Notes and Queries, Number 138, June 19, 1852

Chapter C: H. Cooper

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Cambridge.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE'S SEAL.

(Vol. v., p. 539.)

There is a very full and curious account of a _ring_-seal (of which I possess two red wax impressions), supposed to have belonged to Shakspeare, in a work unassumingly entitled _A Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon_, by R. B. Wheler, published in 1814. I presume _that_ is the seal--or, rather, _ring_-seal--to which reference is made; but how far Mr. Wheler's statements and speculations may encourage "belief in the genuineness of this relic," your correspondent, and others taking any interest in such matters, must for themselves determine.

As the publication above named is before me, it may not be unacceptable to give a summary of Mr. Wheler's narrative, which occupies eight concluding pages of the _Guide_. It appears that on the 16th March, 1810, an ancient gold ring, weighing 12 dwts., and bearing the initials "W. S.," engraved in Roman characters, was found by a labourer's wife upon the surface of the mill-close adjoining Stratford churchyard, being the exact spot whereon Mr. Oldaker since erected his present residence. It had undoubtedly been lost a great many years, being nearly black; and, continues Mr. W.,--

"Though I purchased it upon the same day, for 36s. (the current value
of the _gold_), the woman had sufficient time to destroy the 'precious
_ærugo_' by having it unnecessarily immersed in _aquafortis_, to
ascertain and prove the metal, at a silversmith's shop, which
consequently restored its original colour. It is of tolerably large
dimensions, and evidently a gentleman's ring of Elizabeth's age.
Similar seal-rings are represented on cotemporary paintings and
monuments: and the crossing of the central lines of the 'W.' with the
oblique direction of the lines of the 'S.' exactly agree with the
characters of that day. For proof we need wander no farther than
Stratford Church, where the Totness and Clopton tombs will furnish
representations of rings, and Shakspeare's monument of letters,
perfectly corresponding in point of shape. The connexion or union of
the letters by _the ornamental string and tassels_" [or _True Lover's
Knot_, according to your correspondent], "was then frequently used, of
which numberless instances may be found upon seals and upon
inscriptions, in painted windows, and in the title-pages of books of
that period; and for further coincidence of circumstances, it may be
observed over the porch leading into the hall of Charlcote House near
Stratford (erected in the early part of Elizabeth's reign, by the very
Sir Thomas Lucy said to have prosecuted Shakspeare for deer-stealing),
that the letters 'T. L.' are surrounded in a manner precisely similar."

After adverting to many vain efforts made by him to discover whether there existed anywhere Shakspeare's seal attached to letter or other writing, Mr. Wheler states that he had examined--

"A list of all the inhabitants of Stratford assessed to the levies in
1617, wherein I cannot discover any apparently _respectable_ person the
initials of whose name agree with 'W. S.:' but from this assessment,
though probably copied from an anterior one, nothing conclusive can be
estimated, it being made in the year subsequent to Shakspeare's death;
and I should, from a close observation of the ring, be inclined to
suppose that it was {590} made in the early part of the poet's life.
Mr. Malone, in a conversation I had with him in London," (adds Mr.
Wheler), "the 20th April, 1812, about a month before his death, said
that he had nothing to allege against the probability of my conjecture
as to its owner."

Mr. W. afterwards proceeds:

"That such a seal was used by a person connected with Shakspeare by a
marriage is certain; for I possess an impression of the seal (and
apparently a seal-ring) of Adrian Quiney, bailiff of Stratford in
1559-60; and who, I have every reason to believe, was the uncle of
Thomas Quiney, our poet's son-in-law. This seal of Quiney's, which is
appended to a deed dated June 28, 9 Eliz., 1567, being a conveyance of
property in Bridge Street, Stratford, very minutely corresponds with
the Shakspeare ring in size, and has a very near resemblance to it in
_the string and tassels_ uniting the Roman initials 'A. Q.;' which
ornamental junction is carved somewhat similar to what is now called
_The True Lover's Knot_, and in the Shakspeare ring the upper bow or
flourish resembles a heart."

In Shakspeare's age--

"Seal-rings were very fashionable, but were probably more limited than
at present to the nobility and respectable families; for I still
confine myself to the respectability of its proprietor.... After
numerous and continued researches into public and private documents, I
find no Stratfordian of that period so likely to own such a ring as
Shakspeare."

