Chapter M: W. B

_A Tombstone cut by Baskerville_ (Vol. v., p. 209.).--A correspondent complains that on visiting Edgbaston Church he was unable to obtain a sight of the tombstone, which he much wished to see. Since I read his Note, I have met with the following, which I copy from Pye's _Modern Birmingham_, 1819. After speaking of a monument in Handsworth Church, Birmingham, to the late Matthew Boulton, the writer proceeds:

"The other is a humble tombstone, remarkable as being one of the last
works cut by his own hand, with his name at the top of it, of that
celebrated typographer, Baskerville; but this, being neglected by the
relations of the deceased, has been mutilated, although the inscription
is still perfect, but so much overgrown with moss and weeds, that it
requires more discrimination than falls to the lot of many passing
travellers, to discover the situation of this neglected gem. To those
who are curious it will be found close to the wall, immediately under
the chancel window. This precious relic of that eminent man is
deserving of being removed at the expense of the parish, and preserved
with the greatest care, withinside the church.... There is only one
other of his cuttings known to be in existence, and that has lately
been removed and placed withinside the church at Edgbaston--"

Which is subsequently thus described:

"There was in this churchyard a gravestone cut by the hands of the
celebrated typographer Baskerville, which is now removed and placed
withinside the church. The stone being of a flaky nature, the
inscription is not quite perfect, but whoever takes delight in
well-formed letters, may here be highly gratified; it was erected to
the memory of Edw. Richards, an idiot, who died 21st September, 1728,
with the following inscription:--

'If innocents are the favourites of heaven,
And God but little asks where little's given,
My great Creator has for me in store
Eternal joys; what wise man can have more?'"

I am sorry I cannot just now give any further information, but hope this Note will be new to some of your readers, and interesting to all.

ESTE.

_Shakspeare, Tennyson, &c._ (Vol. v., p. 492.).--The editorial note has supplied the Latin parallel, but not "the origin and reason of the idea." This Koenig's note to Persius (I. 40.) will do:

"_Nascentur violæ_; Hoc inde videtur natum esse quod veteres tumulos
mortuorum sparsis floribus et corollis solebant ornate; pertinebat hoc
ad religionem manium, qui, ut putabatur, libationibus annuis, coronis,
floribus, cet. delectabantur."

This is the first step. Further:

"Beatissima mortui conditio, cui _vel natura ipsa inferias agat_,
floribus in tumulo sponte nascentibus, videtur indicari."

Lastly:

"Videtur quoque privata nonnullorum opinio fuisse, _cinerem in flores
mutari, idque contingere non nisi probis ac pulchris_ (_Anthol. Lat._);
ex fabulis heroum in flores post mortem mutatorum fortasse nata."

This last, and deepest thought, is that seized on by Shakspeare and Tennyson. Koenig gives many parallels.

A. A. D.

_Rhymes on Places_ (Vol. v., pp. 293. 374. 500. 547.).--The following rhymes (if so they can be termed) respecting the exploits of a certain giant named Bell, and his wonderful sorrel horse, whose leaps were each a mile long, are, or were a few {619} years since, prevalent in this neighbourhood among the inhabitants of the villages therein mentioned. The legend has been noticed by Peck:

"Mountsorrel he mounted at,
Rodely[12] he rode by,
Onelept[13] he leaped o'er,
At Birstall he burst his gall,
And Belgrave he was buried at."

LEICESTRIENSIS.

[Footnote 12: Now Rothley.]

[Footnote 13: Now Wanlip.]

The following I had years ago from a Buckinghamshire gentleman:

"_Tring_, _Wing_, and _Ivinghoe_,
Three dirty villages all in a row,
And never without a rogue or two.
Would you know the reason why?
_Leighton Buzzard_ is hard by."

J. EASTWOOD.

_Birthplace of Josephine_ (Vol. v., p. 220.).--MR. BREEN'S able and interesting Note seems to establish beyond dispute that Josephine was born in St. Lucia, and not, as is commonly supposed, in Martinique.

