If a bag containing as many
small pebbles as a person has warts, be tossed over the _left_ shoulder, it
will transfer the warts to whoever is unfortunate enough to pick up the
bag.
11. If black snails are seized by the horn and tossed over the _left_
shoulder, the process will insure _good luck_ to the person who performs
it.
12. Profuse bleeding is said to be instantly stopped by certain persons who
pretend to possess the secret of a certain form of words which immediately
act as a charm.
13. The power of bewitching, producing evil to parties by _wishing_ it,
&c., is supposed to be transmitted from one possessor to another when one
of the parties is about to die. The writer is in possession of full
particulars respecting this supposed transfer.
14. Cramp is effectually prevented by placing the shoes with the _toes_
just peeping from beneath the coverlet; the same is also prevented by tying
the garter round the _left_ leg _below_ the knee.
15. Charmed rings are worn by many for the cure of dyspepsia; and so also
are charmed belts for the cure of rheumatism.
16. A _red-haired_ person is supposed to bring in ill-luck if he be the
first to enter a house on New Year's Day. _Black-haired_ persons are
rewarded with liquor and small gratuities for "taking in the new year" to
the principal houses in their respective neighbourhoods.
17. If any householder's fire does not burn _through_ the night of New
Year's Eve, it betokens bad luck during the ensuing year; and if any party
allow another a live coal, or even a lighted candle, on such an occasion,
the bad luck is extended to the other part for commiserating with the
former in his misfortunes.
Many other specimens of the folk lore of this district might be enumerated;
but since many here have implicit faith in Lover's expression,--
"There is luck in _odd_ numbers;"
I will reserve them for a future opportunity, considering that _seventeen_
paragraphs are sufficient to satisfy all except the most thorough-paced
_folklorians_.
T.T. WILKINSON.
Burnley, Lancashire.
* * * * *
MINOR NOTES.
_Proclamation of Langholme Fair._--In an old paper I find the following
proclamation of a fair, to be held in a town in Scotland; it may, perhaps,
amuse some of your numerous readers:--
"O yes! and that's a time. O yes! and that's twa times. O yes! and
that's the third and last time: All manner of pearson or pearsons
whatsoever let 'em draw near, and I shall let you ken that there is a
fair to be held at the muckle town of Langholme, for the space of aught
days; wherein if any hustrin, custrin, land-louper, dukes-couper, or
gang-y-gate swinger, shall breed any urdam, durdam, brabblement, or
squabblement, he shall have his lugs tacked to the muckle trone, with a
nail of twal-a-penny, until he down of his hobshanks and up with his
mucle doubs, and pray to heaven neen times, Gold bles the king, and
thrice the muckle Lord of Relton, pay a groat to me Jammey Ferguson,
bailiff of the aforesaid manor. So ye heard my proclamation, and I'll
haam to dinner."
Perhaps some of your correspondents north of the Tweed can give the meaning
(if there be any) of a few of the choice expressions contained in this
document.
MONKBARNS.
_Seats in Churches._--The following curious notice of seats in churches
occurs in Thompson's _History of Swine_; which is quoted by him from
_Whitaker's Whalley_, 2nd edit. 4to. p. 228.:--
"My man Shuttleworth, of Harking, made this form and here will I sit
when I come; and any cousin Nowell may make one behind me, if he
please, and my son Sherburne shall make one on the other side; and Mr.
Catteral another behind him; and for the residue the use shall be,
_first come first speed; and that will make the proud wives of Whalley
rise betimes to come to church_."
Which seems to convey the idea, that it was at that time customary for
persons to make their seats in the churches. Query, When did pews come into
general use?
R.W.E.
Hull.
[The earliest notice of pews occurs in the _Vision of Piers Plouman_,
p. 95., edit. 1813:--
"Among wyves and wodewes ich am ywoned sute
Yparroked _in puwes_. The person hit knoweth."
See also _The History of Pews_, a paper read before the Cambridge
Camden Society, 1841.]
{57} _Flemish Account._--T.B.M. (Vol. i., p. 8.) requests references to
early instances of the use of this expression. In the _History of Edward
II._, by E.F., written A.D. 1627 (see "NOTES AND QUERIES" Vol. i., pp. 91.
220.), folio edition, p. 113., I find "The Queen (Isabella) who had already
a French and an Italian trick, was jealous lest she should here taste a
Flemish one;" because she feared lest the Earl of Henault should abandon
her cause. This instance is, I think, earlier than any yet referred to.
S.G.
