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 ENGLISH, IRISH, AND SCOTCH KNIGHTS OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

For the following list of the English, Irish, and Scotch knights of the Order of St. John, who are mentioned in the records of this island when under its rule, I am in a great measure indebted to Dr. Vella, who, after having made at my request a diligent search through very many old volumes and manuscripts, has kindly favoured me with the result of his labours. The names of the knights and places mentioned in this Note are written, in every instance, as Dr. Vella and myself have seen them recorded. Before commencing with the list, I have a few remarks to offer, that the terms peculiar to the Order which I shall make use of may be understood by those of your readers who are unacquainted with its history.

The English tongue comprised the priories of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and thirty-two different commanderies. Its property, which was seized by Henry VIII. in 1534, was afterwards restored by Queen Mary, and finally and effectually confiscated by Elizabeth in the first year of her reign. Her Majesty's order for the seizure of the Irish estates was dated on the 3rd of June, 1559, and addressed to William Fitzwilliam. Vide the "Diplomatic Code of the Order," and Rymer, vol. xv. p. 527.

Although Dr. Vella and myself had every wish to classify the knights of the English tongue under their different languages, still we have failed in our first attempt, and to enable us to succeed we must ask for assistance from your correspondents in England. They must be known by their names; thus, for instance, the Dundas's of 1524 and 1538 were as evidently of Scotch, as the Russells of 1536, 1537, and 1554 were of English descent. We might apply the same remark to many other knights whose names will be found recorded in the following list.

Whenever a vacancy occurred by the death of a grand master, who was always a sovereign prince, the election for his successor could only take place in the convent. It was not necessary that the person elected should be present. Villiers De L'Isle Adam was residing in France in 1521, when his brethren at Rhodes made him their chief. The grand priors, commanders, and knights, who were absent from Malta, whether employed in the service of the Order or not, had neither voice nor ballot in the election; and the more effectually to prevent their interference, as also that of the Roman pontiff, only three days were allowed to transpire before a successor was chosen, and proclaimed as the head of the convent.

Henry VIII. addressed L'Isle Adam as follows: "Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Domini, F. de Villers L. Isleadam, Magno Hierosolymitani Ordinis Magistro, et consanguineo, et amico nostro carissimo." George II., as the king of a Protestant country, sent a letter to Emmanuel Pinto, bearing the following superscription: "Eminentissimo Principi Domino Emanueli Pinto, Magno Ordinis Melitensis Magistro, Consanguineo, et Amico Nostro Carissimo."

Boisgelin has stated in the first volume of his History of Malta, p. 194., that the—

"King of England addressed the grand master by the following titles: 'Eminentissime princeps consanguinea et amice noster carissime.' The King of France gave the Order the title of 'Très chers et bons amis;' and the grand master that of 'Très cher et très aimé cousin," in the same style as he addressed the Dukes of Tuscany."

That this note may not occupy too much space in your interesting, publication, I would now merely remark that the "convent" was known as the place where the grand master, or his lieutenant, resided, and the "tongue," according to the code of the Order, was the term applied to a nation. A grand prior was the chief of his language, who resided in his native country. A "Turcopolier" was the title of the conventual bailiff of the venerable language of England, "and it took its name from the Turcopoles, a sort of light horse mentioned in the history of the wars carried on by the Christians in Palestine." The English knights won for themselves this high honour by their gallantry in the Holy Land, and in remembrance it ever after remained with their tongue. A Turcopolier was the third dignity in the convent, and the last knight who enjoyed it was Sir Richard Shelley, Prior of England. At his decease the grand master assumed the title for himself. The two interesting letters addressed by Sir Richard Shelley to Henry VIII., in which he complained of his majesty's treatment to the Order of St. John, and pleaded in its favour, were published in the English language, and five years ago were to be seen in the government library of this island. But, on my asking a short time ago to refer to them, I regretted to find that they had been taken from the library by a gentleman who was well introduced to the librarian, and whose conduct in this, and some other transactions where valuable books are concerned, cannot be too strongly condemned. Before returning from this brief digression to the subject of my Note, might I ask if these letters are known in England, and whether copies could be easily procured for a friend who is desirous of having them inserted in a forthcoming publication?

The Knights of St. John being members of a masonic institution, termed each other brothers, is customary with members of the craft at the present time. And it may not be out of place to remark that several of the chapels, churches, and fortifications of Malta are ornamented with masonic signs and emblems, which have been several times referred to, and cleverly explained within the last three years in different numbers of the Masonic Quarterly Review. Those of your readers who take an interest in masonry may peruse these papers of a distinguished mason, now stationed in the West Indies, with instruction and pleasure.

