Minor Queries.
The Chronologic Institute.
—Should not this society, as a preliminary, protest against the architectural anachronisms of these days—the building churches, for instance, in every, any, or no style of architecture? In one parish the priest erects an Early English church, copied from the Oxford Glossary; in the next, something very like a conventicle, with no chancel and no chimes, is built by subscription; in another, the architect is a disciple of Ruskin, and tries the Byzantine style, with a tower like St. Mark's of Venice;—a nice Gordian knot for coming chronologists!
MORTIMER COLLINS.
Mother Carey's Chickens.
—In Hawkesworth's Voyages there occurs the following passage: "The petrels, to which sailors have given the name of Mother Carey's chickens." Who was "Mother Carey;" why was her name given to the petrel; and why have sailors so great an objection to their being killed?
W. B. M.
Dee Side.
Suwich Priory.
—What is known of the Priory of Suwich in Hampshire, of which a handsome seal records the former prosperity?
E. A. S.
Anthony Babington.
—Can any of your correspondents inform me whether William Kempe's Dutiful Invective against the moste Haynous Treasons of Ballard and Babington, &c. &c., has been reprinted in any collection of rare tracts, or otherwise? and also whether his Censure of a loyall Subiect upon certaine noted Speeches and Behaviour of those 14 notable Traitors (Ballard, Babington, &c.), has also been reprinted?
I should also be glad of references to any other tracts or ballads referring to Babington and his conspiracy.
L. J.
Sir Isaac Newton, Cicero, and Gravitation.
—How is it that Sir Isaac Newton has obtained so world-wide a renown for his discovery of the law of gravitation, when the following passage in the Tusculan Disputations proves it to have been well known to Cicero?
"Qua omnia delata gravitate medium mundi locum semper expetant."
See lib. v. cap. 24.
S. E. B.
Trinity College, Oxford.
Diotrophes.
—Can any of your readers say, on what authority the Abbé Masscot calls Diotrophes, mentioned in 3 St. John, ver. 9., Bishop of Corinth. The Abbé has left the Roman Church, and joined the branch of Mr. Henry Drummond's Church in France, and is the editor of Le Recueil Catholique, to advocate the cause of the new church. The passage to which I refer is in the October Number, p. 208., and is given as a proof of his theory: "L'Apostolat supplanté, absorbé par l'Episcopat;" this first order of ministry in the Christian Church having been in abeyance, till it was revived in the person of Mr. Drummond and the other eleven apostles of that Church! In Mant and D'Oyley's Bible it is said that Diotrophes is unknown; and Grotius and Doddridge entertain different opinions about him, but neither speak of him as being a bishop.
ER.
Grisly.
—Can any of your readers inform me why a person in a fretful state is said to be grisly? the far-famed Guzzle being a pattern of meekness and patience. I am aware that Johnson gives the meaning—fearfully, horribly; but this does not seem satisfactory. Infants are often said by their nurses to be "very grisly."
RUBY.
Birthplace of St. Patrick.
—Can the disputed question of the birthplace of St. Patrick be settled? Some writers assign Scotland, others England, and others France, as his fatherland. He himself informs us (Confess. sub init.) that he was born at Bonavem-Taberniæ. This locality has been supposed by some writers to be Kilpatrick, on the mouth of the Clyde, and by others Boulogne-sur-Mer.
CEYREP.
Motto on Chimney-piece.
—There is a carved oak chimney-piece in my possession, of the time of James I., from a mansion at Newcastle-upon-Tyne occupied as the Turk's Head Inn, and taken down about fifteen years ago. In the central compartment is a shield, but the crest is wanting. The quarterings are three stags' heads, and checky; and as the motto has puzzled wiser heads than mine, I beg leave to produce it. One or two of the letters are doubtful, but there is no omission:
"VITATRANOVULAESTOLIM."
I should feel much obliged to any one for deciphering the motto, and still more for discovering the original possessor of this interesting piece of antiquity.
Another motto, under a coat of arms on some old china, cannot meet with an interpreter:
"VE DAL AM DARO."
C. T.
Curious Bequest.
—In the parish of Eardisland in Herefordshire, I am informed that some charitable person, whose name I could not ascertain, left to certain poor persons, parishioners, the following singular bequest, viz., to each poor person—
13 bushels of wheat
13 red herrings
13 tennis balls
13 pepper corns
13 pence.
This was to be distributed on Maunday Thursday. Can any of your correspondents throw light upon this, or mention similar instances of such singular bequests?
H. C. K.
Wilkie's Blind Fiddler.
—I should be much obliged if you, or any of your correspondents, could give me some information respecting Sir David Wilkie's picture of "The Blind Fiddler." I believe he painted as many as four, if not more, copies of the original, and that the first picture was finished by him in the year 1807; that in the National Gallery is dated, as I am informed, 1808. What I wish to ascertain is, the real number of the pictures of this subject that Wilkie painted, with their dates; and if possible, in whose hands they are at present.
H. C. K.
—— Rectory, Hereford.
Lode.
—It seems to be a provincial word, according to Forby, and means "an artificial water-course," from A.-S. lodian, haurire; he also adduces the instance I have named, and also a water-course in Fincham, called in old writings "the Lode ditch." It would be interesting to know if it is used elsewhere than in Norfolk, and it may be Suffolk; but, at all events, I should much like to come at the real meaning.
J. N. C.
Ballad quoted by Sir Walter Scott.
—Effie Deans, in the Heart of Mid-Lothian, sings this stanza of a ballad:
"The elfin knight sate on the brae,
The broom grows bonnie, the broom grows fair,
And by there cam' lilting a lady so gay,
And we daurna' gang down to the broom nae mair."