Mr. Wheler concludes--

"At present, I possess no positive proof whatever. Let it be remembered
that my observations are merely relative. I yet hope to meet with an
impression of the ring in my possession; and in this I am more
particularly encouraged by the fact, that should success attend the
investigation, this seal-ring would be the _only existing article_
PROVED to have originally belonged to our immortal poet."

When Mr. Wheler wrote, the signatures in Montaigne's work, &c. had not been restored to the light.

A HERMIT AT HAMPSTEAD.

* * * * *

REASON AND UNDERSTANDING ACCORDING TO COLERIDGE.

(Vol. v., p. 535.)

Your correspondent C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY will pardon me if I deny the discrepancy in Coleridge's statements on the difference between these faculties. Coleridge refuses to brutes the possession of reason as a contemplative faculty; he allows them, that which in kind differs from reason, the understanding _in a certain degree_, and asserts that they do possess, in a very marked and characteristic manner, instinct, which, in degree only, falls below understanding. Instinct is distinguishable in _degree_ from understanding. Reason is distinguishable from it in _kind_. Some kinds of brutes, as dogs and elephants, possess more intelligence than others, as tigers and swine; and some individual dogs possess more of this intelligence than others. This intelligence arises from the superior activity of the "faculty judging according to sense;" and, when Coleridge says that it is not clear to him "that the dog may not possess an analogon to words," he might have gone, I think, further, and have said, with much probability of truth on his side, that the dog _has_ this analogon of words. I am sure I have often known a dog's thoughts by his own way of expressing them, far more distinctly than I am sometimes able to gather a fellow man's meaning from his words. Nay, much as I love and venerate Coleridge--his goodness, his genius, his writings, his memory--I find a dog sometimes far more intelligible. Language is a property of the understanding, but it cannot be developed in words unless there be in the creature an adequate degree of the faculty. This degree of the faculty, dogs have not. If they had it, they might fairly be expected to speak, read, and write. What we want is the man, or the observation and experiment, which shall show us where the line is to be drawn, if in the nature of such gradations lines can be drawn at all, which shall distinguish the degree at which instinct overlaps understanding. The case is perhaps too hopelessly complicated. Coleridge has carefully guarded his expressions, that they should not seem to assert for brutes more than he can _prove_ that they possess, by the use of the words "analogous or fully equivalent." That brutes can and do reflect, abstract, and generalise, it needs but an understanding of the terms, and some observation of their habits, to feel assured.

CASPAR.

* * * * *

GENERAL WOLFE.

(Vol. v., pp. 185. 398. &c.)

Since my last communication relative to this celebrated soldier, I have fallen in with a volume of the _London Chronicle_ for the first half of the year 1760, and from it I send the following extracts: although there is more information relative to the battle, these only I thought worth insertion in "N. & Q." The first is entitled:

"A CALL TO THE POETS, ON THE TAKING OF QUEBEC.

"While to brave Wolfe such clouds of incense rise,
And waft his glory to his native skies;
Shall yet no altar blaze to Moncton's name,
And consecrate his glorious wound to fame;
Shall Townshend's deeds, o'er Canada renown'd,
So faint in British eulogies resound!
No grateful bard in some exalted lay
Brave Townshend's worth to future times convey
Who, for his country, and great George's cause,
Forsook the fulness of domestic joys,
To crush 'midst dangers of a world unknown,
The savage insults on the British crown.
{591}
See him return'd triumphant to his king,
Wafted on Vict'ry's, and on Glory's wing:
Hast thou, great patroness of martial fire,
No fav'rite genius, Clio, to inspire?
Shall worth, like his, unnotic'd pass away
But with the pageant of a short-liv'd day?
No; Soul of numbers, tune the votive strings
On which thou sing'st of heroes and of kings;
Rouse from ungrateful silence some lov'd name
Or from the banks of Isis, or of Cam;
Bid him, tho' grateful to the dead, rehearse
The living hero in immortal verse:
So shall each warlike Briton strive to raise,
Like him, a monument of deathless praise;
So shall each patriot heart his merit move
By the warm glow of sympathy of love."--T. D.
P. 71. Jan. 19.

