Chapter C: H. Cooper

Cambridge.

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Replies to Minor Queries.

_Penkenol_ (Vol. v., p. 490.).--Head of a family or tribe, from the Celtic: see _penkenedl_, Welsh; _ceanncinnidh_, or _cineal_, Gaelic; of which _ken-kenal_ is a Lowland corruption. The inference drawn from the three crescents (borne as a difference) almost explains the meaning of the word. Aubrey was a Welshman.

DE CAMERON.

_Penken_o_l_ was probably written in error for _pencen_edl, the head of a sept or family. Pennant so uses the word in his _Whiteford and Hollywell_, p. 33. The Welsh pronunciation of _dl_ as _thl_ will point to an obvious Greek analogy, which Davies's _Dictionary_ carries to an earlier source.

LANCASTRIENSIS.

_Johnny Crapaud_ (Vol. v., pp. 439. 523.).--I cannot but think that the solution of MR. PHILIP S. KING's Query about "Johnny Crapaud" will be found in the circumstance that three frogs are the old arms of France, and I would refer him if he needs it, to the Rev. E. B. Elliott's _Horæ Apocalypticæ_, where the reasons for believing that such were the arms of France are fully given and illustrated by a plate, vol. iv. p. 64. ed. 1847. I may add that, for what reason I don't know, but perhaps Mr. Metivier does, the natives of Jersey are called _crapauds_ by Guernsey men, who in return are honoured by the title of _ânes_, asses.

PEREZ.

_Sir John Darnall_ (Vol. v., p. 489.).--Sir John Darnall, Serjeant-at-Law 1714, knighted 1724, died Sept. 5, 1731, and was buried at Petersham, leaving by Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Jenner, two daughters and coheirs: _Mary_ the elder married in 1727 Robert Orde, Esq., Lord Chief Baron of Scotland; and _Anne_ the younger married in 1728 Henry Muilman of London, Esq., {546} whose only daughter and heir married John Julius Angerstein, Esq.

The above Sir John Darnall was the only surviving son of Sir John Darnall of the Inner Temple, King's Sergeant-at-law 1698, knighted at Kensington June 1, 1699, died in Essex Street 1706, and was buried in the chancel vault of St. Clement's Danes, co. Middlesex (see the _English Post_, Monday, Dec. 23, 1706). He was son of Ralph Darnall, of Loughton's Hope, co. Hereford, and his will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in Jan. 1707.

The arms assumed by Sir John Darnall, who died 1706, were--Gules on a pale argent, a lion rampant azure impaling Gules a boar passant.

G.

_Bastides_ (Vol. v., pp. 150. 206.).--Dumas, in his _Pictures of Travel in the South of France_, says, that Louis XIV. while at Marseilles, observing the charming houses which surrounded the town, with their white walls, red tops, and green blinds, inquired by what name they were called in the language of the country: "They call them _Bastides_," replied Fostea de Piles. "Good!" says the King; "I will have a Bastide." He built a fort to check the Marseillaise.

Again, Tarver, in his _Dictionary_, has:

"BASTIDE, a small country house (this word is used in the south of
France, in Provence especially.)"

Did Louis intend a pun between _Bastide_ and _Bastille_?

E. H. B.

Demerary.

_Compositions under the Protectorate_ (Vol. v., p. 68.).--Such is the name of a heading to one of your recent Notes; and such is the formula of the very common error that Dring's _List_, and the lists of his re-editors, represent the fines levied by Cromwell when he decimated the incomes (not the estates) of the Royalists, in consequence of Penruddock's rising. Dring's _List_ has reference to the compositions during the years 1646-1648, when the fines were based on a totally different calculation. The error has arisen from Dring's catalogue having been published in 1655, the year after Penruddock's affair. I have compared a great number of the compositions as they are stated in the Lord's Journals, 1646, _et seq._, with Dring's account; and though there are discrepancies, their average resemblance is sufficient to show that they refer to one and the same affair. Indeed, any one acquainted with the actors in those events will see in a moment that Dring's _List_ contains many who had repented of and acknowledged their "delinquency."

J. WAYLEN.

_Hoax on Sir Walter Scott_ (Vol. v., p. 438.).--The reperusal of Mr. Drury's hoax upon Sir Walter reminds me of another, which having escaped the industry of, or been intentionally overlooked by Mr. Lockhart, may be appropriately noticed in your pages, as pleasantly showing that even "ANSELMO's" black-letter sagacity might be deceived; and that, with the simple credulity of his own Monkbarns, he could mistake the "bit bourock of the mason-callants" for a Roman Pretorium.