But can MR. BREEN, or any other of your correspondents, speak to this still more curious Query, whether or no she had African blood in her veins? I heard it confidently asserted lately by a gentleman of high standing on this island, who has business relations with Martinique, that such was the case, and that either the grandmother or great-grandmother of the Empress was a negress slave. He had the fact, he said, on good local authority, and appeared satisfied in his own mind of the truth of the statement. The sudden and surprising elevation of her grandson gives some interest to the inquiry.

A. KER.

Antigua.

_The Curse of Scotland_ (Vol. i., pp. 61. 90.; Vol. iii., pp. 22. 253. 423. 483.).--

"There is a common expression made use of at cards, which I have never
heard any explanation of; I mean the nine of diamonds being commonly
called the Curse of Scotland.

"Looking lately over a book of heraldry I found nine diamonds, or
lozenges, conjoined, or, in the heraldic language, Gules, a cross of
lozenges, to be the arms of Packer.

"Colonel Packer appears to have been one of the persons who was on the
scaffold when Charles the First was beheaded, and afterwards commanded
in Scotland, and is recorded to have acted in his command with
considerable severity. It is possible that his arms might, by a very
easy metonymy, be called the Curse of Scotland; and the nine of
diamonds, at cards, being very similar in figure to them, might have
ever since retained the appellation."--_Gent. Mag._, vol. lvi. p. 301.

"I cannot tell whence he learns that Colonel Packer was on the scaffold
when King Charles was beheaded."--_Ibid._, p. 390.

"When the Duke of York (a little before his succession to the crown)
came to Scotland, he and his suite introduced a new game, there called
_Comet_, where the ninth of diamonds is an important card. The Scots
who were to learn the game, felt it to their cost: and from that
circumstance the ninth of diamonds was nicknamed the Curse of
Scotland."--_Ibid._, p. 538.

"The nine of diamonds is called the Curse of Scotland because it is the
great winning card at Comette, which was a game introduced into
Scotland by the French attendants of Mary of Lorraine, queen of James
V., to the ruin of many Scotch families."--_Ibid._, p. 968.

The explanation supplied by the game of Pope Joan is doubtless the correct one.

GOODLUCK.

_Waller Family_ (Vol. v., p. 586.).--Francis Waller, of Amersham, Bucks, grandfather of Edmund Waller the poet, by his will, dated 13th of January, 1548-49, entails his mansion house in Beaconsfield, and other estates in Bucks, Herts, &c., on the child of which his wife Anne is "now pregnant," with remainders to his two brothers, Thomas and Edmund, in tail, with divers remainders over, to Francis Waller, son of his brother Ralph Waller, and the heirs of his "sister Pope" and his sister Davys. The lady in question was of the Beaconsfield branch of the Wallers, and great aunt to the poet. (From the family muniments.)

LAMBERT H. LARKING.

"_After me the Deluge_" (Vol. iii., pp. 299. 397.).--The modern, whoever he may be, can only lay claim to reviving this proverb of selfishness, which was branded by Cicero long ago:

"Illa vox inhumana et scelerata ducitur, eorum, qui negant se recusare,
quò minùs, ipsis mortuis, terrarum omnium deflagratio consequatur, quod
vulgari quodam versu Græco [[Greek: Emou Thanontos gaia michthêtô
puri]] pronuntiari solet."

This passage occurs in his treatise _De Finibus_, III. xix., vol. xiv. p. 341. Valpy's edition, 1830.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

_Sun-Dial Motto_ (Vol. v., p. 499.).--Y. is informed that Hazlitt, in his _Sketches and Essays_, has an essay on a sun-dial, beginning with these words:

"_Horas non numero nisi serenas_, is the motto of a sun-dial near
Venice."

In _La Gnomonique Pratique_ of François de Celles, 8vo., there is pretty long list of Latin mottos for sun-dials, but I do not find the above amongst them. It scarcely reads like a classical quotation.

ROBERT SNOW.

_Lines by Lord Palmerston_ (Vol. i., p. 382.; Vol. ii., p. 30. Vol. iii., p. 28.).--In Vol. i., p. 328., INDAGATOR inquired whether there was any {620} authority for attributing to the late Lord Palmerston the beautiful lines on the loss of his lady, beginning,--

"Whoe'er like me his heart's whole treasure brings."

