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Notes.

CURIOUS OLD PAMPHLET.

Grubbing among old pamphlets, the following has turned up:

"A Fragment of an Essay towards the most ancient Histories of the Old and New Worlds, connected. Intended to be carried on in four Parts or Æras. That is, from the Creation of all Things to the Time of the Deluge: thence to the Birth of Abraham: from that Period to the Descent of Jacob and his Family into Egypt: and, lastly, to the Time of the Birth of Moses. Attempted to be executed in Blank Verse, 8vo. pp. 59. Printed in the year 1765."

This Miltonic rhapsody supposes Adam, when verging on his nine hundreth year, to have assembled his descendants to a kind of jubilee, when sacrifices, and other antediluvian solemnities, being observed, "Seth, the pious son of his comfort, gravely arose, and, after due obedience to the first of men, humbly beseeched the favour to have their memories refreshed by a short history of the marvellous things in the beginning." Then Adam thus:—Hereupon the anonymous author puts into the mouth of the great progenitor of the human race a history of the Creation, in blank verse, in accordance with the Mosaic and orthodox account. Concluding his revelations without reference to the Fall, Seth would interrogate their aged sire upon what followed thence, when Adam excuses himself from the painful recital by predicting the special advent in after times of a mind equal to that task:

"But of this Fall, this heart-felt, deep-felt lapse,

This Paradise thus lost, no mortal man

Shall sing which lives on earth.

Far distant hence

In farther distant times, fair Liberty

Shall reign, queen of the Seas, and lady of

The Isles; nay, sovereign of the world's repose.

And Peace!

In her a mighty genius shall

Arise, of high ethereal mould, great in

Renown, sublime, superior far to praise

Of sublunary man—or Fame herself.

Though blind to all things here on earth below,

The heav'ns of heav'ns themselves shall he explore,

And soar on high with strong, with outstretched wings!

There sing of marvels not to be conceived,

Express'd, or thought by any but himself!"

This curious production is avowedly from the other side of the Tweed, and I would ask if its paternity is known to any of your antiquarian correspondents there or here.

The Fragment is preceded by a very remarkable Preface, containing "some reasons why this little piece has thus been thrown off in such a loose and disorderly manner;" among which figure the desire "to disperse a parcel of them gratis,—because they are, perhaps, worth nothing; that nobody may pay for his folly but himself; that, if his Fragment is damned, which it probably may be, he will thenceforth drop any farther correspondence with Adam, Noah, Abraham, &c.; and, lastly, that he may be benefited by the criticisms upon its faults and failings, while he himself lurks cunningly behind the curtain. But if, after all," says the facetious author, "this little northern urchin shall chance to spring forward under the influence of a more southern and warmer sun, the author will then endeavour to bring his goods to market as plump, fresh, and fair as the soil will admit."

I presume, however, the public did not call for any of the farther instalments promised in the title.

J. O.

ERRATA IN PRINTED BIBLES.

Mr. D'Israeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, has an article entitled "The Pearl Bibles and Six Thousand Errata," in which he gives some notable specimens of the blunders perpetrated in the printing of Bibles in earlier times. The great demand for them prompted unscrupulous persons to supply it without much regard to carefulness or accuracy; and, besides, printers were not so expert as at the present day.

"The learned Ussher," Mr. D'Israeli tells us, "one day hastening to preach at Paul's Cross, entered the shop of one of the stationers, as booksellers were then called, and inquiring for a Bible of the London edition, when he came to look for his text, to his astonishment and his horror he discovered that the verse was omitted in the Bible! This gave the first occasion of complaint to the king, of the insufferable negligence and incapacity of the London press; and first bred that great contest which followed between the University of Cambridge and the London stationers, about the right of printing Bibles."

