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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.]

"THE SHEPHERD OF BANBURY'S WEATHER-RULES."

The Shepherd of Banbury's Rules to judge of the Changes of the Weather, first printed in 1670, was long a favourite book with the country gentleman, the farmer, and the peasant. They were accustomed to regard it with the consideration and confidence which were due to the authority of so experienced a master of the art of prognostication, and dismissing every sceptical thought, received his maxims with the same implicit faith as led them to believe that if their cat chanced to wash her face, rainy weather would be the certain and inevitable result. Moreover, this valuable little manual instructed them how to keep their horses, sheep, and oxen sound, and prescribed cures for them when distempered. No wonder, then, if it has passed through many editions. Yet it has been invariably stated that The Banbury Shepherd in fact had no existence; was purely an imaginary creation; and that the work which passes under his name, "John Claridge," was written by Dr. John Campbell, the Scottish historian, who died in 1775. The statements made in connexion with this book are curious enough; and it is with a view of placing the matter in a clear and correct light that I now trouble you with a Note, which will, I hope, tend to restore to this poor weather-wise old shepherd his long-lost rank and station among the rural authors of England.

I believe that the source of the error is to be traced to the second edition of the Biographia Britannica, in a memoir of Dr. Campbell by Kippis, in which, when enumerating the works of the learned Doctor, Kippis says, "He was also the author of The Shepherd of Banbury's Rules,—a favourite pamphlet with the common people." We next find the book down to Campbell as the "author" in Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, which is copied both by Chalmers and Lowndes. And so the error has been perpetuated, even up to the time of the publication of a meritorious History of Banbury, by the late Mr. Alfred Beesley, in 1841. This writer thus speaks of the work:

"The far-famed shepherd of Banbury is only an apocryphal personage. In 1744 there was published The Shepherd of Banbury's Rules to judge of the Changes of the Weather, grounded on forty Years' Experience. To which is added, a rational Account of the Causes of such Alterations, the Nature of Wind, Rain, Snow, &c., on the Principles of the Newtonian Philosophy. By John Claridge. London: printed for W. Bickerton, in the Temple Exchange, Fleet Street. Price 1s. The work attracted a large share of public attention, and deserved it. A second edition appeared in 1748.... It is stated in Kippis's Biographia Britannica that, the real author was Dr. John Campbell, a Scotchman."

In 1770 there appeared An Essay on the Weather, with Remarks on "The Shepherd of Banbury's Rules, &c.": by John Mills, Esq., F.R.S. Mr. Mills observes:

"Who the shepherd of Banbury was, we know not; nor indeed have we any proof that the rules called his were penned by a real shepherd. Both these points are, however, immaterial; their truth is their best voucher.... Mr. Claridge published them in the year 1744, since which time they are become very scarce, having long been out of print."

Now all these blundering attempts at annihilating the poor shepherd may, I think, be accounted for by neither of the above-mentioned writers having a knowledge of the original edition, published in 1670, of the real shepherd's book (the title of which I will presently give), which any one may see in the British Museum library. It has on the title-page a slight disfigurement of name, viz. John Clearidge; but it is Claridge in the Preface. The truth is, that Dr. John Campbell re-published the book in 1744, but without affixing his own name, or giving any information of its author or of previous editions. The part, however, which he bore in this edition is explained by the latter portion of the title already given; and still more clearly in the Preface. We find authorities added, to give weight to the shepherd's remarks; and likewise additional rules in relation to the weather, derived from the common sayings and proverbs of the country people, and from old English books of husbandry. It may, in short, be called a clever scientific commentary on the shepherd's observations. After what has been stated, your readers will not be surprised to learn that one edition of the work appears in Watt's very inaccurate book under Claridge, another under Clearidge, and a third under Campbell. I will now speak of the original work: it is a small octavo volume of thirty-two pages, rudely printed, with an amusing Preface "To the Reader," in which the shepherd dwells with much satisfaction on his peculiar vaticinating talents. As this Preface has been omitted in all subsequent editions, and as the book itself is extremely scarce, I conceive that a reprint of it in your pages may be acceptable to your Folk-lore readers. The "Rules" are interlarded with scraps of poetry, somewhat after the manner of old Tusser, and bear the unmistakeable impress of a "plain, unlettered Muse." The author concludes his work with a poetical address "to the antiquity and honour of shepheards." The title is rather a droll one, and is as follows:

"The Shepheard's Legacy: or John Clearidge his forty Years' Experience of the Weather: being an excellent Treatise, wherein is shewed the Knowledge of the Weather. First, by the Rising and Setting of the Sun. 2. How the Weather is known by the Moon. 3. By the Stars. 4. By the Clouds. 5. By the Mists. 6. By the Rainbow. 7. And especially by the Winds. Whereby the Weather may be exactly known from Time to Time: which Observation was never heretofore published by any Author. 8. Also, how to keep your Sheep sound when they be sound. 9. And how to cure them if they be rotten. 10. Is shewed the Antiquity and Honour of Shepheards. With some certain and assured Cures for thy Horse, Cow, and Sheep.

An Almanack is out at twelve months day,

My Legacy it doth endure for aye.

But take you notice, though 'tis but a hint,

It far excels some books of greater print.

London: printed and are to be sold by John Hancock, Junior, at the Three Bibles in Popes-head Ally, next Cornhill, 1670."

In the Preface he tells us that—

"Having been importun'd by sundry friends (some of them being worthy persons) to make publique for their further benefit what they have found by experience to be useful for themselves and others, I could not deny their requests; but was willing to satisfie them, as also my own self, to do others good as well as myself; lest I should hide my talent in a napkin, and my skill be rak'd up with me in the dust. Therefore I have left it to posterity, that they may have the fruit when the old tree is dead and rotten. And because I would not be tedious, I shall descend to some few particular instances of my skill and foreknowledge of the weather, and I shall have done.

"First, in the year 1665, at the 1st of January, I told several credible persons that the then frost would hold till March, that men could not plow, and so it came to pass directly.

"2. I also told them that present March, that it would be a very dry summer, which likewise came to pass.

