Vol. IV.—No. 91. NOTES AND QUERIES: A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

VOL. IV.—No. 91.

SATURDAY, JULY 26. 1851.

Price Sixpence. Stamped Edition, 7d.

CONTENTS.

NOTES:—

Richard Rolle of Hampole [49]

Notes and Queries MSS. [50]

MS. Fragments of Old Poetry [51]

Folk Lore:—Medical Use of Mice—Legend of Haydon's Gully—The Crow Charm and the Lady-bird Charm—School Superstitions—The Nightmare—East Norfolk Folk Lore: 1. Cure for Fits; 2. Cure for Ague—Extreme Ignorance and Superstition [52]

Minor Notes:—The Word "Repudiate"—The First Panorama—Chaucer and Gray—Burns and Propertius—Shakspeare in Sweden [54]

QUERIES:—

On the Elision of the Letter "v" [55]

Anthony Mundy, by Sir F. Madden [55]

Minor Queries:—Margaret Maultasch—Arms of Halle—Test of Strength of a Bow—Vox Populi—Meaning of Whig and Tory—"Fortune, Infortune, Fort une"—Unde derivator Stonehenge—Marriage of Bishops—The Sign ¶—Early German Virgil—Fairlight Church—The Leman Baronetcy—Armorial Bearings—History of Magnetical Discovery—George Chalmers—Mistake as to an Eclipse—Statue of Mrs. Jordan—"A Posie of other Men's Flowers"—Sir Edmund Ployden or Plowden—Pope's Translations or Imitations of Horace—John Bodley—Dr. Thomas Johnson—"You Friend drink to me Friend"—The Latin Termination "aster"—Portrait of Dryden—Inscription on a Claymore out in 1745 [56]

REPLIES:—

De Rebus Septentrionalibus, by W. E. C. Nourse [59]

Hugh Holland and his Works, by Dr. E. F. Rimbault [62]

"Prenzie" in "Measure for Measure" [63]

The Ten Commandments [63]

The Republic of San Marino, by Walter Montagu [64]

Shakespeare's Use of "Eisell" [64]

Royal Library [69]

The Caxton memorial, by Beriah Botfield [69]

Meaning of "Nervous," by W. E. C. Nourse and E. J. Jones [70]

The Duke of Monmouth's Pocket-books, by C. Ross [70]

Replies to Minor Queries:—Pope's "honest Factor"—Banks Family—Dies Iræ, Dies Illa—Equestrian Statues—Monumental Symbolism—Organs in Churches—Tennyson: "The Princess"—"Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love"—Sardonic Smiles—Epitaph on Voltaire—Voltaire, where situated—Children at a Birth—Milkmaids—"Heu quanto minus," &c.—The "Passellew" Family—Lady Petre's Monument—Spenser's Age at his Death—Blessing by the hand—Handel's Occasional Oratorio—Moore's Almanack—Kiss the Hare's Foot—Derivation of the World "Bummaree" or "Bumaree"—Sheridan and Vanbrugh—"Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum"—"Alterius Orbis Papa"—Umbrella—To learn by Heart—"Suum cuique tribuere"—Frogs in Ireland—Round Towers—Lines on the Temple—Killigrew Arms—Meaning of Hernshaw—Theory of the Earth's Form—Coke and Cowper, how pronounced—Registry of British Subjects Abroad, &c. [71]

MISCELLANEOUS:—

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. [77]

Books and Odd Volumes wanted [78]

Notices to Correspondents [ 79]

Advertisements [79]

[List of Notes & Queries volumes and pages]

Notes.

RICHARD ROLLE OF HAMPOLE.

If the following "Notes" do not demand too much of your valuable space, they may possibly interest the philological reader, and elicit a number of learned illustrations. They are drawn from a MS. belonging to this University (Dd. I. 1.), of which the main part is a course of metrical sermons upon the Gospels throughout the year. The author of most, if not all, of the pieces, was the famous solitary, Richard Rolle, of Hampole, near Doncaster, who died in 1348.

