NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."—Captain Cuttle.

CONTENTS.

Notes.

JOURNAL OF THE EXPENSES OF JOHN, KING OF FRANCE, IN ENGLAND, 1359-60.

Possibly some of the readers of "N. & Q." may remember that King John II. of France was taken prisoner by Edward the Black Prince at the battle of Poitiers, fought September 20, 1356. If not, I would refer them to the delightful pages of old Froissart, where, in the version of Lord Berners, they will see chronicled at length,—

"How Kyng John of Fraunce was taken prisoner at the Batayle of Poyeters; how the Englyshmen wan greatly thereat, and how the Prince conveyed the Frenche Kyng fro Burdeaux into Englande."

I am induced to bring under the notice of your readers a curious roll, containing one year's expenditure (July 1, 1359, to July 8, 1360) incurred by the French king during his captivity in England. This important document has been very recently printed in the Comptes de l'Argenterie, and edited from a MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale by M. Douët d'Arcq for the Société de l'Histoire de France. It may perhaps be well to state, that after the battle of Poitiers the heroic Prince Edward conducted his royal prisoner to Bordeaux, where he remained till the end of April, 1357. On the 24th of May following they both made their entry into London, "the Frenche Kynge mounted on a large whyte courser well aparelled, and the Prince on a lytell blacke hobbey (haquenée) by hym." John was lodged at first at the Savoy Palace, but was removed shortly afterwards to Windsor Castle, at which place he was allowed to "go a huntynge and a haukynge at hys pleasure, and the lorde Phylyp his son with him." The document in question refers to the years 1359 and 1360, when the king was confined at Hertford Castle, at Somerton Castle in Lincolnshire, and lastly in the Tower of London. As this document, which is so intimately connected with a favourite portion of our history, has, I believe, received no notice from any English journal, and as it moreover affords many valuable illustrations of domestic manners, and of the personal character of the royal captive, I have made a few extracts from it for insertion in "N. & Q.," in the

hope that they may prove interesting to the numerous readers of that useful and entertaining work.

"Pigeons.—A 'varlet Anglois' presents the king with '2 paire de pijons blans,' and receives in reward 1 noble, value 6s. 8d.

A dainty dish of Venison and Whale.—Pour le marinier qui admena par mer, à Londres, venoisons et balainne pour le Roy, 4 escuz.

A present of Venison from Queen Philippa.—Un varlet de la royne d'Angleterre qui asporta au Roy venoison que elle li envoioit, pour don, 13s. 4d.

The Baker's Bill.—Jehan le boulenger, qui servi de pain à Londres le Roy, par 2 mois ou environ, 5s. 2d.

Sugar.—32 livres de sucre, à 10d. ob. livre=33s. 4d. N. B. The grocer's bills for spiceries 'confitures et sucreries' are very numerous.

Honey.—Miel, 3 galons et demi, 16d. le galon=4s. 8d.

The King's Breviary.—Climent, Clerk of the Chapel, is paid 6d. for a 'chemise au Bréviaire du Roy.'

Do. Missal.—Jassin, pour cendal à doubler la couverture du Messal du Roy, et pour doubler et broder ycelle avecques la soie qui y convenoit, 13s. 5d.=Li, pour 2 clos d'argent à mettre audit livre, 4d.

Do. Psalter.—Jehan, le libraire de Lincole [Lincoln], pour 1 petit Sautier acheté pour le Roy, 6s. 8d.

Romances.—Tassin, pour 1 Romans de Renart s. 4d.—Maistre Guillaume Racine, pour un Romans de Loherenc Garin s. 8d.—Li, pour 1 autre Romans du Tournoiement d'Antecrist s.[^[1]]

Parchment.—Wile, le parcheminier de Lincoln, pour une douzainne de parchemin, 3s.

Paper and Ink.—5 quaiers de papier, 3s. 4d. Pour encre, 4d.

Sealing Wax.—Une livre de cire vermeille, 10d.

Chess-board.—Jehan Perrot, qui apporta au Roy, 1 instrument appellé l'eschequier, qu'il avoit fait, le Roy d'Angleterre avoit donné au Roy, et li envoioit par ledit Jean, pour don à li fait, 20 nobles=6l. 13s. 4d.

Organs.—Maistre Jehan, l'organier, pour appareiller les orgues du Roy:—Pour 1 homme qui souffla par 3 jours, 18d., &c. Pour tout, 58s.

Harp.—Le roy des menestereulx, pour une harpe achetée du commandement du Roy, 13s. 4d.

Clock.—Le roy des menestereulx, sur la façon de l'auloge (horloge) qu'il fait pour le Roy, 17 nobles, valent 113s. 4d.

Leather Bottles.—Pour 2 boteilles de cuir achetées à Londres pour Monseigneur Philippe, 9s. 8d.

Knives.—Pour 1 paire de coustiaux pour le Roy, 2s.

Gloves.—Pour fourrer 2 paires de gans, 12d.

Shoes.—Pour 12 paires de solers (souliers) pour le Roy, 7s.

Carpenter's Bill for windows of King's Prison in the Tower.—Denys le Lombart, de Londres, charpentier, pour la façon de 4 fenestres pour la chambre du Roy en la Tour de Londres. C'est assavoir: pour le bois des 4 châssis, 3s. 2d. Item, pour cloux, 2s. 2d. Item, pour une peau de cuir, 5d. Item, pour 6 livres et demie de terbentine, 4s. 4d. Item, pour oile, 3d. Item, pour 7 aunes et demie de toile, 9s. 4d. Item, pour toute la façon de dictes fenestres, 10s. Pour tout, 29s. 8d.

Saddle.—Godefroy le sellier, pour une selle dorée pour le Roy, estoffé de sengles et de tout le hernois, 4l.

Minstrels.—Le Roy des menestreulx pour don fait à li par le Roy pour quérir ses necessitez, 4 escuz=13s. 4d. Les menestereulx du Roy d'Angleterre, du Prince de Gales et du Duc de Lencastre, qui firent mestier devant le Roy, 40 nobles, valent 13l. 6s. 8d. Un menestrel qui joua d'un chien et d'un singe devant le Roy qui aloit aus champs ce jour, 3s. 4d.

Lions in the Tower.—Le garde des lions du Roy d'Angleterre, pour don à li fait par le Roy qui ala veoir lesdiz lions, 3 nobles=20s.

Visit to Queen Philippa.—Un batelier de Londres qui mena le Roy et aucun de ses genz d'emprès le pont de Londres jusques à Westmontier, devers la Royne d'Angleterre, que le Roy ala veoir, et y souppa; et le ramena ledit batelier. Pour ce, 3 nobles=20s.

Dinner with Edward III.—Les bateliers qui menèrent, en 2 barges, le Roy et ses genz à Westmonster, ce jour qu'il disna avec le Roy d'Angleterre, 66s. 8d.

A Row on the River Thames.—Plusieurs bateliers de Londres qui menèrent le Roy esbatre à Ride-Ride [Redriff alias Rotherhithe?] et ailleurs, par le rivière de Tamise, pour don fait à eulx, 8 nobles, valent 53s. 3d.

The King's great Ship.—Les ouvriers de la grant nef du Roy d'Angleterre, que le Roy ala veoir en venant d'esbatre des champs, pour don à eulx fait, 33s. 4d.

A Climbing Feat on Dover Heights.—Un homme de Douvre, appelé le Rampeur, qui rampa devent le Roy contremont la roche devant l'ermitage de Douvre, pour don, &c., 5 nobles=33s. 4d.

Presents.—At Dover on July 6th, 1360, John dined at the Castle with the Black Prince, when an 'esquire' of the King of England brought to the King of France 'le propre gobelet à quoy ledit Roy d'Angleterre buvoit, que il li envoioit en don;' and the French King sent Edward as a present 'le propre henap à quoy il buvoit, qui fu Monseigneur St. Loys.' N.B. This hanap was a famous drinking cup which had belonged to St. Louis.