_Use of Monosyllables._--The most remarkable instance of the use of
monosyllables that I remember to have met with in our poets, occurs in the
Fire-worshippers in _Lalla Rookh_. It is as follows:--
"I knew, I knew it could not last--
'Twas bright, 'twas heav'nly, but 'tis past!
Oh! ever thus, from childhood's hour,
I've seen my fondest hopes decay;
I never lov'd a tree or flow'r
But 'twas the first to fade away.
I never nurs'd a dear gazelle
To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well,
And love me, it was sure to die!
Now, too--the joy most like divine
Of all I ever dreamt or knew,
To see thee, hear thee, call thee mine,--
Oh misery! must I lose _that_ too?
Yet go! On peril's brink we meet;--
Those frightful rocks--that treach'rous sea--
No, never come again--tho' sweet,
Tho' Heav'n, it may be death to thee!"
This passage contains 126 words, 110 of which are monosyllables, and the
remainder words of only two syllables. The sentiment embodied throughout is
that of violent mental emotion; and it affords a further illustration of
the correctness of MR. C. FORBES'S theory (Vol. i., p. 228.) that "the
language of passion is almost invariably broken and abrupt."
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia, W.I., Nov. 1850.
_Specimen of Foreign English._--
"RESTORATIVE HOTEL, FINE HOK.
KEPT BY FRANK PROSPERI,
FACING THE MILITARY QUARTER
AT POMPEII.
That hotel open since a very few days, is renowned for the cleanness of
the apartments and linen; for the exactness of the service, and for the
eccelence of the true french cookery. Being situated at proximity of
that regeneration, it will be propitius to receive families, whatever,
which will desire to reside alternatively into that town, to visit the
monuments new found, and to breathe thither the salubrity of the air.
That establishment will avoid to all the travellers, visitors, of that
sepult city, and to the artists, (willing draw the antiquities) a great
disorder, occasioned by the tardy and expensive contour of the
iron-whay. People will find equally thither, a complete sortment of
stranger wines, and of the kingdom, hot and cold baths, stables and
coach houses, the whole with very moderated prices. Now, all the
applications and endeavours of the hoste, will tend always to
correspond to the tastes and desires, of their customers, which will
acquire without doubt, to him, in to that town, the reputation whome,
he is ambitious."
The above is a literal copy of a card in the possession of a friend of
mine, who visited Pompeii, 1847.
W.L.
_Epitaph._--While engaged in some enquiries after family documents in the
British Museum lately, I lighted on a little poem, which, though not
connected with my immediate object, I copied, and here subjoin, hoping your
readers will be as much attracted as I was by the simplicity and elegance
of the lines and thoughts; and that some one of them, with leisure and
opportunity, will do what I had not time to do, namely,--decypher in the
MSS. the _name_ of the "Worthie Knight" on whom this epitaph was composed,
and give any particulars which can be ascertained concerning him.
EPITAPH ON ----
(_Harleian MSS._, 78. 25. b. Pluto 63 E.)
"Under this stone, thir ly'th at reste
A Friendlie Manne--A Worthie Knight,
Whose herte and mynde was ever prest
To favour truthe--to furder righte.
"The poore's defense--hys neighbors ayde,
Most kinde alwaies unto his Kyne,
That stynt alle striffes that might be stayed,
Whose gentil grace great love dyd wynne,
"A Man that was fulle earneste sette
To serve hys prince at alle assayes,
No sicknesse could him from itt lette,
Which was the shortninge of hys daies.
"His lyf was good--he dyed fulle welle,
Hys bodie here--the soule in blisse;
With lengthe of wordes, why should I telle,
Or further shewe, that well knowne is,
Since that the teares of mor or lesse
Right welle declare hys worthynesse."
A.B.R.
* * * * *
QUERIES.
THE TALE OF THE WARDSTAFF.
Can any of your antiquarian correspondents furnish further elucidation of
the strange ceremony of the gathering of the Wardstaff (which was in old
time one of the customs of the hundred of Ongar, in Essex) than are to be
found in Morant's _History of Essex_, vol. i. p. 126.? from whence it was
incorrectly copied in Blount's _Jocular Tenures_ by Beckwith, 4to. ed. It
has been also more correctly given by Sir Francis Palgrave, in his _Rise
and Progress of the English Commonwealth_, Part II. p. clvii., who justly
styles it--
"a strange and uncouth fragment of the earliest customs of the Teutons;
in which we can still recognise {58} the tone and the phraseology of
the Courts of the Eresburg. The _Irminsule_ itself having been
described as a trunk of a tree, Thor was worshipped under the same rude
symbol; and it may be suspected that the singular respect and reverence
shown to the ward-staff of the East Saxons is not without its relation
to the rites and ceremonies of the heathen time, though innocently and
unconsciously retained."
