Replies to Minor Queries.

Haberdascher.—Hurrer (Vol. v., p. 137.).

—Precision is of great importance in investigating the meaning of our ancient technical terms.

Haberdascher was, I apprehend, the generic name of dealers in small wares. Hats and caps were formerley called hures and howves or houfes; and when haberdashers dealt in such articles they were pro tanto hurrers. But as early as the time of Edward I. there were traders called hatters, who were not haberdashers; and at a later period, when the term hurrer was obsolete, there were "haberdashers of hats." In the reign of Edw. IV. a curious petition was presented to Parliament, which is not unworthy of being put upon your Notes. It sets forth—

"That whereas huers, bonnets, and cappes, as well single as double, were wont to be truly made, wrought, fulled, and thickked by the might and strength of men, that is to say, with hand and foot; and they that have so made, wrought, fulled, and thickked such huers, bonnets, and cappes, have well and honestly afore this gotten their living thereby, and thereupon kept apprentices, servants, and good household. It is so that there is a subtile mean found now of late, by reason of a Fullyng Mille, whereby more cappes may be fulled and thickked in one day than by the might and strength of four score men by hand and foot may be fulled and thickked in the same day: the which huers, bonnets, and cappes, so fulled and thickked by such mill, are bruised, broken, and deceivably wrought, and cannot by the mean of any mill be truly made."

The petitioners conclude by praying Parliament to impose heavy penalties upon all who use the fulling mill, or who sell huers, hats, or bonnets that have been "fulled or thickked" by means of any such mill. So early did the antagonism between hand-labour and machinery prevail.

I doubt whether the more ancient name of haberdasher were milainer. There were haberdashers at York in the time of Edward III., but no milliners. In 1372 the haberdashers of London were separated from the hurrers, with whom they had been previously associated. I should be glad to have a reference to the use of the term milainer, as applied to traders of any sort prior to the reign of Edward III.

I should also be obliged to any of your correspondents who will tell me what was the description of trade or business carried on by uphalders in former times.

Δ.

Cou-bache (Vol. v., p. 131.).

—In Halliwell's Archaic Dictionary the word balk is interpreted, "a ridge of greensward left by the plough in ploughing, or by design, between the different occupancies in a common field." This is exactly the meaning of the word as it is commonly used in Yorkshire at this day; but in a Yorkshire village with which I am acquainted, we have the very phrase of the Golden Legend, "cou-bache," (pronounced skoo-bauk, the prefix s being a not infrequent corruption), as the name of a wide grassy road between thorn-hedges, upon the verbage of which the milch cows of the villages are pastured. This seems to be just the sort of place described in the legend as the scene of Kenelm's murder. I need not add, that it is not unusual to find pure Anglo-Saxon words retained in the rural dialects of Yorkshire.

Δ.

Meaning of Groom.—M. F. Barrière (Vol. v., p. 347.)

—Having some reason to doubt the high editorial authority attributed to M. Barrière by J. R. (Cork), I would request your ingenious correspondent to favour us with references to one or two (or more, if not too troublesome) of the "frequent cases" in which the Quarterly Review adopts M. Barrière's statements.

The filthy espièglerie related by that very suspicious authority St. Simon, of the Duchess of Burgundy, already sufficiently incredible, is rendered impossible in J. R.'s version of "administered to herself." St. Simon supposes no such legerdemain.

The Groom of the Stole is the first lord of the King's bed-chamber; under a Queen the equivalent office and title is Mistress of the Robes.

Grinning like a Cheshire Cat (Vol. ii., pp. 377, 412.).

—In one of your early Numbers I have seen some Queries respecting the phrase "Grinning like a Cheshire Cat." I remember to have heard many years ago, that it owes its origin to the unhappy attempts of a sign painter of that county to represent a lion rampant, which was the crest of an influential family, on the sign-boards of many of the inns. The resemblance of these lions to cats caused them to be generally called by the more ignoble name. A similar case is to be found in the village of Charlton, between Pewsey and Devizes, Wiltshire. A public-house by the roadside is commonly known by the name of The Cat at Charlton. The sign of the house was originally a lion or tiger, or some such animal, the crest of the family of, I believe, Sir Edward Poore.

Mallet's Death and Burial (Vol. v., p. 319.).

—I am now able to answer a Query which I lately sent to you. David Mallet died in George Street, Hanover Square, and was buried in the burial-ground of Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street.

Can any of your readers tell me when and where Mrs. Mallet, his widow, died? Who was T. C., the writer of a letter in the Gentlemen's Magazine, vol. lxii. pt. 1. p. 100.

Town-halls (Vol. v., p. 295.).