"3. The same year, in November, I told them it would be a very open winter, which also came to pass, although at that time it was a great snow: but it lasted not a week.

"4. In the year 1666, I told them that year in March, that it would be a very dry spring; which also came to pass.

"5. In the year 1667, certaine shepheards ask'd my councel whether they might venture their sheep any more in the Low-fields? I told them they might safely venture them till August next; and they sped very well, without any loss.

"6. I told them, in the beginning of September the same year, that it would be a south-west wind for two or three months together, and also great store of rain, so that wheat sowing would be very difficult in the Low-fields, by reason of wet; which we have found by sad experience. And further, I told them that they should have not above three or four perfect fair days together till the shortest day.

"7. In the year 1668, in March, although it was a very dry season then, I told my neighbours that it would be an extraordinary fruitful summer for hay and grass, and I knew it by reason there was so much rain in the latter end of February and beginning of March: for by that I ever judge of the summers, and I look that the winter will be dry and frosty for the most part, by reason that this November was mild: for by that I do ever judge of the winters.

"Now, I refer you unto the book itself, which will sufficiently inform you of sundry other of my observations. For in the ensuing discourse I have set you down the same rules which I go by myself. And if any one shall question the truth of what is here set down, let them come to me, and I will give them further satisfaction.

John Claridge, Sen.

"Hanwell, near Banbury."

It appears, from inquiries made in the neighbourhood, that the name of Claridge is still common at Hanwell, a small village near Banbury—that "land o'cakes,"—and that last century there was a John Claridge, a small farmer, resident there, who died in 1758, and who might have been a grandson of the "far-famed," but unjustly defamed, "shepherd of Banbury."

Apropos of the "cakes" for which this flourishing town has long been celebrated, I beg to inform your correspondent Erica (Vol. vii., p. 106.) and J. R. M., M.A. (p. 310.) that there is a receipt "how to make a very good Banbury cake," printed as early as 1615, in Gervase Markham's English Hus-wife.

W. B. Rye.

[NOTES ON SEVERAL MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS.]

(Continued from p. 353.)

To miss, to dispense with. This usage of the verb being of such ordinary occurrence, I should have deemed it superfluous to illustrate, were it not that the editors of Shakspeare, according to custom, are at a loss for examples:

"We cannot miss him."

The Tempest, Act I. Sc. 2. (where see Mr. Collier's note, and also Mr. Halliwell's, Tallis's edition).

"All which things being much admirable, yet this is most, that they are so profitable; bringing vnto man both honey and wax, each so wholesome that we all desire it, both so necessary that we cannot misse them."—Euphues and his England.

"I will have honest valiant souls about me;

I cannot miss thee."

Beaumont and Fletcher, The Mad Lover, Act II. Sc. 1.

"The blackness of this season cannot miss me."

The second Maiden's Tragedy, Act V. Sc. 1.

"All three are to be had, we cannot miss any of them."—Bishop Andrewes, "A Sermon prepared to be preached on Whit Sunday, A.D. 1622," Library of Ang.-Cath. Theology, vol. iii. p. 383.

"For these, for every day's dangers we cannot miss the hand."—"A Sermon preached before the King's Majesty at Burleigh, near Oldham, A.D. 1614," Id., vol. iv. p. 86.

"We cannot miss one of them; they be necessary all."—Id., vol. i. p. 73.

It is hardly necessary to occupy further room with more instances of so familiar a phrase, though perhaps it may not be out of the way to remark, that miss is used by Andrewes as a substantive in the same sense as the verb, namely, in vol. v. p. 176.: the more usual form being misture, or, earlier, mister. Mr. Halliwell, in his Dictionary, most unaccountably treats these two forms as distinct words; and yet, more unaccountably, collecting the import of misture for the context, gives it the signification of misfortune!! He quotes Nash's Pierce Pennilesse; the reader will find the passage at p. 47. of the Shakspeare Society's reprint. I subjoin another instance from vol. viii. p. 288. of Cattley's edition of Foxe's Acts and Monuments:

"Therefore all men evidently declared at that time, both how sore they took his death to heart; and also how hardly they could away with the misture of such a man."

In Latin, desidero and desiderium best convey the import of this word.

To buckle, bend or bow. Here again, to their great discredit be it spoken, the editors of Shakspeare (Second Part of Hen. IV., Act I. Sc. 1.) are at fault for an example. Mr. Halliwell gives one in his Dictionary of the passive participle, which see. In Shakspeare it occurs as a neuter verb:

"... And teach this body,

To bend, and these my aged knees to buckle,

In adoration and just worship to you."

Ben Jonson, Staple of News, Act II. Sc. 1.

"For, certainly, like as great stature in a natural body is some advantage in youth, but is but burden in age: so it is with great territory, which, when a state beginneth to decline, doth make it stoop and buckle so much the faster."—Lord Bacon, "Of the True Greatness of Great Britain," vol. i. p. 504. (Bohn's edition of the Works).

And again, as a transitive verb:

"Sear trees, standing or felled, belong to the lessee, and you have a special replication in the book of 44 E. III., that the wind did but rend them and buckle them."—Case of Impeachment of Waste, vol. i. p. 620.

On the hip, at advantage. A term of wrestling. So said Dr. Johnson at first; but, on second thoughts, referred it to venery, with which Mr. Dyce consents: both erroneously. Several instances are adduced by the latter, in his Critique of Knight and Collier's Shakspeare; any one of which, besides the passage in The Merchant of Venice, should have confuted that origin of the phrase. The hip of a chase is no term of woodman's craft: the haunch is. Moreover, what a marvellous expression, to say, A hound has a chase on the hip, instead of by. Still more prodigious to say, that a hound gets a chase on the hip. One would be loth to impute to the only judicious dramatic commentator of the day, a love of contradiction as the motive for quarrelling with Mr. Collier's note on this idiom. To the examples alleged by Mr. Dyce, the three following may be added; whereof the last, after the opinion of Sir John Harington, rightly refers the origin of the metaphor to wrestling:

"The Divell hath them on the hip, he may easily bring them to anything."—Michael and the Dragon, by D. Dike, p. 328. (Workes, London, 1635).

