Chapter I: Part 1

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

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"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

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No. 17.] Saturday, February 23. 1850. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:--Page
Alfred's Orosius, by R.T. Hampson 257
Folk Lore--Omens from Cattle--Horse's Head--Rush-bearings 258
On Authors and Books, No. 5., by Bolton Corney 259
Plagiarisms, or Parallel Passages, No. 2. 260
St. Antholin's 260

QUERIES:--
College Salting, by Rev. Dr. Maitland 261
A few Dodo Queries, by H.E. Strictland 261
Coleridge's Christabel, Byron's Lara: Tablet to Napoleon 262
Minor Queries:--Howkey or Horkey--Lord Bacon's Psalms--Treatise of
Equivocation 263

REPLIES:--
Etymology of Armagh, by Rev. Dr. Todd 264
William Hasse and his Poems, by E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. 265
Beaver Hats--Pisan, by T. Hudson Turner 266
Replies to Minor Queries:--Norman Pedigrees--Translation of Ælian--Ave
Trici--Daysman--Saveguard--Calamity--Zero--Complutensian
Polyglot--Sir W. Rider--Pokership--Havior, Heavier or Hever--Sir W.
Hamilton--Dr. Johnson's Library 266

MISCELLANIES:--
Etymology of News--The Golden Age 270

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 270
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 271
Notices to Correspondents 271
Advertisements 271

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KING ALFRED'S GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

The sketch of Europe, which our illustrious Alfred has inserted in his translation of _Orosius_, is justly considered, both here and on the Continent, as a valuable fragment of antiquity[1]; and I am sorry that I can commend little more than the pains taken by his translators, the celebrated Daines Barrington and Dr. Ingram, to make it available to ordinary readers. The learned judge had very good intentions, but his knowledge of Anglo-Saxon was not equal to the task. Dr. Ingram professedly applied himself to correct both Alfred's text and Barrington's version, so far as relates to the description of Europe; but in two instances, occurring in one passage, he has adopted the judge's mistake of proper names for common nouns. I do not call attention to the circumstance merely as a literary curiosity, but to preserve the royal geographer from liability to imputations of extraordinary ignorance of his subject, and also to show the accuracy of his delineation of Europe at that interesting epoch, whence the principal states of Europe must date their establishment.

King Alfred, mentioning the seat of the Obotriti, or Obotritæ, as they are sometimes named, a Venedic nation, who, in the 9th century, occupied what is now the duchy of Mecklenburg, calls them _Apdrede_, and says--"Be nor than him is apdrede, and cast north wylte the man æfeldan hæt."[2]

Barrington translates the words thus:--"To the north is Aprede, and to the north east the wolds which are called Æfeldan."[3]

Dr. Ingram has the following variation:--"And to the east north are the wolds which are called Heath Wolds."[4] To the word _wolds_ he appends a note:--"_Wylte_. See on this word a note hereafter." Very well; the promised note is to justify the metamorphosis of the warlike tribe, known in the annals and chronicles of the 9th century as the Wilti, Wilzi, Weleti, and Welatibi, into heaths and wolds. Thirty pages further on there is a note by J. Reinhold Forster, the naturalist and navigator, who wrote it for Barrington in full confidence that the translation was correct:--"The Æfeldan," he says, "are, as king Alfred calls them, _wolds_; there are at present in the middle part of Jutland, large tracts of high moors, covered with _heath_ only."

Of _wylte_, Dr. Ingram writes:--"This word has never been correctly explained; its original signification is the same, whether written felds, fields, velts, welds, wilds, wylte, wealds, walds, walz, wolds, &c. &c." And on _heath_, he says:--"Mr. Forster seems to have read Hæfeldan (or Hæthfeldan), which indeed, I find in the Junian MS. inserted as a various reading by Dr. Marshall (_MSS. Jun. 15_.). It also occurs, further on in the MS., without any various reading. I have therefore inserted it in the text." {258}

Dr. Marshall seems to have understood the passage. What King Alfred says and means is this:--"On the north are the Apdrede (Obotritæ), and on the north east of them are the Wylte, who are called Hæfeldi."