INDAGATOR says they have been supposed to be Hawksworth's and S. S. S. (Vol. ii., p. 30.) that they have been also attributed to Mason. I can state, _from the best authority_, that they are Lord Palmerston's. My authority needs no extrinsic confirmation, but I may as well observe that INDAGATOR has himself sufficiently disposed of Hawksworth's claim, as his wife was still alive when the lines appeared; and the conjecture of S. S. S. is obviously a confusion of Lord Palmerston's lines with those of Mason's (whose wife died at Bristol), beginning--

"Take, holy earth, all that my soul holds dear."

But another of your correspondents, A. B. (Vol. iii., p. 28.), or your printer, has made a mistake on this point which I cannot account for. A. B. says that he inquired after the author of the lines beginning--

"Stranger, whoe'er thou art that viewest this tomb;"

and this statement is headed with a reference to INDAGATOR'S inquiry about Lord Palmerston, to which it had no reference whatsoever. I do not remember to have seen A. B.'s inquiry, but it assuredly has nothing to do with INDAGATOR'S which I have now set at rest.

C.

_Indian Jugglers_ (Vol. iv., p. 472.).--In looking over some former Numbers I find an inquiry under this head. N. will find a full account of some of these wonderful and apparently inexplicable performances in the _Dublin University Magazine_. I have not a set to refer to, but the papers appeared about three or four years ago.

ESTE.

_Sons of the Conqueror_ (Vol. v., pp. 512. 570.).--I believe after all that Sir N. Wraxall is right. According to the old chroniclers, _three_ members of the Conqueror's family met their death in the New Forest.

1. _Richard_, his _second son_, is said to have been killed by a stag in the New Forest when hunting, and to have been buried at Winchester in the choir of the cathedral there.

2. _Henry_, youngest son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and _grandson_ of the Conqueror, was accidentally slain in the New Forest.

3. _William Rufus_, third son of the Conqueror, fell in a similar way and in the same place.

J. R. W.

Bristol.

_Saint Wilfred's Needle_ (Vol. v., pp. 510. 573.).--A very interesting account of this curious crypt beneath the central tower of Ripon Cathedral will be found in a pamphlet published twelve years ago, entitled "_Sepulchri a Romanis Constructi infra Ecclesiam S. Wilfridi in civitate Reponensi Descriptio Auctore Gul. D. Bruce_. London 1841." A copy is in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, and another in the British Museum.

D. W.

_Frebord_ (Vol. v., p. 440.).--It may possibly assist the inquiries of your correspondents SPES and P. M. M. to be informed that the right of Frebord belongs to many estates in the midland counties. In some instances in Leicestershire the claim extends from the boundary hedge of one lordship to the extent of twenty-one feet over the land of the adjoining lordship; it is here understood to represent a _deer's leap_, and is said to have been given with the original grant of the manor, in order to secure to the lord a right to take the deer he happened to shoot when in the act of leaping from his domain into his neighbour's manor.

KT.

Aylestone.

_Royd_ (Vol. v., p. 571.).--The meaning of this word may be further illustrated by reference to Swiss etymology and history. The great battle of Naefels (April 9, 1388) is celebrated on the first Thursday of every April, on the spot where the fiercest part of the struggle took place. Mount _Ruti_, the meadow where the liberators of Switzerland met, on the lake of the Four Cantons, and opposite Brunner, is called the Rutli: both words being derived from a common root of common use in the formation of names in German Switzerland, _Ruten-defricher_, "to clear;" or, _Ruthen_, "to measure, gauge;" in short, "prepare for clearing;" whence, perhaps, our _Ruthyn_ and Rutland.

H. P. S.

_Spy Wednesday_ (Vol. v., p. 511.).--Your correspondent MR. CHADWICK is informed that the Wednesday in Holy Week, _i. e._ the Wednesday before Easter Sunday, is called _Spy Wednesday_. The term has its origin in the fact, that Judas made his compact with the Sanhedrim upon that day for the betrayal of our Blessed Saviour. See Matthew, xxvi. 3, 4, 5. 14, 15, and 16.