Newgate Prisoners.—Pour aumosne faite à eulx, 66s. 8d.

Pembroke Palace.—Un varlet qui garde l'ostel Madame de Pannebroc' [Marie de Saint Pol, Countess of Pembroke] à Londres, où le Roy fist petit disper ce jour, 2 nobles=13s. 4d.

Horse-dealing.—Lite Wace, Marchant de chevaur, pour 1 corsier acheté de li pour le Roy, 60 nobles=20l.

Cock-fighting.—Jacques de la Sausserie, pour 1 coc acheté du commandement Mons. Philippe à faire jouster, 2s. 8d."

W. M. R. E.

Footnote 1:[(return)]

Among the Royal MSS. in the British Museum is Guiart des Moulin's translation of Pet. Comestor's Historia Scholastica, which was found in the tent of John at the battle of Poitiers. (Vide Warton's Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 90.)

WAY OF INDICATING TIME IN MUSIC.

The following rough mixture of Notes and Queries may serve to excite attention to the subject. The merest beginner is aware that the letter C, with a vertical line drawn through it, denotes common time; in which he will take the C for the first letter of common. The symbols of old music are four: the circle, the semicircle, and the two with vertical lines drawn through them. After these were written 2 or 3, according as the time was double or triple. And instead of a bar drawn through the circle or semicircle, a central point was sometimes inserted. All these are true facts, whether connected or unconnected, and whether any implication conveyed in any way of stating them be true or false. The C, with a line through it, certainly did not distinguish common time from triple. Alsted, in his Encyclopædia (1649), says that it means the beginning of the music; without any reference to time. Solomon de Caus, known as having had the steam-engine claimed for him, but who certainly wrote on music in 1615, found the circles, &c. so variously used by different writers, that he abandons all attempt at description or reconciliation.

May I suggest an origin for the crossed C? In the oldest church music, it often happens that the lines are made to begin with a vertical line impaling two lozenges, with a third lozenge between them, but on one side. It is as if in the three of diamonds the middle lozenge were removed a little to the left, the upper and lower ones sliding on a vertical line until they nearly touch the removed middle one. Now if this figure were imitated currente calamo, as in rapid writing, it would certainly become an angle crossed by a vertical line; which angle would perhaps be rounded, thus giving the crossed semicircle. Has this derivation been suggested? Or can any one suggest a better?

But, it will be said, whence comes the full circle? It is possible that there may have happened in this case what has happened in others: namely, that a symbol invented, and firmly established, before the partial disuse of Latin, may have been extended in different ways by the vernacular writers of different countries. This has happened in the case of the words million, billion, trillion, &c. The first, and the root of all, was established early, and while no vernacular works existed, and it has only one meaning. The others, certainly introduced at a later time, mean different things in different countries. May it not have been that the variety of usage which De Caus notes, may have arisen from different writers, ignorant of each other, choosing each his own mode of deriving other symbols from the crossed semicircle, obtained as suggested by me? I am fully aware of the risk of such suggestions—but they have often led to something better.

M.

Minor Notes.

A smart Saying of Baxter.—In his Aggravations of Vain Babbling, speaking of gossips, Baxter says:

"If I had one to send to school that were sick of the talking evil—the morbus loquendi—I would give (as Isocrates required) a double pay to the schoolmaster willingly; one part for teaching him to hold his tongue, and the other half for teaching him to speak. I should think many such men and women half cured if they were half as weary of speaking as I am of hearing them. He that lets such twattling swallows build in his chimney may look to have his pottage savour of their dung."

B. B.

Latin Hexameters on the Bible.—The verses given under this title by Lord Braybrooke, in Vol. v., p. 414., remind me of a similar method which I adopted, when at school, in order to impress upon my memory the names of the Jewish months. The lines run thus:—

"Nisan Abib, Iyar Zif, Sivan, Thammuz, Ab, Elul;

Tisri, Marchesvan, Chisleu, Thebeth, Sebat, Adar."

The first verse commences with the first month of the ecclesiastical year, the second with the first month of the civil year.

A. W.

Ancient Connexion of Cornwall and Phœnicia.—The effort to trace the ancient connexion of countries by the relics of their different customs, would be amusing if not useful. The fragment of the voyage of Hamilcar the Carthaginian confirms the trade of the Phœnicians with Cornwall for tin. The Roman writers still extant confirm it. The traffic was carried on by way of Gades or Cadiz, the Carthaginians being the carriers for the Phœnicians. In Andalusia to this day, middle-aged and old men are addressed Tio, or uncle; as Tio Gorgè, "Uncle George." This custom prevails in Cornwall also, and only there besides. Is not that a trace of the old intercourse? Again, clouted cream, known only in the duchy of Cornwall, which once extended as far as the river Exe in Devon, is only found besides in Syria and near modern Tyre, whence the same tin trade was carried on. These are curious coincidences. Many of the old Cornish words are evidently of Spanish origin: as cariad, caridad, charity or benevolence; Egloz or Eglez, a church; Iglesia or Yglezia, and many others, which seem to bear a relation to the same intercourse.

The notice respecting the word cot or cote,—termination of proper names in a particular district in Cornwall,—already mentioned in these pages, supposed to be Saxon from the idea that its use was confined to one district, which I have shown to be a mistake, may be from the Cornish word icot, "below," in place of the Saxon cote or cot, "cottage." Thus, goracot is probably from gora or gorra, and icot, i. e. "down below."

Trelacot from Tre, "a town," and icot, "below." The l was often prefixed for sound sake: as lavalu for avalu, "an apple;" quedhan lavalu, "an apple tree;" Callacot, from cala, or calla, "straw," and icot. The introduction of the vowel a for i might be a corruption in spelling after the sound. This is only surmise, but it has an appearance of probability.

Cyrus Redding.

Portrait of John Rogers, the Proto-Martyr.—Should you think the following minor Note interesting to your correspondent Kt., perhaps you will find a corner for it in your miscellany.

Living some time ago on the picturesque coast of Dorsetshire, I had the good fortune to have for a neighbour a lady of cultivated taste and literary acquirements; among other specimens of antiquity and art to which she drew my attention, was a portrait, in oil, of John Rogers; it was of the size called "Kit Cat," and was well painted. This portrait she held in great veneration and esteem, declaring herself to be (if my memory does not deceive me) a descendant of this champion of Christianity, whose name stands on the "muster roll" of the "noble army of martyrs."

In case Kt. should wish to push his inquiries in this quarter, I inclose you the name and address of the lady above alluded to.

M. W. B.

"Brallaghan, or the Deipnosophists."—Edward Kenealey, Esq., reprinted under the above sonorous title (London: E. Churton, 1845) some amusing contributions of his to Fraser and other Magazines. At pp. 94. and 97. he gives us, however, the "Uxor non est ducenda" and the "Uxor est ducenda" of the celebrated Walter Haddon; and that too without the slightest intimation that he himself was not their author. It is not, I think, fair for any man thus to shine in borrowed plumes, or at least transcribe verbatim, and without acknowledgment, from a writer so little known and old-fashioned as Haddon. Let me therefore give the reference, for the benefit of the curious: D. Gualteri Haddoni Poemata, pp. 70-3. Londini, 1567, 4to.

Rt.

Stilts used by the Irish.—We have all heard of the use of stilts by the shepherds of the Landes; but I have met with only one passage which speaks of their use in Ireland. I have crossed rivers, both in Scotland and in Ireland, on stilts, when the water was not deep, and have seen them kept instead of a ferryboat, when there was no bridge, but do not think they are in common use at the present day. The passage in question is quoted in Ledwich's Antiquities, p. 300.:

"I had almost forgotten to notice a very remarkable particular recorded by Strada (Strada, Belg., 1. viii. p. 404., Borlase's Reduction, 132.). He tells us that Sir Wm. Pelham, who had been Lord Justice of Ireland, led into the Low Countries in 1586 fourteen hundred wild Irish, clad only below the navel, and mounted on stilts, which they used in passing rivers: they were armed with bows and arrows. Having never met with this use of stilts among any other people, it seemed a matter of curiosity to notice it here."