The anonymous Saxon Poet, who wrote the life of Charlemagne, gives the same situation as Alfred to the Wilti:--

"Gens est Slavorum Wilti cognomine dicta,
Proxima litoribus quæ possidet arva supremis
Jungit ubi oceano proprios Germania fines."[5]

Helmold says that they inhabited the part of the coast opposite to the island of Rugen; and hereabouts Adam of Bremen places the _Heveldi_, and many other Slavonic tribes.[6] I am not aware that any other author than Alfred says, that the Wilti and Heveldi were the same people; but the fact is probable. The Heveldi are of rare occurrence, but not so the Wilti.[7] Ptolemy calls them [Greek: Beltai]--Veltæ or Weltæ--and places them in Prussian Pomerania, between the Vistula and Niemen. Eginhard says that "they are Slavonians who, in our manner, are called Wilsi, but in their own language, Welatibi."[8] Their country was called Wilcia,[9] and, as a branch of them were settled in Batavia about 560, it does not seem very improbable that from them were derived the Wilsæton of the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, meaning the _Wilts seated_, or settlers in Wilts-shire. The name, as Eginhard has noticed, is Slavic, and is an adoption of _welot_ or _weolot_, a giant, to denote the strength and fierceness which rendered them formidable neighbours. _Heveldi_ seems to be the same word made emphatic with a foreign addition.

Two other names have been given much trouble to the translators, as well as to Mr. Forster. These are, _Mægtha Land_ and _Horiti_ or _Horithi_, for both occur, and the latter is not written with the letter _thorn_, but with a distinct _t_ and _h_. Alfred has, unquestionably, met with the Slavic _gorod_, which so frequesntly occurs as the termination of the names of cities in the region where he indicates the seat of his Horiti to be. It signifies a city, and is an etymological equivalent of Goth. _gards_, a house, Lat. _cors, cortis_; O.N. _gardr_, a district, A.-Sax. _geard_, whence our _yard_. The Polish form is _grodz_, and the Sorabic, _hrodz_. He places the Horiti to the east of the Slavi Dalamanti, who occupied the district north east of Moravia, with the _Surpe_, that is, Serbi, Servi, on their north, and the _Sisle_, Slusli, another Slavonic people, on the west. This appears to be the site possessed by the Hunnic founders of Kiow. In Helmold, Chunigord, _the city or station of the Huns_, is the name of the part of Russia containing Kiow.[10]

To the north of Horiti, says Alfred, is _Mægtha Land_.--A Finnic tribe, called Magyar, were settled in the 9th century in Mazovia, whence a part of them descended into Hungary. According to Mr. Forster, Mazovia has been called _Magan Land_; but I can find no trace of that name. I can easily conceive, however, that _Magyar_ and _Land_ might become, in Saxon copying, Mægtha Land, for the country of the Magyar. Elsewhere, Alfred uses Mægtha Land, the land of the Medes, for Persia.

Is there any other printed copy of the Saxon _Orosius_ than Barrington's? for that forbids confidence by a number of needless and unauthorised alterations in most of the pages.

R.T. HAMPSON

[1] "La précieuse géographie d'Alfred, roi d'Angleterre."--Le
Comte J. Gräberg. _La Scandinavie Vengée_, p. 36.

[2] Cotton MSS., _Tiberius_, b. i. fol. 12b.

[3] Transl. of _Orosius_, p. 8.

[4] _Inaugural Lecture_, p. 72.

[5] _Vita Karoli Magni_, ann. 789.

[6] "Sunt et alii Slavorum populi qui inter Albiam et
Oderam degunt, sicut Heveldi, qui juxta Haliolam fluvium, et
Doxani, Liubuzzi, Wilini, et Stoderani, cum multis aliis."--_Hist.
Eccl._ p. 47, 48.

[7] _Annales Sangall. Brev._, ann. 789.--_Ann. Lauresham_, &c.

[8] _Vit. Kar. Mag._ and _Annal. Francor._, ann. 822.