At the time of publication of his learned and interesting work, Sir Francis
did me the honour to adopt some conjectural corrections of Morant's very
corrupt transcript of the rhyme, which I furnished at his request, in
common with others suggested by the late Mr. Price. Since that time, a more
mature examination of it has enabled me, I think, to put it into a form
much more nearly resembling what it must have originally been; many of the
corrections being obviously required by the prose details which accompany
it in the MS. from which Morant gave it. It may not, therefore, be
unacceptable to some of your readers, to subjoin this corrected copy. It
may be proper to premise, that "The _Tale_ of the Wardstaff" is the
_tallying_ or _cutting_ of it, and that it was evidently originally spoken
in parts, assigned as under; although it should seem that there is no
indication of this arrangement in the MS.
"THE TALE OF THE WARDSTAFF.
_The Bailiffe of the Liberty._
"Iche athied[6] the staffe byleve,
Thanne staffe iche toke byleve,
Byleve iche will tellen[7]
Now the staffe have iche got.
_Lord of Ruckwood Hall._
"Tho the staffe to me com
Als he hoveon for to don,
Faire and well iche him underfing
Als iche hoveon for to don.
_The Bailiffe._
"All iche theron challenged,
That theron was for to challenge,
Nameliche,--this:--and--this:
And all that ther was for to challenge.
_Lord of Ruckwood._
"Fayer iche him uppdede
Als iche hoveon for to don.
_The Bailiffe._
"All iche warnyd to the Ward to cum,
That therto hoveon for to cum,
By SUNNE SHINING.
_Lord of Ruckwood._
"We our roope theder brouhton,
A roope beltan[8],
Als we hoveon for don;
And there waren and wakeden,
And the Ward soe kept,
That the King was harmless,
And the Country scatheless.
_The Bailiffe._
"And a morn, when itt day was,
And the sun arisen was,
Faier honour weren to us toke,
Als us hoveon for to don.
_The Lords, and the Tenants_
Fayre on the staffe we scorden,
Als we hoveon for to don,
Fayre we him senden,
Theder we hoveon for to sende.
_The Bailiffe._
And zif ther is any man
That this wittsiggen can
Iche am here ready for to don
Azens himself, iche one,
Other mid him on,
Other mid twyn feren,
Als we ther weren.
----
"Sir, byleve take this staffe,
This is the Tale of the Wardstaffe."
It will be at once apparent that this is a corrupt transcript of a
semi-Saxon original of much earlier date; and by comparing it with Morant's
very blundering copy, the conjectural corrections I have essayed will be
perceived to be numerous. Many of then will, however, be found not only
warranted, but absolutely necessary, from the accompanying prose account of
the ceremony. The MS. from which it was taken by Morant, was an account of
the Rents of the hundred of Ongar, in the time of John Stonar of Loughton,
who had a grant of it for his life in the 34th year of King Henry VIII. He
seems to have died 12th June, 1566, holding of the Queen, by the twentieth
part of a knight's fee, and the yearly rent of 13l. 16s. 4d., the manor,
park, chase, &c., of Hatfield Broad Oak, with the hundreds of Ongar and
Harlow; and the _Wardstaff_ of the same hundreds, then valued at 101l. 15s.
10d. As the _Wardstaff_ is said by Morant to make a considerable figure in
old records, it is reasonable to hope that a more satisfactory account of
it may still lie amongst unsunned ancient muniments. All the old Teutonic
judicial assemblies were, as Sir F. Palgrave remarks, held in the open air,
beneath the sky and _by the light of the sun_. The following is a part of
the ancient rhyme by which the proceedings of the famous Vehm-Gerichte were
opened, which were first printed by Schottelius, and the whole of which may
be found in Beck's _Geschichte der Westphalischen Fehm-Gerichte_, and in
Sir F. Palgrave's work. The similarity of expression is remarkable.
{59}
"All dewile an duessem Dage,
Mit yuwer allen behage,
Under den HELLEN HIMMEL klar,
Ein fry Feld-gericht openbar;
Geheget BYM LECHTEN SONNENSHIN
Mit noechterm Mund kommen herin,
De toel ock is gesettet recht,
Dat maht befunden uprecht,
So sprecket Recht ane With und Wonne
Up Klage und Antwort, WEIL SCHIENT DIE SONNE."
I must refer to Morant, to Beckwith or Sir F. Palgrave, for the details of
the ceremony of the Wardstaff, which it should appear was observed at least
as late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but in Morant's time it had long
been neglected. In the hope that some of your antiquarian correspondents
may be enabled to throw more light on this very curious custom, I will
merely add, that Morant suggests that it is possible some elucidation of it
might be found "in the Evidence House in Hatfield Church, where (he says)
are a great number of writings relating to the priory and lordship."