Boisgelin has recorded in the first volume of his History of Malta, p. 182., that the Order of St. John of Jerusalem "might with propriety be considered as being at the same time hospitaller, religious, military, republican, aristocratical, monarchical," and lastly, as if these different terms, which, without his explanation, would appear to be incorrect as applying to one institution, were not sufficient, he has added in a note, that in the last days of its existence it might also have been called democratical. He has stated that it was—

"Hospitaller, from having hospitals constantly open for the reception of the sick of all countries and religions, whom the knights attended in person. Religious, because the members took the three vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty, which last consisted in having no property independent of the Order at large, and on that account the Pope was their superior. Military, from being constantly armed, and always at war with the infidels. Republican, as their chief was chosen from among themselves, and could not enact laws, or carry them into execution, without their consent. Aristocratical, since none but the knights and grand master had any share in the legislative and executive power. Monarchical, from having a superior who could not be dispossessed of his dignity, and was invested with the right of sovereignty over the subjects of the order, together with those of Malta and its dependencies. And lastly, Democratical, from the introduction of a language which did not require any proofs of nobility."[^[1]]

Before taking leave of Boisgelin, it should be recorded that he was a Knight of Malta; and his history, one of the best now extant, appeared in those troubled times, when he hoped by conciliating all governments, to see his Order again restored. Influenced in all things by this hope, vain as it was, his statements should be received with some grains of allowance.

Before calling attention to the following list, I have to state that a knight could not become commander before he had made four cruises in the galleys, or served five years in the convent. He had also to remain three years a commander before he could claim a pension. Those knights who are known to have been at Malta will be distinguished by a †.

In looking through the records of the "English tongue," I have met with the name of only one lady, Catherine Burchier, who was prioress of Buckland in 1524. Any information respecting her history, or that of the knights whose names are recorded in the above list, will be most acceptable.

William Winthrop.

La Valetta, Malta.

Footnote 1:[(return)]

The language to which Boisgelin refers, was that of England. A few years after the Reformation, and in 1545, the council decreed that it was no longer required for those who joined the English tongue to be noblemen. Vide fol. 35.

DUPORT'S LINES TO IZAAK WALTON.

Sometime since I met with the following epigrams of the learned scholar, divine, and loyalist James Duport, written on the fly-leaf of a copy of his Musæ Subsecivæ, seu Poetica Stromata, presented by him to Izaak Walton. I presume that they have never been printed, and that they were written in Duport's own hand. If so, they may be thought worthy of a place in the columns of "N. & Q." They will be read with some interest by those who respect Duport, and love the memory of good old Izaak Walton. I may add, that the autograph of I. W. is in the book, thus:

"Izaak Walton,
Given by the Author,
3ᴰ May, 1679."

W. H. G.

Winchester.

"Ad virum optimum mihique amicissimum Isaacum Waltonum, de libris a se editis, mihique dono missis, nec non de vita Hookeri, Herberti, et aliorum:

Munera magna mihi mittis; nec mittis in hamo

Rex Piscatorum sis licet, atque Pater.

Mutus ego ut piscis semper! nunquamne reponam?

Piscibus immo tuis et tibi mitto Sales:

Sed quid pro vitis Sanctorum? mitto Salutem;

Vita etenim non est vita, Salutis inops.

Tuissimus, J. D."

"Ad eundem de suâ Episcopi Sandersoni Vitâ.

Quem Juvenis quondam didici, Tutore magistro,

Nunc Sandersonum, te duce, disco Senex.

Macte nove o Plutarche Biographe; dans aliorum

Qui vitas, vitam das simul ipse tibi:

Nempe eris æternum in Scriptis, Waltone, superstes,

Non etenim nôrunt hæc monumenta mori.

J. Duport."

SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

Zachariah Jackson.—"N. & Q." will not, I am sure, refuse to give his due to Zachariah Jackson, the author of Shakspeare's Genius Justified, by showing to how great an extent the conjectures of Jackson had, by thirty-four years, anticipated the Notes and Emendations. I subjoin a list of the old corrector's emendations, which are also found in Jackson's work:

Besides these nine verbatim coincidences, the following four are very approximate.

Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Sc. 2:

Folios.—"And when he says he is, say that he dreams."

Collier MS.—"When he says what he is, say that he dreams."—Notes and Emendations, p. 142.

Jackson.—"And what he says he is, say that he dreams."—Restorations and Illustrations, p. 114.

Taming of the Shrew, Act II. Sc. 1.:

Folios.—"No such jade, Sir, as you, if me you mean."

Collier MS.—"No such jade to bear you, if me you mean."—Notes and Emendations, p. 147.

Jackson.—"No such jade as you,—bear! if me you mean."—Restorations and Illustrations, p. 119.

1 Henry VI., Act V. Sc. 3.:

Folios.—"Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses rough."

Collier MS.—"Confounds the tongue, and mocks the sense of touch."—Notes and Emendations, p. 276.

Jackson.—"Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses touch."—Restorations and Illustrations, p. 233.

Cymbeline, Act III. Sc. 4.:

Folios.— ... "Some jay of Italy, Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd him."

Collier MS.—"Who smothers her with painting, hath betray'd him."—Notes and Emendations, p. 495.

Jackson.—"Who smoother was: her painting hath betray'd him."—Restorations and Illustrations, p. 375.