1. The first sample I shall give is a curious illustration of the way in which the preachers of that age were wont to represent the harshness of the great in their dealings with the poor:

"For wiþ ensample may we se,

Þt al þis world is but as þe se

Þt bremli bariþ on banke wiþ bale,

And grete fischis etin þerin þe smale.

For riche men of þis world ete

Þt pore men wiþ traueyle gete:

For wiþ pore men fariþ þe king

Riht as þe hal wiþ þe hering,

Riht as þe sturgeoun etiþ merling

And lobkeling etiþ spirling,

So stroyen more men þe lesse

Wiþ worldis wo and wrongwisnesse,

All þe ska þe þt lesse sufferin of more

Smytiþ as storm of þe se ful sore."

Pp. 115, 116.

2. The word keling (cod-fish) occurs again in the following passage, where the subject of the preacher is the Incarnation of our Lord:

"For right as bayt þe hok heliþ

And so þe gredi keling teliþ,

so telid Ihūs wiþ flesch & blode

Gormond þe gredi on þe rode:

Gormond þe gredi I him calle

Þt swelewiþ synful soulis alle,

Þt neuer is ful but euer redi

To haūse hem as Gawen gredi.

Þis Gaweyn was hirchid on a hoke

Þat flesch & bold on Marie toke

for hirching þe bodi slas

And so slow Ihē Salhanas."

P. 193.

3. At p. 352. a rebuke is administered to the gourmet in the following terms:

"Þat oþer gostli ydropicy

Is called on Englisch gloteny,

þt mekil is vsed wiþ these burgese,

þt lyue mekil at hir owne ese.

þei gar (i.e. cause to) seke þe cuntre thorw,

Boþe oplond and in borw,

Riche metis for to bye,

Summe to bake and summe to frye:

Al schal ben brouht on to his ham

Beste and foul boþe wylde & tame,

And yet all þis way not fille

His yernyng & his herte wille.

On þe pore men þinkiþ he nought

Ne on þt lord þt him der bought.

Many a mes be forn him stondiþ

And of ilkon sum þing he fondiþ,

Of venyson, of gos and gryse,

Tarte, blawmanger, and of ryse,

Of euerilkon sumwhat he tastiþ

And so forsoþe his kynde be wastiþ,

For ser deyntes & many mes

Make men falle in many sicknes.

But if þe riche man wolde þinke

Among al his mete & drynke,

þt his flesch schol rote in molde,

He wold not bin þerto so bolde."

4. The following passage is curious in more respects than one:

"This day witsonday is cald,

For wisdom & wit seuene fald

Was youen to þe apostles as þis day

For wise in alle þingis wer thay,

To spek wt outen mannes lore

Al maner langage eueri whore.

þei spak latyn, frensch & grew,

Saresenay, deuenisch & ebrew,

Gascoyne, Pikard, Englisch & Walsch

And oþer speche spak þei als."

5. At p. 372. we have an interesting picture of a nun persecuted by the rest of the sisterhood on account of her stricter living:

"Hir cher was ay semand sori

Hir felawis held hir wod forþi,

And made of hir ful gret skornyng

And callid hir oule & outcasting:

For alle þe nonnes þt were thore

Wend wel þt sche fonned wore,

And summe on hir foul water keste,

And sumtyme draf & sometyme yeste,

And summe rubbid hir wiþ oute

Wiþ ground mustard al a boute;

But sche made no grucching

For al hir euyl skornying,

Bul al sche suffrid ful mekeli

And to hir seruise was ay redi,

For ofte tymes sche grecid hir schos,

And wisch hir vessel as a guystroun dos,

And what so euer þei put hir to

Wt a good wil al dide scho.

Hir hed was wounden al a boute

Wiþ a foul lynen cloute,

And for sche was so onlikli

Alle þei letin of hir skornfulli,

But yet sche was ful derworthi

Beforn our lord god almyghti."

