Minor Queries.
John Ap Rice's Register.
—Two ancient charters, formerly belonging to the abbey of Bury St. Edmund's, and now in the possession of the corporation of King's Lynn, bear the indorsement of J. Rhesensis, i.e. John Ap Rice, the commissioner who was sent by Hen. VIII. to investigate the affairs of this abbey; and whose letter upon the subject to secretary Cromwell is published in Letters relating to the Suppression of the Monasteries. On one of the charters the indorsement has been erased all but the name; on the other it runs thus:—"Relat' in regiū Registr' ad v'bū, 1536, J. Rhesens', Registr'." Is anything known of the Royal Register referred to?
C. W. G.
Prideaux's Doctrine of Conscience.
—Who was the author of the address to the reader in the Doctrine of Conscience, by Bishop Prideaux, published in 1656? it is signed Y. N. Bishop Prideaux died in 1650.
G. P. P.
John Adair, Geographer for Scotland (alive in 1715).
—I am anxious to obtain some information respecting the ancestry, wife, death, and descendants of this individual. I am already aware of the notices of him in Chalmers's Caledonia (ii. 58.), and in the Bannatyne Miscellany (ii. 347.).
E. N.
Clergymen first styled Reverend.
—I should be obliged if any of your correspondents would inform me when the word "Reverend" first came into use as distinctive of a clergyman. It never seems to have been applied to Hooker, who is always called Mr. Hooker in the different editions of his works.
QUESTOR.
Rev. Nathaniel Spinckes.
—Information is requested as to the descendants of the Rev. Nathaniel Spinckes, one of the Nonjuring divines, who died July 28, 1727. He was rector of Glinton with Peakirk, Northamptonshire; and it appears from Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary that he left two children, William Spinckes, Esq., and Anne, who married Anthony Cope, Esq.
J. P. JR.
Meaning of the Word "Elvan."
—Will any kind philologist come to the aid of the geologists in ascertaining the meaning of this uncouth word? In the current number of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (No. 29.) we read:
"Certain quartziferous porphyries which occur in the mining districts of Cornwall as veins, partly in granite, partly in clay-slate, have been long there known under the name of 'Elvans.' We have in vain sought for the origin of this term in English writers. Henwood expressly says (Trans. Geol. Soc. of Cornwall, vol. v.) that the etymology of the word is unknown. May it not perhaps be derived from a place called 'Elvan?' Reuss says, in his Lehrbuch der Geognosie, that porphyry occurs near Elvan in Westmoreland."
On turning to Borlase (Natural History of Cornwall, p. 91.), I find that he gives the derivation as follows:
"Quasi ab Hel-vaen, i.e. the stone generally found in brooks; unless it be a corruption of An-von, which in Cornish signifies a smith's anvil, and might fitly represent this very hard stone."
The term is a Cornish one, and applied to a crystalline rock usually hard enough to strike fire readily on sharp friction; and may it not have been derived from the Cornish word "Elven, a spark of fire," given in Borlase's vocabulary.
S. R. P.
Launceston.
Wiclif.
—There are few names of equal celebrity that have been so variously spelt, the sound remaining the same whether written Wiclif, Wycliff, Wickliffe, Wykcliff, &c. Can any authority be given, to ascertain the correct spelling?
J. K.
Showing the White Feather.
—What is the origin of this periphrasis for cowardice? Certainly not the words of King Henry:
"Press where ye see my white plume shine,
Amidst the ranks of war;
And be your Oriflamme to-day
The helmet of Navarre."
A. A. D.
Trin. Coll. Dublin.
Gray and Locke.
—The germ of Gray's—
"For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,"
occurs somewhere in Locke's Works. Can any one refer me to the passage; it commences:
"Who ever left the precincts of mortality, without," &c.
H. E. H.
Horses and Sheep, Remains of in Churches.
—In excavating the chancel of St. Botolph's parish church, Boston, we have discovered a quantity of horse's bones, and the jaw-bones of a sheep. Can any of your correspondents enlighten us on this singular case?
THOMAS COLLIS.
Boston.
Archæologia Cambrensis, Vol I., Reprint.