S.W. SINGER.
Jan 11. 1851.
[Footnote 3: aþied, cut.]
[Footnote 4: _i.e._ tally, or _score_.]
[Footnote 5: _i.e._ a rope with a _bell_ appended.]
* * * * *
BALLAD ASCRIBED TO SIR C. HANBURY WILLIAMS.
Being engaged on a collection of fugitive pieces by wits of the last
century, yet unprinted, I wish to take the opinion of your valuable
correspondents as to the authorship of the enclosed piece. It has been
pointed out to me in an album, dated at the beginning Feb. 14th, 1743; it
occurs towards the end of the volume (which is nearly filled), without
date, and signed C.H. Williams.
It is evidently not autograph, being in the hand which mainly pervades the
book. Had Sir C.H. Williams been a baronet at the time, his title would
doubtless have been attached to his name. I wish to know, first, at what
date Sir C.H. Williams was born, became a baronet, and died? Secondly, is
there any internal evidence of style that the ballad is by his hand?
Thirdly, is there any clue as to who the fair and cruel Lucy may have been?
And lastly, whether any of your correspondents have seen the thing in print
before?
G.H. BARKER.
Whitwell, Yorkshire.
I.
"Lips like cherries crimson-juicy,
Cheeks like peach's downy shades,
Has my Lucy--lovely Lucy!
Loveliest of lady's maids!!!
II.
"Eyes like violet's dew-bespangled,
Softly fringed deep liquid eyes!
Pools where Cupid might have angled
And expected fish to rise.
III.
"Cupid angling?--what the deuce! he
Must not fish in Lucy's eye!
Cupid leave alone my Lucy--
You have other fish to fry!!!
IV.
"But with patience unavailing--
Angling dangling late and soon--
Weeping, still I go a _wail_ing,
And _harp on_ without harpoon.
V.
"Kerchief, towel, duster, rubber,
Cannot wipe my weeping dry--
_Whal_ing still I lose _my blubber_,
Catching _wails_ from Lucy's eye.
VI.
"Blubber--wax and spermaceti--
Swealing taper--trickling tear!
Writing of a mournful ditty
To my lovely Lucy dear.
VII.
"Pouring tears from eyelids sluicy,
While the waning flamelet fades,
All for Lucy--lovely Lucy,
Loveliest of lady's maids.
"C.H. WILLIAMS."
[The foregoing ballad does not appear in the edition of the works of
Sir C. Hanbury Williams (3 vols. 8vo. 1822), from the preface to which
it appears that he was born in 1709, installed a Knight of the Bath in
1746, and died on the 2nd November, 1759.]
* * * * *
MINOR QUERIES.
_Book called Tartuare.--William Wallace in London._--1. Is there any one of
your correspondents, learned or unlearned, who can oblige me with any
account of a printed book called _Tartuare?_ Its date would be early in the
sixteenth century, if not before this.
2. After William Wallace had been surprised and taken, he was brought to
London, and lodged, it is said, in a part of what is now known as Fenchurch
Street. There is a reader and correspondent of yours, who, I am assured,
can point out the site of this house, or whatever it was. Will he kindly
assist archaeological inquirers, by informing us whereabouts it stood?
W.(I.)
_Obeism._--Can any of your readers give me some information about _obeism_?
I am anxious to know whether it is in itself a religion, or merely a rite
practised in some religion in Africa, and imported thence to the West
Indies (where, I am told, it is rapidly gaining ground again); and whether
the _obeist_ obtains the immense power he is said to possess over his
brother negroes by any acquired art, or simply by working upon the more
superstitious {60} minds of his companions. Any information, however, on
the subject will be acceptable.
T.H.
Mincing Lane, Jan. 10. 1851.
_Aged Monks._--Ingulphus (_apud Wharton, Anglia Sacra_, 613.) speaks of
five monks of Croyland Abbey, who lived in the tenth century, the oldest of
whom, he says, attained the age of one hundred and sixty-eight years: his
name was Clarembaldus. The youngest, named Thurgar, died at the premature
age of one hundred and fifteen. Can any of your correspondents inform me of
any similar instance of longevity being recorded in monkish chronicles? I
remember reading of some old English monks who died at a greater age than
brother Thurgar, but omitted to "make a note of it" at the time, and should
now be glad to find it.
F. SOMNER MERRYWEATHER.
Gloucester Place, Kentish Town.