Besides these four emendations, which at any rate are very suggestive of those in Mr. Collier's folio, I beg to call attention to Jackson's defence of Theobald's (and his own) proposition to read untread for unthread, in King John, Act V. Sc. 4., which is strikingly like Mr. Collier's defence of the same reading in the margin of the Folio 1632. The whole of Jackson's notes on King John are well worth reading. I beg to mention two of these, as illustrations of old Jackson's acuteness, when not under the warping influence of the cacoëthes emendandi. His defence of untrimmed bride, in Act II. Sc. 1., is most convincing. He says,—

"Constance stimulates [Lewis] to stand fast to his purpose, and not to let the devil tempt him, in the likeness of an untrimmed bride, to waver in his determination; for that the influence of the Holy See would strip King John of his present royalty. Where then would be the great dowry Lewis was to receive with his wife? At present he has only the promise of five provinces, and 30,000 marks of English coin; therefore as the dowry has not been paid, Blanche is still an untrimmed bride."—Recollections and Illustrations, p. 179.

His note on the use of invisible, in Act V. Sc. 7., is also excellent:

"Death having prayed upon the reduced body of the king, quits it, and now invisible, has laid siege to the mind."

I have elsewhere stated my opinion that "all Jackson's emendations are bad." I should have added that some few are very plausible and specious, and worthy of consideration. I will mention one in King John, Act IV. Sc. 2. Pembroke says,—

"If, what in rest you have, in right you hold," &c.

Now, rest and right are no antithesis, nor are they allied in meaning. Jackson inserts a t' between in and rest—

"If, what int'rest you have in right you hold," &c.—

which he supports by admirable parallels from the same play. I will cite one more example of Jackson's sagacity, from his notes on 1 Henry IV., Act I. Sc. 3. Hotspur says,—

"Never did bare and rotten policy," &c.

Jackson reads,—

"Never did barren rotten policy," &c.

Mr. Collier never once refers to Jackson. Mr. Singer, however, talks familiarly about Jackson, in his Shakspeare Vindicated, as if he had him at his fingers' ends; and yet, at page 239., he favours the world with an original emendation (viz. "He did behood his anger," Timon, Act III. Sc. 1.), which, however, will be found at page 389. of Jackson's book. I may be in error, but I cannot but think such ignorance, on the part of professional Shakspearians, very culpable.

C. Mansfield Ingleby.

Birmingham.

On Three Passages in "Measure for Measure."—I have to crave a small space in your columns, which have already done much good service for the text of Shakspeare, to make a very few remarks on three passages in the play of Measure for Measure. It is no sweeping change of reading that I am about to advocate, nor, as I think, anything over ingenious; inasmuch as, in two of the passages in question, I propose to defend the reading of the first folio, which, I contend, has been departed from unnecessarily; while, in the third, I suggest the simple change of an f into an s.

In Act II. Sc. 4., these lines occur in Angelo's soliloquy, in my folio of 1623:

"The state whereon I studied

Is like a good thing, being often read,

Growne feard and tedious."

Mr. Knight, and other editors, read feard, as in the original, but give no explanation; though such a strange epithet would seem to require one. I propose to read seared, i.e. dry, the opposite of fresh. This, as the saying is, "requires," I think, "only to be pointed out to be admitted."

Lower down in the same scene we find the following passage, in one of Angelo's addresses to Isabel:

"Such a person,

Whose creadit with the judge, or owne great place,

Could fetch your brother from the manacles

Of the all-building law."

The word building has always been a stumbling-block to editors. Johnson first proposed to read binding, and his successors have adopted it, and such is now the generally received reading. Mr. Collier's old corrector is also in favour of the same change. I have always felt convinced, however, that building was the word which Shakspeare wrote. That which answers to it in the A.-S. is bytling, bytleing, a building; bytlian, to build; which are inflected from byth, biotul, a hammer or mallet (whence our beetle); so that the strict meaning of the verb is firmare, confirmare, to fasten, close, or bind together. This will give much the same meaning to building as that implied in the proposed substitute binding.

Not having met with the word used in this peculiar sense by any old writer, I could not venture to maintain the reading of the folio on these grounds, which I have just mentioned, alone. At length, however, I have been successful, and I am now able to quote a passage from a work published very shortly before this play, entitled:

"The Jewel House of Art and Nature", &c., "faithfully and familiarly set downe according to the Author's owne experience, by Hugh Platte, of Lincoln's Inne, gentleman. London, 1594."

in which this word building is used in precisely the same sense as that which I defend. In "the Preface of the Author," the following passage occurs:

"I made a condicionall promise of some farther discouerie in arteficiall conceipts, then either my health or leisure would then permit: I am now resolued (notwithstanding the vnkind acceptation of my first fruits, which then I feared and hath since falne out, is a sufficient release in law of the condition) to make the same in some sort absolute (though not altogether according to the fulnesse of my first purpose), and to become a building word unto me."

I apprehend that this parallel instance is all that is wanting to preserve, for the future, the reading of the first folio unimpaired.

The third passage on which I have a remark to offer, is that much tormented one in Act III. Sc. 1., which stands in my first folio thus:

"Cla. The prenzie, Angelo?

Isa. Oh, 'tis the cunning liuerie of hell,

The damnest bodie to inuest, and couer

In prenzie gardes."