"If he have us at the advantage, on the hip as we say, it is no great matter then to get service at our hands."—Andrewes, "A Sermon preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, 1617," Library of Ang.-Cath. Theology, vol. iv. p. 365.

"Full oft the valiant knight his hold doth shift,

And with much prettie sleight, the same doth slippe;

In fine he doth applie one speciall drift,

Which was to get the Pagan on the hippe:

And hauing caught him right, he doth him lift,

By nimble sleight, and in such wise doth trippe:

That downe he threw him, and his fall was such,

His head-piece was the first that ground did tuch."

Sir John Harington's Translation of Orlando

Furioso, Booke xlvi. Stanza 117.

In some editions, the fourth line is printed "namely to get," &c., with other variations in the spelling of the rest of the stanza.

W. R. Arrowsmith.

(To be continued.)

[LORD COKE.]

Turning over some old books recently, my attention was strongly drawn to the following:

"The Lord Coke, his Speech and Charge, with a Discouerie of the Abuses and Corruptions of Officers. 8vo. Lond. N. Butter, 1607."

This curious piece appears to have been published by one R. P. [¹], who describes himself, in his dedication to the Earl of Exeter, as a "poore, dispised, pouertie-stricken, hated, scorned, and vnrespected souldier," of which there were, doubtless, many in the reign of James the Pacific. Lord Coke, in his address to the jury at the Norwich Assizes, gives an account of the various plottings of the Papists, from the Reformation to the Gunpowder Treason, to bring the land again under subjection to Rome, and characterises the schemes and the actors therein as he goes along in the good round terms of an out-and-out Protestant. He has also a fling at the Puritans, and all such as would disturb the church and hierarchy as by law established. But the most remarkable part of the book is that which comes under the head of "A Discouerie of the Abuses and Corruption of Officers;" and believing an abstract might interest your readers, and furnish the antiquary with a reference, I herewith present you with a list of the officials and others whom my Lord Coke recommends the Jurie to present, assuring them, at the same time, that "by God's grace they, the offenders, shall not goe unpunished for their abuses; for we have," says he, "a COYFE, which signifies a scull, whereby, in the execution of justice, wee are defended against all oppositions, bee they never so violent."

1. The first gentleman introduced by Lord Coke to the Norwich jury is the Escheator, who had power to demand upon what tenure a poor yeoman held his lands, and is an officer in great disfavour with the judge. He gives some curious instances of his imposition, and concludes by remarking that, for his rogueries, he were better described by striking away the first syllable of his name, the rest truly representing him a cheator.

2. The Clarke of the Market comes in for his share of Lord Coke's denouncements. "It was once," he says, "my hap to take a clarke of the market in his trickes; but I aduanst him higher than his father's sonne, by so much as from the ground to the toppe of the pillorie" for his bribery.

3. "A certaine ruffling officer" called a Purveyor, who is occasionally found purveying money out of your purses, and is therefore, says Lord Coke, "on the highway to the gallowes."

4. As the next officer is unknown in the present day, I give his character in extenso:

"There is also a Salt-peter-man, whose commission is not to break vp any man's house or ground without leaue. And not to deale with any house, but such as is vnused for any necessarie imployment by the owner. And not to digge in any place without leauing it smooth and leuell: in such case as he found it. This Salt-peter-man vnder shew of his authoritie, though being no more than is specified, will make plaine and simple people beleeue, that hee will without their leaue breake vp the floore of their dwelling house, vnlesse they will compound with him to the contrary. Any such fellow, if you can meete with all, let his misdemenor be presented, that he may be taught better to vnderstand his office: For by their abuse the country is oftentimes troubled."

5. There is another troublesome fellow called a Concealor, who could easily be proved no better than a cosioner, and whose pretensions are to be resisted.

6. A Promoter, generally both a beggar and a knave. This is the modern informer, "a necessarie office," says Lord Coke, "but rarely filled by an honest man."

7. The Monopolitane or Monopolist; with these the country was overrun in James' reign. "To annoy and hinder the public weale, these for their own benefit have sold their lands, and then come to beggarie by a starch, vinegar, or aqua vitæ monopoly, and justly too," adds his lordship.

8. Lord Coke has no objection to those golden fooles, the Alcumists, so long as they keep to their metaphisicall and Paracelsian studies; but science is felony committed by any comixture to multiply either gold or silver; the alchymist is therefore a suspected character, and to be looked after by the jury.

9. Vagrants to be resolutely put down, the Statute against whom had worked well.

10. The stage-players find no favour with this stern judge, who tells the jury that as they, the players, cannot perform without leave, it is easy to be rid of them, remarking, that the country is much troubled by them.

11. Taverns, Inns, Ale-houses, Bowling Allies, and such like thriftless places of resort for tradesmen and artificers, to be under strict surveillance.

12. Gallants, or riotous young gents, to be sharply looked after, and their proceedings controlled.

13. Gentlemen with greyhounds and birding-pieces, who would elude the statutes against gunnes, to be called to account "for the shallow-brain'd idlenesse of their ridiculous foolery."

14. The statute against ryotous expence in apparel to be put in force against unthriftie infractors.

There is room here for a few Queries, but I content myself with asking for a further reference to No. 4., "The Salt-peter-man."

J. O.

Footnote 1: [(return)]

No doubt the author of an ultra-Protestant poem, entitled Times Anatomie, made by Robert Prickett, a Souldier. Imprinted, 1606.

[SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.]

Dogberry's Losses or Leases.—Much Ado about Nothing, Act IV. Sc. 4.:

"Dogberry. A rich fellow enough, go to: and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him."