Eirionnach.

Queries.

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD "DEVIL."

What is the etymology of the word devil? This may appear an unnecessary question, since we have a regular chain of etyma, διάβολος, diabolus, diavolo, devil. But it is the first of this chain that puzzles me. I am aware that it is considered a translation of

שָׂטָן

‎, and is derived usually from διαβάλλειν, calumniare. But

שָׂטָן

‎ means adversarius, consequently the rendering would not be accurate. As the word in classical writers always means a false accuser, and never a supernatural agent of evil, I doubt the correctness of the usual derivations in the case of ecclesiastical usage; and am inclined to consider it one of the oriental words, in a Hellenistic dress, with which the Septuagint and Greek Testament are replete. Mr. Borrow, in Lavengro, instances as a reason for believing that divine and devilish were originally the same words, the similarity of the gypsy word Un-debel, God, and our word devil. Struck with this remark, on consideration of the subject, I perceived that there were several other coincidences of the same kind, as follows:—The Greek δαίμων means either a good or bad spirit of superhuman power. The Zend word afrîtî, "blessed," corresponds to the Arabic afrît, "a rebellious angel." The Latin divus, "a god," (and of course Διος, with all its variations,) belongs to the same family as the Persian dîv, "a wizard or demon;" while the jin or jan of the Arabian Nights answer to the forms Zan, Zêna, Zeus, Janus, Djana or Diana. All words denoting deified power, and employed by the inhabitants of Greece and Umbria.

These singular resemblances may prove that fetish worship was more widely spread than is generally believed, and I think justify my doubts as to the etymology of the word in question.

Richard F. Littledale.

Dublin.

FORGED PAPAL SEAL.

An old seal was discovered some years ago by accident in the ruins of an abbey in the south of Ireland, of which the followings is a description. The workmanship is rude, the material a species of bronze. The impression consists of a circle of raised spots: on either side are two venerable human faces, both bearded; there is a rude cross between them. Above them are the letters—

"S - P - A - S - P - E."

These are supposed to stand for "St. Paul" and "St. Peter." It is said that this seal was used for the purpose of affixing an impression to an instrument which pretended to be a Papal Bull: in fact, that it was used for forging Pope's Bulls. One of the objects of such forgeries (if they really occurred) would be, to grant dispensations for marriages on account of consanguinity. Some noble families in Ireland had very ancient Papal dispensations of this nature. It would often be convenient that extraordinary despatch should be used in obtaining a dispensation.

Can any of your correspondents compare the seals on those dispensations with the above, or throw any light on the practice of dispensing with the ecclesiastical law against consanguineous marriages?

H. F. H.

Wexford.

A PASSAGE IN "ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL."

Will Mr. Singer favour me with the information where the proposed emendation, referred to by him in "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 436., in All's Well that ends Well, infinite cunning for "inſuite comming," of the folio 1623, is to be met with? If it be in the Athenæum it has escaped my observation, although I have turned over the pages of that able periodical carefully to find it. I have a particular reason for wishing to trace the suggestion, if I can, to the source where it originated. Owing to an accident, which it is needless to explain, the number of "N. & Q." containing Mr. Singer's communication did not meet my eye until this morning.

J. Payne Collier.

May 22. 1852.

SURNAMES.

I have to thank many of your readers who have favoured me with private letters on this subject since the printing of the prospectus of my Dictionary of Surnames in your columns; and before troubling you with a string of Queries, I would briefly refer to two or three points in the kind communications under this head in "N. & Q." of May 1. E. H. Y. will find the question, surname or sirname, slightly touched upon in my English Surnames (3rd edit., vol. i. p. 13.), and argued at length in the Literary Gazette for Nov. 1842, in a correspondence originating out of a notice of the first edition of my book. I think the balance of evidence is in favour of surname; that is, a name superadded to the personal or baptismal appellation, which applies with equal propriety to the sobriquets given to monarchs and distinguished men, and to the hereditary designations of people of humble rank. Alexander Mitchell, your groom, is no other than Alexander the Great; and Bill Rowse, your errand-boy, is the namesake of the Red King who fell in the New Forest; the only difference being, that the plebeians inherit their second name from their ancestors, while the magnates enjoy theirs by exclusive right. I do not think, therefore, that the distinction contended for by E. H. Y. is either necessary or desirable: indeed I consider sirename as a mere play upon a mis-spelt word. In saying this, I would by no means disparage your excellent correspondent, whose communications I always read with pleasure I might add, that the distinction of "nomen patris additum proprio," sirename, and "nomen supra nomen additum," surname, is by no means new.

I cannot quite agree with E. S.'s suggestion as to the desirableness of omitting the names derived from Christian names, this being one of the most interesting branches of my inquiry. I have already shown that from ten to thirty family names are occasionally found to proceed from one baptismal appellation; and at least half a dozen of the names to which E. S. calls my attention for explanation are so derived. To the termination -cock, occurring in so many names, I have already given attention, and the result may be seen in Eng. Surn., vol. i. pp. 160. to 165., both inclusive.

To the surnames derived from extinct or provincial words designating employments, I am paying considerable attention; but although I am tolerably well acquainted with our mediæval writers, and their glossarists, there are many names ending in er (generally having in old records the prefix le), which have hitherto baffled my etymological skill.

W. L.'s remarks support the statements made in Eng. Surn., vol. i., p. 38. et seq., to show that family names have scarcely become hereditary, in some parts of England, even now, in the middle of the nineteenth century. Without occupying your valuable space unduly, I would now submit the following Queries:—

1. What book gives any rational account of the origin of the Scottish clans, and their distinctive or family names? I know Buchanan's work, but it gives very little information of the kind desired. Any authentic particulars regarding Scottish names will be acceptable.

2. What is the real meaning of worth, which forms the final syllable of so many surnames? I have seen no less than six explanations of it, which cannot all be correct.

3. Are there any works (besides dictionaries) in the Dutch, German, and Scandinavian languages which would throw light upon the family names of this country?

4. What is the best compendious gazetteer or topographical dictionary of Normandy extant?

5. Is anything known of a collection of surnames made by Mr. Cole, the antiquary, in the last century? It is mentioned in Collet's Relics of Literature, 1823.

6. Can any reader of "N. & Q." explain the following surnames, which are principally to be found so early as the reign of Edward I.?—Alfox, Colfox, Astor, Fricher, Grix, Biber, Bakepuz, Le Chalouner, Le Cayser, Le Cacherel, Trelfer, Metcalfe, Baird, Aird, Chagge, Le Carun, at Bight.

Mark Antony Lower.

Lewes.

Minor Queries.

Owen, Bishop of St. Asaph.—To what family belonged John Owen, Bishop of St. Asaph, mentioned in Winkle's Cathedrals with so much honour? His father Owen Owen was Archdeacon of Anglesea, rector of Burton Latymer. I cannot find either name in the printed pedigrees of the various families of Owen, nor in such of the Harl. MSS. as I had time to examine. Wanted, the bishop's arms and crest, and any reference to his pedigree. It is said by Winkle that his monument is under the episcopal throne in St. Asaph's cathedral. He died 1651, and his father 1592.

Ursula.

St. Wilfrid's Needle in Yorkshire,—"where they used to try maids, whether they were honest." (Burton.) Does this stone exist? "Ancient writers do not mention," says Lingard, "Stonehenge, Abury, &c., as appendages to places of worship among the Celtæ," therefore may it not be that these remains of antiquity were devoted to vain superstitions of the ignorant people, if not to gloomy rites of the officiating priests of the British Druids? The gigantic obelisks of single stones, called the "Devil's Arrows," near Boroughbridge, and the assemblage of rocks called Bramham Crags, a few miles north-west of Ripon, are considered to have been Druidical. Is St. Wilfrid's either of these? and can farther information about this rock be afforded?