I need not say a word about the various suggestions of primzie, priestly, princely, precise, &c., which have appeared from time to time; my business is solely with the original word in the first folio. I have always felt sure that this is none other than the poet's own word, and no error of the printer; for how could it be possible to make a gross mistake in a word which occurs twice within four lines, and one, moreover, so unusual; the printer must surely have been able to decipher the letters from one of the two written specimens. It will be observed that there is a comma after prenzie in the original, indicating that the word is a substantive, not an adjective. Now what is the Italian for a prince? Not only principe, but also prenze; and in like manner we find principessa and prenzessa. I have no doubt that what Shakspeare did write was—

"The prenzie, Angelo?"

while a little lower down he converted the word into an adjective:

"To inuest and couer

In prenzie gardes."

It is obvious to remark that this meaning of prenzie exactly fits the sense: Angelo was a prince, and he was clad in robes of office, adorned with princely "gardes," or trappings. Shakspeare, no doubt, was very well acquainted with Italian tales and poems; the word may have become quite familiar to him. His intention here, in putting the term in question into Claudio's mouth, may have been to give an Italian character to the scene, introducing thus the local term of dignity of the deputy; thus recalling the audience, by the occurrence of a single word, to the scene of the plot; for though this is said to be in Vienna, yet it is to be observed that not a name throughout the play is German, everything is Italian. And let it not be objected that the use of this word involves an obscurity which Shakspeare would have avoided; we are hardly able to judge, now-a-days, whether a particular word was obscure or not in his time: at all events, there would be no difficulty in adducing instances of what we should call more obscure allusions, and I think there can be little doubt that the well-educated in those days well understood the Italian prenze to mean a prince.

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

"Hamlet" and G. Steevens.—In Act I. Sc. 4., Horatio asks Hamlet "What does this mean, my Lord?" (The noise of music within). Hamlet replies:

"The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,

Keeps wassel, and the swaggering up-spring reels."

G. Steevens, in a note of this passage, says: "The swaggering up-spring was a German dance." Is not the allusion directed to the king, whom Hamlet describes as "a swaggering up-spring," or "upstart?" Should not the line—

"O horrible, O horrible, most horrible!"

in the Ghost's narrative in the fifth scene, be given to Hamlet?

James Cornish.

Falmouth.

Minor Notes.

Sir Francis Drake.—Having traversed the globe within three years, his travels were thus noticed by a poet of his day:

"Drake, pererrati novit quem terminus orbis,

Quemque semel mundi vidit uterque Polus.

Si taceant homines, faciant te sidera notum,

Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui."

Clericus (D.)

Similarity of Idea in St. Luke and Juvenal.—Examples of identity of expression existing between the Scriptures and ancient heathen writers have already appeared in "N. & Q." Permit me to add the following passages, which appear to me to afford an instance of similarity of idea:

"Λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἐὰν οὗτοι σιωπήσωσῖν, οἱ λίθοι κεκρὰξονται."—Luc. cap xix. v. 40.

"Audis,

Jupiter, hæc, nec labra moves, quum mittere vocem

Debueras, vel marmoreus, vel aëneus?"

Juven. Sat. xiii. v. 113.

The satirist would seem to say (taking the sceptic's view), that even if Jupiter existed only in brass and marble, the very statues would "cry out" against the impious perjury.

I drop my initials, and beg to subscribe myself

Arch. Weir.

Sincere.—Trench, On the Study of Words, 4th ed., p. 197., says:

"They would be pleased to learn that 'sincere' may be, I will not say that it is, without wax (sine cerâ), as the best and finest honey should be."

Is not this derivation erroneous? Sincere does not mean "pure, like virgin-honey;" but it expresses the absence of deception. I doubt not that it is derived from—

"The practice of Roman potters to rub wax into the flaws of their unsound vessels when they sent them to market. A sincere [without wax] vessel was the same as a sound vessel, one that had no disguised flaw."

So says Bushnell (God in Christ, p. 17.). The derivation is no novelty. I reproduce it merely to correct an error which is obtaining currency under the name of Mr. French. I should be obliged to any of your correspondents who would refer me to, or still better cite, any passages in the Latin classics relating to the practice I have mentioned.

C. Mansfield Ingleby.

Birmingham.

Epitaph in Appleby Church-yard, Leicestershire.—

"I was a fine young man,

As you would see in ten.

And when I thought of this,

I took in hand my pen,

And wrote it down so plain

That every one might see;

How I was cut down,

Like blossoms from a tree."

J. G. L.

Queries.

THE CRESCENT.

