Bacon (Vol. iii., p. 41.).—The explanation given in a former number from old Verstegan, of the original meaning of the family name of Bacon, and the application of the word to the unclean beast, with the corroboration from the pages of Collins's Baronetage, is very interesting. The word, as applied to the salted flesh of the dead animal, is another instance of the introduction of a foreign term for a dead animal, in opposition to the Anglo-Saxon name of the living animal. It was used in this sense in France at a very early period; and Ampère, in his Histoire Littéraire de la France avant le 12ième Siècle, iii. 482., mentions the word among other instances of Gallicisms in the Latin of the Carolingian diplomas and capitularies, and quotes the capitularies of Charles the Fat. Bacco, porc salé, from the vulgar word bacon, jambon. The word was in use as late as the seventeenth century in Dauphiné, and the bordering cantons of Switzerland, and is cited in the Moyen de Parvenir, ch. 38. The passage is curious, as it would seem to intimate that Lord Bacon was one of the personages introduced in that very extraordinary production of the Rabelaisian school.
I have frequently heard the word employed by the country people in the markets of Geneva.
J. B. D.
Lachrymatories (Vol. ii., pp. 326. 448.).—In illustration of the question as to the probable use of those small vases so commonly found in sepulchral monuments, I extract the following from Wayfaring Sketches among the Greeks and Turks. 2d edit. Introduction, pp. 6, 7. London: Chapman, 1849.
"The poorest of the sepulchres is certain to contain (in Greece) at least a few of these beautiful vases, the lachrymatories, &c.
* * * * *
When found in the graves of females, their form would generally seem to indicate that they had been used for containing scents, and other requisites of the toilet; in one that was found not long since, there was a preparation evidently (?) of rouge or some such paint for the face, &c., the mark left by the pressure of two fingers of a small hand was distinctly visible (?)."
To me, ignorant as I am of antiquarian matters, this sounds very curious; and I send it you in case you may find it worthy of insertion, as provocative of discussion, and with the utilitarian idea that I may gain some information on the subject.
C. D. Hamont.
Greenock, Jan. 16. 1851.
Scandal against Queen Elizabeth (Vol. iii., p. 11.).—An intercepted letter, apparently from a popish priest, preserved among the Venetian correspondence in the State Paper Office, gives the following account of the death-bed of the Queen; which, as illustrative of the observations of your correspondent Cudyn Gywn, may not be uninteresting:—
"London, 9 Martii, 1603.
"About 10 dayes synce dyed the Countess of Notingham. The Queene loved the Countess very much, and hath seemed to take her death very heavelye, remayning euer synce in a deepe melancholye, wth conceipte of her own death, and complayneth of many infirmyties, sodainlye to haue ouertaken her, as impostūmecoñ in her head, aches in her bones, and continuall cold in her legges, besides notable decay in iudgemt and memory, insomuch as she cannot attend to any discourses of governmt and state, but delighteth to heare some of the 100 merry tales, and such like, and to such is uery attentiue; at other tymes uery impatient, and testye, so as none of the Counsayle, but the secretary, dare come in her presence."