_Lady Alice Carmichael, daughter of John first Earl of Hyndford._--John
second Lord Carmichael succeeded his grandfather in 1672. He was born 28th
February, 1638, and married, 9th October, 1669, Beatrice Drummond, second
daughter of David third Lord Maderty, by whom he had seven sons and _four_
daughters. He was created Earl of Hyndford in 1701, and died in 1710.
I wish to be informed (if any of the obliging readers of your valuable
publication can refer me to the authority) what became of Alice, who is
named among the daughters of this earl in one of the early Scottish
Peerages (anterior probably to that of Crawfurd, in 1716), but which the
writer of this is unable to indicate. Archibald, the youngest son, was born
15th April, 1693. The Lady Beatrice, the eldest daughter, married, in 1700,
_Cockburn_; Mary married _Montgomery_; and Anne married _Maxwell_. It is
traditionally reported that the Lady Alice, in consequence of her marriage
with one of her father's tenants, named Biset or Bisset, gave offence to
the family, who upon that contrived to have her name omitted in all
subsequent peerages. The late Alexander Cassy, of Pentonville, who
bequeathed by will several thousand pounds to found a charity at Banff, was
son of Alexander Cassy of that place, and ---- Biset, one of the daughters,
sprung from the above-named marriage.
SCOTUS.
"_A Verse may find Him._"--In the first stanza of Herbert's poem entitled
the _Church Porch_, in the _Temple_, the following lines occur:--
"A verse may find him, whom a sermon flies,
And turn delight into a sacrifice."
Which contain, evidently, the same idea as the one enunciated in the
subsequent ones quoted by Wordsworth (I believe) as a motto prefixed to his
ecclesiastical sonnets, without an author assigned:--
"A verse may catch a wandering soul that flies
More powerful tracts: and by a blest surprise
Convert delight into a sacrifice."
Query, Who was the author of them?
R.W.E.
Hull.
_Daresbury, the White Chapel of England._--Sometime ago I copied the
following from a local print:--
"'_Nixon's Prophecy._--When a fox without cubs shall sit in the White
Chapel of England, then men shall travel to Paris without horses, and
kings shall run away and leave their crowns.'
"The present incumbent of Daresbury, Cheshire (the White Chapel of
England), is the Rev. Mr. Fawkes, who (1849) is unmarried. The striking
accomplishment--railway travelling and the revolutions of the present
year--must be obvious to every one."
My Query to the above is this: Why is the church of Daresbury called the
White Chapel of England, and how did the name originate? The people in the
neighbourhood, I understand, know nothing on the subject.
An answer to the above from one of your learned correspondents would
greatly oblige.
J.G.
_Ulm Manuscript._--Can you inform me where the Ulm manuscript is, which was
in the possession of Archdeacon Butler, at Shrewsbury, in the year 1832. It
is a document of great interest, and some critical value, and ought to be,
if it is not already, in public keeping. It is a Latin MS. of the Acts and
Epistles, probably of the ninth century, and contains the
Pseudo-Hieronymian Prologue to the "Canonical" Epistles.
It renders the classical passage, 1 John v. 7, 8., in this wise:--
"Quia tres sunt qui testimonium dant, spiritus, et aqua, et sanguis, et
tres unum sunt. Sicut in coelo tres sunt, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus,
et tres unum sunt."
You will remember that it is quoted by Porson in his _Letters to Travis_,
p. 148., and again referred to by him, pp. 394. 400.
Was it sold on the death of the Bishop of Lichfield, or bequeathed to any
public institution? or did it find its way into the possession of the Duke
of Sussex, who was curious in biblical matters, and was a correspondent of
Dr. Butler? Some of your learned readers will perhaps enable you to trace
it.
O.T. DOBBIN, LL.D. T.C.D.
Hull, Yorkshire, Jan. 1851.
_Merrick and Tattersall._--Will any of your correspondents be so obliging
as to give the years of _birth_ of Merrick, the poet and versifier of the
Psalms, and of his biographer, Tattersall. The years of their _deaths_ are
given respectively 1769 {61} and 1829: but I can nowhere find when they
were born.
M.
[Merrick was born in 1720, and Tattersall in 1752.]
_Dr. Trusler's Memoirs._--I have the First Part of the _Memoirs of the Life
of the Rev. Dr. Trusler, with his Opinions and Remarks through a Long Life
on Men and Manners, written by himself._ Bath. Printed and published by
John Browne, George Street, 1806. This Part is a 4to. of 200 pages, and is
full of curious anecdotes of the time. It was intended to form three or
more Parts. Was it ever completed: and if so, where to be procured? In all
my searches after books, I never met but with this copy.