I shall be obliged to any correspondent of "N. & Q." who will point out the period at which the crescent became the standard of Mahometanism. Poets and romancers freely bestow it upon any time or scene in which Mussulmans are introduced; Sir Walter Scott mentions it in the Talisman, but after the strange liberties he has taken with Saladin and Richard, he becomes, on such a question, no higher authority than writers of meaner name. I cannot find it in the history of Mahomet, or in that of his immediate successors. The first time Michaud, in his fine Histoire des Croisades, speaks of it is in the reign of Mahomet II., which is many centuries after periods at which modern poets, and even historians, have named it as the antagonistic standard to the cross. The crescent is common upon the reverses of coins of the Eastern empire long before the Turkish conquest, and was, I have reason to believe, in some degree peculiar to the Sclave nations. Was it the standard of the Turks, as contradistinguished from other Saracens? or, was it adopted by Mahomet II. after his conquests of Constantinople and the eastern countries of Europe? I am aware that if this last idea be substantiated, it will make it much more modern than it is generally supposed to be, but our ideas of everything, Turkish were for so long a time mixed with the wonderful and the romantic, that we must not expect much correctness on such points. The Turks came into fearful contiguity with the West in the fifteenth century; Europe had as much to dread from them then as from the Russians now. This event and the art of printing were almost cotemporary, and the crescent has been presented to us as the symbol of Mahometanism ever since; but I much doubt it can be proved to have been so at a far remoter period.

W. Robson.

Stockwell.

Minor Queries.

The Hebrew Testament.—Having lately completed the above work, so as to be "ready for the press" without much delay, I should be glad before I resign the MS. to the hands of the printer, to have the advantage of the suggestions of those of your erudite readers who have made sacred criticism their study.

Moses Margoliouth.

Dr. Franklin.—I possess the following lines in the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, written in the year 1780. Can any of your readers tell me who was the author of them, and when and where they were first printed?

"When Orpheus went down to the Regions below,

Which men are forbidden to see;

He tun'd up his Lyre, as historians show,

To set his Euridice free.

All Hell was astonish'd, a person so wise

Should so rashly endanger his life,

And venture so far! But how vast their surprise

When they heard that he came for his wife.

"To find out a punishment due to the fault

Old Pluto had puzzled his brain;

But Hell had not torments sufficient he thought,

So he gave him his wife back again.

But pity succeeding, soon mov'd his hard heart,

And, pleas'd with his playing so well,

He took her again, in reward of his Art;

Such power had Music in Hell!"

G. M. B.

Flemish Refugees.—In the troubled times of the Reformation, England was not seldom the refuge for Flemings who, for the sake of religion, abandoned their country. Among these was Mr. Joos Tuck, who, according to a consistorial decision of Dec. 14, 1582, was proposed by G. Van Den Haute, then pastor at Sluis, to the brethren of the Flemish Class, since "they had taken knowledge of the sound and good gifts of their brother." He left Sluis soon after, probably in July, 1583, and withdrew to England. I should be glad to learn what befell him there.

Peter Lambert was a student of the University of Ghent: though, as far as I am aware, he is not mentioned in Te Water's History of the Reformed Church and University in Ghent. On July 21, 1583, a student made known his wish to propose himself as candidate for the ministry; and on August 4 appeared Peter Lambert, student of the University of Ghent, before the consistory, requesting the brethren to grant him the twenty-five guilders which had been promised; because, on account of the troubled state of the country, he wished to flee to England, on which request was decided: "Since a well-known and pious brother, who is compelled to flee, is in need of help, let the deacons and pensionary of the town be addressed thereon." Very probably, therefore, he also took refuge in England. Can any one give me farther information?—From the Navorscher.

J. H. Van Dale.

"Sad are the rose leaves," &c.—Can you or any of your correspondents tell me whence come the following lines?—

"Sad are the rose leaves which betoken

That there the dead lie buried low;

But sadder, when the heart is broken,

Are smiles upon the lips of woe."

They are quoted from memory from the album of a lady friend.

Iseldunensis.

Wanted, the original habitat of the following Sentences:

1. "Ministeriun circa, non magisterium supra, Scriptures."

2. "Virtus rectorem ducemque desiderat, vitia sine magistro discuntur."

3. "In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in omnibus charitas."

4. "Exiguum est ad legem bonum esse." Wetstein assigns this last to Seneca, Epist. 17.; but there is some error. It very likely is in Seneca.

5. "Verbum audimus, motum sentimus, præsentiam credimus, modum nescimus." Durandus is the author.

6. "En rem indignam! nos qui jam tot annos sumus doctores S. Theologiæ, denuo cogimur adire ludos literarios." Spoken by the adversaries of Erasmus.

What is the earliest authority for the story of St. John and his partridge?

Will Mr. Bolton Corney be kind enough to explain the occasion of Porson's notable speech recorded on the last page of his Curiosities Illustrated?

His sagacity was not at fault in suspecting a French origin for D'Israeli's story, p. 89. See Bassompière, in Retrospective Review, xiii. 346.

S. Z. Z. S.

Tea-marks.—Accident threw in my way lately a catalogue of a large sale of teas in Mincing Lane; and my attention was drawn to certain marks against the several lots, which appeared to indicate particular qualities, but to me, as uninitiated, perfectly incomprehensible. In this dilemma I asked one of our principal brokers the meaning of all this, and I was informed that teas are sampled and tasted by the brokers, and divided in the main into seven classes, distinguished as follows:

Can any of your correspondents tell us when this classification was first introduced, or the origin of the first two characters? Can they be Chinese, and the names given from some fancied resemblance to the gallows, or the letter T turned sideways? My friend the broker, though a very intelligent man, could give me no information whatever on these points.