B. B.

Governor of St. Christopher in 1662.—Will any one be so kind as to inform me who was the governor of the island of St. Christopher in the year 1662? I have an original, but unsigned letter, from him to the contemporary Dutch governor of St. Martin's, demanding reparation for an outrage of most extraordinary nature. He complains that the Dutch had seized and reduced to slavery the crew and passengers of an English ship during a time of peace. Is anything known of this affair, or is there any means of discovering the names of the colonial governors of that age? The letter is dated Sept. 1, 1662, and is endorsed, "A Coppie of my letter to the Gov. of St. Martin's."

Ursula.

The Amber Witch.—I am anxious to learn whether this be a pure fiction or a genuine document dressed up. Its strongest appearance of authenticity arises from the tedious pedantry of the ancient Lutheran pastor, its supposed author, which not only renders the perusal heavy, but also lets in various things unsuited to the decorum of modern manners. If a pure forgery, my inquiry extends to the motives of a fabrication, tedious to both reader and writer.

A. N.

Coffins for General Use.—In the parish church of Easingwold, Yorkshire, there was within the last few years an old oaken shell or coffin, asserted to have been used by the inhabitants for the interment of their dead. After the burial, the coffin was again deposited in the church. Are there any other well-authenticated instances of a similar usage? And do the words of the rubric in the Order for "the Burial of the Dead," "When they come to the grave, while the corpse is made ready to be laid INTO the earth," render it probable that such a custom was generally prevalent in the Anglican church since the Reformation?

I have met with one corroborative circumstance, in which numbers of bodies were disinterred in a piece of ground supposed to have been consecrated, and not a vestige of a coffin was found.

Incognitus.

The Surname Bywater.—Can any of your correspondents furnish me with particulars relating to the surname "Bywater?"

The earliest period from which I can trace it direct to the present day, and then only by family tradition, is about the close of the seventeenth century, or say 1680, about which time "—— Bywater" married Miss Witham, and resided at Towton Hall, near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, a place celebrated as being the field of a battle fought between the York and Lancaster forces on Palm Sunday, 1461.

Stow mentions, in his Survey, that "John Bywater" was a Sheriff of London in 1424.

Perhaps some of your readers, in Yorkshire or elsewhere, can throw a light on the subject, or can refer me to a book or MS. where information may be obtained?

W. M. B.

Robert Forbes.—I should be glad if any of your correspondents could furnish me with any particulars relative to this talented and eccentric individual. He was the author of The Dominie Deposed, in the Buchan dialect. On the title-page of that piece he is described as "Robert Forbes, A.M., Schoolmaster of Peterculter," near Aberdeen. On application, however, to the Session Clerk of Peterculter, that functionary states that no such person was ever schoolmaster of that parish. Be this as it may, Forbes was obliged to leave Scotland on account of an intrigue, which he has humorously described in his Dominie Deposed. He appears to have removed to London, where he commenced the business of a hosier, in a shop on Tower Hill, at the sign of the "Book." Here he composed that

celebrated travestie on the Speech of Ajax to the Grecian Chiefs, also in the Buchan dialect:

"The wight an' doughty captains a',

Upo' their doups sat down;

A rangel o' the commoun fouk

In bourachs a' stood roun."

I think Forbes states that his place of business on Tower Hill was "hard by the shop of Robbie Mill." (See Chalmers' Life of Ruddiman.) Forbes is supposed to have died about the year 1750.

Hypadidasculus.

Gold Chair found in Jersey.—I find in Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual the following:

"The most wonderfull and strange Finding of a Chayre of Gold, neare the Isle of Iarsie, with the true Discourse of the Death of eight seuerall Men: and other most rare Accidents thereby proceeding. London, 1595, 4to. 14 pages, including not only the title-page, but a blank leaf before it, as was frequent about this time."

Can any one inform me where I can obtain a sight of this tract? I have searched the multivoluminous catalogue of the British Museum, that of the Bodleian, Grenville, Douce, and other collections, but in vain; and can find no trace of it anywhere.

R. P. M.

Alteration in Oxford Edition of the Bible.—In the stereotype edition of the Bible, in 8vo., printed at Cambridge, for the British and Foreign Bible Society, I find the word Judah, 2 Chron. xxi. 2., substituted for Israel. This latter word is the reading of every copy of the authorized English version that I have been able to consult, including the 12mo. edition printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society at Oxford.

No doubt Judah is the right word in this passage. The context requires it; and it is the reading of forty Hebrew MSS., and of all the ancient versions, except the Chaldee. It is also the reading of the old English version by Coverdale. But it has not been adopted by King James's translators. How has this deviation from their text crept into an edition emanating from a University press?

Jerome.

When did Sir Gilbert Gerrard die?—A warrant was issued on the 1st of July, 1594, to the Lord Treasurer and Sir John Fortescue (see Burghley's Diary) "to inquire what profits had been taken for the office of the Rolls betwixt the time of the death of Sir Gilbert Gerrard and the entry of Sir Thomas Egerton." Now Sir Thomas Egerton entered on the 10th of April, 1594, and I have reason to believe that the office had been vacant for about a year. But I can find no notice of Sir Gilbert's death. He was a member of Gray's Inn; admitted in 1537, barrister 1539, ancient 1547, reader 1554, serjeant 1558, attorney-general 1559, Master of the Rolls 1581; and during the interval between the death of Lord Chancellor Hatton (Nov. 22, 1591) and the appointment of Lord Keeper Puckering (May 28, 1592) one of the commissioners for hearing causes in chancery.

James Spedding.

Market Crosses.—Have these interesting crosses occupied the attention of any one? Is there any work exclusively upon them? When was the old Market Cross, at Bury St. Edmunds, taken down? Is there any view of it extant, and where is it to be seen? What is the meaning of the passage from Gage's valuable History of Thingoe Hundred, page 205.:

"Henry Gage, &c., married at the Market Cross, in the parish of St. James, St. Edmund's-bury, 11th February, 1655."

Was any religious edifice standing on this spot at that period?

C. G.

Paddington.

Spy Wednesday.—I observed the other day, under the Spanish News in The Times of Wednesday, the 14th April, 1852, the following paragraph:

"It being Spy Wednesday, the Bourse remained closed."

Can any correspondent inform me the meaning of "Spy Wednesday," it being a term I have never yet heard so applied?

John Nurse Chadwick.

King's Lyn.

Passemer's "Antiquities of Devonshire."—In Bagford's MS. Collections on Writing, Printing, &c., in the British Museum (Ayscough's Cat., No. 885.), at fo. 102., among writers on Devonshire appears the following:

"Id. Ye antiquitates of ye same countey is collected out of ye antient bookes belonging to ye Bishopprick of Exeter, by one Mr. George Passemer, vicar of Awliscombe, in ye said countey."

Can either of your correspondents state whether Mr. Passemer's work is known to be in existence?

J. D. S.

Will O' Wisp.—Notwithstanding the steam-engine may be said to have done almost as much towards destroying the gaseous exhalations of our bog-lands by the means of drainage, as it has done towards the amelioration of the stagnant moors and intellectual morasses of society, it can hardly have dispelled every Ignis Fatuus from every quagmire, any more than it has even yet chased the ignorance from every dull head. The object of this communication is to ask for the names of a few specific localities where that noted misleader of the benighted—Will O' Wisp—still continues to manifest his presence?

D.

Mother of Richard Fitzjohn.—Can any of your readers inform me who was the mother of Richard

Fitzjohn, Lord Fitzjohn, who was summoned to parliament in 23 Edward I., and died two years after in France? He was the son of John Fitzjohn Fitzgeoffrey, who died near Guildford in 1258, and who was the son and heir of John Fitzgeoffrey, Justiciary of Ireland in 1246. His mother's name is not mentioned in any authorities I have been able to consult, and I should feel particularly obliged by any one communicating to me his mother's name, and also his maternal grandmother's name, if they have ever been ascertained.

Tewars.

Quotations wanted.—Can any of your numerous correspondents oblige me with the information as to where the following may be found:

"The difficult passages they shun,

And hold their farthing rushlight to the sun."