I can quite sympathise with the indignation of some of my cotemporaries at the alteration by Mr. Payne Collier's mysterious corrector, of "losses" into "leases." I am sorry to see a reading which we had cherished without any misgiving as a bit of Shaksperian quaintness, and consecrated by the humour of Gray and Charles Lamb, turned into a clumsy misprint. But we must look at real probabilities, not at fancies and predilections. I am afraid "leases" is the likelier word. It has also a special fitness, which has not been hitherto remarked. Many of the wealthy people of Elizabeth's reign, particularly in the middle class, were "fellows that had had leases." It will be recollected that extravagant leases or fines were among the methods by which the possessions of the church were so grievously dilapidated in the age of the Reformation. Those who had a little money to invest, could not do so on more advantageous terms than by obtaining such leases as the necessity or avarice of clerical and other corporations induced them to grant; and the coincident fall in the value of money increased the gain of the lessees, and loss of the corporations, to an extraordinary amount. Throughout Elizabeth's reign parliament was at work in restraining this abuse, by the well-known "disabling acts," restricting the power of bishops and corporations to lease their property. The last was passed, I think, only in 1601. And therefore a "rich fellow" of Dogberry's class was described, to the thorough comprehension and enjoyment of an audience of that day, as one who "had had leases."

Scrutator.

May I be allowed a little space in the pages of "N. & Q." to draw Mr. Collier's attention to some passages in which the old corrector appears to me to have corrupted, rather than improved, the text? Possibly on second thoughts Mr. Collier may be induced to withdraw these readings from the text of his forthcoming edition of our great poet. I give the pages of Mr. Collier's recent volume, and quote according to the old corrector.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II. Sc. 2., p. 21.:

"That I, unworthy body, as I can,

Should censure thus a loving gentleman."

Can for am spoils the sense; it was introduced unnecessarily to make a perfect rhyme, but such rhymes as am and man were common in Shakspeare's time. Loving for lovely is another modernism; lovely is equivalent to the French aimable. "Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives," &c. The whole passage, which is indeed faulty in the old copies, should, I think, be read thus:

"'Tis a passing shame

That I, unworthy body that I am,

Should censure on a lovely gentleman.

Jul. Why not on Proteus as on all the rest?

Luc. Then thus,—of many good I think him best."

Thus crept in after censure from the next line but one. In Julia's speech, grammar requires on for of.

Measure for Measure, Act IV. Sc. 5., p. 52.:

"For my authority bears such a credent bulk," &c.

Fols. "of a credent bulk," read "so credent bulk."

Much Ado about Nothing, Act IV. Sc. 1., p 72.:

"Myself would on the hazard of reproaches

Strike at thy life."

When fathers kill their children, they run the risk not merely of being reproached, but of being hanged; but this reading is a mere sophistication by some one who did not understand the true reading, rearward. Leonato threatens to take his daughter's life after having reproached her.

Taming of the Shrew, p. 145.:

"O, yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face,

Such as the daughter of Agenor's race," &c.

"The daughter of Agenor's race" for "the daughter of Agenor" is awkward, but there is a far more decisive objection to this alteration. To compare the beauty of Bianca with the beauty of Europa is a legitimate comparison; but to compare the beauty of Bianca with Europa herself, is of course inadmissible. Here is another corruption introduced in order to produce rhyming couplet; restore the old reading, "the daughter of Agenor had."

The Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. 2., p. 191.:

"If, &c., let me be enrolled, and any name put in the book of virtue."

We have here an abortive attempt to correct the nonsensical reading of the old copies, unrolled; but if enrolled itself makes sense, it does so only by introducing tautology. Besides, it leads us away from what I believe to be the true reading, unrogued.

King John, Act V. Sc. 7., p. 212.:

"Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts,

Leaves them unvisited; and his siege is now

Against the mind."

How could death prey upon the king's outward parts without visiting them? Perhaps, however, we have here only a corruption of a genuine text. Query, "ill-visited."

Troilus and Cressida, Act I. Sc. 3., p. 331.:

"And, with an accent tun'd in self-same key,

Replies to chiding fortune."

This, which is also Hanmer's reading, certainly makes sense. Pope read returns. The old copies have retires. I believe Shakspeare wrote "Rechides to chiding fortune." This puzzled the compositor, who gave the nearest common word without regard to the sense.

Troilus and Cressida, Act V. Sc. 1., p. 342.—The disgusting speeches of Thersites are scarcely worth correcting, much less dwelling upon; but there can be little doubt that we should read "male harlot" for "male varlet;" and "preposterous discoverers" (not discolourers) for "preposterous discoveries."

Coriolanus, Act V. Sc. 5., p. 364.:

"I ... holp to reap the fame

Which he did ear all his."

To ear is to plough. Aufidius complains that he had a share in the harvest, while Coriolanus took all the ploughing to himself. We have only, however, to transpose reap and ear, and this nonsense is at once converted into excellent sense. The old corrector blindly copied the blunder of a corrupt, but not sophisticated, manuscript. This has occurred elsewhere in this collection.

Antony and Cleopatra, Act I. Sc. 5., p. 467.:

"And soberly did mount an arm-girt steed."

This reading was also conjectured by Hanmer. The folios read arme-gaunt. This appears to me a mere misprint for rampaunt, but whether rampaunt was Shakspeare's word, or a transcriber's sophistication for ramping, is more than I can undertake to determine. I believe, however, that one of them is the true reading. At one period to ramp and to prance seem to have been synonymous. Spenser makes the horses of night "fiercely ramp," and Surrey exhibits a prancing lion.

This communication is, I am afraid, already too long for "N. & Q.;" I will therefore only add my opinion, that, though the old corrector has reported many bad readings, they are far outnumbered by the good ones in the collection.

W. N. L.

Mr. Collier's "Notes and Emendations:" Passage in "The Winter's Tale."—At p. 192. of Mr. Payne Collier's new volume, he cites a passage in The Winter's Tale, ending—

"... I should blush

To see you so attir'd, sworn, I think

To show myself a glass."

The MS. emendator, he says, reads so worn for sworn; and adds:

"The meaning therefore is, that Florizel's plain attire was 'so worn,' to show Perdita, as in a glass, how simply she ought to have been dressed."

Now Mr. Collier, in this instance, has not, according to his usual practice, alluded to any commentator who has suggested the same emendation. The inference would be, that this emendation is a novelty. This it is not. It has been before the world for thirty-four years, and its merits have failed to give it currency. At p. 142. of Z. Jackson's miscalled Restorations, 1819, we find this emendation, with the following note:

"So worn, i. e. so reduced, in your external appearance, that I should think you intended to remind me of my own condition; for, by looking at you thus attired, I behold myself, as it were, reflected in a glass, habited in robes becoming my obscure birth, and equally obscure fortune."