W. T.

42. Lowndes Square.

William the Conqueror's Surname.—Had William a surname? If so, what was it? By surname I mean such as is transmitted from father to son, not the epithets he used to bestow on himself in documents, as "I, William the Bastard," "I, William the Conqueror," &c.

Tee Bee.

Old Saying.—

"Merry be the first

And merry be the last,

And merry be the first of August."

Having frequently heard this old saying, I take the liberty of asking, through your much valued paper, it any of your readers are able to tell me its origin?

Edm. L. Bagshawe.

Bath Literary Institution.

To pluck a Crow with One.—It is a common expression in all ranks, I believe, of this country, to speak of "plucking a crow" with such a one; meaning to call him to account for some delinquency. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of the phrase?

W. W.

"Well's a fret."—When, after a short pause in conversation, any one utters the interjection, "Well!" it is a very common practice in Nottingham to say:

"... and well's a fret,

He that dies for love will not be hang'd for debt."

I have asked a great number of persons for an explanation, but they all use the phrase without any meaning. Can you, or any of your readers, tell me if it have any; or if it be only nonsensical doggrel?

Devoniensis.

Pay the Piper.—This expression surely has a firm foundation. Can any of your correspondents trace it?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

Greek Inscription upon a Font, mentioned by Jeremy Taylor.—

"This was ingeniously signified by that Greek inscription upon a font, which is so prettily contrived, that the words may be read after the Greek or after the Hebrew manner, and be exactly the same:

'Νίψον ἀνόμημα, μὴ μόναν ὄψιν,'

'Lord, wash my sin, and not my face only.'"—Life of Christ, part i. sect. 9. disc. 6., "On Baptism," vol. ii. p. 235., Eden's edition.

Can any reader of "N. & Q." state the bishop's authority for this ingenious device?

A. Taylor.

Acharis.—The following is extracted from Dugdale's Monasticon:

"Radulphus Wicliff armiger tenet in Wicliff duas partes decimarum de dominicis quondam Acharis, quondam ad 5. s. modò nihil quia ut dicit sunt inclusæ in parco suo, ideo ad consilium."

What is the meaning of the term Acharis, and of the passage? It is an extract from the Rentale spiritualium Possessionum atque temporalium Prioratus Sancti Martini juxta Richmund in agro Eboracensi.

A. W. H.

Attainment of Majority.—Professor De Morgan will, I am sure, permit me to put this question to him:

In a short treatise "On Ancient and Modern Usage in Reckoning," written by him for the Companion to the Almanac of 1850, he explains, at page 9., the usage of attainment of majority in these words:

"Nevertheless in the law, which here preserves the old reckoning, he is of full age on the 9th: though he were born on the 10th, he is of age to execute a settlement a minute after midnight on the morning of the 9th."

I want to have this statement reconciled with the opening scene of Ben Jonson's Staple of News, where Pennyboy jun. counts, as his watch strikes—"one, two, three, four, five, six!"—

"Enough, enough, dear watch,

Thy pulse hath beat enough

—The hour is come so long expected," &c.

Then "the fashioner" comes in to fit on the heir's new clothes; he had "waited below 'till the clock struck," and gives, as an excuse, "your worship might have pleaded nonage, if you had got 'em on ere I could make just affidavit of the time."

All these particulars are too verbatim to admit of doubt as to the peculiar usage of that time; and from other sources I know that Ben Jonson was right: but it is not alluded to in the treatise first mentioned, nor is it stated when the usage was altered to "a minute after midnight."

A. E. B.

Leeds.

Hartman's Account of Waterloo.—In the note to the 3rd Canto of Childe Harold, Stanza 29, Lord Byron says:

"The place where Major Howard fell was not far from two tall and solitary trees, which stand a few yards from each other at a pathway's side. Beneath these he died and was buried. The body has since been removed to England."

I have a copy on which one has written—

"Hartman's account is full and interesting. He was in conversation with Major Howard when he was killed; and afterwards gave directions for his burial. Though no poet, he could describe graphically what he saw and did."

The position of Hartman, and his apparent familiarity with Major Howard, seem to take him out of the herd of writers on Waterloo; but I cannot learn who he was, or what he wrote. Can any of your readers tell me? The note may have been made in mere wantonness, but it looks genuine.

G. D.

Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury.—When was Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, born; who, Camden tells us, was the "greatest ornament" of Higham Ferrers? I have seen his birth somewhere stated to have taken place in the year 1360; but no day or month was given. I should also be glad to know to what extent he was a contributor towards the restoration of Croydon Church, the tower and porch of which bear his arms?

R. W. Elliot.

Translation of Athenæus.—I find, in the Classical Journal, xxxviii. 11., published in 1828, that an English translation of Athenæus had been completed before his death by R. Fenton, Esq., F.R.S., author of the History of Pembrokeshire. The writer farther says: "We have reason to believe that the MS. is now in possession of his son, the Rev. S. Fenton, Vicar of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire." Has this version, or any part of it, ever been published?