CEYREP.

_Book of Jasher_ (Vol. v., pp. 415. 476. 524.).--Hartwell Horne, in his _Introduction_ (vol. ii. part ii. pp. 132-138. ed. 1839), has with much diligence exposed both Ilive's original forgery (1751) and the "unacknowledged reprint" (1829). He adds:

"There is also extant a Rabbinical Hebrew Book of Jasher printed at
_Venice_ in 1625, which is an explanation of the histories contained in
the Pentateuch and Joshua. Barlocci, in his _Biblioth. Rabbinica_,
states that it contains some curious but many fabulous things; and
particularly that this book was discovered at the time of the
destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in a certain place, in which an
old man was shut up, in whose possession a great number of Hebrew books
were found, and among them the Book of Jasher; which was first carried
into Spain, and preserved at Seville, whence finally it was taken to
Naples, where it was first published."--Vol. iii p. 934.

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Is this the work published at New York in 1840? I suppose so: at least, if "Prof. Noah" has been reproducing the _Bristol Book of Jasher_ (1829), he can claim but little of the _justice and perfectness_ of his great namesake.

A. A. D.

_Stearne's (not Hearne's) Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft_ (Vol. v., p. 416.).--Of this tract, inquired after by MR. CLARKE, and which is certainly one of the most extraordinary of all the treatises on Witchcraft, the only copy I ever saw is the one I possess, and which I have fully described in the notes to Pott's _Discovery of Witches_, printed for the Chetham Society, p. 4. The Rev. Author was no theorist, but a thoroughly practical man; having been an agent in finding and bringing to justice 200 witches in the eastern counties. He has the subject so perfectly at his fingers' ends, and discusses it so scientifically, that Hopkins sinks into insignificance by the side of him. Pity it is that such a philanthropic individual should have had occasion to complain: "In many places I never received penny as yet, nor any am like, except that I should sue!!"

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_Lines on Chaucer_ (Vol. v., p. 586.).--The lines should be quoted:--

"Britain's first poet,
Famous old Chaucer,
Swan-like, in dying
Sung his last song
When at his heart-strings
Death's hand was strong."

They are taken from Hymn cxxiii. of _Hymns and Anthems_, London, C. Fox, 1841.

[Gamma].

_Fairlop Oak_ (Vol. v., pp. 114. 471.).--Your correspondents J. B. COLMAN and SHIRLEY HIBBERD will find much information relative to this oak and the fair in a work with the following title:

"Fairlop and its Founder, or Facts and Fun for the Forest Frolickers.
By a famed first Friday Fairgoer; contains Memoirs, Anecdotes, Poems,
Songs, &c., with the curious Will of Mr. Day, never before printed. A
very limited number printed. Tobham, Printed at Charles Clark's Private
Press. Fairlop's Friday, 1847."

J. Russell Smith, 30. Soho Square, had several copies on sale some time back.

S. WISWOULD.

_Boy Bishop at Eton_ (Vol. v., p. 557.).--The festival of St. Hugh, _Bishop_ (_Pontificis_) of Lincoln, was kept on November 17.

For "Nihilensis," in the "Consuetudinarium Etonense," should be read "Nicolatensis," as it stands in a Compatus of Winchester College, of the date 1461: the Boy Bishop assuming his title on St. Nicholas' Day, Dec. 6, and then performing his parody of Divine Offices for the first time; St. Nicholas of Myra being, according to the legend, the patron of children.

It is singular that, whereas, as in other foundations, the Feast of the Holy Innocents was appointed for the mummeries of the Boy Bishop at Winchester by the founder, it was forbidden at Eton and King's, although the statutes of the latter were borrowed almost literally from those of Wykeham. It would therefore appear that there was some local reason for the exception.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