Jackson's emendations are invariably bad; but whatever may be thought of the sense of Florizel being so worn (instead of his dress), it is but fair to give a certain person his due. The passage has long seemed to me to have this meaning:

"But that we are acquiescing in a custom, I should blush to see you, who are a prince, attired like a swain; and still more should I blush to look at myself in the glass, and see a peasant girl pranked up like a princess."

& more, in MS., might very easily have been mistaken for sworn by the compositor. Accordingly, I would read the complete passage thus:

"... But that our feasts

In every mess have folly, and the feeders

Digest it with a custom, I should blush

To see you so attir'd, and more, I think,

To show myself a glass."

C. Mansfield Ingleby.

Birmingham.

[Minor Notes.]

Alleged Cure for Hydrophobia.—From time to time articles have appeared in "N. & Q." as to the cure of hydrophobia, a specific for which seems still to be a desideratum.

In the Miscellanea Curiosa (vol. iii. p. 346.) is a paper on Virginia, from the Rev. John Clayton, rector of Crofton in Wakefield, in which he states the particulars of several cures which he had effected of persons bitten by mad dogs. His principal remedy seems to have been the "volatile salt of amber" every four hours, and in the intervals, "Spec. Pleres Archonticon and Rue powdered ana gr. 15." I am not learned enough to understand what these drugs are called in the modern nomenclature of druggists.

C. T. W.

Epitaph at Mickleton.—The following inscription is copied from a monument on the north wall of the chancel of Mickleton Church, co. Gloucester:

"The Ephitath of John Bonner.

Heare lyeth in tomed John Bonner by name,

Sonne of Bonner of Pebworth, from thence he came.

The : 17 : of October he ended his daies,

Pray God that wee leveing may follow his wayes.

1618 by the yeare.

Scarce are such Men to be found in this shere.

Made and set up by his loveing frend

Evens his kindesman and [so I] doe end.

John Bonner, Senior. Thomas Evens, Junior.

1618."

The words in brackets are conjectural, the stone at that point being much corroded.

Balliolensis.

Charade attributed to Sheridan.—You have given a place to enigmas in "N. & Q.," and therefore the following, which has been attributed to R. B. Sheridan, may be acceptable. Was he the author?

"There is a spot, say, Traveller, where it lies,

And mark the clime, the limits, and the size,

Where grows no grass, nor springs the yellow grain,

Nor hill nor dale diversify the plain;

Perpetual green, without the farmer's toil,

Through all the seasons clothes the favor'd soil,

Fair pools, in which the finny race abound,

By human art prepar'd, enrich the ground.

Not India's lands produce a richer store,

Pearl, ivory, gold and silver ore.

Yet, Britons, envy not these boasted climes,

Incessant war distracts, and endless crimes

Pollute the soil:—Pale Avarice triumphs there,

Hate, Envy, Rage, and heart-corroding Care,

With Fraud and Fear, and comfortless Despair.

There government not long remains the same,

Nor they, like us, revere a monarch's name.

Britons, beware! Let avarice tempt no more;

Spite of the wealth, avoid the tempting shore;

The daily bread which Providence has given,

Eat with content, and leave the rest to heaven."

Balliolensis.

Suggested Reprint of Hearne.—It has often occurred to me to inquire whether an association might not be formed for the republication of the works edited by Tom Hearne? An attempt was made some years ago by a bookseller; and, as only Robert of Gloucester and Peter Langtoft appeared, "Printed for Samuel Bagster, in the Strand, 1810," we must infer that the spirited publisher was too far in advance of the age, and that the attempt did not pay. Probably it never would as a bookseller's speculation. But might not a society like the Camden be formed for the purpose with some probability, in these altered times and by such an improved method of proceeding, of placing these curious and valuable volumes once more within reach of men of ordinary means? At present the works edited by Hearne are rarely to be met with in catalogues, and when they do occur, the prices are almost fabulous, quite on the scale of those affixed to ancient MSS.

Balliolensis.

Suggestions of Books worthy of being reprinted.—Fabricius, Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ et Infimæ Ætatis, 6 vols. 8vo. (Recommended in The Guardian newspaper.)

J. M.

Epigram all the way from Belgium.—Should you think the following epigram, written in the travellers' book at Hans-sur-Lesse, in Belgium, worth preserving, it is at your service:

"Old Euclid may go to the wall,

For we've solved what he never could guess,

How the fish in the river are small,

But the river they live in is Lesse."

H. A. B.

Derivation of "Canada."—I send you a cutting from an old newspaper, on the derivation of this word:

"The name of Canada, according to Sir John Barrow, originated in the following circumstances. When the Portuguese, under Gasper Cortcreal, in the year 1500, first ascended the great river St. Lawrence, they believed it was the strait of which they were in search, and through which a passage might be discovered into the Indian Sea. But on arriving at the point whence they could clearly ascertain it was not a strait but a river, they, with all the emphasis of disappointed hopes, exclaimed repeatedly 'Canada!'—Here nothing; words which were remembered and repeated by the natives on seeing Europeans arrive in 1534, who naturally conjectured that the word they heard employed so often must denote the name of the country."

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

Railway Signals.—An effective communication from the guard to the engineman, for the prevention of railway accidents, seems to be an important desideratum, which has hitherto baffled the ingenuity of philosophers. The only proposed plan likely to be adopted, is that of a cord passing below the foot-boards, and placing the valve of the steam whistle under the control of the guard. The trouble attending this scheme, and the liability to neglect and disarrangement, render its success doubtful. What I humbly suggest is, that the guard should be provided with an independent instrument which would produce a sound sufficiently loud to catch the ear of the engineman. Suppose, for instance, that the mouth-piece of a clarionet, or the windpipe of a duck, or a metallic imitation, were affixed to the muzzle of an air-gun, and the condensed air discharged through the confined aperture; a shrill sound would be emitted. Surely, then, a small instrument might be contrived upon this principle, powerful enough to arrest the attention of the engineer, if not equal to the familiar shriek of the present whistle.