At p. 120., June 31st, is "A New Song, entitled and called, Britain's Remembrancer for the Years 1758 and 1759." The fourth verse runs as follows:

"Quebec we have taken, and taken Breton;
Tho' the coast was so steep, that a man might as soon,
As the Frenchmen imagin'd, have taken the moon,
Which nobody can deny."

May 10th, p. 449.: "Capt. Bell, late Aide-de-Camp to the great Gen. Wolfe, is appointed captain in the fifth regiment," &c. Under the date of June 28th is Gen. Murray's despatch.

Among the advertisements are, "A Discourse delivered at Quebec," &c., by the Rev. Eli Dawson (dedicated to Mrs. Wolfe); "Two Discourses by Jonathan Mayhew, D.D. of Boston;" and "Quebec, a Poetical Essay, in imitation of the Miltonic Style, composed by a Volunteer in the service; with Notes entertaining and explanatory."

A notice of the death of Sir Harry Smith, Bart., aide-de-camp to Wolfe, appears in the _Examiner_ for October 22nd, 1811.

Among other instances of the name is a notice of Major J. Wolfe in _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1836, p. 334.

H. G. D.

* * * * *

"THE MILLER'S MELODY," AN OLD BALLAD.

(Vol. v., p. 316.)

The original ballad of "The Miller's Melody" is the production of no less a person than a "Doctor in Divinity," of whom the following are a few brief particulars.

James Smith was born about 1604, educated at Christ Church and Lincoln Colleges, in Oxford; afterwards naval and military chaplain to the Earl of Holland, and domestic chaplain to Thomas Earl of Cleveland. On the Restoration of Charles II. he held several Church preferments, and ultimately became canon and "chauntor" in Exeter Cathedral. He was created D.D. in 1661, and quitted this life in 1667. Wood informs us he was much in esteem "with the poetical wits of that time, particularly with Philip Massinger, who call'd him his son."

I have an old "broadside" copy of the ballad in question, "Printed for Francis Grove, 1656," which is here transcribed, _verbatim et literatim_, for the especial benefit of your numerous readers. It may also be found in a rare poetical volume, entitled _Wit Restored_, 1658, and in Dryden's _Miscellany Poems_ (second edition, which differs materially from the first).

"THE MILLER AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER.
_By Mr. Smith._

"There were two sisters they went playing,
With a hie downe, downe, a downe-a,
To see their father's ships come sayling in,
With a hy downe, downe, a downe-a.

"And when they came unto the sea-brym,
With, &c.
The elder did push the younger in;
With, &c.

"O sister, O sister, take me by the gowne,
With, &c.
And drawe me up upon the dry ground,
With, &c.

"O sister, O sister, that may not bee,
With, &c.
Till salt and oatmeale grow both of a tree,
With, &c.

"Sometymes she sanke, sometymes she swam,
With, &c.
Until she came unto the mill-dam;
With, &c.

"The miller runne hastily downe the cliffe,
With, &c.
And up he betook her withouten her life,
With, &c.

"What did he doe with her brest bone?
With, &c.
He made him a violl to play thereupon,
With, &c.

"What did he doe with her fingers so small?
With, &c.
He made him peggs to his violl withal;
With, &c.

"What did he doe with her nose-ridge?
With, &c.
Unto his violl he made him a bridge,
With, &c.

"What did he doe with her veynes so blew?
With, &c.
He made him strings to his violl thereto;
With, &c.

"What did he doe with her eyes so bright?
With, &c.
Upon his violl he played at first sight:
With, &c.

{592}
"What did he doe with her tongue so rough?
With, &c.
Unto the violl it spake enough;
With, &c.

"What did he doe with her two shinnes?
With, &c.
Unto the violl they danc'd _Moll Syms_;
With, &c.

"Then bespake the treble string,
With, &c.
O yonder is my father the king;
With, &c.

"Then bespake the second string,
With, &c.
O yonder sitts my mother the queen;
With, &c.

"And then bespake the strings all three;
With, &c.
O yonder is my sister that drowned mee.
With, &c.