—I have recently purchased a copy of the above work to complete my set; but before doing so, I enquired of Mr. Pickering the publisher, if it was in all respects as well executed as the first copies. The answer, however, gave me no more information than "that the numbers of vol. i. Arch. Camb., which were destroyed by fire, have been reprinted, so as to make up a few copies, and the price is consequently 21s." The "reprint" is not as well executed as the original copies, inasmuch as nearly a whole page of interesting matter is omitted, and very few of the reprinted pages correspond with the good old ones. I have been a long time looking for the first volume of the Archæologia Cambrensis, the greater portion of which had been so unfortunately destroyed by fire; and though I cannot consider the "reprint" quite as good as the old copies, still I was very glad to obtain it. I trouble you with this "Note," not because I am dissatisfied with the mode of execution of the reprint, but in the hope that some of your correspondents will favour me with a few words on the work, and inform me why the page has been omitted, and why the reprinted pages do not agree with those of the old copies. Are there any other faults in the "reprint" which may have escaped my notice?
R. H.
Dublin.
Presbyterian Oath.
—The author of the Faggot of French Sticks remarks, that he never remained ignorant of anything which excited his attention in the streets of Paris when any one passing by could give him the information required: so now that there is such a living encyclopædia to consult as "N. & Q.," no knowledge should be lost for want of inquiry. In more than one publication it has been lately asserted, that presbyterian ministers take the following oath:
"We all subscribe, and with hands uplifted to the most High God do swear: 1. That we shall sincerely, really, and constantly through the grace of God, endeavour in our several places and callings to bring the church of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form of church government, &c. 2. That we shall in like manner, without respect of persons, endeavour the extirpation of popery and prelacy (that is, church government by archbishops, bishops, deans, and others.)"
The Bishop of Exeter, in a recent pamphlet, inserts this parenthesis:
"(Whether this actual subscription and oath be still continued, I know not: but the covenant is still a part of the Kirk's symbolical book, and published as such for the education of the people)."
Will some friend north of the Tweed be kind enough to settle this point?
C. T.
"A Pinch of Snuff from Dean Swift's Box."
—Some years ago I saw in the shop of a dealer in curiosities, in London, an old snuff-box, which was said to have belonged to Dean Swift; it was accompanied with three printed leaves, of the common octavo size, the first page of which commenced with "A Pinch of Snuff from Dean Swift's Snuff Box," (being a description of the snuff-box in question). The next subject on the leaves began with "'Tis a hundred years since." The leaves appeared to have been extracted from some Irish magazine or periodical, published about the year 1845-6, and to contain much valuable and amusing matter. As I have made repeated inquiries among the London booksellers in vain, for the name of the publication from which the above-mentioned extract was taken, I shall feel much obliged if you will permit me to make a similar inquiry through the medium of "N. & Q.," and by so doing you will confer a great favour upon
A SUBSCRIBER.
Gloucester.
Cromwell's Skull.
—I believe that a skull, maintained by arguments of considerable weight to be the veritable skull of the Protector, is now carefully kept in the hands of some person in London. It is understood that this interesting relic is retained in great secrecy, from the apprehension that a threat, intimated in the reign of George III., that if made public, it would be seized by government, as the only party to which it could properly belong.
It is to be hoped that the time in which such a threat could be executed has passed by, and that no danger need now be apprehended by the possessor for his open avowal of the facts of the case, such as they are.
Indeed, it seems desirable that if fair means could lead to such a result, the skull of one who filled so conspicuous a position amongst England's most distinguished rulers, should become public property.
Perhaps some one in possession of the arguments verifying the identity of the skull in question with that of Cromwell, would, by a recapitulation of them, favour some readers of the "N. & Q.", and amongst others
J. P.
Dudley.
Guy, Thomas, Founder of Guy's Hospital, and M.P. for the Borough of Tamworth, d. s. p. 1724.
—Can any of your readers give information as to the existence of any member of this family in the male line? The senior line of descent from Guy's maternal uncle, John Voughton, became extinct in 1843 upon the decease of Elizabeth, the relict of Dr. Clarke of Weggington, brother of Sir Charles M. Clarke, Bart.
KT.
Episcopal Mitre (Vol. iii., p. 62. et seq.).
—In addition to this Query, which has elicited much to interest one, I beg to know at what date and why the use of the mitre in England was discontinued? At the coronation of George IV. I, for one, was grievously disappointed not to see the whole bench of bishops mitred as well as robed.
S. S.
John Lord Berkeley, Bishop of Ely.
—In the Diary of Dr. Edward Lake, published in the Camden Miscellany, vol. i. p. 16., occur the following paragraphs:—
"Dec. 23. 1677. I administered the sacrament to the Lord John Barclay, being not well."
To the word Barclay, the editor, George Percy Elliott, Esq., has subjoined the following note:—
"Probably Lord John Berkeley; he was afterwards Bishop of Rochester, and subsequently of Ely, and was deprived for not taking the oath of allegiance to William and Mary."