[9] _Annal. Petav._, ann 789.

[10] _Chron. Slavorum_, l. i, c. 2.

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FOLK LORE.

_Omens from Cattle_.--I forward to you a _Note_, which, many years ago, I inserted in my interleaved Brand's _Observations on Popular Antiquities_, vol. ii. p. 519. 4to., in the hope that, as the subject interested me _then_, it may not prove uninteresting to some _now_:--

"A bad omen seems to be drawn from _an ox or cow breaking into
a garden_. Though I laugh at the superstition, the omen was
painfully fulfilled in my case.

"About the middle of March, 1843, some cattle were driven
close to my house; and, the back door being open, _three_
got into our little bit of garden, and trampled it. When our
school-drudge came in the afternoon, and asked the cause of
the confusion, she expressed great sorrow and apprehension on
being told--said it was a bad sign--and that we should hear of
_three_ deaths within the next six months. Alas! in April, we
heard of dear J----'s murder; a fortnight after, A---- died;
and to-morrow, August 10th, I am to attend the funeral of my
excellent son-in-law.

"I have just heard of the same omen from another quarter."

This was added the next day:--

"But what is still more remarkable is, that when I went down
to Mr. ----'s burial, and was mentioning the superstition,
they told me that, while he was lying ill, a cow got into the
front garden, and was driven out with great difficulty."

L.S.

_The Horse's Head--Rush-bearings._--The account of the Welch custom of the "Grey Mare" in a late Number reminded me of something very similar in Cheshire. In the parish of Lynn it is customary, for a week or ten days before the 5th {259} of November, for the skeleton of a horse's head, dressed up with ribbons, &c., having glass eyes inserted in the sockets, and mounted on a short pole by way of handle, to be carried by a man underneath, covered with a horse-cloth. There is generally a chain attached to the nose, which is held by a second man, and they are attended by several others. In houses to which they can gain access, they go through some kind of performance, the man with the chain telling the horse to rear, open its mouth, &c. Their object, of course, is to obtain money. The horse will sometimes seize persons, and hold them fast till they pay for being set free; but he is generally very peaceable,--for in case of resistance being offered, his companions frequently take flight, and leave the poor horse to fight it out. I could never learn the origin of this strange custom. I remember, when very young, having a perfect horror of meeting this animal in the dark.

Another custom, which I suppose prevails in some other places, is the "Rush-bearing." At the annual Wakes a large quantity of rushes are collected together, and loaded on a cart, almost to the height of a load of hay. They are bound on the cart, and cut evenly at each end. On the Saturday evening a number of men sit on the top of the rushes, holding garlands of artificial flowers, tinsel, &c. The cart is drawn round the parish by three or four spirited horses, decked out with ribbons,--the collars being surrounded with small bells. It is attended by morris-dancers, dressed in strange style,--men in women's clothes, &c. One big man in woman's clothes, with his face blacked, has a belt round his waist, to which is attached a large bell, and carries a ladle, in which he collects money from the spectators. The company stop and dance at the principal public-houses in their route, and then proceed to the parish church(!), where the rushes are deposited, and the garlands hung up very conspicuously, to remain till the next year. I believe a custom somewhat similar exists in the adjoining parish of Warburton, but not carried out in such grand style.

It would be very interesting if your correspondents in different parts of the country would send accounts of these relics of the barbarous ages.

JULIUS.

Runcorn, Feb. 13. 1850.

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ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. 5.

As a writer of dedications, Samuel Johnson was the giant of his time. He once said to Boswell, the subject arising at a dinner-party, "Why, I have dedicated to the royal family all round,"--and the _honest chronicler_ proves that he spoke advisedly.

Compositions of this nature admit much variety of character. A dedication may be the pure homage which we owe to merit, or the expression of gratitude for favours received, or a memorial of cherished friendship; and such dedications, in point of motive, are beyond the reach of censure--I may fairly assert, are very commendable. Nevertheless, Johnson left no compositions of either class: "the _loftiness_ of his mind," as Boswell gravely states, "prevented him from ever dedicating in his own person."