I allude to a small stitchlet, or brochure, of five pages, entitled "The Raid of Featherstonehaugh: a Border Ballad." It was really written by Sir Walter's early friend, Mr. Robert Surtees of Mainsforth, author of the _History of Durham_, some of whose other impositions upon the poet were printed in the _Border Minstrelsy_, or inserted in notes to his _Metrical Romances_. Of this poem in particular, Sir Walter entertained so high an opinion, that he has incorporated a verse from it into _Marmion_, and given it entire in a note as a genuine relic of antiquity; gravely commenting upon it in the most elaborate manner, and pointing out its exemplifications of the then state of society. It will be found in _Marmion_, Canto I., verse 13.:

"The whiles a northern harper rude."

WILLIAM BATES.

Birmingham.

_Statute of Limitations abroad_ (Vol. iv., p. 256.).--In this colony, which is governed by the old Dutch law, the time at which prescription prevails is one-third of a century, but some Dutch authorities hold that thirty years is sufficient in personal actions. In Holland there were various charters respecting prescription, such as those of Alkmaar of 1254, Medemblik of 1288, Waterland of 1288, and others; these were cases of possession with the knowledge of the authorities. In Holland immovable property was acquired by prescription, without the knowledge of the authorities, in the third of a century. In Zealand it was twenty years. By the law of the Feudal Court, the period was a third of a century for any property; and in the territory of Voorn, from times of old, and classed among the laws of the year 1519, peaceable possession of any immovable property for thirty years was held good; but there was an exception in favour of minors and absentees.

E. H. B.

Demerary.

_Lines on Crawfurd of Kilbirnie_ (Vol. v., p. 404.).--These lines are evidently merely an adaptation of the well-known epigram on Austria:

"Bella gerant alii--tu felix Austria nube,
Nam quæ Mars aliis dat tibi regna Venus."

S. L. P.

_Swearing on a Skull_ (Vol. v., p. 485.).--In the "Historical Memoirs of the Clan McGregor," prefixed to the _Life of Rob Roy_, by K. Macleay, M.D., Glasgow, 1818, is the following story:--On the arrival of Anne of Denmark in Scotland, {547} immediately after her marriage to James VI., the king ordered Lord Drummond of Perth, who was "principal forester of Glenartney," to provide venison for a feast. His deputy, Drummond of Drummondernoch, found in the forest some trespassers of clan Donald of Glenco, whose ears he cropped and let them go. The Macdonalds, however, returned with others of their clan, killed Drummond, and cut off his head. The atrocious acts of barbarism which followed need not be told here. They ultimately took the head with them, and proceeded to Balquhidder, among their friends the McGregors, whose conduct is best described in the words of the king's proclamation against their clan, which, after denouncing the "manifest reifs, and stouths" committed by them, and the murder of Drummond, proceeds thus:

"Likeas after ye murther committed, ye authors yrof cutted aff ye said
umqll Jo. Drummond's head, and carried the same to the Laird of
McGregor, who, and his haill surname of McGregors, purposely conveined
upon the next Sunday yrafter, at the kirk of Buchquhidder; qr they
caused ye said umqll John's head be pnted to them, and yr avowing ye sd
murder, laid yr hands upon the pow, and in Ethnic and barbarous manner,
swear to defend ye authors of ye sd murder."

HENRY G. TOMKINS.

Weston super Mare.

_Rhymes on Places_ (Vol. v., pp. 293. 374. 500.).--Roger Gale, in a letter dated August 17, 1739, states that he saw the following lines in a window at Belford (between Newcastle and Berwick):

"Cain, in disgrace with heaven, retired to Nod,
A place, undoubtedly, as far from God
As Cain could wish; which makes some think he went
As far as Scotland, ere he pitch'd his tent;
And there a city built of ancient fame,
Which he, from Eden, Edinburgh did name."
_Reliquiæ Galeanæ_, 67*

Charles Mathews, in a letter directed to his son at Mold N. W., dated 4th November [1825], says:

"Lord Deerhurst, who franked this letter, laughed at the idea of your
being condemned to be at Mold, and told me an impromptu of Sheridan's,
upon being compelled to spend a day or two there:

"'Were I to curse the man I hate
From youth till I grow old,
Oh might he be condemn'd by fate
To waste his days in Mold!'"
_Memoirs of Charles Mathews_, v. 504.