Even during the reign of Charles I., and in the time of the Commonwealth, the manufacture of spurious Bibles was carried on to an alarming extent. English Bibles were fabricated in Holland for cheapness, without any regard to accuracy. Twelve thousand of these (12mo.) Bibles, with notes, were seized by the King's printers as being contrary to the statute; and a large impression of these Dutch-English Bibles were burned, by order of the Assembly of Divines, for certain errors. The Pearl (24mo.) Bible, printed by Field, in 1653, contains some scandalous blunders;—for instance, Romans, vi. 13.: "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness unto sin"—for unrighteousness. 1 Cor. vi. 9.: "Know ye not that

the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God?"—for shall not inherit.

The printer of Miles Coverdale's Bible, which was finished in 1535, and of which only two perfect copies, I believe, are known to exist—one in the British Museum, the other in the library of the Earl of Jersey—deserves some commendation for his accuracy. At the end of the New Testament is the following solitary erratum:

"A faute escaped in pryntyng the New Testament. Upon the fourth leafe, the first syde in the sixth chapter of S. Mathew, 'Seke ye first the kingdome of heaven,' read, 'Seke ye first the kingdome of God.'"

Abhba.

IMPOSSIBILITIES OF HISTORY.

"That unworthy hand."

I am not aware that the fact of Cranmer's holding his right hand in the flames till it was consumed has been questioned. Fox says:

"He stretched forth his right hand into the flames, and there held it so stedfast that all the people might see it burnt to a coal before his body was touched."—P. 927. ed. Milner, London, 1837, 8vo.

Or, as the passage is given in the last edition,—

"And when the wood was kindled, and the fire began to burn near him, he put his right hand into the flame, which he held so stedfast and immovable (saving that once with the same hand he wiped his face), that all men might see his hand burned before his body was touched."—Acts and Monuments, ed. 1839, vol. viii. p. 90.

Burnet is more circumstantial:

"When he came to the stake he prayed, and then undressed himself: and being tied to it, as the fire was kindling, he stretched forth his right hand towards the flame, never moving it, save that once he wiped his face with it, till it was burnt away, which was consumed before the fire reached his body. He expressed no disorder from the pain he was in; sometimes saying, 'That unworthy hand;' and oft crying out, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' He was soon after quite burnt."—Hist. of the Reformation, vol. iii. p. 429., ed. 1825.

Hume says:

"He stretched out his hand, and, without betraying either by his countenance or motions the least sign of weakness, or even feeling, he held it in the flames till it was entirely consumed."—Hume, vol. iv. p. 476.

It is probable that Hume believed this, for while Burnet states positively as a fact, though only inferentially as a miracle, that "the heart was found entire and unconsumed among the ashes," Hume says, "it was pretended that his heart," &c.

I am not about to discuss the character of Cranmer: a timid man might have been roused under such circumstances into attempting to do what it is said he did. The laws of physiology and combustion show that he could not have gone beyond the attempt. If a furnace were so constructed, that a man might hold his hand in the flame without burning his body, the shock to the nervous system would deprive him of all command over muscular action before the skin could be "entirely consumed." If the hand were chained over the fire, the shock would produce death.

In this case the fire was unconfined. Whoever has seen the effect of flame in the open air, must know that the vast quantity sufficient entirely to consume a human hand, must have destroyed the life of its owner; though, from a peculiar disposition of the wood, the vital parts might have been protected.

The entire story is utterly impossible. May we, guided by the words "as the fire was kindling," believe that he then thrust his right hand into the flame—a practice I believe not unusual with our martyrs, and peculiarly suitable to him—and class the "holding it till consumed" with the whole and unconsumed heart?

I may observe that in the accounts of martyrdoms little investigation was made as to what was possible. Burnet, describing Hooper's execution, says, "one of his hands fell off before he died, with the other he continued to knock on his breast some time after." This, I have high medical authority for saying, could not be.

H. B. C.

U. U. Club.

UNREGISTERED PROVERBS.