"Now pay the miller for his payne,
With &c.
And let him bee gone in the divel's name.
With, &c."

As this old ditty turns upon the making "a viol," it may be as well to add that this instrument was the precursor of the violin: but while the viol was the instrument of the higher classes of society, the "fiddle" served only for the amusement of the lower. The viol was entirely out of use at the beginning of the last century.

Moll (or Mall) Symms (mentioned in the thirteenth stanza) was a celebrated dance tune of the sixteenth century. The musical notes may be found in _Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book_, in the Fitzwillian Museum, Cambridge; and in the curious Dutch collection, _Neder Lantsche Gedenck clank_, Haerlem, 1626.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

SURNAMES.

(Vol. v., p. 509.)

I shall endeavour to answer some of MR. LOWER'S Queries.

1. Names having the prefix _Le_ and ending in _er_ or _re_. They are undoubtedly Norman or French, and generally relate to personal trade or employment, as _Le Mesurier_, _Le Tellier_, _Le Tanneur_, _Le Fevre_. Another class with the prefix _Le_, but of various terminations, are obviously of French origin, as _Leblanc_, _Lenoir_, _Lebreton_, _Lechaplin_, _Lemarchant_. All these came to us by the French Protestant refugees, or from Jersey and Guernsey.

2. The meaning of _worth_. This word generally implies a _military work_, and, I think, an _earth-work_; and I doubt whether _worth_ and _earth_ are not from the same root; I personally have been able to trace _works_ in many places whose names end in _worth_. I am satisfied all such surnames were _local_, that is, derived from _places_ so named from military mounds or _earth-works_.

3. The meaning of _Le Chaloneur_. It is evidently the same as our English name _Challoner_, which Cole admits into his dictionary as "the name of an ancient family." It means in old French either the _boatman_, from "chalun," a boat; or a _fisherman_, from "chalon," a kind of net. As we have in English _Fisher_, in modern French _Lepécheur_, in Italian _Piscatory_.

4. _Le Cayser._ The same as _Cæsar_, a name now, we believe, extinct amongst us, but preserved in our literature by Lord Clarendon and Pope. I suspect that it was of a class of _fancy_ names which I shall mention presently.

5. Baird and Aird are Scotch names, and probably local. Jameson (whose authority is very low with me) derives _Baird_ from _bard_, and _Aird_ he does not mention. _Aird_ or _ard_ is Celtic for _high_, and is a common local denomination in Scotland and Ireland.

6. For the rest of the out-of-the-way names MR. LOWER mentions I can give no more explanation than of many thousands others which have been probably produced by some peculiarity or incidents in the first nominee, or some corruption of a better known name. As to this class of fancy names, I can give MR. LOWER a hint that may be of use to him. It used to be the custom at the old Foundling Hospital and in all parish workhouses, to give the children what I venture to call _fancy_ names. I remember being shocked at the heterogeneous nomenclature that was outpoured on fifty or a hundred poor babes at the Foundling. I happened once to accompany a noble lady--the daughter of a great sea officer--to one of these Foundling christenings, when the names of Howe, Duncan, Jervis, and Nelson, were in fashion, and they were each given to half-a-dozen children; and while this was going on, my fair and noble friend whispered me, "What a shame! all these poor little creatures will grow up to be our cousins." Sometimes the names given were grotesque, such as ought not to have been permitted; and sometimes the children brought into the hospital, pinned to their clothes, names in which I suppose the poor mother may have had a meaning, but which seemed to us fantastical and extravagant.

Illegitimacy is a considerable source of strange names. I could give some droll instances. Corruption is another; there are half-a-dozen names of labourers in my village which are mere corruptions by vulgar pronunciation of some of the noblest names of the peerage.

MR. LOWER cannot have failed to observe the {593} great tendency in the United States to vary the orthography, and of course, I suppose, the pronunciation of some of their old English patronymics; not from any dislike to them, for the contrary sentiment, I believe, is very prevalent, but the emigrants who carried out the names were ignorant or indifferent as to the true orthography or pronunciation, and in time the departure grows more wide. Instances of this may be also found in the small towns of England, where MR. LOWER will find on the signs frequent deviations from the usual spelling of the commonest as well as of the rarer names.