It is hoped that this hint will be followed up; that your publication will sustain its character by thus providing a medium of intercommunication for these worthies, who can respectively lay claim to the titles of men of science and men of letters, and that some experimenter "when found will make a note"—a stunning one.

T. C.

A Centenarian Trading Vessel.—There is a small smack now trading in the Bristol Channel, in excellent condition and repair, and likely to last for many years, called the "Fanny," which was built in 1753. This vessel belongs to Porlock, in the port of Bridgewater, and was originally built at Aberthaw in South Wales. Can any of your readers refer to any other trading vessel so old as this?

Anon.

[Queries.]

BISHOP KEN.

At what place, and by what bishop, was he ordained, in 1661? His ordination probably took place in the diocese of Oxford, London, Winchester, or Worcester. The discovery of it has hitherto baffled much research.

Jon Ken, an elder brother of the Bishop, was Treasurer of the East India Company in 1683. Where can anything be learned of him? Is there any mention of him in the books of the East India Company? Was he the Ken mentioned in Roger North's Lives of the Norths, as one of the court-rakes? When did he die, and where was he buried? This Jon Ken married Rose, the daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon, of Coleman Street, and by her is said (by Hawkins) to have had a daughter, married to the Honorable Christopher Frederick Kreienberg, Hanoverian Resident in London. Did M. Kreienberg die in this country, or can anything be ascertained of him or his wife?

The Bishop wrote to James II. a letter of intercession on behalf of the rebels in 1685. Can this letter be found in the State-Paper Office, or elsewhere?

In answer to a sermon preached by Bishop Ken, on 5th May, 1687, one F. I. R., designating himself "a most loyal Irish subject of the Company of Jesuits," wrote some "Animadversions." Could this be the "fath. Jo. Reed," a Benedictine, mentioned in the Life of A. Wood, under date of July 21, 1671? Father Reed was author of Votiva Tabula. Can any one throw any light on this?

J. J. J.

[Minor Queries.]

Canute's Reproof to his Courtiers.—Opposite the Southampton Docks, in the Canute Road, is the Canute Hotel, with this inscription in front: "Near this spot, A.D. 1028, Canute reproved his courtiers." The building is of very recent date.

Query, Is there any and what authority for the statement?

Salopian.

The Sign of the Cross in the Greek Church.—The members of the Greek Church sign themselves with the sign of the cross in a different manner from those of the Western Church. What is the difference?

J. C. B.

Reverend Richard Midgley, Vicar of Rochdale, temp. Eliz.—Dr. T. D. Whitaker mentions, in a note in his Life of Sir George Radcliffe, Knt., p. 4., 4to. 1810, that at an obscure inn in North Wales he once met with a very interesting account of Midgley in a collection of lives of pious persons, made about the time of Charles I.; but adds, that he had forgotten the title, and had never since been able to obtain the book. Can any reader of "N. & Q." identify this "collection," or furnish any particulars of Midgley not recorded by Brook, Calamy, or Hunter?

F. R. R.

Huet's Navigations of Solomon.—Can you or any of your readers inform me if the treatise referred to in the accompanying extract was ever published? and, if so, what was the result as to the assertions there made?

The History of the Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients. Written in French by Monsieur Huet, Bishop of Avranches. Made English from the Paris Edition. London: Printed for B. Lintot, between the Temple Gates, in Fleet Street, and Mears, at the Lamb, without Temple Bar. 1717.

"2dly. It is here we must lay down the most important remark, in point of commerce; and I shall undeniably establish the truth of it in a treatise which I have begun concerning the navigations of Solomon, that the Cape of Good Hope was known, often frequented, and doubled in Solomon's time, and so it was likewise for many years after; and that the Portuguese, to whom the glory of this discovery has been attributed, were not the first that found out this place, but mere secondary discoverers."—P. 20.

Edina.

Edinburgh.

Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1781.—Will any one of your correspondents inform me who was sheriff of Worcestershire in the year 1781*, and give his arms, stating the source of his knowledge on these points, to much oblige

Y.

[* John Darke of Breedon, Esq. See Nash's Worcestershire, Supplement, p. 102.—Ed.]

Tree of the Thousand Images.—Father Huc, in his journey to Thibet, gives an account of a singular tree, bearing this title, and of which the peculiarity is that its leaves and bark are covered with well-defined characters of the Thibetian alphabet. The tree seen by MM. Huc and Gabet appeared to them to be of great age, and is said by the inhabitants to be the only one of its kind known in the country. According to the account given by these travellers, the letters would appear to be formed by the veins of the leaves; the resemblance to Thibetian characters was such as to strike them with astonishment, and they were inclined at first to suspect fraud, but, after repeated observations, arrived at the conclusion that none existed. Do botanists know or conjecture anything about this tree?

C. W. G.

De Burgh Family.—I shall feel much obliged for references to the early seals of the English branch of the family of De Burgh, descended from Harlowen De Burgh, and Arlotta, mother of William the Conqueror, especially of that English branch whose armorial bearings were—Or a cross gules: also for information whether the practice, in reference to the spelling of names, was such as to render Barow, of the latter part of the fifteenth century, Aborough some fifty years afterwards.

E. D. B.

Witchcraft Sermons at Huntingdon.—In an article on Witchcraft in the Retrospective Review (vol. v. p. 121.), it is stated that, in 1593—

"An old man, his wife and daughter, were accused of bewitching the five children of a Mr. Throgmorton, several servants, the lady of Sir Samuel Cromwell, and other persons.... They were executed, and their goods, which were of the value of forty pounds, being escheated to Sir S. Cromwell, as lord of the manor, he gave the amount to the mayor and aldermen of Huntingdon, for a rent-charge of forty shillings yearly, to be paid out of their town lands, for an annual lecture upon the subject of witchcraft, to be preached at their town every Lady-Day, by a doctor or bachelor of divinity, of Queen's College, Cambridge."

Is this sum yet paid, and the sermon still preached, or has it fallen into disuse now that it is unpopular to believe in witchcraft and diabolic possession? Have any of the sermons been published?