—MR. J. H. PARKER, in his Query respecting old town-halls, mentions the Town-hall of Weobly, in Herefordshire, as an early example of timber-work. Similar examples exist at Hereford, Ross, Ledbury, and Leominster, in the same country. These buildings are all constructed upon the same plan, viz. a large oblong room supported on wooden pillars; so that there is an open covered space beneath, which is used for the purposes of a market. With respect to the age of these buildings I can give no information; but something might doubtless be determined, partly by records, and partly by the internal evidence of the style of construction.

In reply to MR. J. H. PARKER'S Query about Town-halls, I beg to say that in Leicester there are still standing a Guildhall (part of which is undoubtedly of a date as early as the middle of the fourteenth century) and a County Hall, called "The Castle," similar to the old building at Oakham. The foundation-walls of the latter are parts of the original fabric, and one of the windows is clearly of the Transition period.

JAYTEE.

Whiting's Watch (Vol. iii., p. 352.).

—On reading this you may exclaim, "Quæ regio in terris nostri non plena laboris." Before this note reaches you, I may have been anticipated; but I will venture it, if only to show that your delightful publication extends its charms even to the "benighted."

I wish to inform C. O. S. M., in furtherance of his Query, that Whiting's watch is included in Thorpe's (178. Piccadilly) Catalogue for 1843, No. 689, and is there given as from the collection of the late Duke of Sussex, who obtained it from the Rev. John Bowen.

B. C.

Madras, March 13.

The Birthplace of St. Patrick (Vol. v., p. 344.)

is fully discussed by DR. ROCK at the end of a small work entitled Did the Early Church in Ireland acknowledge the Pope's Supremacy? Perhaps CEYREP may think his question met by the authorities set forth in the above-named book.

BRITO.

Family of Grey (Vol. v., p. 298.).

—I am much obliged by the answer to part of my Query; but I should be very glad to know the name of the lady Thomas, second brother of the Marquis of Dorset, married, and who was mother by him of Margaret, wife of John Astley,[7] Master of the Jewels to Queen Elizabeth.

[7] Query, not Ashley.

C. DE D.

Edward Bagshaw (Vol. v., p. 298.).

—W. B. inquires whether Sir Edward Bagshaw, of Finglas, left other children besides two daughters; which two he describes as married to Ryves and Burroughs respectively? and whether Castle-Bagshaw, in the co. Cavan, took its name from this branch of the family, with any other information concerning this Sir Edward?

I have looked into my Cavan MS. Collections, and I find from them that Sir Edward Bagshaw had been, so far as I can at present see, an adventurer of Cromwell's introduction, debentured on lands of Cavan, viz. Callaghan, Tirgromley, Derrychill, Timhowragh, and seventeen other denominations, which were thereupon erected into the manor of Castlebagshaw, and whereon he built a castle: such I suppose the origin of the manor and castle. It is more certain, and indeed on proof before me, that he had one daughter named Anne, and married before 1654 to Thomas Richardson, of Dublin, Esq., who, having paid 600l. to Sir Edward, he, for that consideration, and for the marriage, granted all the premises to Richardson in fee, who assigned them in 1661 to four different persons. One of these assignees was Ambrose Bedell, a son of the celebrated William Bedell, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. Sir Edward Bagshaw died about 1661, possibly just previous to this partition. His latter days were I think passed at Finglas, in the description of which locality, in my History of the Co. Dublin, I find this apposite notice (p. 371.): "Under the communion table are flat tombstones of very ancient date, to the families of Bagshaw and Ryves;" but their position precluded my decyphering their evidence. Of the family of Bagshaw I have in my Genealogical Collections various notices, as well in this country as in Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

JOHN D'ALTON.

48. Sumner Hill, Dublin.

White Livers (Vol. v., pp. 127. 212.).

—Dissen interprets the λευκαὶ φρένες of Pindar (Part IV. 194.), pale with envy, envious; alii aliter. Whatever be the exact meaning of this debated phrase, the idea at the ground of it appears the same as that in the modern "white liver." According to Homer, it will be remembered, φρένες ἦπαρ ἔχουσιν. (Od. ix. 301.)

A. A. D.

[SIGMA refers our correspondent to Ryan's Medical Jurisprudence, and Elliotson's Physiology, for a medical explanation of the phrase—not quite suited to our pages.—ED.]

Miniature of Cromwell (Vol. v., p. 189.).

—Miniatures of Oliver Cromwell do not appear to be very rare. At least, in addition to those which have been noted in your columns, I may state that I picked up at Stockholm, a few years ago, a very well-executed miniature of the Regicide, which was in all probability brought to Sweden by his ambassador Whitlock. The miniature is very small, is protected by a thick glass, and is framed in an ornamented, richly gilt, copper frame. It is, I think, painted in ivory, and is backed by a gilt copper plate, on which is engraved, in characters apparently of the period, "Ol, Cromwáll, Anno 1684." The accent over the á renders it probable that setting and inscription are foreign. The painting itself gives the features of Cromwell very exactly, and represents him in plain armour, with a plain falling collar round the neck, and long flowing hair.