At the end of the First Part there is a prospectus of a work Trusler
intended to publish in the form of a Dictionary (and of which he gives a
specimen sheet), entitled _Sententiae Variorum_. Can any of your Bath
friends say if the manuscript is still in existence, as he states that it
is ready for the press; or that he would treat with any party disposed to
buy the copyright?
T.
_Life of Bishop Frampton._--I have in my possession a manuscript life of
Bishop Frampton, who was ejected for not taking the oaths to William and
Mary. It is of sufficient detail and interest to deserve publication. But
before I give it to the world, that I may do what justice I can to the
memory of so excellent a man, I should be happy to receive the
contributions of any of your readers who may happen to possess any thing of
interest relating to him. I have reason to believe that several of his
sermons, the texts of which are given in his life, are still in existence.
Will you be kind enough to allow your periodical to be the vehicle of this
invitation?
T. SIMPSON EVANS.
Shoreditch.
_Probabilism._--Will any one inform me by whom the doctrine of Probabilism
was first propounded as a system? And whether, when fairly stated, it is
any thing more than the enunciation of a deep moral principle?
R.P.
_Sir Henry Chauncy's Observations on Wilfred Entwysel._--After recording
the inscription on the brass plate in St. Peter's Church, St. Alban's, to
the memory of Sir Bertin Entwysel, Knt., Viscount and Baron of Brykbeke in
Normandy, who fell at the first battle of St. Alban's, in 1455, Chauncy
proceeds to state:--
"These Entwysels were gentlemen of good account in Lancashire, whose
mansion-house retains the name of Entwysel, and the last heir of that
house was one Wilfred Entwysel, who sold his estate, and served as a
lance at Musselborrow Field, Anno 2 Edw. VI. After that he served the
Guyes in defence of Meth, and he was one of the four captains of the
fort of Newhaven, who being infected with the plague and shipped for
England, landed at Portsmouth, and uncertain of any house, in
September, 1549, died under a hedge."--_Historical Antiq. of
Hertfordshire, by Sir Henry Chauncy, Knt., Serj. at Law_, p. 472. fol.
1700.
On what authority is this latter statement made, and if it was traditional
when Chauncy wrote, was the foundation of the tradition good? Did Sir
Bertin Entwysel leave issue male, and is the precise link ascertained which
connects him with the family of Entwisle of Entwisle, in the parish of
Bolton-en-le-Moors, in Lancashire? Wilfred Entwysel was not "the last heir
of that house," as the _post mortem inq._ of Edmund Entwisle, of Entwisle,
Esq., was taken 14 Sept. 1544, and his son and heir was George Entwisle,
then aged twenty-two years and upwards. Amongst his large estates was "the
manor of Entwissell."
F.R.R.
_Theological Tracts._--Can any of your correspondents inform me where the
following tracts are to be found?--
"_Pattern of the Present Temple_,"
"_Garnish of the Soul_,"
"_Soldier of Battle_,"
"_Hunt of the Fox_,"
"_Fardle of Fashions_,"
"_Gamer's Arraign_,"
and a work entitled "_Vaux's Catechism_."
I am sorry not to be able to give a more minute description of them; they
were all published, I think, before the middle of the seventeenth century.
The Bodleian and our own University Libraries have been searched, but to no
purpose.
S.G.
_Lady Bingham._--In _Blackwood's Magazine_, vol. lxviii. p. 141. there is a
paper, bearing every mark of authenticity, which details the unsuccessful
courtship of Sir Symonds D'Ewes with Jemima, afterwards Baroness Crewe, and
daughter of Edward Waldgrave, Esq., of Lawford House in Essex, and Sarah
his wife. It is stated that the latter bore the name of Lady Bingham, as
being the widow of a knight, and that his monument may still be seen in
Lawford church. On referring to the Suckling Papers, published by Weale, I
find no account of this monument, though an inscription of that of Edward
Waldgrave, Esq., apparently his father-in-law, is given. Can any of your
readers give me any information as to this lady? I should, if possible, be
glad to have her maiden name and origin, as well as that of her first
husband. She might have been the widow of Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of
Connaught, &c., whose MS. account of the Irish wars is now publishing by
the Celtic Society, and who died A.D. 1598. In that case, I leave a
conjecture before me, that she was a Kingsmill of Sidmanton, in Hampshire.
I mention this to aid enquiry, if any one will be so good as to make it. If
there is such a monument in existence, his arms may be quartered on it, for
which I should be also thankful.