Edward Peacock, Junior.

Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey.

Consort.—A former correspondent applied for a notice of Mons. Consort, said to have been a mystical impostor similar to the famous Cagliostro. I beg to renew the same inquiry.

A. N.

Creole.—This word is variously represented in my Lexicons. Bailey says, "The descendant of an European, born in America," and with him agree the rest, with the exception of the Metropolitana; that Encyclopædia gives the meaning, "The descendant of an European and an American Indian." A friend advocating the first meaning derives the word from the Spanish. Another friend, in favour of the second meaning, derives it originally from κεραννυμι, to mix; which word is fetched, perhaps far-fetched, from κερας, the horn in which liquors are mixed. Light on this word would be acceptable.

Gilbert N. Smith.

Shearman Family.—Is there a family named Shearman or Sherman in Yorkshire, or in the city of York? What are their arms? Is there any record of any of that family settling in Ireland, in the county or city of Kilkenny, about the middle of the seventeenth century, or at an earlier period in Cork? Are there any genealogical records of them? Was Robert Shearman, warden of the hospital of St. Cross in Winchester, of that family? Was Roger Shearman, who signed the Declaration of American Independence, a member of same? Is there any record of three brothers, Robert, Oliver, and Francis Shearman, coming to England in the army of William the Conqueror?

John F. Shearman.

Kilkenny.

Traitors' Ford.—There is a place called Traitors' Ford on the borders of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, near the source of the little river Stour, about two miles from the village of Whichford, in the former county. What is the origin of the name? There is no notice of it in Dugdale's Warwickshire, nor is it mentioned in the older maps of the county of Warwick. The vicinity to the field of Edge-Hill would lead one to suppose it may be connected with some event of the period of the Civil Wars.

Spes.

"Your most obedient humble Servant."—In Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, vol. ii. p. 93., mention is made of a poem entitled The Historie of Edward the Second, surnamed Carnarvon. The author, Sir Francis Hubert, in 1629, when closing the dedication of this poem to his brother, Mr. Richard Hubert, thus remarks:

"And so, humbly desiring the Almighty to blesse you both in soule, body, and estate, I rest not your servant, according to the new, and fine, but false phrase of the time, but in honest old English, your loving brother and true friend for ever."

Query, At what time, and with whom did this very common and most unmeaning term in English correspondence have its origin?

W. W.

Malta.

Version of a Proverb.—What, and where to be found, is the true version of "Qui facit per alium, facit per se?"

P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.

Ellis Walker.—Can any reader of "N. & Q." give any information as to Ellis Walker, who made a Poetical Paraphrase of the Enchiridion of Epictetus? He dedicates it to "his honoured uncle, Mr. Samuel Walker of York," and speaks of having taken Epictetus for his companion when he fled from the "present troubles in Ireland." My edition is printed in London, 1716, but of what edition is not mentioned; but I presume the work to have been of earlier date, probably in 1690-1, as indeed I find it to have been, by inserted addresses to the author, of date in the latter year. Any information as to the translator will oblige.

A. B. R.

Belmont.

"The Northerne Castle."—Pepys, in his Diary, 14th September, 1667, says, "To the King's playhouse, to see The Northerne Castle, which I think I never did see before." Is anything known of this play and its authorship? or was it The Northern Lass, by Richard Brome, first published in 1632? Perhaps Pepys has quoted the second title of some play.

J. Y.

Prayer-Book in French.—Can any of your readers give some satisfactory information respecting the earliest translations of the English Prayer-Book into French? By whom, when, for whom, were they first made? Does any copy still exist of one (which I have seen somewhere alluded to) published before Dean Durel's editions? By what authority have they been put forth? Is there any information to be found collected by any writer on this subject?

O. W. J.

"Navita Erythræum," &c.—Running the risk of being smiled at for my ignorance, I wish to have a reference to the following lines:

"Navita Erythræum pavidus qui navigat æquor,

In proræ et puppis summo resonantia pendet

Tintinnabula; eo sonitu prægrandia Cete,

Balenas, et monstra marina a navibus arcet."

H. T. Ellacombe.

Edmund Burke.—Can any of your correspondents tell me when and where he was married?

B. E. B.

Plan of London.—Is there any good plan of London, showing its present extent? The answer is, None. What is more, there never was a decent plan of this vast metropolis. There is published occasionally, on a small sheet of paper, a wretched and disgraceful pretence to one, bedaubed with paint. Can you explain the cause of this? Every other capital in Europe has handsome plans, easy to be obtained: nay more, almost every provincial town, whether in this country or on the Continent, possesses better engraved and more accurate plans than this great capital can pretend to. Try and use your influence to get this defect supplied.

L. S. W.

Minchin.—Could any of your Irish correspondents give me any information with regard to the sons of Col. Thomas Walcot (c. 1683), or the families of Minchin and Fitzgerald, co. Tipperary, he would much oblige

M.

[Minor Queries with Answers.]

Leapor's "Unhappy Father."—Can you tell me where the scene of this play, a tragedy by Mary Leapor, is laid, and the names of the dramatis personæ? It is to be found in the second volume of Poems, by Mary Leapor, 8vo. 1751. This authoress was the daughter of a gardener in Northamptonshire, and the only education she received consisted in being taught reading and writing. She was born in 1722, and died in 1746, at the early age of twenty-four. Her poetical merit is commemorated in the Rev. John Duncombe's poem of the Feminead.

A. Z.

[The scene, a gentleman's country house. The dramatis personæ: Dycarbas, the unhappy father; Lycander and Polonius, sons of Dycarbas, in love with Terentia; Eustathius, nephew of Dycarbas, and husband of Emilia; Leonardo, cousin of Eustathius; Paulus, servant of Dycarbas; Plynus, servant to Eustathius; Timnus, servant to Polonius; Emilia, daughter of Dycarbas; Terentia, a young lady under the guardianship of Dycarbas; Claudia, servant to Terentia.]