G. J. R. G.

Sleck Stone, Meaning of (Vol. v., p. 140.).

—I have just found a passage in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy which proves that R. C. H. was correct in the remarks he made on these words, viz. that they ought to have been printed sleek-stone, and that they were the name of an instrument used for smoothing or polishing, and not for sharpening:

"The ebon stone which goldsmiths use to sleeken their gold with, born about or given to drink, hath the same properties, or not much unlike."

Anat. of Mel., Part ii. sec. iv. mem. 1. subs. 4.
[Blake, one vol. 8vo. MDCCCXXXVI. P. 437.]

Lady Macbeth says:

"Come on;

Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;

Be bright and jovial 'mong your guests to-night."

Macbeth, Act III. Sc. 2.

C. FORBES.

Temple.

Slick or sleek stones are used by curriers to remove wrinkles and other irregularities in, and to smoothen the surface of hides and skins, after they have been converted into leather by the tanner. The stone which is considered to be the best for this purpose is quarried in the neighbourhood of Kendal.

The currier's sleek stone is an oblong square plate, measuring six inches in length by four inches in breadth, and half an inch in thickness. One of the longer edges of the stone is fixed into a groove in a wooden handle or stock, and hence it is also commonly called a stock stone.

The leather being spread out upon a table, the stock is held in both hands, and the opposite edge of the stone is pressed upon and rubbed over the surface of the leather. In a subsequent part of the process of currying the workman uses, in like manner, a slicker or sleeker made of steel, and finishes his work with a glass sleeker.

J. L. C.

Tenor Bell of Margate (Vol. i., p. 92.; Vol. v., p. 319.).

—The weight of this "ponderous tenor bell" is not mentioned; but there does not seem to be any particular "obscurity," whatever there may be of strangeness in the alleged mode of its transit by water. By the terms "mill-cog" of the poetaster is doubtless to be understood the cog-wheel of the miller, viz. that which more or less directly connects the motive agent with the shaft carrying the stones. Persons who happen to have noticed the large size and ponderous construction of the main cog-wheel in many an ancient flourmill will easily imagine that if set afloat it would carry a great weight; especially if prepared, as a missionary to the Hudson's Bay territories told me a small cart-wheel was rigged to transport him over the rivers, viz. by stretching a large skin over its area. It was, in all likelihood, to some contrivance of this kind that John de Dandelion and his dog have become so picturesquely and permanently connected with the history of Margate in "traditionary rhyme."

Rhymes connected with Places (Vol. v., pp. 293. 374.).

—The following has been printed in the late John Dunkin's History of Dartford; but as topographical works have but a limited circulation, and the above-named author was fond of printing but few impressions of his works, I have taken the liberty of forwarding the lines to you:

"Sutton [8] for mutton,

Kirby [9] for beef,

South Darne [10] for gingerbread,

Dartford [11] for a thief."

All four of the parishes are situate upon the river Darent, and adjoin.

[8] Sutton at Hone—fine pastures.

[9] Horton Kirby, the same.

[10] South Darenth, celebrated for its old church, and (probably when the lines were composed) for its baker.

[11] Dartford: the bridewell of the district was formerly in this parish, in Lowfield Street.

Αλφρεδ.

Burial, Law respecting (Vol. v., p. 320.).

—Though not a lawyer, I venture to express the opinion that, if preferred, burial may take place in unconsecrated ground. The law exacts the registering of the death, and inhibits a clergyman from officiating except within the consecrated boundary. Indeed the burying-ground of dissenters is not consecrated according to law, although it may have to be licensed. But, supposing a person to have the fancy to lie "in some loved spot, far away from other graves," there seems to be no legal difficulty. In the shrubbery of Brush House, the residence of my friend and neighbour John Booth, Esq., M.D., there is a mausoleum over the remains of his uncle, from whom he inherited the property.

"Here," says Hunter, in his History of Hallamshire, "Mr. Booth spent the latter part of an active life in mathematical and philosophical studies; and, indulging a natural (?) and patriarchal desire, prepared his own sepulchre amidst the shades his own hand had formed, in which his remains are now reposing."

Was not Mrs. Van Butchell preserved many years after death in a glass case by her husband?

ALFRED GATTY.

Lines on English History (Vol. iii., p. 168.).