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

Passages from Euripides.—Rogers translates two fine passages from Euripides:

"There is a streamlet issuing from a rock," &c.

and

"Dear is that valley to the murmuring bees," &c.

Where is the original Greek to be found?

F.

Anderson's Royal Genealogies.—Is there any memoir or biographical account extant of James Anderson, D.D., the learned compiler of that most excellent and valuable work bearing the above title, and published in London, 1732, fol.?

G.

Minor Queries with Answers.

Louis le Hutin.—When or for what reason was the sobriquet "Hutin" attached to Louis X. of France? And what is the meaning of "Hutin?"

F. S. A.

[Hutin is defined by Roquefort, brusque, emporté, querelleur, from the Low Latin Hutinus; and in illustrating the word he furnishes the following reply to our correspondent's Query: "Mezerai rapporte que Louis X. fut surnommé Hutin, parceque, dès son enfance, il aimait à quereller et à se battre, et que ce surnom fut lui donné par allusion à un petit maillet dont se servent les tonneliers, appelé hutinet, parce-qu'il fait beaucoup de bruit.">[

Replies.

BEE-PARK—BEE-HALL.

(Vol. v., pp. 322. 498.)

Enjoying as we do the advantages of the extension of scientific knowledge, and its application to our routine of daily wants, we are apt to forget that our forefathers were without many things we deem essentials. Your correspondents C. W. G. and B. B. have touched upon a curious feature of antiquity, which science and commerce have rendered obsolete. Yet, before the introduction of sugar, bees were important ministers to the luxuries of the great, as mentioned at the above-cited pages. I was struck with the following passage in the first forest charter of King Henry III.:

"Every freeman ... shall likewise have the honey which shall be found in his woods."

This, in a charter second only in importance, perhaps, to Magna Charta itself, sounds strange to our ideas; moderns would not think it a very royal boon. But the note with which Mr. R. Thomson (Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John, p. 352.) illustrates this passage is interesting, and, though rather long, may be worth insertion in your columns:

"The second part of this chapter secures to the woodland proprietor all the honey found in his woods; which was certainly a much more important gift than it would at first appear, since the Hon. Daines Barrington remarks, that perhaps there has been no lawsuit or question concerning it for the last three hundred years. In the middle ages, however, the use of honey was very extensive in England, as sugar was not brought hither until the fifteenth century; and it was not only a general substitute for it in preserving, but many of the more luxurious beverages were principally composed of it, as mead, metheglin, pigment, and morat, and these were famous from the Saxon days, down even to the time of the present charter (1217). In the old Danish and Swedish laws bees form a principal subject; and honey was a considerable article of rent in Poland, in which it was a custom to bind any one who stole it to the tree whence it was taken. The Baron de Mayerberg also relates, that when he travelled in Muscovy in 1661, he saw trees there expressly adapted to receive bees, which even those who felled their own wood were enjoined to take down in such a manner that they who prepared them should have the benefit of the honey. Nor was the wax of less importance to the woodland proprietors of England, since candles of tallow are said to have been first used only in 1290, and those of wax were so great a luxury, that in some places they were unknown: but a statute concerning wax-chandlers, passed in 1433 (the 11th of Henry VI. chap. 12.), states that wax was then used in great quantities for the images of saints. Only referring, however, to the well-known use of large wax tapers by King Alfred in the close of the ninth century, it may be observed that in the laws of Hoel Dha, king of South Wales, which are acknowledged as authentic historical documents, made about A.D. 940, of much older materials, is mentioned the right of the king's chamberlain to as much wax as he could bite from the end of a taper."—Coke; Manwood; Barrington; Statutes of the Realm.

Perhaps you will allow a few words more in illustration of B. B.'s Query (Vol. v., p. 498.). A recent correspondent, writing of some modern experiments on the venom of toads, suggests the propriety of contributing to a list of "vulgar errors" which have proved to be "vulgar truths." It would not much surprise me to learn that, after all, the popular belief in the efficacy of the rough music of the key and warming-pan might be added to his list. At all events the reason stated by B. B. to prove its uselessness, viz. that bees have no sense of hearing, must, I think, be abandoned, as a Query of Mr. Sydney Smirke (Vol. vii., p. 499.), and an answer (Vol. vii., p. 633.), will show. That all insects are possessed of hearing, naturalists seem now as well convinced of as that they have eyes; though some naturalists formerly considered they were not, as Linnæus and Bonnet; while Huber (his interesting observations on bees notwithstanding) seems to have been quite undecided on the point. Bees, as well as all other insects, hear through the medium of their antennæ, which in a subordinate degree are used as feelers; observing which, perhaps, Huber and others were indisposed to ascribe to them the sense in question.