In Mr. Trench's charming little book on Proverbs, 2nd ed., p. 31., he remarks:

"There are not a few (proverbs), as I imagine, which, living on the lips of men, have yet never found their way into books, however worthy to have done so; either because the sphere in which they circulate has continued always a narrow one, or that the occasions which call them out are very rare, or that they, having only lately risen up, have not hitherto attracted the attention of any one who cared to record them. It would be well, if such as take an interest in the subject, and are sufficiently well versed in the proverbial literature of their own country to recognise such unregistered proverbs when they meet them, would secure them from that perishing, which, so long as they remain merely oral, might easily overtake them; and would make them at the same time, what all good proverbs ought certainly to be, the common heritage of all."

"Note.—The pages of the excellent Notes and Queries would no doubt be open to receive such, and in them they might be safely garnered up," &c.

I trust this appeal of Mr. Trench's will be at once responded to by both the editor and correspondents of this periodical. With the former

must rest the responsibility of withholding from reproduction any proverbs, which though sent him as novelties, may be already registered in the recognised collections.

Mr. Trench's first contribution to this bouquet of the wild flowers of proverbial lore is the following, from Ireland:

"'The man on the dyke always hurls well.' The looker on," says Mr. Trench in explanation, "at a game of hurling, seated indolently on the wall, always imagines that he could improve on the strokes of the actual players, and if you will listen to him, would have played the game much better than they, a proverb of sufficiently wide application."—P. 32.

Each proverb sent in should be accompanied with a statement of the class among whom, or the locality in which, it is current. The index to "N. & Q." should contain a reference to every proverb published in its pages, under the head of Unregistered Proverbs, or Proverbs only. Correspondents should bear in mind the essential requisite of a proverb, currency. Curt, sharp sayings might easily be multiplied; what is wanted, however, is a collection of such only as have that prerequisite of admission into the ranks of recognised proverbs. And while contributors should not lose sight of "the stamp of merit," as that which renders the diffusion of proverbs beneficial to mankind, still they should not reject a genuine proverb for want of that characteristic, remembering that,—

"'Tween man and man, they weight not every stamp;

Though light, take pieces for the figure's sake."

And that the mere form of a proverb often affords some indication of its age and climate, even where the matter is spurious. I have a large MS. collection of English proverbs by me, from which I doubt not I shall be able to extract some few which have never yet been admitted into any published collection. Of these at some future time.

C. Mansfield Ingleby.

Birmingham.

[We shall be happy to do all in our power to carry out this very excellent suggestion.—Ed. "N. & Q.">[

MR. JUSTICE TALFOURD.

The noble sentiments uttered by Justice Talfourd in his last moments gave a charm to his sudden death, and shed a hallowed beauty about the painfully closing scenes of this great man. I want them to have a niche in "N. & Q.," and along with them a passage from his beautiful tragedy of Ion, which may be considered as a transcript of those thoughts which filled his mind on the very eve of quitting the high and honourable duties of his earthly course. It forcibly illustrates the loving soul, the kind heart, and the amiable character of this deeply lamented judge.

After speaking of the peculiar aspect of crime in that part of the country where he delivered his last charge, he goes on to say:

"I cannot help myself thinking it may be in no small degree attributable to that separation between class and class, which is the great curse of British society, and for which we are all, more or less, in our respective spheres, in some degree responsible, and which is more complete in these districts than in agricultural districts, where the resident gentry are enabled to shed around them the blessings resulting from the exercise of benevolence, and the influence and example of active kindness. I am afraid we all of us keep too much aloof from those beneath us, and whom we thus encourage to look upon us with suspicion and dislike. Even to our servants we think, perhaps, we fulfil our duty when we perform our contract with them—when we pay them their wages, and treat then with the civility consistent with our habits and feelings—when we curb our temper, and use no violent expressions towards them. But how painful is the thought, that there are men and women growing up around us, ministering to our comforts and necessities, continually inmates of our dwellings, with whose affections and nature we are as much unacquainted as if they were the inhabitants of some other sphere. This feeling, arising from that kind of reserve peculiar to the English character, does, I think, greatly tend to prevent that mingling of class with class, that reciprocation of kind words and gentle affections, gracious admonitions and kind inquiries, which often, more than any book-education, tend to the culture of the affections of the heart, refinement and elevation of the character of those to whom they are addressed. And if I were to be asked what is the great want of English society—to mingle class with class—I would say, in one word, the want is the want of sympathy."