C.W.B. {62}
_Gregory the Great._--Lady Morgan, in her letter to Cardinal Wiseman,
speaks of "the pious and magnificent Matilda, Countess of Tuscany, the ally
of Gregory _the Great_, and the foundress of his power through her wealth
and munificence." By Gregory the Great it is evident that Lady Morgan means
Hildebrand, or Gregory VII. May ask, through the medium of your pages,
whether any authority can be found for terming Gregory VII. _the Great_, an
epithet which I had previously considered to be confined to Gregory I.?
EGENHART.
_John Hill's Penny Post, in_ 1659.--I noted a few years back, from a
bookseller's catalogue, the title of a work--
"Hill (John), a Penny-Post; or a vindication of the liberty of every
Englishman in carrying Merchants' and other Men's letters against any
restraints of farmers of such employments. 4to. 1659."
Can any of your correspondents give an account of this work?
E.M.B.
_Andrea Ferrara._--Will any kind friend inform me where any history is to
be found of "Andrea Ferrara," the sword cutler?
V.E.L.
_Imputed Letters of Sallustius._--Can any of your correspondents inform me
whether a MS. of the _Epistles of Sallustius to Caesar on Statesmanship_ is
deposited in any one of our public libraries?
KENNETH R.H. MACKENZIE.
January 18. 1851.
_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., pp. 424. 521.).--I am obliged to
Mr. Kersley for his reference to Rose's Biographical Dictionary; but he
might have supposed that all such ordinary sources of information would
naturally be consulted before your valuable journal be troubled with a
query. Having reason to believe that Rogers took an active part in the
stirring events of his time, I shall be much obliged to any of your
correspondents who will refer me to any _incidental_ notices of him in
cotemporary or other writers: to diffuse which kind of information your
paper seems to me to have been instituted.
S.G.
_Tandem D.O.M._--In an ancient mansion, which stands secluded in the
distant recesses of Cornwall, there reposes a library nearly as ancient as
the edifice itself, in the long gallery of which it has been almost the
sole furniture for a space of full two centuries. What is still remarkable,
the collection remains sole and entire in all its pristine originality, as
well as simple but substantial bindings, uncontaminated by any additions of
more modern literature, dressed up in gayer suits of calfskin or morocco.
It is even said that few of the pages of these venerable volumes have even
seen the light since the day they were deposited there by their first most
careful owner, till the present proprietor took the liberty of giving them
a dusting. How far he has advanced in examining their contents is
uncertain; but, as he seldom can summon courage to withdraw himself from
their company, even for his parliamentary duties, these literary treasures
stand a chance, at last, not only of being dusted externally, but of being
thoroughly sifted and explored internally. A note of the existence of such
a collection of books is at least worth recording as unique of its kind. I
have now a query to put in relations to it.
The collector seems to have been one Hannibal Gamon, whose name appears
written in fine bold characters,--as beseems so distinguished an
appellation,--on the title-page of each volume; but, besides, there is
frequently appended this addition--"_tandem D.O.M._" The writer has his own
solution on the meaning of this bit of Latin, but would be glad to know
what interpretation any of your readers would be inclined to put thereon.
FABER MARINUS.
_The Episcopal Mitre._--When first was the episcopal mitre used? And what
was the origin of its peculiar form?
AN ENQUIRER.
* * * * *
REPLIES.
THE PASSAGE IN TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
(Vol. ii., p. 386.)
The oldest edition of this play is the quarto of 1609, in which the passage
referred to stands thus:--
"_Hect._ Begon, I say, the gods have heard me sweare.
"_Cas._ The gods are deafe to hotte and peevish vowes,
They are polluted offrings more abhord,
Then spotted livers in the sacrifice.
"_And._ O be perswaded, do not count it holy,
It is the purpose that makes strong the vow,
But vowes to every purpose must not hold:
Unarme, sweet Hector."
This reading, by stopping the sense at "holy," renders less likely to be
correct the emendation of Tyrwhitt, adopted by Malone:--
"O be persuaded: do not count it holy
To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,
For we would give much to use violent thefts,
And rob in the behalf of charity."
Dr. Johnson observes, "This is so oddly confused in the folio, that I
transcribe it as a specimen of incorrectness:--
'----do not count it holy
To hurt by being just: it is as lawful
For we would count give much to as violent thefts,' &c."
With reference to these particulars, I should be glad if you would allow me
to propose a reading which has not yet been suggested:--
{63}
"O be persuaded; do not count it holy:
To hurt, by being just, count it unlawful:
For we would give, as much, to violent thefts,
And rob, in the behalf of charity."
The meaning being, it is as unlawful to do hurt by being just, as it would
be to _give_ to a robbery, or to _rob_ for a charity; to assist a bad cause
by a good deed, or a good cause by a bad deed.