A more equivocal sort of dedication also prevailed. A book was supposed to require the prefix of some eminent name as its patron, in order to ensure its success. Now the author, though very capable of writing with propriety on his chosen theme, might be unequal to the courtly style which dedicators were wont to display, and as the _complement_ was to be returned _substantially_, he might be tempted to employ a superior artist on the occasion. It was chiefly under such circumstances that the powers of Johnson were called into action. By what arguments the stern moralist would have endeavoured to justify the deception, for it deserves no better name, is more than I can undertake to decide, and I submit the query to his enthusiastic admirers.

To the dedications enumerated by the faithful Boswell, and by his sharp-sighted editors, Malone and Croker, I have to announce on _internal_ evidence, a gorgeous addition! It is the dedication to Edward Augustus, Duke of York, of _An Introduction to Geometry_, by William Payne, London: T. Payne, at the Mews Gate, 1767. 4º., 1768. 8º. I transcribe it _literatim_. It wants no comment:--

"TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK.

"SIR,

"They who are permitted to prefix the names of princes to
treatises of science generally enjoy the protection of a
patron, without fearing the censure of a judge.

"The honour of approaching your royal highness has given
me many opportunities of knowing, that the work which I now
presume to offer will not partake of the usual security.
For as the knowledge which your royal highness has already
acquired of GEOMETRY extends beyond the limits of an
introduction. I expect not to inform you; I shall be happy
if I merit your approbation.

"An address to such a patron admits no recommendation of the
science. It is superfluous to tell your royal highness that
GEOMETRY is the primary and fundamental art of life; that its
effects are extended through the principal operations of human
skill; that it conducts the soldier in the field, and the
seaman in the ocean; that it gives strength to the fortress,
and elegance to the palace. To your royal highness all this
is already known; GEOMETRY is secure of your regard, and your
opinion of its usefulness and value has sufficiently appeared,
by the condescension in which you have been pleased to honour
{260} one who has so little pretension to the notice of
princes, as

"Sir,
"Your royal highnesses [sic]'
"Most obliged,
"Most obedient,
"And most humble servant,
"WILLIAM PAYNE."

A short preface follows, which bears marks of reparation. It may have received some touches from the same masterly hand.

The _external_ evidence in favour of the ascription of the above piece to Johnson, if slight in itself, is not devoid of significance. He had dedicated a book for the same author, which book was also published by Mr. Thomas Payne, who was his brother, in 1756.

BOLTON CORNEY.

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PLAGIARISMS, OR PARALLEL PASSAGES. NO. 2.

[_CONTINUED FROM NO. 11. P. 163._]

"Dans les premières passions les femmes aiment l'amant; dans
les autres elles aiment l'amour."--La Rouchefoucauld, _Max._
494.

"In her first passions woman loves her lover,
In all the others all she loves is love,
Which grows a habit she can ne'er get over,
And fits her loosely--like an easy glove," etc.

_Don Juan_, canto iii. st. iii.

There is no note on _this_ passage; but on the concluding lines of the _very next_ stanza,

"Although, no doubt, her first of love affairs
Is that to which her heart is wholly granted;
Yet there are some, they say, who have had _none_,
But those who have ne'er end with only _one_,

we have the following editorial comment:--"These two lines are a versification of a saying of Montaigne." (!!!) The saying is _not_ by Montaigne, but by La Rochefoucauld:--

"On peut trouver des femmes qui n'ont jamais eu de galanterie;
mais il est rare d'en trouver qui n'en aient jamais eu
qu'une."--_Max._ 73.

Byron borrows the same idea again:--

"Writing grows a habit, like a woman's gallantry. There are
women who have had no intrigue, but few who have had but one
only; so there are millions of men who have never written a
book, but few who have written only one."--_Observations upon
an Article in Blackwood's Magazine_; _Byron's Works_, vol. xv.
p. 87, Moore's Edition, 17 vols duod. London, 1833.

Both the silence of the author, and the blunder of his editor, seem to me to prove that _Les Maximes_ are not as _generally_ known and studied as they deserve to be.