Again, this:

"And like unholy men

Quote scripture for the deed."

Again, this: The entire epigram said to have been made by Porson on a Fellow of his college, who habitually pronounced Euphrătes (short) instead of Euphrātes. The only words I remember—it is now near thirty years since I heard it—are

"Et corripuit fluxeum;"

and Jekyll, the celebrated wit, rendered the epigram into English, and part of it thus:

"He abridged the river."

H. M.

Sons of the Conqueror—William Rufus and Walter Tyrell.—Sir N. W. Wraxall (Posthumous Memoirs, vol. i., p. 425.) says of the Duke of Dorset:

"His only son perished at twenty-one in an Irish foxchase: a mode of dying not the most glorious or distinguished, though two sons of William the Conqueror, one of whom was a King of England, terminated their lives in a similar occupation."

Who are these two sons? William Rufus would be one of them; but who is the other? And whilst I am on this subject, I would inquire, on what authority does the commonly received story of William II.'s death by the hand of Sir Walter Tyrrell rest?

Tewars.

Brass of Lady Gore.—Moody, in his Sketches of Hampshire, states that there is a brass of an Abbess, 1434, Lady Gore by name, in the church of Nether Wallop. But in the Oxford Manual it is stated (Introduction, p. xxxix.) that only two brasses of Abbesses are known, one at Elstow, Beds, to Elizabeth Hervey, and the other at Denham, Bucks, to Agnes Jordan, Abbess of Syon, both c. 1530. Which is correct of these two authorities?

Unicorn.

Minor Queries Answered.

Smyth's MSS. relating to Gloucestershire.—In Rudder's History of Gloucestershire, title "Nibley," p. 575., is the following passage:

"John Smyth, of Nibley, ancestor to the present proprietor, was very eminent for his great assiduity in collecting every kind of information respecting this county and its inhabitants. He wrote the Genealogical History of the Berkeley Family, in three folio MSS., which Sir William Dugdale abridged and published in his Baronage of England. In three other folio MSS. he has registered with great exactness the names of the lords of manors in the county in the year 1608, the number of men in each parish able to bear arms, with their names, age, stature, professions, armour, and weapons. The sums each landholder paid to subsidies granted in a certain year are set down in another MS. He likewise committed to writing a very particular account of the customs of the several manors in the hundred of Berkeley, and the pedigrees of their respective lords. These and some other MSS., which cost him forty years in compiling, are now (1779) in the possession of Nicholas Smyth, Esq., the fifth from him in lineal descent."

I shall feel much obliged to any of your readers who will inform me where these MSS., or any of them, may now be seen. Those that I particularly want to inspect are printed in Italics in the above quotation.

Julius Partrige.

Birmingham.

[Atkyns, in his Gloucestershire, p. 579., states that Smythe's MSS. were at the time he wrote, A.D. 1712, in the custody of his great-grandson, Sir George Smith, who generously communicated them to all that desired a perusal of them. Fosbrooke, however, in the preface to his History of Gloucestershire, published in 1807, speaks of them as being in the possession of the Earl of Berkeley. He says, "Of the noblemen and gentlemen who honoured me with support and information, the Earl of Berkeley's permission to use Mr. Smythe's MSS. in every important extent has been of essential service." Fosbrooke subsequently published, in 1821, a quarto volume of Abstracts and Extracts of Smythe's Lives of the Berkeleys from these manuscripts.]

Origin of Terms in Change-ringing.—I shall be obliged by any one informing me as to the origin and derivation of the terms "plain bob," "grandsire bob," "single bob minor," "grandsire treble," "caters," "cinques," et hoc genus omne, so well known to campanologists.

Alfred Gatty.

[Our correspondent may probably get some clue to the derivation of these terms in a work entitled Campanologia Improved; or the Art of Ringing made Easy, third edition, 12mo. 1733. We may also mention, that some Notes of Dedications of Churches and Bells in the Diocese of Gloucester will be found in the British Museum, Add. MSS. 5836. f. 189 b.]

Keseph's Bible.—About the year 1828, there was issued a thin duodecimo pamphlet by some one who took the cognomen of Keseph, and who

proposed to publish an edition of the authorised version under the title of "Keseph's Bible," with the substitution of the Hebrew terms Alehim, Aleh, Al, Adon, Adonai, &c. &c. for our English ones God, Lord, &c. &c.

Can any of your readers inform me if this was ever published? and can they also favour me with the loan of the pamphlet for a month?

The Editor of the "Chronological New Testament."

36. Trinity Square, Southwark.

[This Bible was published in 1830, as far as chap. xix. of the Second Book of Kings, with the following title: The Holy Bible, according to the Established Version: with the Exception of the Substitution of the Original Hebrew Names, in place of the English Words, Lord and God, and of a few corrections thereby rendered necessary. With Notes. London: Westley and Davis, 4to. It contains a Preface of four pages, and a list of the Meaning or Signification of the Sacred Names substituted in this edition, of nine pages. A copy of it is in the British Museum, the press mark 1276 h.]

Proclamations to prohibit the Use of Coal, as Fuel, in London.—Dr. Bachoffner, in the lecture which he is now delivering at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, mentions the fact that three separate proclamations were issued for this purpose, and that it was at last made a capital offence; and a man was actually accused, tried, condemned, and executed for burning coal within the metropolis. Now what I want to ascertain relative to the above facts, is: 1. The date of each; 2. Any particulars that you or any of your correspondents may be kind enough to furnish; 3. The name, and station, trade, or profession of the person so executed.

As Dr. Bachoffner has now often reiterated the above statement at the Polytechnic, and as it has always been received (at least when I have been there) with acclamations of surprise, I have no doubt that the particulars will interest many of your readers.

Arthur C. Wilson.

[We have not been able to find any account of the execution for burning coal noticed by Dr. Bachoffner, which probably took place during the reign of Edward I., when the use of coal was prohibited by proclamation at London in the year 1306. These proclamations are noticed in Prynne's Animadversions on the Fourth Part of Sir Edward Coke's Institutes, p. 182., where it is said, that "in the latter part of the reign of Edward I., when brewers, dyers, and other artificers using great fires, began to use sea-coals instead of dry wood and charcoal, in and near the city of London, the prelates, nobles, commons, and other people of the realm, resorting thither to parliaments, and upon other occasions, with the inhabitants of the city, Southwark, Wapping, and East Smithfield, complained thereof twice one after another to the king as a public nuisance, corrupting the air with its stink and smoke, to the great prejudice and detriment of their health. Whereupon the king first prohibited the burning of sea-coal by his proclamation; which being disobeyed by many for their private lucre, the king upon their second complaint issued a commission of Oyer and Terminer to inquire of all such who burned sea-coals against his proclamation within the city, or parts adjoining to it, and to punish them for their first offence by great fines and ransoms; and for the second offence to demolish their furnaces, kilns wherein they burnt sea-coals, and to see his proclamation strictly observed for times to come, as the Record of 35 Edw. I. informs us." On this subject our correspondent should consult Edington's Treatise on the Coal Trade; Ralph Gardiner's England's Grievance discovered in Relation to the Coal Trade; and Anderson's Origin of Commerce.]

Replies.

ADDISON AND HIS HYMNS.

(Vol. v., p. 439.)

Any attempt to divorce Addison from his hymns in the Spectator, and to ascribe them to any other writer, is so great a wrench to the feelings of a sexagenarian like myself, that the question must at once be set at rest.

In reply to J. G. F.'s inquiry, these hymns, or a portion of them, were claimed for Andrew Marvell by Captain Edward Thompson, the editor of Marvell's works; but a writer in Kippis's edition of the Biographia Britannica remarks:

"We shall content ourselves with observing, that any man who can suppose that the ease, eloquence, and harmony of the ode, 'The Spacious Firmament,' &c., could flow from Marvell's pen, must be very deficient in taste and judgment."