The word "count," in its second occurrence, was inserted by the printer in
the wrong line; when it is restored to its proper place, the passage
presents but little difficulty.
JOHN TAYLOR.
* * * * *
BLACK IMAGES OF THE VIRGIN.
(Vol. ii., p. 510.)
Your correspondent, MR. HOLT WHITE, throws cut a suggestion relative to the
origin of the black doll as a sign at old store shops, which is ingenious,
but not very probable. The images of black virgins are confined, I believe,
to the south of Europe, with the exception of the celebrated shrine of
Einsiedeln in Switzerland. The origin of the colour appears to be oriental,
as MR. W. surmises. I send the following extract, in answer to his query on
the subject. It is a quotation from Grimm, in M. Michelet's _Introduction
to Universal History_; and, as your readers must be all familiar with the
language of the gifted historian, I will not make the attempt to convey his
brilliant style into another tongue.
"Une des idees qui reviennent le plus dans nos meistersinger, dit
Grimm, c'est la comparaison de l'incarnation de Jesus Christ avec
_l'aurore d'un nouveau soleil_. Toute religion avait eu son
soleil-dieu, et des le quatrieme siecle l'eglise occidentale celebre la
naissance du Christ au jour ou le soleil remonte, au 25 Decembre,
c'est-a-dire, au jour ou l'on celebrait la naissance du _soleil
invincible_. C'est un rapport evident avec le soleil-dieu Mithra. On
lit encore, dans nos poetes, que Jesus a sa naissance reposait sur le
sein de Marie, comme un oiseau, qui, le soir, se refugie dans une fleur
de _nuit_ eclose au milieu de la mer. Quel rapport remarquable avec le
mythe de la naissance de Brama, enferme dans le lis des eaux, le lotus,
jusqu'au jour ou la fleur fut ouverte par les rayons du soleil,
c'est-a-dire, par Vischnou lui-meme, qui avait produit cette fleur. Le
Christ, le Nouveau-jour, est ne de la nuit, c'est-a-dire de Marie la
_Noire_, dont les pied reposent sur la lune, et dont la tete est
couronnee de planetes comme d'un brillant diademe. (Voyez les tableaux
d'Albert Duerer.) Ainsi reparait, comme dans l'ancien culte, cette
grande divinite, appelee tour-a-tour Maia, Bhawani, Isis, Ceres,
Proserpine, Persephone. Reine du ciel, elle est la nuit d'ou sort la
vie, et ou toute vie se replonge; mysterieuse reunion de la vie et de
la mort. Elle s'appelle aussi la rosee, et dans les mythes allemands,
la rosee est consideree comme le principe qui reproduit et redonne la
vie. Elle n'est pas seulement la nuit, mais comme mere du soleil, elle
est aussi l'aurore devant qui les planetes brillent et s'empressent,
comme pour Persephone. Lorsqu'elle signifie la terre, comme Ceres, elle
est representee avec la gerbe de ble; elle est Persephone, la graine de
semence; comme cette deesse, elle a sa faucille: c'est la demi-lune qui
repose sous ses pieds. Enfin, comme la deesse d'Ephese, la triste Ceres
et Proserpine, elle est belle et brillante, et cependant sombre et
noire, selon l'expression du Cantique des Cantiques: 'Je suis noir,
mais pleine de charmes, le soleil m'a brulee' (le Christ). Encore
aujourd'hui, l'image de la mere de Dieu est noire a Naples, comme a
Einsiedeln en Suisse. Elle unit ainsi le jour et la nuit, la joie avec
la tristesse, le soleil et la lune (chaleur, humidite), le terrestre et
le celeste."
This fragment is, perhaps, rather too long; but I think your readers will
consider it too beautiful to abridge. The late G. Higgins, in his
_Anacalepsis_ (ii. 100.), has some observations to the same purport, and
points out the resemblance of some of the old Italian paintings of the
Virgin and Child to Egyptian representations of Isis and the infant Horus.
Many of these ideas have been taken up by the free-masons, and are typified
and symbolised in their initiatory ceremonies.
J.B. DITCHFIELD.
* * * * *
OUTLINE IN PAINTING.
A correspondent (J.O.W.H.) at p. 318. of Vol. i. asks a question on the
subject of outline in painting; instancing the works of Albert Durer and
Raffaelle as examples of defined, and those of Titian, Murillo, &c., of
indefined outline. He wishes to know whether there is "a right and a wrong
in the matter, apart from anything which men call taste?"
The subject generally is a curious one, and has interested me for some
time; as experiments exhibit several singular phenomena resulting from the
interference and diffraction of rays of light in passing by the outline of
a material body.