Minor Queries Answered.
Winterton.
—Information is requested of John [Ralph] Winterton, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, who translated, revised, and published Gerard's Meditations and Prayers, Cambridge, 1674, dedicated to John (Dolben), Lord Bishop of Rochester: the second part is called on the title-page the tenth edition. This book measures only four by two inches, and one inch in thickness, and contains 560 pages.
E. D.
[Ralph Winterton, in 1632, translated the Considerations of Drexelius upon Eternity, in the Preface to which he says, "I left the temple of Hippocrates and the Muses, and betook myself into the sanctuary, to which consisteth in the due numbering of the days of this short life, by comparing them with the years of eternity; and so I fell upon translating this book of eternity. And this I found, by daily experience, to be the best hypnoticon that ever I used; for it brought me to my rest better than if had taken diacodion." In 1634 he was nominated Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge; and in 1635 published an edition of the minor Greek poets. The first edition of his translation of Gerard's Meditations and Prayers was published in 1631, and in 1640 he translated Gerard's Summe of Christian Doctrine, 8vo. There is a Latin distich by Winterton among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum, No. 5955.]
Emblems of a Saint.
—At the sale of the late Mr. Cottingham's Museum of medieval art was sold on the seventh day "a corbel with a figure of a saint with a basket of birds in one hand, in the other a staff." Will you allow me to inquire, through your valuable columns, the name of this saint?
BURIENSIS.
[Joachim, the Father of Mary, is sometimes represented as holding in his hand a basket with two turtle doves in it.—See Die Attribute der Heiligen, &c., Hanover, 1843.]
Quack.
—Why are certain members of the medical profession so called? I have seen "in print" that the Egyptian hieroglyphic for a doctor was a duck. Does this afford a clue?
A. A. D.
[Our English Quack, or Quacksalver as it was originally written, is from the German Quacksalber, or rather the Dutch Kwaksalver; which Bilderdijk, in his Geslachtlijst der Naamwoorden, states should be more properly Kwabzalver (Iatroliptes), from Kwab, a wen, and zalver, to salve or anoint.]
Dr. Hieron Mercurialis.
—Who was Dr. Hieron Mercurialis, the author of a book having the following title: Medicina Practica, seu de cognoscendis, discernendis, et curandis, omnibus humani corporis affectibus, earumque causis indagandis?
W. S.
[Hieron Mercurialis, an eminent and learned physician, was born at Forli, in Romagna, in 1530. During a sojourn of seven years at Rome, he paid great attention to classical literature and the monuments of antiquity, and composed the learned and elegant work which first rendered him celebrated in the literary world, De Arte Gymnastica Libr. sex, printed in 1567. After filling the Professor's chair at Padua for eighteen years, he removed, in 1587, to Bologna, and subsequently to Pisa. He died in his native place in 1606. See Rose's Biographical Dict.]
The Book of Sports.
—This celebrated royal indulgence of Sabbath-breaking was first issued in 1617, and again in 1633. On its first promulgation, Archbishop Abbott forbad the reading of it in the parish church of Croydon; but in 1637 many clergymen were deprived of their livings for not complying with the royal ordinance. In that year, at least, Lawrence Snelling, Rector of Paul's Cray, was for that offence excommunicated and then deprived.
In 1643 it was ordered by the Lords and Commons that this book should be burnt by the common hangman in Cheapside and other usual places. The Sheriffs of London and Middlesex were required "to assist effectually" in the execution of the order; and all persons were required forthwith to deliver up all copies to the sheriff. The 10th of May was the day fixed for putting this order into execution. Was it complied with generally? I cannot find that any penalty was attached to disobedience. Is the book now scarce? I presume it is accessible in public libraries.
S. S. S.
[The earlier editions of The Book of Sports are now scarce, but may be seen in most public libraries. It was reprinted in 1709, with the following title: The Book of Sports, set forth by James I. and Charles I., with remarks upon the same in vindication of Charles I. 4to. It was also reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany, and in The Phœnix, vol. i.]