6. I will add, in conclusion, a sample from one of the prose treatises contained in the same volume (p. 464.):

"Oþere spices þer ben of pride whiche men & women ben founden inne, & it encresiþ fro day to day, of dyuers atire about þe bodi: as ofte streyte clothes & schorte daggid hodis, chaunsemlees (i.e. shoes) disgised & teyde op strayt in v. or vi. stedis: women with schorte clothis unneþe to þe hipes, booses & lokettes about þe heed, & vile stynkend hornes longe & brode, & oþer dyuers atire, þt I can nought witen ne discryen of surche þinges. Eueri man & woman be his owne juge & loke weel if it be nought þus."

C. H.

St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.

NOTES AND QUERIES MSS.

The commencement of a new volume appears to be the signal for new suggestions. May I fire one off as well as others?

In p. 282. of the Third, and in p. 19 of your present volume, you have printed two MSS. relating to Cromwell, which I sent you. No doubt there are many MSS. equally, or indeed more curious and interesting, scattered throughout the country, which would be worthy of preservation in type in your valuable columns, and which may possibly be so preserved. But what shall become of the originals? Would not the possessors of twos or threes of such documents be glad to place them in a safe and useful repository, where they might be preserved and be made available to all who take an interest in our history, whether social or political? And how could this be better effected than by opening a book for their reception and safe custody at your office; such book to be open to the inspection of all applicants, under proper regulations; and, when full, to be deposited in the British Museum as Vol. I. of the "NOTES AND QUERIES MSS.?"

With regard to the two which you have thought worth printing, I would by far prefer such a mode of disposing of them, to consigning them, as trifles, to what might prove the bottomless pit of the Museum, or to returning them to the snug dormitory in which I found them, between the leaves of Bishop Kennett's History of England.

Should this hint find favour in the eyes of yourself and your learned correspondents, not only are these at your service, but I might find another or two to add to them. I think, however, that none should be admitted into the collection but such as were considered worthy of being also preserved in print in "NOTES AND QUERIES."

S. H. H.

St. John's Wood.

[It can scarcely be necessary for us to add that we shall be very glad to do our part towards carrying out the very sensible and practical suggestion of our Correspondent. We shall indeed be glad to show the sense we entertain of the obligations which we, in common with all lovers of literature in this country, owe to the British Museum, by aiding in this or any other well connected scheme for enriching that storehouse of learning, and increasing, if possible, its present usefulness.]

MS. FRAGMENTS OF OLD POETRY.

I have before me a sheet of vellum, part of old tale or tales in verse, which has been used as the cover of a manuscript book. I conceive it to be about the time of Henry VI. Can any of your correspondents, from the following extracts, give me any information as to the author, or the work of which it is a part? There would appear to be parts of two tales, at least.

G. H. D.

"Thanne seide the Prest, i will the telle,

For alle my good i wele the selle,

For alle the synnes that thou hast don,

I graunte the hem alle sone anon.

Alle gode dedes and eke preiere.

That Marchaunt the Prest wel understod,

That the Prestes chaffare was to hym good,

Gif that it mythe awelde;

And seide, as i am a trewe man,

In alle the wittis that i can,

Covenaunt i wele the helden.

Gif thou wilt me with herte and thouth (thought),

Give me alle thi gode dedes that thou hast wrouth,

As covenaunt was before;

Loke, he seide, to the Prest anon,

That thou telle hem everecheon,

That thou be nouth forswore.

And i schal telle the anon,

Alle the ... de dedes that I haue don,

Alle with outen ende;

The Prest began anon to telle,

Of hese goodnesse anon snelle,

No lengere he wolde hym wende.

The Prest seide, while i was yonge,

And coude gon and speke with tunge,

I was sette to lore;

Pore men i loved wel,

Of that i hadde i zaf hem su ... el,

Bothe lesse and more.

And quanne i my primer cou[the],

I seide it eche day with my mouthe,

And forgat ... uth on;

To God i made my preiere,

And eche dai seide oure ladies [sa]utere,

To God I made my mone.