—The lines on English History, beginning

"William the Norman conquers England's State," &c.

were not from the pen of any Catholic gentleman of the name of Chaloner, but were composed by a Protestant. Some of the lines were subsequently altered by a Catholic lady, the late Mrs. Cholmely, of Brandsby Hall, near York, and I believe the whole verses were printed at her private expense. The line on Mary of England was, in the original, anything but complimentary to the memory of that queen. Mrs. Cholmely's daughter, the late Mrs. Charlton, of Hesleyside in Northumberland, had the verses printed again at Newcastle, about twenty-five years ago. I have no doubt that I could procure a copy for AN ENGLISH MOTHER.

EDWARD CHARLTON.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Suicides buried in Cross Roads (Vol. iv., pp. 116. 212. 329.).

—In the fifth chapter of the most remarkable Saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne, we find some curious customs to have been prevalent in Greenland relative to the burial of the dead in unconsecrated ground. Thorstein Erikson, the second husband of Gudrida, died of a sore sickness. Many of the household had previously been carried off by the same malady, and the ghost of each corpse joined its fellows in tormenting and terrifying the survivors. The night after Thorstein's death, his corpse rose up in the bed and called for Gudrid his wife. With reluctance and terror the widow approached the body of her husband.—

"Now when Gudrid arose and went to Thorstein, it seemed to her as though he wept. And he whispered some words to her which none could hear, but these other words he spoke in a loud voice, so that all were aware thereof. 'They that keep the truth shall be saved, but many here in Greenland hold badly to this command. For it is no Christian way as here is practised, since the universal faith was brought to Greenland, to lay a corpse in unblessed earth, and to sing but little over it. It had been the custom in Greenland, after Christianity was brought in, that the dead should be buried on the lands where they died, in unhallowed earth, and that a stake should be set up over the breast of the dead (skyldi setja staur upp af brjosti hinum dauda); and when the priest afterwards came, the stake was pulled up, and holy water was poured into the hole, and they sang over the body even though it was long after.' And Thornstein's body was carried to the church in Eriksfiord, and there it was sung over by the priests (yfirsöngvar af Kennimönnum.")

May not this custom, which prevailed in Greenland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, have been derived from the Scandinavian north, and there have been applied to the suicide buried in the cross road? Was the idea of burying these outcasts in such a place, the hopeful one of placing them at least under the shadow as it were of the cross, though they were denied a resting-place in consecrated ground. That the old Northerns regarded suicide with horror, we know from the "Eyrbiggia Saga," p. 530. of Mr. Blackwell's edition of Mallet's Northern Antiquities.

EDWARD CHARLTON.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Th' Man i' th' Almanack (Vol. v., p. 320.).

—In old almanacks the sun is represented by a man's face inclosed in a ring, from which externally points or rays, indicating flames, appear to proceed. An Oldham recruit, billeted at the sign of the Sun, in writing home to his friends, described the sign as "th' mon's face set a' round we skivers.[12]"

[12] Skivers, skewers or pins.

ROBERT RAWLINSON.

Olaus Magnus (Vol. iii., p. 370.).

—I have before me an English version of this most singular writer, by J. S., printed by J. Streater, London, 1658, 1 vol. folio, pp. 342. The marvellous description of the sea serpent by Olaus Magnus is well known, but during the controversy recently raised as to the reappearance of this monster to the officers of the Dædalus, the following testimony to its existence in later times was perhaps overlooked. It is extracted from the notes of Frederick Faber, the celebrated Iceland ornithologist, describing a zoological expedition to the islands in the Cattegat, and published in Oken's Isis for 1829, p. 885.:

"As I was returning in a boat from Endelave to Horsens, the old helmsman, observing that I took great interest in natural history, asked me if I had ever seen the sea serpent. On my replying in the negative, he told me that about two years ago, while he and his companion were fishing near Thunoe, they observed the head of a large creature lying quite on the surface of the water, and in close proximity to their boat. The head was like that of a seal, though they immediately perceived that it belonged to no animal of that kind. A gull flew towards the monster, and made a pounce upon him, when the huge creature raised its body at least three fathoms high into the air, and made a snap at the bird, which flew away in terror. They had time, before it disappeared, to notice that the monster had a red throat, and that its body was about twice the thickness of a boat's mast."

EDWARD CHARLTON.

The Word "Couch" (Vol. v., p. 298.).

—The word is French: coucher par écrit. Ménage says, coucher, in its common sense, is derived from collocare in Latin, of which he gives instances as early as Catullus; he might have gone back to Terence. Hence, says he, "coucher bien par écrit, pour dire écrire avec ordre:" and quotes Salmasius, to show that coucher par écrit answered to digerere, in the sense of writing a digest.

The sense is the same as our expression "lay down," "lay down the law," &c., but we do not confine that to writing.

C. B.