_Plague Stones--Mr. Mompesson_ (Vol. v., p. 571.).--I should be sorry that anything inaccurate was recorded in "N. & Q." respecting so eminently worthy a person as the Rev. William Mompesson, Rector of Eyam during the time that it was scourged by the plague in 1666, when, out of a population of only 330, 259 died of the disorder. Mr. M. himself did not fall a victim, as J. G. C. states; but his wife did, and her tomb remains to this day. He was, indeed, an ornament to his sacred profession. He not only stood by his flock in the hour of their visitation, but he obtained such an influence during the panic that they entirely deferred to his judgment, and remained, as he advised, within the village. He preached to them on Sundays in the open air from a sort of natural pulpit in the rock, now called Cucklet Church; and he established the water troughs, or _plague stones_, into which the people dropped their money, in payment for the victuals that were brought to them from the surrounding country. When in reward for his devotedness the Deanery of Lincoln was offered him, he generously declined it in favour of his friend Dr. Fuller, author of the _Worthies of England_, who thus obtained the appointment. Mr. Mompesson was subsequently presented to the living of Eakring in Notts, where he died in 1708.

There has recently been discovered on the moor near Fullwood, by Sheffield, a chalybeate spring, which flows into a small covered recess formed of ashlar stone, and this stands just as it did when the wretched inhabitants of Eyam, believing the water to have sanatory virtues, came to drink of it, until a watch was placed on the spot by the Sheffield people, and they were driven back to their infected homes.

ALFRED GATTY.

_Raleigh's Ring_ (Vol. v., p. 538.).--Sir Walter Raleigh's ring, which he wore at the time of his execution, is, I believe, in the possession of Capt. Edward James Blanckley, of the 6th Foot, now serving at the Cape of Good Hope. It is an heirloom in the Blanckley family, of which Captain Blanckley is the senior representative, who are directly descended from Sir Walter, and have in their possession several interesting relics of their great ancestor, viz. a curious tea-pot, and a state paper box of iron gilt and red velvet.

A DESCENDANT OF SIR WALTER'S.

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_Pandecte, an entire Copy of the Bible_ (Vol. v., p. 557.).--Your correspondent C. H. has noticed this word; I send you a short account of the Irish MSS. in the Bodleian Library, which I laid some time ago before the Royal Irish Academy, and which is printed in their _Proceedings_, vol. v. p. 162. I have there noticed a curious work by Oengus Cele De, or Oengus the Culdee, a writer of the eighth century, in which the word _Pandecte_ (or, as the Irish scribe spells it, _Pantecte_) is used in the same sense as that in which Alcuin employs it, for the _Bibliotheca_, or Bible of St. Jerome.

I have marked the passage, pp. 9, 10. of the enclosed paper, which if you think it worth while you may insert. But perhaps it may be enough to refer your readers to the above-mentioned volume of the _Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy_.

JAS. H. TODD.

Trin. Coll. Dublin.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

If among the writers of the present day there is one whose opinion with regard to Robin Hood and the cycle of ballads of which that renowned outlaw is the hero would be looked for with anxiety and received with respect, it is the Rev. Joseph Hunter, a gentleman in whom are happily combined that thorough historical and antiquarian knowledge, and that sound poetic taste which are required to do justice to so interesting a theme. The announcement, therefore, that the fourth of Mr. Hunter's _Critical and Historical Tracts_ is entitled _The Great Hero of the Ancient Minstrelsy of England, Robin Hood_. _His Period, real Character, &c., investigated, and perhaps ascertained_, will be received with welcome by all who rejoice "that the world was very guilty of such ballads some three ages since," and who, loving them and their hero, would fain know something of the history on which they are founded. Mr. Hunter dissents, and we think rightly, from two popular and recent theories upon the subject,--the one, that which elevates Robin Hood into the chief of a small body of Saxons impatient of their subjection to the Norman rule; the other, that which reduces him to one among the "personages of the early mythology of the Teutonic people." Mr. Hunter, on the other hand, _identifies_ him with one "Robyn Hood" who entered the service of Edward II. a little before Christmas 1323, and continued therein somewhat less than a twelvemonth:

"Alas then said good Robyn,
Alas and well a woo,
If I dwele longer with the kynge
Sorowe wyll me sloo:"

and the evidence which he adduces in favour of our popular hero having been one of the _Contrariantes_ of the reign of the Second Edward; and the coincidences which he points out between the minstrel testimony of the _Little Geste_ and the testimony of records of different kinds and lying in different places, will, we are sure, be read with great interest even by those who may not think that our author has quite succeeded in unmasking the "Junius" of those olden times.