Evereche day to chirche i went,

And seide my psauter with sex [en?]tente

Both be dai and be nyth;

Quanne i to bedde schulde go,

Mi clothes i kest me fro,

To serue God ful of myth.

Certes oftyn i gan take,

An usage on nyth moche to wake,

And prei to hevene kyng;

That i moste comen to this ... religion,

To my soule Savacioun,

To joye with outen endyng.

And quanne i was made a prest here,

God thewes i wolde lere,

As I haue the told;

Now thou woste with outen strife,

How I haue led in lif,

And all my goodnesse I haue thee solde,

Thanne seide the Prest to the Marchaunt,

Hold thou me my covenaunt,

That I of haue of the bouth;

Thou woste wel al untold,

But gif a man wolde truthe hold,

Marchaundize is rith nouth,

With tretchere thou myth me katche,

And do me bie the cat in a Satche,[1]

Thyng that I may nouth se;

All thi synnes thou me telle,

And thou schalt be saued fro the payne of helle,

Gif thou ne levest nouth me.

The Marchaunt seide, geve me myn,

And thou schalt have chaffare thin,

Gif thou wilt understonde;

This seide the Prest, be my leute,

Alle thi synnes telle thou me,

For no thyng that thou ne wende.

The Marchaunt seide, wil I was yong,

And coude gon and spake with tung,

I was jolif and wilde;

Be myn own sister I lay,

Many a nyth and many a day,

And gret sche was with childe.

With childe she was, tho sothe to telle,

And I gaf reed my fader to quelle,

So God me bryng out of care;

Now God Fader in Trinite,

Have merci on here and on me,

Of blisse I am all bare.

And after that with outen othe,

Oure fader and oure moder bothe,

Whanne that it was eve;

And thei bothe aslepe were,

We wenten to hem bothe in fere,

And slowe hem with outen weve (?).

And quanne this dede was i-do,

We wenten away both to,

Mi sister wente behynde;

As gret with childe as sche was,

I lep to here a woligret pas,

And dede here heved of wynde.

Sche that was me lef and dere,

I smot here heved of be the swere,

Now lord, merci I crie;

Fader, God omnipotent,

Ne lete our soules never be schent,

For the love of oure lefdie.

Maries sone that sitteth in trone,

Lade to the i make my mone,

For thin holy grace;

That we mote be present,

At the day of jujement,

And seen thin holi face."

..............................

"Thanne he sei a leoun come,

And taken awei hese yonge sone,

On hym he gaped wide.

The Lyoun bar that child with hym,

Awei rennynge wroth and grym,

The knyth was ney aswoune;

There he was in the water deep,

It was no wonder thow he wep,

Of Care hadde [he] inow.

Sore he gan to sihhe and grone,

Thei he ne seide wordes none,

To loude he moste tee;

A wonder thyng he sey thar,

A wolf hese other child away bar,

He fel doun on swoune on kne.

Tho that he aswouning ros,

He loked abouten and hym agros,

Hese wit was ney forlore;

But yet he thouthe on Ihū Crist,

On his deth and on hese uprist,

That for us was i-bore.

Lord God Almythti, thou it wost,

Fadir sone and holi gost,

To thee i menene my mone;

For my spouse that was so trewe,

Fadir hende brith of newe,

Wol wo is me alone.

For my sones that ben forlorn,

That wilde bestes hath awei born,

I not nouth where to wone;

To wheche lond mai i fle,

How longe schal i on lyve be,

Sorewes comen gret wone.

Of Job i well bethenke me,

That long in welthe hadde be,

And fel sone in care;

Ihū Crist for love of The,

To carful well i nevere be,

How so it ever fare.

I have wepte al my fille,

I nele no more, i well be stille,

Goddes helpe is us ney;

Thanne come an aungel from hevene,

And spake to hym with mylde Stevene,

Of God that woneth on hey.

Be bold blithe, he seide, Eustace,

For in hevene is maad thi place,