Can any reader of "N. & Q." suggest any authority for the statement in the editor's note? Francis Turner was Bishop of Ely from 1684 to 1691, when he was deprived for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary. Turner was succeeded by Simon Patrick, translated from Chichester. As to the Rochester see, that was filled by Thomas Sprat from 1684 to 1713. His biography reminds one more of the Vicar of Bray than the sturdy Nonjuror.
J. Y.
Hoxton.
Palace of Lucifer.
—In Milton's elegy upon the death of Bishop Andrewes there is an allusion to a fabled Palace of Lucifer which I do not quite understand. It seems to refer to some romantic description or other, and I shall be much obliged to any one that will kindly tell me by whom. It is always important to know something of the train of an author's reading, as we then can better understand the ordinary train of his thoughts—
"Serpit odoriferas per opes levis aura Favoni,
Aura sub innumeris humida nata rosis,
Talis in extremis terræ Gangetidis oris
Luciferi regis fingitur esse domus."
Eleg. III. In obitum Præsulis Wintoniensis, l. 47.
And now I will give Thomas Warton's note in full. He says:
"I know not where this fiction is to be found. But our author has given a glorious description of a palace of Lucifer in the Paradise Lost, b. v. 757.:
"'At length into the limits of the North
They came, and Satan to his royal seat
High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount,
Rais'd on a mount, with pyramids and towers
From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold,
The Palace of Great Lucifer, so call
That structure, in the dialect of men
Interpreted; which not long after, he,
Affecting all equality with God,
In imitation of that mount, whereon
Messiah was declar'd in sight of Heaven,
The Mountain of the Congregation call'd,' &c.
"Here is a mixture of Ariosto and Isaiah. Because Lucifer is simply said by the prophet 'to sit upon the Mount of the Congregation on the sides of the North,' Milton builds him a palace on this mountain, equal in magnificence and brilliancy to the most superb and romantic castle. In the text, by the utmost parts of the Gangetic land, we are to understand the north; the river Ganges, which separates India from Scythia, arising from the mountain Taurus."
Some of your learned correspondents will, I doubt not, be both able and willing to throw some light upon a difficulty which may possibly have an indirect connexion with other difficulties also.
RT.
Warmington, Nov. 7. 1851.
Ecclesiastical Geography.
—Can any of your correspondents direct me to some works on Ecclesiastical Geography?
AJAX.
History of Commerce.
—What work gives a history of the various courses of commerce between Europe and the East in ancient and modern times, or in either of them, as I cannot meet with any such book in the various catalogues and advertisements of the day?
X. Y. Z.
Cambria.
Merchant Adventurers to Spain.
—Where can there be found any account of a trading company called the "Merchant Adventurers to Spain," who flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth?
C. I. P.
King's College Chapel Windows.
—In The Blazon of Gentrie, by John Ferne, London, 1586, it is said (p. 248.):—
"If anie personne doth give, or by his testament shall bequeth money to build a temple, the walles of a city, port, a causey, churches, &c., he maye set his armes upon the same. If so be that he did this, of his owne free will and liberalitie. But if he did the same by compulsion (beeing for that purpose set unto some mulcte or fine, for his offence, and so constrained to make his redemption by the building or repayring of the like things), he may not set his armes in such publique workes, as that bishop was, which being condemned in the Præmunire, redeemed the punishment of that offence, by the glasing of the King's College chappell windowes in Cambridge, a glasse-work of worthy admiration."
Is there any foundation for this story, and who was the bishop?
C. W. G.
The King's Standard.
—Will some of your correspondents kindly inform me where I can meet with a drawing of this standard in blazon? The Relation of the King's setting up his Standard at Nottingham: 4to. Lond. 1642, gives an engraving of the same under the title; but I cannot trace the mode in which the banner in question was coloured.
AMANUENSIS.
James Wilson, M.D.
—In 1761 James Wilson, M.D., published in two volumes, octavo, a reprint of the mathematical tracts of his then deceased friend Benjamin Robins. To them he added an appendix containing a dissertation on the controversy about the invention of fluxions, which dissertation is very little cited. He makes various statements on his own authority, describing himself as having been the friend of Brook Taylor and of Dr. Pemberton. Among other things he furnishes something which might be cited in answer to my query in Vol. v., p. 103., affirming that all Collins's papers fell into Jones's possession about the year 1708. Dr. Wilson and Martin Folkes were joint executors of Robins, as the former states. Query, who was James Wilson, M.D.? What was his probable age in 1712? What means exist for forming an opinion as to his judgment and veracity, over and above his publications as aforesaid?
A. DE MORGAN.