Act I. Sc. 2. After Clemanthe has told Ion that, forsaking all within his house, and risking his life with strangers, he can do but little for their aid, Ion replies:

"It is little:

But in these sharp extremities of fortune,

The blessings which the weak and poor can scatter

Have their own season. 'Tis a little thing

To give a cup of water; yet its draught

Of cool refreshment, drain'd by fever'd lips,

May give a shock of pleasure to the frame

More exquisite than when nectarean juice

Renews the life of joy in happiest hours.

It is a little thing to speak a phrase

Of common comfort, which, by daily use,

Has almost lost its sense; yet, on the ear

Of him who thought to die unmourn'd, 'twill fall

Like choicest music; fill the glazing eye

With gentle tears; relax the knotted hand

To know the bonds of fellowship again;

And shed on the departing soul a sense,

More precious than the benison of friends

About the honour'd death-bed of the rich,

To him who else were lonely, that another

Of the great family is near and feels."

The analogy is as beautiful as it is true.

H. M. Bealby.

North Brixton.

Before this talented judge was advanced to the bench, he amused himself and instructed his clients by occasional metrical notes, of which the annexed is a specimen. To make it intelligible to those whom it may not concern, I must add an explanation by the attorney in the suit, who has obligingly placed the learned serjeant's notes at my disposal. This gentleman says: "These notes are in the margin of a brief held by the serjeant as leading counsel in an action of ejectment brought against a person named Rock, in 1842. In converting into rhyme the evidence of the witness Hopkins, as set out in the brief, he has adhered strictly to the statements, whilst he has at the same time seized the prominent points of the testimony as supporting the case."

John Hopkins will identify the spot,

Unless his early sports are quite forgot,

And from his youngest recollection show

The house fell down some forty years ago.

And then—a case of adverse claim to meet,

Show how the land lay open to the street;

And there the children held their harmless rambles,

Till Robert Woolwich built his odious shambles,

And never did the playmates fear a shock,

From anything so hateful as a Rock.

Perhaps the above may elicit from other quarters similar contributions; indeed, any memorial of the friend of Charles Lamb must be precious to the Muse.

T. J. Buckton.

Lichfield.

THE SCREW PROPELLER.

In 1781, when the steam engine, only recently improved by Watt, was merely applied to the more obvious purposes of mine drainage and the like, Darwin, in his Botanic Garden, wrote—

"Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd Steam! afar

Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car."

And in an appended note prophecies that the new agent might "in time be applied to the rowing of barges, and the moving of carriages along the road." The ingenious chronicler of the "loves of the plants," however, was in no doubt, when he wrote, aware of the experiments of D'Auxiron, Perier, and De Jouffroy; those prosecuted at Dalswinton and in America were some years later, about 1787-8 I think. But in another and less widely known poem by the same author, the Temple of Nature, published in 1802, there occurs a very complete anticipation of one of the most important applications of science to navigation, which may prove as novel and striking to some of your readers as it did to me. It is, indeed, a remarkable instance of scientific prevision. In a note to line 373, canto ii. of the poem, the author sets out with, "The progressive motion of fish beneath the water is produced principally by the undulation of their tails;" and after giving the rationale of the process, he goes on to say that "this power seems to be better adapted to push forward a body in the water than the oars of boats;" concluding with the query, "Might not some machinery resembling the tails of fish be placed behind a boat so as to be moved with greater effect than common oars, by the force of wind or steam?"