This claim on Captain Thompson's part was to have been considered under the article "Marvell," but the second edition of the Biographia did not, as we well know, extend beyond the letter F.

But though we cannot concede these hymns to Marvell, he must not be underrated. His downright honesty of character and purpose must ever excite respect. His biographer strangely introduces him to us as "A witty droll in the seventeenth century, the son of a facetious gentleman at Hull." In one respect he resembled our gifted essayist; his style in prose was so captivating that we are told

"From the King down to the Tradesman, his Rehearsal Transposed was read with great pleasure; he had all the men of wit on his side."

To return to the hymns and the just claims of Addison to the whole of them.

In the Spectator, No. 453., Addison says,

"I have already communicated to the public some pieces of divine poetry, and as they have met with a very favourable reception, I shall from time to time publish any work of the same nature which has not yet appeared in print, and may be acceptable to my readers."

Then follows the hymn "When all Thy Mercies," &c. Coming from such a man as Addison, this

must be considered as pretty strong evidence of authorship.

In the Spectator, No. 441., when introducing the hymn "The Lord my Pasture," &c., Addison observes—

"As the poetry of the original is very exquisite, I shall present my readers with the following translation of it."

With respect to this composition Bishop Hurd remarks, that Addison's

"True judgment suggested to him that what he drew from Scripture was best preserved in a pure and simple expression, and the fervour of his piety made that simplicity pathetic."

No doubt seems to have crossed the Bishop's mind as to the authorship. Sometimes Addison thought fit to throw a little mystery over these hymns. In Spectator, No. 489., after alluding to Psalm cvii. v. 23., "They that go down to the sea," &c. (which Addison says gives a description of a ship in a storm, preferable to any other that he has met with), he subjoins his "divine Ode made by a Gentleman on the conclusion of his travels," "How are Thy servants blest," &c.

The verses 4 to 8 are said to refer to the storm which Allison himself encountered on the Mediterranean, after he embarked at Marseilles in 1700.

The hymn "When rising from the bed of death," Spectator, No. 513, "a thought in sickness," is contained in a supposed letter from a Clergyman, viz. one of the club, "who assist me in my speculations."

Tickell, in his exquisite elegy, so worthy of its subject, when asking,

"What new employments please the unbody'd mind?"

adds,

"Or mixed with milder cherubim to glow,

In hymns of love, not ill essayed below."

Were not the very hymns which we are speaking of in Tickell's mind?

Addison's piety, we may well gather from his writings, was, as Mr. Macaulay observes, of a cheerful character. The feeling which predominates in all his devotional papers, is that of gratitude; do we not find it also strikingly developed in his hymns? We all remember the beautiful lines,

"Ten thousand thousand precious gifts

My daily thanks employ,

Nor is the least a cheerful heart,

That tastes those gifts with joy."

Let Bishop Ken and Addison retain their divine hymns—dear as they are, and let us hope ever will be, to man, woman, and child—whilst the English language is read or spoken. How greatly is their sublimity heightened, and their beauty enhanced, when we associate with them the purity of character and the assemblage of virtues which distinguished their excellent authors!

J. H. Markland.

WITCHCRAFT—MRS. HICKES AND HER DAUGHTER.

(Vol. v., p. 394.)

The particulars your correspondent asks for have not been furnished; but on what authority, to move the previous question, does the alleged fact of such a trial and execution at Huntingdon in 1716 for witchcraft, stated by Mr. Wills, and adopted by the Quarterly Rev., rest? Mr. Wills (Sir Roger de Coverley, Notes, p. 126.) mentions also the execution of two women at Northampton for witchcraft just before the Spectator began to be published (March 1, 1710-11), but gives no reference to any original source to support his statement. On the other hand, Hutchinson, the first edition of whose Essay concerning Witchcraft was published in 1718, and the second in 1720, who gives a chronological table of facts, informs us that the last execution in England for witchcraft was that at Exeter of Susan Edwards, Mary Trembles, and Temperance Lloyd in 1682 (vid. Essay, p. 41., 1st edit.). He was too painstaking a writer to be in ignorance of cases which had occurred so recently; and he had the assistance, in collecting his materials, of the two chief justices Parker and King, and Chief Baron Bury, to whom the work is dedicated. Through their means he must have been informed of what had taken place on the circuits, if any cases of witchcraft on which convictions had arisen had actually come before the judges. When it is remembered what attention was directed to the trial of Jane Wenham in 1712, who, though condemned, was not executed, and on whose case a great number of pamphlets were written, it can scarcely be supposed that in four years after two persons, one only nine years old (I take the account in Mackay's Popular Delusions, vol. iii.), should have been tried and executed for witchcraft without public attention being called to the circumstance. I may add that in the Historical Register for 1716, which notices in the domestic occurrences all trials of interest, there is no mention of such a case; and that in two London newspapers for 1716, which I have in a complete series, though enumerating other convictions on the circuit, I have equally searched without success. As it is a matter of considerable historical interest to ascertain accurately when the last execution for witchcraft took place in England, I should be glad if any of your correspondents would refer me to the authority on which the statements of the trials circ. 1710 and in 1716 are founded. Mr. Wright, I observe, does not notice them, and his words are—

"The case of Jane Wenham is the last instance of a witch being condemned by the verdict of an English jury."—Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, vol. ii. p. 326.

Jas. Crossley.

DODO QUERIES.

(Vol. i., p. 261.)

In answer to Mr. Strickland's third Query, I beg to inform him that among the original authors who speak of the Dodo as a living bird, Johan Nieuhof merits a place. His work is entitled:

"Johan Nieuhofs gedenkweerdige Brasiliaense zee en Lantreize, behelsende alhetgeen op dezelve is voorgevallen: beneffens een bondige beschrijving van gantsch Neerlants Brasil, zoo van lantschappen, steden, dieren, gewassen, als draghten, zeden en godsdienst der inwoonders; en insonderheit, een wijtloopig verhael der merkwaardigste voorvallen en geschiedenissen, die zich, geduurende zijn negenjarigh verblijf in Brasil, in d'oorlogen en opstant der Portugesen, tegen d'onzen, zich sedert het jaer 1640-1649 hebben toegedragen. Doorgaens verciert met verscheide afbeeldingen, na't leven aldaer getekent. Te Amsterdam, voor de Weduwe van Jacob van Meurs, op de Keizersgracht, anno 1682."

This work, although published in six languages, and several times reprinted, adorned with a hundred exquisite engravings, and portrait of the author, seems to be no longer generally known. It was dedicated to Nikolaes Witsen, burgomaster and councillor of Amsterdam; and the licence granted to Jacob van Meurs, the 14th Dec. 1671, by the states of Hollandt en Westvrieslandt, is signed "Johan de Wit."

The copy in my possession consists of two parts in folio, bound together in parchment, furnished with two indexes, which however do not mention all the volume contains, for we look in vain for the name Dodaers, Dodo, or Dronte in the indexes; and yet we find in the second part, p. 282., a well-executed representation of this bird, and on the following page we read:

"Dronte of Dodaers.

"Op het eilant Mauritius inzonderheit, houdt zeker vogel van een wonderlijke gestalte, Dronte, en by d'onzen Dodaers genoemt. Hy is van groote tusschen een vogel-struis en Indische Hoen; en verschilt in gestalte, en komt ten deele daer mee over-een, ten aenzien van de veeren, pluimen en staert. Hy heeft een groot en wanstaltigh hooft met een vel bedekt, en verbeelt dat van een koekoek: d'oogen zijn groot en zwart: de hals krom, vet, en steekt voor uit. De bek is boven mate lang, sterk en blaeuwachtigh wit: behalve d'einden: waer van d'onderste zwartachtigh, een bovenste geelachtig zijn, en beide spits en krom. Hy spert den bek leelijk en zeer wijt open, is ront en vet van lijf, dat met zachte en graeuwe pluimen, als die van den struisvogel, bedekt is. De buik en aers is dik, die byna op d'aerde hangt: waerom, en van wegen hunnen loomen gang, deez vogel Dodaers by d'onzen genoemt wort. Aen beide zijden zitten eenige kleine pluymige pennen, in plaetse van vleugels, uit den gelen witachtigh, en achter aen den stuit, in plaetse van de steert, vijf gekrulde penne-veeren van een zelve kleure. De beenen zijn geelachtigh en dik; maer zeer kort: doch met vier vaste en lange pooten. Deze vogel is langzaem van gang en dom, en laet zich lichtelijk vangen. Het vleesch, inzonderheit dat van den borst, is vet en eetbaer. Hy is zoo zwaer, dat hondert menschen aen drie of vier Dronten genoegh t'eeten hebben. Het vleesch van d'ouden is, zoo niet gaer gekookt is, zwaer om te verteeren. Het wort ook ingezouten. Veelijts hebben zy een grooten en herden steen in de mage, die holachtigh en evenwel hart is."