In glancing through Cole's MSS. in the British Museum, my eye rested on two paragraphs, which perhaps may be unknown to MR. LOWER. In Additional MSS. No. 5805. p. iv., Cole says:

"Before surnames were in use they were forced to distinguish one
another by the addition of _Fitz_ or _Son_, as John Fitz-John, or John
the son of John, or John Johnson, as now in use. This was in the first
Edward's time: nay, so late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in some
places in France they had no surnames, but only Christian names, as the
learned Monsieur Menage informs us: 'Il y a environ cent ans, à ce que
dit M. Baluze, qu'à Tulle on n'avait que des noms propres, et point de
surnoms.'--_Menagiana_, tom. i. p. 116. edit. 1729."

Again, in Cole's MSS., vol. xliii. p. 176., relating to a deed of the Priory of Spalding, Cole says:

"One observes in this deed several particulars: first that the Priory
used a seal with an image of the Blessed Virgin, together with one of
their arms; if possibly they used one of the latter sort so early as
this John the Spaniard's time, in the reign, as I conceive, of King
Richard I., when arms for the chief gentry were hardly introduced.
Among the witnesses are two Simons, one distinguished by his
complexion, and called Simon Blondus, or the Fair; the other had no
name as yet to distinguish him by, and therefore only called here
'another Simon.' This occasioned the introduction of sirnames, and
shows the necessity of them."

J. Y.

Hoxton.

* * * * *

SIR JOHN TRENCHARD.

(Vol. v., p. 496.)

Your Querist E. S. TAYLOR will find an interesting account of the manner in which a pardon was obtained for John Trenchard, afterwards secretary of state under William III., in MR. HEPWORTH DIXON'S work on William Penn. MR. TAYLOR is evidently wrong in supposing that the pardon, of which he furnishes a copy, was issued in 1688, and at the very critical period to which he refers it. It was issued in 1686, that being the third year, reckoning by the old style, of King James's reign; so that his quotation from Pepys, and his suggestion of a reason for the pardon, are beside the purpose. It appears from MR. DIXON'S account, that William Penn was the mediator between Trenchard and the king; but the circumstances which led to it were so curious, that I transcribe part of the statement from page 276 of the new edition.

"Lawton, a young man of parts and spirit, had attracted Penn's notice;
in politics he was a state whig, and it was at his instance that he had
braved the king's frown by asking a pardon for Aaron Smith. One day
over their wine at Popples, where Penn had carried Lawton to dine, he
said to his host, 'I have brought you such a man as you never saw
before; for I have just now asked him how I might do something for
himself, and he has desired me to obtain a pardon for another man! I
will do that if I can; but,' he added, turning to Lawton, 'I should be
glad if thou wilt think of some kindness for thyself.' 'Ah,' said
Lawton, after a moment's thought, 'I can tell you how you might indeed
prolong my life.' 'How so?' returned the mediator, I am no physician.'
Lawton answered, 'There is Jack Trenchard in exile; if you could get
leave for him to come home with safety and honour, the drinking of a
bottle now and then with Jack would make me so cheerful that it would
prolong my life.' They laughed at the pleasantry, and Penn promised to
do what he could. He went away to the Lord Chancellor, got him to join
in the solicitation, and in a few days the future secretary was
pardoned and allowed to return to England."

It appears also frown MR. DIXON'S narrative, that Trenchard was employed by Penn to dissuade James from his bigoted and violent course, and that he had interviews with the king for this purpose. MR. TAYLOR will find in the same place curious particulars, given on the authority of Lawton himself, concerning the intrigues which preceded the fall of James.

SYDNEY WALTON.

* * * * *

PAPAL SEAL.

(Vol. v., p. 508.)

I have in my possession a _leaden_ seal, which has on the one side a precisely similar impression to that described by H. F. H. in p. 508. of "N. & Q.:" viz. two heads, with a cross between them, and the letters "S P A S P E" over them. The head under "S P A" has straight hair and a long pointed beard. The other head, under "S P E," has curled hair and a short curled beard, the whole surrounded with a circle of raised spots. On the other side of the seal is the following inscription, also surrounded by a circle of raised spots:

+
· E V G E N
I V S . P.P
· I I I I ·

It was attached by a strong cord that runs through the substance of the seal to a parchment {594} document that, some thirty years since, I found being cut into strips for labels for a gardener. The few fragments I was enabled to preserve showed that the document related to some conventual matter, from the repetition of the words "Abbati, Conventii, et Monasterii." One of the lines commences with an illuminated capital of about half an inch in height, as follows:

"Militanti ecdie licet immeriti disponente domino presidente"....