Anon.

ANCIENT CHATTEL-PROPERTY IN IRELAND.

The Memoranda Roll of the Exchequer, 4 & 5 Edward II., membrane 14., contains a list of the chattel-property of Richard de Fering, Archbishop of Dublin, which had been sold by Master Walter de Istelep, the custos of said See, for the sum of 112l. 10s. 9¾d. sterling, consisting, amongst other things, of—

iij affr', price xijs.

xiij bobus, iiijli. vs.

xlvij acr' warrectan' & rebinand' ibidem, lxxs. vjd.

ij carucis cum apparatu, iiijs.

v crannoc' frumenti ad semen & liberationes famulorum ibidem sibi venditis per predictum custodem, xxijs. vjd.

xj crannoc', iij bussellis aven', xxxixs. iijd.

iij carucis cum apparatu, vjs.

The chattel-property of Sir James Delahyde is set forth upon the Memoranda Roll 3 & 4 Rich. II., mem. 3. dorso, and is as follows:

"Unu' collobiu' de rubio scarleto duplucat' cū panno rubio, unu' collobiu' duplex de sanguineto et Bukhorn', unu' collobiū duplex, de sanguineto et nigro, unu' gip' de serico auro int'text furrat' cū menivero, unu' gyp' de rubio et nigro furrat' cu' calibir', unu' gyp' furrat cu' grys, unu' paltok' de nigro serico, unu' paltok de nigro panno, unu' paltok' de nigro Bustian, duo cap'icia, una' pec' de rubio Wyrset, unam pec' de nigro Wyrset, una' pec' panni linei vocat' Westenale, quinq; pec' Aule pro camera & Aula, tres curtynis cū uno celuro de rubio Wyrset, quinq; mappas, duas pelves cū lavatorio & quatuor p'ia secular'."

Upon the attainder of William Fytzhenry of Dublin, "Capytayn," in the reign of Edward VI., it was found by inquisition that he had "unum torquem aureum ponder' septem uncias dī," put in pledge for 20l., and worth 22l. sterling. In this reign "quinque vasa vocat' fyrkyns de prunis" each worth 6s. 8d.; a firkin of wine, 5s., "a fyrkyn de aceto," 6s. 8d.; "quinque tycks", worth 11s. 8d. each; and "duas duodenas cultellorum," worth 4s.,

were brought to Dublin from St. Mallow in Brittany. In this reign also 200 "grossos arbores," near Drogheda, were valued at 16l.; 18 "porcos" were worth 40s.; 3 "modios frumenti" worth 20s.; and 5 "lagenas butteri," 20s. During this reign a sum of 300l. was paid out of the Treasury to Sir William Seyntloo, for the purpose of fortifying, &c. the Castle of Dyngham, called "The Governor of Offayley," of which sum he paid to Matthew Lynete, the Clerk of the Ordnance,—

For the hire of 4 carts from Dublin to the forte, 28th December, 71s. 1½d. ster.

3 other carts from Dublin to the sayd forte, 27th March, 2 Edw. VI., 40s.

The carters that came from Dublin to the forte, 15th January and 19th April, 2 Edw. VI., for the hire of 4 cartes by the space of 6 dayes, 53s. 4d.

In the 6 Edward VI. the goods of Thomas Rothe of Kilkenny, merchant, which were seized by a searcher at Waterford, consisted of "30 pecias auri vocat' Crussades," and "un' wegge argenti ponderant' xvj uncias argenti precij cujuslibet uncie, 4s."

In the same year the property of Andrew Tyrrell, a merchant of Athboy, consisted of—

In Queen Mary's time, in Ireland, a yard of black velvet was valued at 20s. sterling; a yard of purple-coloured damask, at 13s. 4d. sterling; and a yard of tawny-coloured damask, at 10s. sterling.

The foregoing have been taken from the ancient records of the Irish Exchequer.

James F. Ferguson.

Dublin.