Minor Queries Answered.
Saint Richard (Vol. iv., p. 475.).—On what authority do the particulars recorded of this personage in the Lives of the Saints rest? I cannot help considering his very existence as rather apocryphal, for these reasons:—1. Bede, who must have been his contemporary, and whose Ecclesiastical History was written several years after the date assigned for Richard's death, never mentions his name. 2. When did his alleged renunciation of the throne occur, and what historian of the period mentions it? At the time of his death, and for thirty-five years before, the kingdom of Wessex was under the sway of Ina, one of the greatest and best of the West Saxon kings. 3. His name is not a Saxon one, and I believe it is not to be found in English history till after the Norman Conquest.
S. S. WARDEN.
[The Britannia Sancta, 4to. 1745, contains the following notice of St. Richard compiled from the collections of the Bollandists:—"St. Richard, whose name occurs on Feb. 7 in the Roman Martyrology, is styled there, as well as in divers other monuments, King of the English, though in the catalogues of our Saxon kings there is no one found of that name; the reason of which is, because the catalogues of the kings, during the Heptarchy, are very imperfect, as might be proved, if it were necessary, by several instances of kings whose names are there omitted. As for St. Richard, it is that he was one of those princes who, as we learn from St. Bede, lib. iv. ch. 12., ruled the West Saxons after the year 673, till they were forced to give way to King Ceadwall; which is the more probable, because he flourished about that time, and was of the province of the West Saxons, as appears from his being a kinsman to St. Winifred, or Boniface, born and brought up in those parts (at Crediton in Devonshire), and from his son Willibald's being brought up in a monastery of the same province, and from his own setting out upon his pilgrimage from Hamble Haven, which belonged to the West Saxons." Some account of St. Richard and his tomb at Lucca will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxix., pt. i. p. 14.]
"Coming Events cast their Shadows before."
—Where does this couplet occur?
"'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,
And coming events cast their shadows before."
E. G.
[This couplet is from Campbells "Lochiel's Warning.">[
St. Christopher.
—Fosbroke says, "the Greek Christians represented this saint with a dog's head, like Anubis, to show that he was of the country of the Cynocephale; and in confirmation of this assertion he quotes "Winckelm. Stosch. cl. i. n. 103." I have never heard either of this fact, or of the authority from which Fosbroke derived it. Can any of your readers give me any information about either?
E. A. H. L.
[The following is the passage quoted by Mr. Fosbroke, from Winckelmann's Description des Pierres Graveés du feu Baron de Stosch. 4to. Florence, 1760, p. 25.:—
"Jaspe rouge. Anubis en pied. Je vais rémarquer ici en passant que les Chretiens Grecs du moyen âge ont figuré S. Christrophle avec tête de Chien, comme Anubis, pour signifier que ce Saint étoit du pays des Cynocéphales. (Pin. Commentar. Vit. S. Christoph., § 6. in Act. SS. Ant. Ful., vol. vi. p. 427.) Tel le voiton sur un ancien Ménologe peint sur bois, dans la Bibliothèque du Vatican; cette rare pièce y est entrée avec la bibliothèque du Marq. Capponi.">[
Cuddy, the Ass.
—Your correspondents have alluded to the words Donkey and Moke not appearing in any of our dictionaries. There is another word for the same animal in general use in Northumberland and the neighbouring counties, Cuddy, which likewise does not appear in the dictionaries I have looked at,—Johnson's amongst the number. Can any of your correspondents give the origin of this word?
J. S. A.
Old Broad Street.
[This word is most probably of Oriental origin, and may have been imported by the gypsies, the ass being their favourite quadruped. Persian gudda signifies an ass; and ghudda has the same signification in Hindostanee.—Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary.]
Toady.
—Will any of your readers be kind enough to explain the origin of this word, which is constantly used in conversation when speaking of a sycophant?
F. M.
[Toady, or Toad-eater, a vulgar name for a fawning, obsequious sycophant, was first given to a gluttonous parasite, famous for his indiscriminate enjoyment and praise of all viands whatever set before him. To test his powers of stomach and complaisance, one of his patrons had a toad cooked and set before him, which he both ate and praised in his usual way.—Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary.]
Mother Shipton.
—We have all heard of Mother Shipton and her prophecies. Was she a real character? If so, where did she live, and at what period? Were her prophecies ever published? If so, I should like an account of them?
JACOBUS.
[Our correspondent is referred to the following works relating to this renowned personage:—1. The Prophesies of Mother Shipton in the Raigne of King Henry VIII., foretelling the Death of Cardinal Wolsey, the Lord Percy, and others; as also what should happen in ensuing Times: London, 1641, 4to. 2. Two Strange Prophesies, predicting Wonderfull Events to betide this Yeare of Danger in this Climate, where some have already come to passe, by Mother Shipton: London, 1642, 4to. (About 1642 several other tracts were published with the name of Shipton.) 3. The Life and Death of Mother Shipton: London, 1677, 4to. 4. Mother Shipton's Life and Curious Prophecies: London, 1797, 8vo. 5. The History of Mother Shipton: Newcastle, 4to. Nos. 1. and 4. are in the British Museum.]