Another line commences--

"Persone tam religiose qua seculares necnon duces Marchione"....

On one of the fragments, apparently an endorsement on the back of the document, are the names "Anselmus," and beneath it "Bonanmy" or "Bouanmy." There are unfortunately no traces of the name of any place, or of a date. The writing is very clear and in good condition. Is the document a papal bull? I shall be obliged by any reply to my inquiries.

R. H.

Kensington.

* * * * *

MARKET CROSSES.

(Vol. v., p. 511.)

It is stated in Gillingwater's _History of Bury St. Edmunds_, edition 1804, that "The theatre, an elegant structure, originally the _Old Market Cross_, was erected in the year 1780, from a design by Mr. Adams."

In Alexander Downing's _Plan of the ancient Borough of Bury St. Edmunds_, published in 1740, there is a very good view of the old _Cross_. It appears from this print to have been a fine old building; the lower part open. It is possible that there might have been a chapel in the upper part of the cross, as it appears in the print on Downing's map to have been three stories high, with a bell turret or tower.

Downing's _Plan_ is not scarce: it is one large sheet, and is engraved by W. C. Toms, sculpt.

In Thomas Warren's _Plan of Bury_, subsequently published, there is a view of the _New_ Cross, with the theatre above it, as built in 1780.

J. B.

Since I sent you a hasty Note respecting the Old Market Cross at Bury St. Edmunds, with reference to your correspondent's Query, I bethought me of the old market cross which formerly stood in the Great Market Place at Norwich. Blomefield, in his _History of Norfolk_, vol. ii. p. 652., gives an account of that ancient cross, which is too long to quote but he states that "it was a neat _octagonal_ building, with steps round it, and an _oratory or chapel in it_, with a chamber over it."

Now possibly there might have been such a "chapel" in the old cross at Bury, wherein "Henry Gage was married in 1655;" for I put faith in all that Mr. Rookwood Gage said or wrote.

There is still standing, at Wymondham in Norfolk, an old wooden market cross, with a chamber over it, supported by wooden columns: it is an octagon building. Blomefield makes no mention of it. An etching was published of this cross, by -- Dixon, of Norwich, some few years back.

J. B.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_The two Gilberts de Clare_ (Vol. v., p. 439.).--In reference to No. 2. of "Irish Queries", as to the relationship which existed between the two Gilberts de Clare, Earls of Gloucester, I beg to send you the information required by your correspondent MAC AN BHAIRD.

Dugdale's _Baronage_, i. 209.

See also Miller's _Catalogue of Honor_, pp. 369-373.; Vincent's _Errours of Brooke_, pp. 122, 123.; Yorke's _Union of Honour_, pp. 109, 110.

FARNHAM.

Farnham, Cavan.

_Baxter's Shove, &c._ (Vol. v., p. 416.).--I fear it may savour somewhat of presumption in me to offer the following remarks to one who confesses himself to be a collector of Baxter's works; but if they afford no information to your correspondent MR. CLARK, they may probably prove acceptable to other less sedulous inquirers after the writings of this truly pious man.

Baxter, in his enthusiastic zeal in the cause of religion, did not hesitate to append to some of his popular tracts, titles more calculated to excite the curiosity of the vulgar than engage the attention of the refined reader; as the age became more enlightened, this breach of propriety was discontinued, and these records of genius and piety have been since reprinted under more appropriate appellations. If I am not misinformed, the title of Baxter's _Shove_ has undergone this transformation, and now appears under that of _The Call to the Unconverted_. {595}

The two following works are doubtless familiar to your correspondent, viz.: _Crumbs of Grace for &c._, and _Hooks and Eyes to &c._ I think the former is the original title to _The Saint's Rest_; but as to the latter, I am not able to say whether it has been issued under any new name or not.

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