_Richmondshire, its Ancient Lords and Edifices: a Concise Guide to the Localities of Interest to the Tourist and Antiquary; with short Notes of Memorable Men_, by W. Hylton Longstaffe, is a pleasant, chatty, and amusing guide to a beautiful locality, which the author describes as "the capital of a land whose riches of romance are scarcely exceeded by any other in England, the chosen seat of its own Earls, the Scropes, Fitzhughs, Marmions; and those setters up and pullers down of kings, the richest, noblest, and most prudent race of the North, the lordly Nevilles:" and which as such may well tempt the tourist and antiquary to visit it during the coming autumn. Those who do will find Mr. Longstaffe's little volume a pleasant companion.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--The second volume of Charlotte A. Eaton's _Rome in the Nineteenth Century, containing, a Complete Account of the Ruins of the Ancient City, the Remains of the Middle Ages, and the Monuments of Modern Times_, which completes this lady's excellent guide to the Eternal City.--The second volume of Miss Thomasina Ross's well-executed translation of Humboldt's _Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America during the Years 1799-1804_, is the new volume of Bohn's _Scientific Library_.--_The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature; to which are added Two Brief Dissertations; on Personal Identity, and on the Nature of Virtue; and Fifteen Sermons_, by Joseph Butler, D.C.L., _late Lord Bishop of Durham_.--The new volume of Bohn's _Standard Library_ is deserving of especial mention. It is a reprint of Bishop Halifax's Standard Edition, with the addition of Analytical Introductions, and Notes by a Member of the University of Oxford; and we have no doubt will be found a really useful _popular_ edition, such as may allure to the careful study of one of the best works in our language those minds which, without such help, might shrink from the task.

* * * * *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

MAHON'S ENGLAND, 4 Vols.

SCOTT'S LADY OF THE LAKE.

---- LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL.

---- MARMION.

The original 4to. editions in boards.

FLANAGAN ON THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND. 4to. 1843.

A NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE DOUGLAS CAUSE. London, Griffin. 8vo. 1767.

CLARE'S POEMS. Fcap. 8vo. Last edition.

MALLET'S ELVIRA.

MAGNA CHARTA; a Sermon at the Funeral of Lady Farewell, by George Newton. London, 1661.

CHAUCER'S POEMS. Vol. I. Aldine Edition.

BIBLIA SACRA, Vulg. Edit., cum Commentar. Menochii. Alost and Ghent, 1826. Vol. I.

BARANTE, DUCS DE BOURGOGNE. Vols. I. and II. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Edit. Paris. Ladvocat, 1825.

BIOGRAPHIA AMERICANA, by a Gentleman of Philadelphia.

POTGIESERI DE CONDITIONE SERVORUM APUD GERMANOS. 8vo. Col. Agrip.

THE COMEDIES OF SHADWELL may be had on application to the Publisher of "N. & Q."

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

* * * * *

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Notices to Correspondents.

REPLIES RECEIVED.--_Optical Phenomenon_--_The Number Seven_--_Exterior Stoup (several)_--_Etymology of Fetch and Haberdasher_--_Passage in "As You Like It"_--_The Name Charing_--_Etymology of Camarthen_--_Venit ad Euphratem_--_Mexican Literature_--_Surname of Devil_--_Family Likenesses, &c._--_Toad Eater_--_Lines on the Crawford Family_--_Algernon Sydney_--_Monody on Death of Sir John Moore_--_Flanagan on the Round Towers_--_Use of Slings by Early Britons_--_Giving the Sack_--_How the ancient Irish crowned their Kings_--_Papal Seal_--_Plague Stones_--_Wicliffe, &c._--_Mother Carey's Chickens_--_Cranes in Storms_--_Unicorns, &c._

J. SMYTH (Dublin). _The line referred to_--

"_Fine_ by degrees, and beautifully less,"

_is from Prior's_ Henry and Emma. _See, for further illustration of it_, "N. & Q.," No. 69., p. 154.