Meaning of "The Litten" or "Litton."—This name is given to a small piece of land, now pasture, inclosed within the moat of the ancient manor of Marwell, formerly Merewelle, in Hants, once the property of the see of Winchester. It does not appear to have been ever covered by buildings. What is the meaning or derivation of the term? Does the name exist in any other place, as applied to a piece of land situated as the above-described piece? I have spelt it as pronounced by the bailiff of the farm.

W. H. G.

Winchester.

[Junius and Ray derive it from the Anglo-Saxon lictun, cœmiterium, a burying-place. Our correspondent, however, will find its etymology discussed in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxviii. pp. 216. 303. and 319.]

St. James' Market House.—In a biography of Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist divine, about 1671:

"Mr. Baxter came up to London, and was one of the Tuesday lecturers at Pinner's Hall, and a Friday lecturer at Fetter Lane; but on Sundays he for some time preached only occasionally, and afterwards more statedly in St. James's Market House."

Where was the Market House situate?

P. T.

[Cunningham, in his Handbook of London, under the head of St. James' Market, Jermyn Street, St. James', tells us that "here, in a room over the Market House, preached Richard Baxter, the celebrated Nonconformist. On the occasion of his first Sermon, the main beam of the building cracked beneath the weight of the congregation." We recollect the old market and Market House, which must have stood on the ground now occupied by Waterloo Place.]

[Replies.]

GRUB STREET JOURNAL.

(Vol. vii., pp. 108. 268.)

Reginensis has been referred by F. R. A. to Drake's Essays for an account of this journal. Drake's account is, however, very incorrect. The Grub Street Journal did not terminate, as he states, on the 24th August, 1732, but was continued in the original folio size to the 29th Dec., 1737; the last No. being 418., instead of 138., as he incorrectly gives it. He appears to have supposed that the 12mo. abridgment in two volumes contained all the essays in the paper; whereas it did not comprise more than a third of them. He mentions as the principal writers Dr. Richard Russel and Dr. John Martyn. Budgell, however, in The Bee (February, 1733) says, "The person thought to be at the head of the paper is Mr. R—l (Russel), a nonjuring clergyman, Mr. P—e (Pope), and some other gentlemen." Whether Pope wrote in it or not, it seems to have been used as a vehicle by his friends for their attacks upon his foes, and the war against the Dunces is carried on with great wit and spirit in its pages. It is by far the most entertaining of the old newspapers, and throws no small light upon the literary history of the time. I have a complete series of the journal in folio, as well as of the continuation, in a large 4to. form, under the title of The Literary Courier of Grub Street, which commenced January 5, 1738, and appears to have terminated at the 30th No., on the 27th July, 1738. I never saw another complete copy. The Grub Street Journal would afford materials for many curious and amusing extracts. One very entertaining part of it is the "Domestic News," under which head it gives the various and often contradictory accounts of the daily newspapers, with a most humorous running commentary.

James Crossley.

[STONE PILLAR WORSHIP.]

(Vol. v., p. 122.)

Sir James Emerson Tennent, in his learned and curious Note on stone worship in Ireland, desires information as to the present existence of worship of stone pillars in Orkney. When he says it continued till a late period, I suppose he must allude to the standing stone at Stenness, perforated by a hole, with the sanctity attached to promises confirmed by the junction of hands through the hole, called the promise of Odin. Dr. Daniel Wilson enters into this fully in Præhistoric Annals of Scotland, pp. 99, 100, 101. It has been told myself that if a lad and lass promised marriage with joined hands through the hole, the promise was held to be binding. Whence the sanctity attached to such a promise I could not ascertain to be known, and I did not hear of any other superstition connected with this stone, which was destroyed in 1814. In the remote island of North Ronaldshay is another standing stone, perforated by a hole, but there is no superstition of this nature attached to it. At the Yule time the inhabitants danced about it, and when there were yule dancings in neighbouring houses, they began the dancing at the stone, and danced from the stone all the road to what was called to me the dancing-house. The sword dance, with a great deal of intricate crossing, and its peculiar simple tune, still exists in Orkney, but is not danced with swords, though I heard of clubs or sticks having been substituted. There are found in these islands the two circles of stones at Stenness, and single standing stones. One of these, at Swannay in Birsay, is said by tradition to have been raised to mark the spot where the procession rested when carrying the body of St. Magnus after his murder in Egilshay in 1110, from that island to Christ's Kirk in Birsay, where it was first interred. Here is a date and a purpose. The single standing stones, in accordance with Sir James's opinion, and to use nearly his expressions, are said to mark the burial-places of distinguished men, to commemorate battles and great events, and to denote boundaries; and these, and still more the circles, are objects of respect as belonging to ages gone by, but principally with the educated classes, and there is no superstition remaining with any. Such a thing as the swathing stone of South Inchkea is not known to have existed. The stones in the two circles, and the single standing stones, are all plain; but there was found lately a stone of the sculptured symbolical class, inserted to form the base of a window in St. Peter's Kirk, South Ronaldshay, and another of the same class in the island of Bressay, in Zetland. The first is now in the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries in Edinburgh; and the Zetland stone, understood to be very curious, is either there or in Newcastle, and both are forming the subject of antiquarian inquiry.

W. H. F.

[AUTOGRAPHS IN BOOKS.]

(Continued from Vol. vii., p. 255.)

The following are probably trifling, but may be considered worth recording. Facing the title-page to The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, London, W. Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, &c., 1717, 8vo., no date at end of preface, is in (no doubt) his own hand:

"To the Right Honorable the Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, from his ever-oblig'd, most faithfull, and affectionate servant, Alex. Pope."

Cranmer's Bible, title gone, but at end, Maye 1541:

"This Bible was given to me by my ffather Coke when I went to keepe Christmas with him at Holckam, anno Domini 1658. Will. Cobbe."

Sir William Cobbe of Beverley, York, knight, married Winifred, sixth daughter of John (fourth son of the chief justice), who was born 9th May, 1589.

This copy has, before Joshua and Psalms, a page of engravings, being the "seconde" and "thyrde parte;" also before the New Testament, the well-known one of Henry VIII. giving the Bible, but the space for Cromwell's arms is left blank or white. Cromwell was executed July 1540; but do his arms appear in the 1540 impressions?