Should Mr. Strickland wish further information concerning the work of Johan Nieuhof, I shall ever be happy to oblige him.

J. M. van Maanen.

Amsterdam.

[From our Dutch cotemporary, De Navorscher, by whom similar replies have been received from H—g and G. P. Roos.]

THE HEAVY SHOVE.

(Vol. v., p. 416.)

Like your correspondent Mr. Clark, I too have kept a sharp look-out for this curious piece ascribed to Baxter; but having been unable to track it, I had long since come to the conclusion that its existence was apocryphal.

The Rev. James Graves, in his Spiritual Quixote, written to ridicule Moravians and Methodists, notes it "as a very good book of old Baxter's," among several others of questionable identity, forming the library of Geoffrey Wildgoose's grandmother.

When we recollect the temptation offered in the quaint and uncouth titles of the old Presbyterians, we can hardly wonder at their enemies improving upon them; and in this way, it appears to me, we are to account for the respectable name of Baxter being popularly attached to a book which everybody talks about, but which nobody has seen.

It is again mentioned by Richard Cooksey, in his Life of Lord Somers, Worcester, 1791, and, taking its existence for granted, the author is astonished that Baxter, whom he extols to the skies, "could so far condescend to the temper and debased humour of the times as to entitle one of his tracts A Shove, &c. Commenting upon this, Wilson, in his History of Dissenting Churches, London, 1808, is the next who alludes to the book in question, but merely to shift its authorship from "the famous Richard Baxter of Kidderminster" to a more obscure individual of the same name,—described as "an elder (in 1692) of the Particular Baptist congregation worshipping in Winchester House." Of this person he says, "I know nothing excepting that he appears to have been a Fifth Monarchy man, and to have been far gone in enthusiasm."

Although thus doubting that the author of the Saints' Rest wrote such a book as that described, I

do not deny that there is a piece bearing the title in existence; but upon it the name of "William Bunyan" figures as the author. A copy of this was in the Theological Portion of the late Mr. Rodd's books, sold by Sotheby & Co. in 1850, and bears the imprint of "London, 1768." This, I am inclined to think, is the only Shove Mr. Clark is likely to meet with; and although I can give no further account of it, I am disposed to consider it the spurious catchpenny of some ignorant scoffer, who, taking his cue from Graves, or rather from some earlier writer who has noticed it, thought it would be a good spec., and therefore launched into the world his "Effectual Shove."

J. O.

GROUND ICE.

(Vol. v., p. 370.)

Your Querist J. C. E. is informed that the singular phenomenon of the formation of ice in the beds of running rivers has not escaped the notice of scientific observers. M. Arago has devoted a paper to its investigation in the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes for 1832 or 1833, in which he specifies the rivers in which it has been observed. Indeed, although from its nature it is likely to escape notice, it is probably of not infrequent occurrence. Ireland, in his Picturesque Views of the Thames, quoting Dr. Plot, speaks of the subaqueous ice of that river. Colonel Jackson, in the fifth volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, alludes to its formation in the Neva, in a paper on the congelation of that river; and in the following volume of the same Journal is an article by Mr. Weitz, especially devoted to the ground ice of the rivers of Siberia. More recently, Mr. Eisdale has contributed the result of his researches upon the same subject to the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. xvii.; and, finally, Dr. Farquharson has made public his observations upon the ground-gru of the rivers Don and Leochal, in Lincolnshire, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1835. There is also an article on the subject in one of the later volumes of the Penny or Saturday Magazines.

That bodies of running, water, the surface of which solidifies when exposed to a diminished temperature, should have a tendency to congelate in their sheltered depths, seems an anomaly which demands inquiry and explanation; and accordingly each of the above-mentioned writers has raised an hypothesis more or less probable, to account for the phenomenon. Dr. Farquharson would attribute it to the radiation of heat from the bottom, as dew is formed by radiation from the surface of the earth; but a consideration of the supervening obstacles to radiation—a body of moving water thickly coated with ice and even snow—destroys the plausibility of his theory. That of Mr. Eisdale, that the frozen spiculæ of the atmosphere falling into the water become nuclei, around which the water at the bottom freezes, seems merely frivolous. The explanation of M. Arago is more satisfactory, viz. that the lower currents of water being less rapid in motion than those intermediate, or at the surface, congelation may be expected at a lower temperature (say 32° Fahr.), the process of crystallisation being favoured by the pebbles, fragments of wood, and the uneven surface of the river's bed. After all, however, the phenomenon has been but imperfectly investigated under its various manifestations, and its real cause probably remains yet to be discovered.

William Bates.

Birmingham.

For an explanation of this occurrence, I would refer J. C. E. to Whewell's Astronomy, Bridgewater Treatise.

Unicorn.

CHARACTER OF ALGERNON SYDNEY.

(Vol. v., pp. 426. 447.)

Your two correspondents C. E. D. (p. 426.) and C. (p. 447.) appear to have read Mr. Hepworth Dixon's Query about Algernon Sydney either very hastily or very carelessly. Yet it seems to me plain enough. There is not one word in it about Barillon or Dalrymple; no inquiry about the home life of Sydney. As every one knows a great part of his time was spent abroad, it is probable Mr. Dixon thinks that anecdotes and allusions to so conspicuous a person may occur in the cotemporary letters and memoirs of France, Germany, Italy, &c., and he asks for references to any such anecdotes or allusions as may have fallen in the way of readers of "N. & Q." Surely this is explicit. But what has Dalrymple or Mr. Croker to say in answer to a question about Sydney's way of life when abroad? That, as I take it, was the point, and a general discussion as to the character of the author of the Discourses on Government is à-propos of nothing. As the subject has been opened, and as I know of none more interesting in the whole range of English history, I cannot refrain from at least entering one protest against C.'s description of the "illustrious patriot" as a "corrupt traitor of the worst class."

That Mr. Dixon is not single in his admiration of the character of Sydney I could quote many "instances," from our late prime minister downwards. But the title "illustrious" can scarcely be denied to a man who, besides being of the best blood in England, played a leading part in the Revolution, and was one of the closest thinkers and most masculine writers our language has to show. What makes a man illustrious? Birth, commanding position, intellect, learning, literary genius? Sydney had them all. But C. thinks

he ought not to be called a patriot. What, do his wisdom and moderation in the civil war; his opposition to the extreme measures of Cromwell; his long solitary exile; his glorious death, count for nothing? There is, however, the charge of taking money from the King of France. No doubt this is a very "curious case," and I too shall be anxious to see "what light Mr. Dixon may be able to throw on it." The accusation rests on the sole authority of Dalrymple; and Dalrymple is not a man who can be taken on his mere word. He was a violent partisan. He hated the Whigs, and is convicted of having suppressed the truth, when it suited his party or his passions to misrepresent. The Barillon Correspondence should be again examined, and, if possible, further particulars of the money payments to our party leaders obtained.

S. Walton.

Belgrave Square.

MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AT ANTWERP.

(Vol. v., p. 415.)

