Chapter C: H. Howard

_Penardo and Laissa._--Who is the author of a poem (the title-page of which is wanting) called _The Historye of Penardo and Laissa_, unpaged, in seventeen caputs, with poems recommendatory, by Drummond of Hawthornden and others, small 4to., containing many Scotticisms?

E. D.

_St. Adulph_ (Vol. v., pp. 566, 567.).--Capgrave, quoting John of Tynemouth (?), says:

"Sanctum igitur Adulphum audita ejus fama ad _trajectensem_[6]
ecclesiam in episcopum _rex_ sublimavit."

Query 1. Who is the "rex" here mentioned?

Query 2. "Trajecteasem:" ought this to be applied to "Utrecht" or "Maestricht," or either? Literally, it is "on the other side of the water."

A. B.

[Footnote 6: "trajectensem" (passim) corrected from "trajecteasem" by erratum in Issue 170.--Transcriber.]

_St. Botulph_ (Vol. v., pp. 566, 567.).--Your correspondent C. W. G. says:

"His (St. Botulph's) life was first put into regular form by
Fulcard.... Fulcard tells us what his materials were.... An early MS.
of _this_ life is in the Harleian Collection, No. 3097. It was printed
by Capgrave in the _Legenda Nova_."

Query: _Fulcard's_ life of the saint, or the life by some other person: John of Tynemouth to wit?

A. B.

_Tennyson._--Mr. Gilfillan, in his _Literary Gallery_, speaking of that fine poem "The Two Voices," says that the following line--

"You scarce could see the grass for flowers"--
P. 308. l. 18., 7th edit.

is borrowed from one of the old dramatists. Could you or any of your correspondents tell me what the line is?

As also the Latin song referred to in "Edwin Morris:"

"Shall not love to me,
As in the Latin song I learnt at school,
Sneeze out a full God-bless-you right and left?"
P. 231. l. 10., 7th edit.

My last Tennyson Query is about the meaning of--

"She to me
Was proxy-wedded with a bootless calf,
At eight years old."
_Princess_, p. 15. l. 18., 4th edit.

H. J. J.

Liverpool.

_"Ma Ninette," &c._--Can any of your French readers tell me the continuation, if continuation there be, of the following charming verses; as also where they come from?

"Ma Ninette a quatorze ans,
Trois mois quelque chose;
Son teint est un printemps,
Sa bouche une rose."

H. J. J.

_Astronomical Query._--You style your paper a medium of communication between literary men, &c. I trust this does not exclude one of my sex from seeking information through the same channel.

We have had additions to our solar system by the discovery of four planets within the last few years. Supposing that these planets obey the same laws as the larger ones, they must be at all times apparently moving within the zodiac; and considering the improvements in telescopes within the last seventy years, and the great number of scientific observers at all times engaged in the pursuit of astronomy both in Europe and North America, I am at a loss to understand why these planets were not discovered before.

I suppose we may not consider them as new creations attached to our solar system, because the law of perturbations on which Mr. Herschel {85} discourses at length, in the eleventh chapter of his _Treatise on Astronomy_, would seem to demonstrate that they would interfere with the equilibrium of the solar system.

Would some of your scientific contributors condescend to explain this matter, so as to remove the ignorance under which I labour in common with, I believe, many others?

LEONORA.

Liverpool.

_Chaplains to Noblemen._--Under what statute, if any, do noblemen appoint their chaplains? and is there any registry of such appointments in any archiepiscopal or episcopal registry?

X.

_"More" Queries._--

"When _More_ some years had Chancellor been,
No _more_ suits did remain;
The same shall never _more_ be seen,
Till _More_ be there again."

I infer from the first lines of this epigram that Sir Thomas More, by his unremitting attention to the business of the Court of Chancery, had brought to a close, in his day, the litigation in that department. Is there any authentic record of this circumstance?

Are there, at the present day, any male descendants of Sir Thomas More, so as to render possible the fulfilment of the prophecy contained in the last two lines?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_Heraldic Query._--To what families do the following bearings belong? 1. Two lions passant, on a chief three spheres (I think) mounted on pedestals; a mullet for difference. The crest is very like a lily reversed. 2. Ermine, a bull passant; crest, a bull passant: initials "C. G."

U. J. S.

Sheffield.

_"By Prudence guided," &c._--Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." supply me with the words deficient in the following lines, and inform me from what author they are quoted? I met with them on an old decaying tomb in one of the churchyards in Sheffield:

"By prudence guided, undefiled in mind,
Of pride unconscious, and of soul refined,
. . . . conquest . . . . . . . . subdue
With . . . . . . . . . . . . . .in view
Here . . . . . . . . the heaven-born flame
Which . . . . . . . from whence it came."

W. S. (Sheffield.)

_Lawyers' Bags._--I find it stated by Colonel Landman, in his _Memoirs_, that prior to the trial of Queen Caroline, the colour of the bags carried by barristers was green; and that the change to red took place at, or immediately after, the event in question. I shall be glad of any information both as to the fact of such change having taken place, and the circumstances by which it was brought about and accompanied.

J. ST. J. Y.

Wellbank.

_Master Family._--Can you refer me to any one who may be able to give me information respecting the earlier history of the family of Master or Maistre, of Kent, prior to 1550: and any suggestions as to its connexion with the French or Norman family of Maistre or De Maistre? This being a Query of no public interest, I inclose a stamped envelope, according to the wish expressed by you in a recent Number.

GEORGE S. MASTER.

Welsh-Hampton, Salop.