There is a traditional ballad, very similar, of which the following is the only stanza preserved:
"Ae kings dochter said to anither,
Broom blooms bonnie, an' grows sae fair,
We'll gae ride like sister and brither,
But we'll never gae down to the broom nae mair."
Sir Walter Scott delighted in preserving scraps of old ballads; and perhaps the two fragments above quoted may be part and parcel of the same original. Some friend in the "north countrie" may perhaps settle this point.
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
Ann Stewart, Wife of Christopher Hall.
—Can any of your readers inform me, by referring to an old work called Stewart's History of the Stewarts, page 156., whether Ann Stewart therein mentioned, who married Christopher Hall, was a descendant of the daughter of Henry VII.?
JOHN OF GAUNT.
Moveable Organs and Pulpits.
—In looking over a small pamphlet, entitled The Temple Church, an Account of its Restoration and Repairs, by William Burge, Esq. (8vo. 1843, Pickering), I met with the following passage, which serves me for a peg on which to hang a Query:
"Mr Etty justly observes that 'in St. Peter's at the present day, the organ is a very small one comparatively to the building, and is wheeled about, like the ancient pulpits, to different parts of the church!'"—P. 34.
Are movable organs common in Italy or elsewhere? With regard to pulpits, the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, has two at the present time, placed in one of the small chapels on the north side. They are moved into the choir when required. Besides these, the neighbouring church at Grantchester has a large pulpit, which, tradition says, also once belonged to the same noble edifice. Can any of your correspondents mention other examples of churches or chapels so well supplied?
W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.
Nobleman alluded to by Bishop Berkeley.
—Bishop Berkeley, in his Minute Philosopher (Dialogue II. vol. i.), makes mention of "an English nobleman who in the prime of life professeth a liberal art, and is the first man of his profession in the world." Who was this nobleman?
J. M.
Chelwoldesbury.
—I shall be glad to have the opinion of your readers on the derivation of the name of a village, which in early records is spelt "Chalwoldesbury," "Chelwardesbury," "Chilwardesbury," "Chedwoldesby," &c. It is partly on the site of a British or Danish encampment, in a good state of preservation. The soil is chalky, and the country for some short distance round may have been open, but more probably the woods closely surrounded the camp. These particulars may assist in arriving at the derivation of the name, now corrupted into Cholesbury.
W. H. K.
Swallows' Nests.—
"... That wond'rous stone, which the swallow,
Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight of its fledglings;
Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the swallow!"
Longfellow's Evangeline, Part I. i.
May I ask for information respecting the allusion contained in these lines?
W. S. T.
Quotation from Arthur Hopton.
—Arthur Hopton (Baculum Geodæticum, 1610, preface) says:
"If this hold, it is time to ... take the globe out of the king Ptolomies hand, and there place a poore Siquis, such as forlorne forreiners use to have in Paul's Church."
What does this mean?
M.
Group at Prague.
—I have in my possession a print representing Mercury in a flying attitude, bearing a female figure in his arms: the latter figure carries a cyathus in her right hand.
The inscription at the bottom of the print is—
"IVSSV RVDOLPHI · II · CÆSARIS AVGVSTI,
ADRIANVS DE VRIES HAGIENSIS FACIEBAT. PRAGUÆ.
OPVS ALTITVDINIS PEDVM OCTO EX ÆRE. 1.5.9.3."
I apply to "N. & Q." in hopes that this "Q." may meet the eye of some erudite correspondent, and draw forth a satisfactory "N."
Was Prague ever decorated with such a group? If the group in question be not a myth, what is the meaning of it? Who is meant by the first line of the inscription?
TECEDE.
Cards prohibited to Apprentices.
—When was the prohibition to play at cards or dice first introduced into apprentices' indentures? It occurs in the form of an indenture for an apprentice in A Book of Presidents, printed about 1566, and compiled by Thomas Phaer, who describes himself as "Solicitour to the King and Queenes Majesties."
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
Cursitor Barons.
—Can any of your correspondents guide me to a list of the Cursitor Barons, or refer me to any account of their origin and history? I find no such officer named up to the reign of Henry VIII., beyond which I have not yet inquired; nor does any notice occur of them in Madox's History of the Exchequer.
EDWARD FOSS.
Phelps's Gloucestershire Collections.
—The late John Delafield Phelps, Esq., who died in December, 1842, was well known among the literati as an ardent bibliophile, and a great investigator and accumulator of antiquities. He was one of the original members of the Roxburghe Club, established nearly forty years ago, and had devoted a long life to his favourite pursuits. Having been a native of Gloucestershire, he felt a particular interest in everything which regarded that county, and had in his lifetime collected a great mass of materials for the elucidation of its history, antiquities, &c., in every respect. It is understood that an ample catalogue (raisonné perhaps) was printed under his direction for circulation among his particular friends, giving great evidence of his assiduity and talents, and of the value of the collection. Participating to a great extent the interest which actuated Mr. Phelps to ascertain a local knowledge of Gloucestershire, I should feel obliged if any reader of the "N. & Q." could inform me what has become of Mr. Phelps's collection; if it remains entire, and if it be accessible by any recommendation to the present possessor?
Δ. (2).
Huant Le Puisné.
—I have in my possession a small gold bonbonnière exquisitely enamelled with portraits and landscapes, and bearing the following inscription:
"Huant Le puisné pinxit à Berlin."
Can any of your readers refer me to a work where I shall find any account of this painter?
A. O. O. D.
Arms of Roberson.
—What is the meaning of a man, chained hand and foot, placed horizontally beneath the arms of Roberson?
R. S. B.