of "Joannis Stigelij, Poetæ clarissimi, nostra ætate," and of "M. Bernardi Bomgardij, Ludimoderatoris Vlzeniani;" but I cannot find any account of these worthies.
I ought to add that each Sunday or Saint's Day is preceded by a curious woodcut representing the subject of which the Gospel treats.
R. BN.
[Lucas Lossius, of Lunenburg, was a Lutheran divine and schoolmaster, well skilled in music, who published at Nuremberg, in 1553, Erotemata Musicæ practicæ, and together with Melancthon, the Lutheran ritual, Psalmodia, seu Cantica sacra veteris ecclesiæ selecta. At the period of the Reformation, the Lutherans preserved more of the ancient hymns and music of the church in their services than the Calvinists. Some account of Lossius is given in Hawkins's History of Music, vol. iii. p. 102. There is an edition of Annotationes Scholasticæ, with the curious woodcuts printed in the year 1560, at Leipsic.]
The "Athenian Oracle."
—Can you inform me who were the authors of the "Athenian Oracle," or, in other words, the members of the "Learned Society" who conducted this work? You may feel some interest in it as a kind of prototype and progenitor of your own "N. & Q." Your work, as I apprehend, does not profess to solve and answer so many nice puzzling points in divinity, philosophy, love, &c., as that of the Oracle, which furnishes us with a curious picture of the wants, opinions, and manners of the age in which it appeared; but yours, though neither dipping so deeply nor ranging so widely, ought to be highly prized as the exponent of the demands of our times more improved, enlightened, and not less inquisitive, and as affording to some of your correspondents far from the great metropolis of letters, a ready channel for information, much to their instruction and pleasure. Pardoning this digression, the copy of the Athenian Oracle I possess is in 3 vols. 8vo., purporting to be an entire collection of all the valuable questions and answers in the old Athenian Mercuries, &c., by a member of the Athenian Society; London, printed for Andrew Bell at the Cross Keys and Bible in Cornhill, near Stocks Market, the second volume 1703, the first and third 1704. The copy bears an autograph on the fly-leaf; "Ex Libris Thomas Browne, Ex Dono plurim; Mri Guil Carstairs Acad. Edinburg. primarij professoris Cui omnia (two words obscure) Ed. Nov. 23, 1706." The historical celebrity of Carstairs is a small feather in the cap of the copy, but unimportant to some farther knowledge from you of the book and its authors, the former having often supplied much rational fireside entertainment.
N.
Glasgow.
[The Athenian Gazette, afterwards called The Athenian Mercury, swelled at last to twenty volumes folio; these becoming scarce, a collection of the most valuable questions and answers was reprinted under the title of The Athenian Oracle, in 4 vols. 8vo. The fourth volume contains a Supplement, to which is prefixed "The History of the Athenian Society," and an "Essay upon Learning." It was projected by the celebrated John Dunton, who says, "My first project was the Athenian Gazette. As the Athenian Society had their first meeting in my brain, so it has been kept ever since religiously secret: but I will now oblige the reader with a true discovery of the question-project, and of the several persons that engaged in it." These were his brother-in-law, the Rev. Samuel Wesley and Mr. Richard Sault, who were occasionally assisted by Dr. Norris. The work was also countenanced by several of the most eminent writers of the age; and was honoured in particular with a commendatory poem by Swift. Some curious notices respecting Dunton and his numerous literary projects will be found in the Life and Errors of John Dunton, 2 vols. 8vo., 1818; and in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, vol. v. pp. 59-83.]