In reference to Mr. Sydney Smirke's Query, so far from other naturalists confirming Huber's observations as to the effect produced by the sound emitted by the Sphynx atropos on the bees, besides Dr. Bevan (quoted Vol. vii., p. 633.), the intelligent entomologist, Mr. Duncan, author of the entomological portion of The Naturalist's Library (vol. xxxiv. pp. 53-55.), completely disproves them. He tells us that he has closely watched bees, and has seen the queen attack the larva cells; but the sentinels, notwithstanding the reiteration of the queenly sound, so far from remaining motionless, held their sovereign in check, and stubbornly persisted in the defence of their charge against the attacks of their queen and mother. Besides this disproval of the incapacitation of bees by the emission of a sound, another from the experiments of Huber himself may be mentioned. He introduced a Sphynx atropos into a hive in the daytime, and it was immediately attacked and killed by the workers. Query, Might not the explanation of the robbery of hives by this moth be, that the darkness of night incapacitates the bees, while it is the time nature has provided for the wanderings of the Sphynx?

Tee Bee.

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. vii., p. 596.; Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134.)

A contribution of mine to the miscellaneous vol. of the Chetham Society's publications having been introduced to your readers by the handsome notice of Mr. Hughes, I feel bound to notice the objection raised by your correspondent Garlichithe (Vol. viii., p. 134.), who has confounded Randle the grandfather and Randle the son of the writer of these letters quoted by Mr. Hunter. Richard Minshull, who was the writer of these letters in 1656, and died in the following year, had several sons, of whom the eldest, Randle, correctly described by Mr. Hughes as the great-great-grandson of the Minshull who first settled at Wistaston, had seven children, of whom Elizabeth, the widow of Milton, was one. She was baptized at Wistaston on the 30th Dec. 1638. In 1680 (about six years after her husband's death), by means of a family arrangement with Richard Minshull of Wistaston, frame-work knitter, who, there can be little doubt, was her brother, evidenced by a bond in my possession, she acquired a leasehold interest in a farm at Brindley, near Nantwich. On the 20th July, 1720, by her name and description of Elizabeth Milton, of Nantwich, widow, she administered to the effects of her brother, John Minshull, in the Consistory Court of Chester; and her will, the probate of which is also in my possession, is dated 22nd August, and proved 10th October, 1727. Mr. Hughes having given a reference to the volume where this information will be found in detail, a reference to it might have saved Garlichithe the trouble of starting an objection, and shown him that, so far from the facts stated being irreconcilable with Mr. Hunter's tract, that gentleman's reference to Randle Holme's Correspondence was suggested by a communication of my own to The Athenæum, and in its turn furnished me with the clue from which I eventually ascertained the particulars of Mrs. Milton's birth and parentage. I am sorry to say that I have wholly failed in finding the register of her marriage: it is not in the register-book of her native place. It might be worth while to search the register of the parishes in which Milton's residence in Jewin Street, and Dr. Paget's in Coleman Street, are situate. There is no uncertainty as to the date, which Aubrey tells us was in "the yeare before the sicknesse."

Though Cranmore (Vol. v., p. 327.) is said to be a deserter from the ranks of "N. & Q.," I hope he is known to some of your readers, and that they will convey to him a hint that he is under something like a promise to furnish information, which, as regards Dr. Paget's connexion with the poet's widow, will still be welcome.

J. F. Marsh.

Despite his acknowledged infidelity, I must tender my thanks to Garlichithe for his obliging reference to Mr. Hunter's tract; albeit there is, I may be permitted to suggest, no position assumed in any note upon Milton's widow which that tract in any way contravenes or sets aside. The fact is, Garlichithe, in the outset, entirely misapprehends the nature of my argument; and so leads himself, by a sort of literary "Will-o-the-wisp," unconsciously astray.

It was not Randle the grandfather of Richard Minshull, writer of the two letters transcribed by Mr. Hunter, but Randle the eldest son of this Richard Minshull to whom I referred as the father of Elizabeth Milton. Nor is it possible that this Elizabeth could have "died in infancy," seeing that I possess a copy of a bond (the original is also extant) from her brother Richard, then of Wistaston, where he was baptized April 7, 1641, secured to her as Elizabeth Milton, dated June 4, 1680.

As to the marriage itself, it may have taken place in London, where the poet resided; or, which is more probable, at or near the residence of their mutual friend, Dr. Paget. Milton was certainly not over-careful about ritual observances, and it is not therefore unlikely that the rigid Puritan preferred a private, or what is termed a civil marriage, to one religiously and properly conducted in the church of his forefathers.

T. Hughes.

PECULIAR ORNAMENT IN CROSTHWAITE CHURCH.

(Vol. viii., p. 55.)

It is probable that these circles with eight radiations are the original dedication-crosses of the church. Such crosses are still to be seen painted on the piers of the nave in Roman Catholic churches. Durandus, describing the consecration of a church, says:

"In the meanwhile within the building twelve lamps be burning before twelve crosses, which be depicted on the walls of the church.... Lastly, he [the bishop] anointeth with chrism the twelve crosses depicted on the wall."—Durandus On Symbolism, ed. Neale and Webb, p. 115.

In the Pontifical, De Ecclesiæ Dedicatione, the rubric directs,—

"Item, depingantur in parietibus Ecclesiæ intrinsecùs per circuitum duodecim cruces, circa decem palmos super terram, videlicet tres pro quolibet, ex quatuor parietibus. Et ad caput cujuslibet crucis figatur unus clavus, cui affigatur una candela unius unciæ."