Having visited the interesting city of Antwerp in the autumn of 1846, I can answer the Query of your correspondent C. E. D. from personal inspection. The monument to Mary Queen of Scots is still in existence; and consists of a richly ornamented slab, placed at a considerable height from the pavement, against a pillar in (I think) the southern transept of the church of St. Andrew. I was told on the spot that it was erected by two English ladies, but my informant was silent as to the tradition respecting the head. In the centre of the carvings which adorn the upper part of the monument, is inserted a medallion portrait of the beautiful but unfortunate queen; it is extremely well painted, and represents her in that peculiar costume so familiar to those acquainted with her accustomed style of dress. I inclose a copy of the inscription:—

"Maria Stuarta,
Scot. et Gall. Reg.
Jacob. Magn. Britan. Reg. Mater.
Anno 1568, in. Angl. Refugii causâ descendens.
Cogna. Elisab. ibi regnavit.
Perfidiâ senat. et Hæret. post xix. Captivit. Annos.
Relig. ergo. cap. obtrunc.
Martyrium consumavit. Anno D. N. 1587.
Æta. Regy. 45."

The wood-carvings, with which this church abounds (especially those of the pulpit and its accessories), are marvellous efforts of Art.

M. W. B.

Having visited the church of St. Andrew at Antwerp during the autumn of last year, I am able to inform your correspondent C. E. D. (Vol. v., p. 415.) that the monument to which he alludes still exists.

The portrait of Mary Queen of Scots is above the tablet, which was, I believe, erected to the memory of Elizabeth Curle; who, after the execution of her mistress, resided at Antwerp, and was buried in that church.

F. H.

The monument dedicated to the memory of their beloved mistress by the two noble ladies of the household of Mary Queen of Scots, Lady Barbara Mowbray, the wife, and Elizabeth Curle, the sister, of Gilbert Curle, the queen's confidential secretary, still exists in the church of St. Andrew at Antwerp. The history, or rather story of the decapitated head having been borne away by these ladies, and buried at the foot of the pillar on which the monument is placed, which is alluded to by your correspondent, is too apocryphal for belief. There is no reason to suppose that any head of the queen was carried away by these devoted women into exile, excepting in the shape of her portrait painted on copper; which, instead of being interred beneath the monument, is still to be seen placed above the dedicatory inscription. It is true that in the edition of Descamps' Voyage Pittoresque de la Flandre, published at Paris and Rouen in 1769, it is stated that the monument was surmounted by "son buste en marbre;" but this error was corrected in the Antwerp edition of 1792, where it is correctly affirmed to be "son portrait peint."

Mention is made of this crowned portrait, of a circular form, in Mackie's Castles and Prisons of Queen Mary, and of the close resemblance it bears to another in the possession of Lady Cathcart; who assured Mr. Mackie that the two portraits were painted by order of the queen, and presented by her to two Scottish ladies, but whose names are not mentioned.

The following epitaph to the memory of these two faithful servants of the unhappy queen, has also been preserved by Jacques Le Roy in his Théâtre Sacré du Brabant, tom. ii. p. 90. It was copied by him from a blue marble slab placed over the entrance to the vault in which they were deposited:—

"D. O. M.

Sub hoc lapide duarum feminarum vere piarum conduntur corpora D. Barbaræ Moubray et D. Elisabethæ Curle utræque Scotæ, nobilissimæ Mariæ Reginæ à cubiculis, quarum monumentum superiori affigitur columnæ. Illa vidua mortalium legi cessit XXXI. Julii anno 1616 ætatis LVII., dum hæc semper cælebs XXIX. Maii, ætatis LX. Dni M.DC.XX."

In the inscription placed against the pillar, dedicated to the memory of Queen Mary, Lady Barbara is said to be a daughter of Lord John Mowbray—Barbara Moubray, D. Johan Moubray, Baronis F.

The writer of this note is desirous of obtaining some authentic information respecting these two noble Scottish families, and hopes this

communication may serve to elicit what he has long sought to trace. The armorial bearings of both families (originally affixed to the monument) have been effaced.

He would be glad also to be referred to any documents tending to throw light on the obscure history of poor Mary's intriguing French secretary, Nau; as to where he was born, his connexions and avocations in early life; how, and by what secret influence he entered into the service of the queen; and, lastly, how he came to be pardoned, and what became of him afterwards? She declared, in her last hours, that he was the cause of her death?

Nhrsl.

LORD KING; THE SCLATERS; DR. KELLET, ETC.

(Vol. v., p. 457.)

If Balliolensis wishes for a more particular account of the Sclater family than that which follows, I shall be happy to correspond with him upon the subject.

Anthony Sclater, D.D., was vicar of Leighton Buzzard for fifty years, and died, aged 100, about 1620. His son—

William Sclater, D.D., Fellow of King's, and vicar of Pitminster in Somersetshire, is the person mentioned by Dr. Kellet. He was an exceedingly learned man, and the author of many theological works (for a list, see Bib. Bod. Cat.), some of which were published after his death, which occurred in 1627. There is a curious and interesting account of him in Fuller's Worthies, vol. i. p. 119. (see also Athenæ Oxonienses). His son—

William Sclater, also D.D. and Fellow of King's, was vicar of Collumpton, Devon, and prebend of Exeter, and appears to have kept up by several works and sermons the reputation of the family for doctrinal theology.[^[2]] His son—

Francis Sclater, B.D. (Fellow of C. C. C. Oxon. May 17, 1667, æt. 17), was likewise a person of extraordinary learning and abilities, as appears from several notices, and more particularly from the inscription on a silver-gilt cup presented to C. C. C. in memory of him by his father; and from an elegant Latin epitaph which was placed on the south wall of St. James's, Clerkenwell.[^[3]] He died in 1685, æt. 35, leaving a son—

Christopher Sclater, M.A., born 1679, rector of Loughton in Essex, and afterwards of Chingford in the same county. His eldest son—

William Sclater, D.D., seems (from MSS. still existing) to have inherited the theological talent of his ancestors, but o. s. p. Richard Sclater, Esq., the second son of Christopher, was grandfather to William Lutley Sclater, Esq., of Hoddington House, Hants, the present representative of the family. By a third son, Christopher Sclater was grandfather to Eliza Sclater, wife of —— Draper, Esq., and celebrated for her Platonic attachment to Lawrence Sterne. From MSS. preserved in the family, it is clear that she must have been a woman of considerable talent.

I had always supposed William Sclater, the Nonjuror, and author of An Original Draught, &c., to have been a brother of Francis Sclater; but, if it be true that his work was a posthumous publication (as I learn for the first time from the Note by the Editor of "N. & Q."), I think it most probable that it was his father (the vicar of Collumpton above mentioned), who would have been about sixty years of age in 1688, and who was certainly a man of learning and scholarship.

I have no doubt that Edward Sclater, the pervert of Putney, belonged to the same family, though I know not in how near relationship.

The name of Sclater, which is curious, seems to have originated in a place called Slaughter (olim Sclostre or Sclaughtre, temp. King John) in Gloucestershire, where a family of Sclaughters flourished as lords of the manor for upwards of 300 years. The arms of both families are: arg. a saltier az.; crest, an eagle sa. rising out of a ducal coronet. The motto of the Sclater family (which they owe, no doubt to one of their learned ancestors) is a Greek quotation from Gal. vi. 14.: "εἴ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ."

About the commencement of the seventeenth century, another branch of the same family (whose patronymic was Thomas) was settled in Cambridgeshire. The last male representative of these, Sir Thomas Sclater, Bart., died without issue in 1684 (see Burke's Ext. Baronetages).

I should be glad of any information respecting the connexion of these two branches with each other, or of either with the parent stem in Gloucestershire. I should also be glad of information respecting one Will. Slatyer, D.D. (whose name is sometimes, I believe erroneously, spelt Sclater) a very learned person, chaplain to James I., the

author of some curious historical and genealogical works, and a celebrated Hebraist in those times. He was a cotemporary of Sclater of Pitminster, and died at Ottenden in Kent about the same time; but it is doubtful whether they were relations.

S. L. P.

Oxford and Cambridge Club.