MELANION.

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ST. ANTHOLIN'S.

Your correspondent MR. RIMBAULT (No. 12.) has made rather a grave charge against my predecessors in office as churchwardens and overseers of this parish; and although, I regret to say, such accusations of unjust stewardship and dereliction of duty are frequently and with justice imputed to some parish officers, yet I am happy to be able, in this instance, to remove the stigma which would otherwise attach to those of St. Antholin. The churchwardens' accounts are in good preservation, and present (in an unbroken series) the parish expenditure for nearly three centuries.

Mr. Rimbault has doubtless been misled by some error in the description of the MSS. in Mr. Thorpe's catalogue (as advertised by him for sale), which were probably merely extracts from the original records.

The first volume commences with the year 1574, and finishes in 1708; the accounts are all written at the time of their respective dates, and regularly signed by the auditors then and there present as correct.

I have made numerous extracts from these interesting documents, and _notes_ thereon, which I shall at some future time be happy to lay before your readers, if you should consider them of sufficient importance.

As a voucher for what I have stated with regard to their existence, and to give some idea of their general character, I have selected (at random) a few items from the year 1580-1:--

"The Accompte of Henrie Jaye, Churchwarden of the Parishe of
St. Antholyne, from the feaste of the Anunciacon of our Ladye
in Anno 1580 unto the same feaste followinge in Anno 1581."

Among the "receaittes" we have--

"R'd of Mr. Thorowgoode for an olde font stone,
by the consente of a vestrie v's iiij'd

"R'd for the clothe of _bodkine_[11] y't Ser Roger
Marten hade before in keppinge, and now
sold by the consente of a vestry and our
mynnister iij'll vj's viij'd

"The Payments as followithe:--

"P'd to the wife of John Bakone _gwder_ of the
Lazer cotte at Myle End[12] in full of her due {261}
for keppinge of Evan Redde y't was Mr.
Hariots mane till his departtur and for his
Shete and Burialle as dothe apere xl's viij'd

"P'd for makinge of the Longe pillowe & the
pulpit clothe ij's

"P'd for a yard and a nale of fustane for the same
pillowe xvj'd

"P'd for silke to the same pillowe xvj'd

"P'd for xj'li of fethers for the same pillowe, at
v'd iiij's vij'd

"P'd for brede and beer that day the quen cam
in xij'd

"P'd for candells and mendinge the _baldrocke_[13] vj'd

"P'd for paynttinge y'e stafe of the survayer iij'd

"P'd for mendynge the lytell bell iij's

"Pd to Mr. Sanders for the yearly rent of the
Laystall and skowringe the _harnes_[14] for
his yer iij's viij'd

"P'd to Mr. Wright for the makinge of the Cloke[15]
mor than he gatheride, agred one at the laste
vestrie xvij's

"P'd to Peter Medcalfe for mending the Cloke
when it neade due at o'r Ladies Daye laste
past in Anno 1581 iij's

"P'd for entringe this account xx'd."

W.C., JUNIOR,

Overseer of St. Antholin, 1850.

[11] _Brodekine_. A richly-gilt stuff.

[12] It appears from an entry in the preceding year, that this
man was first sent to "Sentt Thomas Spittell in Soughwork," when
it was discovered that he was afflicted with the leprosy, or some
cutaneous disease, and immediately removed to the Lazar-house at
Mile End, it being strictly forbidden that such cases should
remain in the hospitals. These lazar-houses were built away from
the town; one was the Lock Hospital, in Southwark; one at
Kingsland, another at Knightsbridge, and that mentioned above
between Mile End and Stratford. The laws were very strict in the
expulsion of leprous people from the city; and if they attempted
to force their way into the hospitals, they were bound fast to
horses, and dragged away to the lazar-houses.

[13] The _baldricke_ was the garter and buckle by means of
which the clapper was suspended inside the bell.

[14] _Harnes_, or armour, which perhaps hung over some of the
monuments in the church.