_Passage in Wordsworth._--Can any of your correspondents find an _older original_ for Wordsworth's graceful conceit, in his sonnet on Walton's lines--

"There are no colours in the fairest sky
As fair as these: _the feather whence the pen_
_Was shaped, that traced the lives of these good men,_
_Dropt from an angel's wing_"--

than the following:

"whose noble praise
Deserves a quill pluckt from an angel's wing."

Dorothy Berry, in a Sonnet prefixed to Diana Primrose's _Chain of
Pearl, a Memorial of the peerless Graces, &c. of Queen Elizabeth_:
published London, 1639,--a tract of twelve pages.

M--A L.

Edinburgh.

_Govett Family._--Can you inform me for what town or county Sir ---- Govett, Bart., was member of parliament in the year 1669, and what were his armorial bearings? His name appears in the list of members given in page 496. of the Grand Duke Cosmo's _Travels through England_, published in 1821. Is the baronetcy extinct? If so, who was the last baronet, and in what year? Where he lived, or any other particulars, will much oblige.

QUÆRO.

_Sir Kenelm Digby._--Why is Sir Kenelm Digby represented, I believe always, with a sun-flower by his side?

VANDYKE.

_Riddles._--It would take up too much of your valuable time and space to insert all the riddles for which correspondents cannot find answers; but will you find means to ask, through your pages, if any clever Oedipus would allow me to communicate to him certain enigmas which puzzle me greatly, and which I should very much like to have solved.

RUBI.

_Straw Bail._--Fielding, in his _Life of Jonathan Wild_, book i. chap. ii., relates that Jonathan's aunt

"Charity took to husband an eminent gentleman, whose name I cannot
learn; but who was famous for {86} so friendly a disposition, that he
was bail for above a hundred persons in one year. He had likewise the
remarkable humour[7] of walking in Westminster Hall with a straw in his
shoe."

What was the practice here referred to, and what is the origin of the expression "a man of straw," which is commonly applied to any one who appears, or pretends to be, but is not, a man of property?

Straw bail is, I believe, a term still used by attorneys to distinguish insufficient bail from "justifiable" or sufficient bail.

J. LEWELYN CURTIS.

[Footnote 7: "humour" corrected from "honour" by erratum in Issue 170.--Transcriber.]

_Wages in the West in 1642._--The Marquis of Hertford and Lord Poulett were very active in the West in the year 1642. In the famous collection of pamphlets in the British Museum (113, 69.) is contained Lord Poulett's speech at Wells, Somerset:

"His lordship, with many imprecations, oaths, and execrations (in the
height of fury), said that it was not fit for any yeoman to have
allowed him from his own labours any more than the poor moiety of ten
pounds a-year; and when the power shall be totally on their side, they
shall be compelled to live on that low allowance, notwithstanding their
estates are gotten with a great deal of labour and industry.

"Upon this the people attempted to lay violent hands upon Lord Poulett,
who was saved by a regiment marching in or by at the moment."

What was Lord Poulett's precise meaning? Do we not clearly learn from the above, that the Civil War was due to more than a mere choosing between king and parliament among the humbler classes of the remote country districts?

GEORGE ROBERTS.

_Literary Frauds of Modern Times._--In a work by Bishop (now Cardinal) Wiseman, entitled _The Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion_, 3rd edition, vol. ii. p. 270., occurs the following remark:

"The most celebrated literary frauds of modern times, the _History of
Formosa_, or, still more, the _Sicilian Code of Vella_, for a time
perplexed the world, but were in the end discovered."

Will you, or any of your readers, kindly refer me to any published account of the frauds alluded to in this passage? I have a faint remembrance of having read some remarks respecting the _Code of Vella_, but am unable to recall the circumstances.

I was under the impression that Chatterton's forgery of the Rowley poems, Macpherson's of the Ossianic rhapsodies, and Count de Surville's of the poems of Madame de Surville, were "the most celebrated literary frauds of modern times." In what respect are those alluded to by Dr. Wiseman entitled to the unenviable distinction which he claims for them?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

"_Very like a Whale._"--What is the origin of this expression? It occurs in the following doggerel verses, supposed to be spoken by the driver of a cart laden with fish:

"This salmon has got a tail;
_It's very like a whale_;
It's a fish that's very merry;
They say its catch'd at Derry.
It's a fish that's got a heart;
It's catch'd and put in Dugdale's cart."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

[This expression occurs in _Hamlet_, Act III. Sc. _2._:

"_Hamlet._ Do you see yonder cloud, that is almost in shape of a
camel?
_Polonius._ By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.
_Hamlet._ Methinks it is like a weasel.
_Polonius._ It is backed like a weasel.
_Hamlet._ Or like a whale?
_Polonius._ Very like a whale."

Since Shakspeare's time, it has been used as a proverb in reply to any
remark partaking of the marvellous.]

_Wednesday a Litany Day._--Why is Wednesday made a Litany day by the Church? We all know why Friday was made a fast; but why should Wednesday be sacred?

ANON.

[Wednesdays and Fridays were kept as fasts in the primitive Church:
because on the one our Lord was betrayed, on the other crucified. See
Mant and Wheatley.]

_"Thy Spirit, Independence," &c._--Could you, or any of your readers, inform me where are the following lines?--

"Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye!
Thy steps I'll follow with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky."

I quote from memory.

H.

[In Smollett's _Ode to Independence_.]

_"Hob and nob," Meaning of._--What is the origin of these words as verbs, in the phrase "Hob or nob," which means, as I need not inform your readers, to spend an evening tippling with a jolly companion?

What is the origin of "nob?" And is either of these two words ever used alone?