[15] It was about this time that clocks began to be generally
used in churches (although of a much earlier invention); and in
subsequent years we have several items of expenditure connected
with that above mentioned. In 1595:--

"Paid for a small bell for the _watche_ iiij's

"Paid to the smith for Iron worke to it xx'd

"Paid for a waight for the Clocke wayinge
36'lb and for a ringe of Iron v's."

Still, however, the hour-glass was used at the pulpit-desk, to
determine the length the parson should go in his discourse; and
xij'd for a new hour-glass frequently occurs.

* * * * *

QUERIES.

COLLEGE SALTING.

Mr. Editor.--If your very valuable work had existed in October, 1847, when I published in the _British Magazine_ a part of Archibishop Whitgift's accounts relative to his pupils while he was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, I should certainly have applied to you for assistance.

In several of the accounts there is a charge for the pupil's "salting;" and after consulting gentlemen more accurately informed with regard to the customs of the university than myself, I was obliged to append a note to the word, when it occurred for the first time in the account of Lord Edward Zouch, in which I said, "I must confess my inability to explain this word; and do not know whether it may be worth while to state that, on my mentioning it to a gentleman, once a fellow-commoner of the college, he told me, that when, as a freshman, he was getting his gown from the maker, he made some remark on the long strips of sleeve by which such gowns are distinguished, and was told that they were called 'salt-bags,' but he could not learn why; and an Oxford friend tells me, that going to the buttery to drink salt and water was part of the form of his admission.... This nobleman's (i.e. Lord Edward Zouch's) amounted to 4s., and that of the Earl of Cumberland to 3s. 4d., while in other cases it was as low as 8d." To this I added the suggestion that it was probably some fee, or expense, which varied according to the rank of the parties. It afterwards occurred to me that this "salting" was, perhaps, some entertainment given by the new-comer, from and after which he ceased to be "fresh;" and that while we seem to have lost the "salting" both really and nominally, we retain the word to which it has reference.

Be this as it may, my attention has just now been recalled to the question by my accidentally meeting with one of Owen's epigrams, which shows that in his time there was some sort of salting at Oxford, and also of peppering at Winchester. As I doubt not that you have readers well acquainted with the customs of both these seats of learning, perhaps some may be good enough to afford information. Owen was at Oxford not many years after Whitgift had been Master of Trinity at Cambridge, if (as Wood states) he took his bachelor's degree in 1590. The epigram is as follows:--

"Oxoniæ salsus (juvenis tum) more vetusto;
Wintoniæque (puer tum) piperatus eram.
Si quid inest nostro piperisve salisve libello,
Oxoniense sal est, Wintoniense piper."

It is No. 64 in that book of epigrams which Owen inscribed "Ad Carolum Eboracensem, fratrem Principis, filium Regis," p. 205, edit. Elz, 1628. 12mo. I give this full reference in order to express my most hearty sympathy with the righteous indignation of my highly respected friend, your correspondent "L.S." (No. 15 p. 230.), against imperfect references. I do not, however, agree with him in thinking it fortunate that he is not a "despotic monarch;" on the contrary, now that I have not to take up verses, or construe Greek to him, I should like it of all things; and I am sure the world would be much the better for it.

S.R. MAITLAND.

Gloucester, Feb. 18. 1850.

* * * * *

A FEW DODO QUERIES.

The discovery and speedy extinction of that extraordinary bird the DODO, belongs rather to {262} human history than to pure zoology, and I therefore hope that a few Queries relating to this curious subject will be admissible into your publication. I have already, in the work entitled _The Dodo and its Kindred_, and in the Supplementary notices inserted last year in the _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_ (ser. 2. vol. iii. pp. 136, 259; vol. iv. p. 335), endeavoured to collect together the _omne scitum_ of the Dodo-history, but I am satisfied that the _omne scibile_ is not yet attained.

_Query I._--Is there any historical record of the first discovery of Mauritius and Bourbon by the Portuguese? These islands bore the name of _Mascarenhas_ as early as 1598, when they were so indicated on one of the De Bry's maps. Subsequent compilers state that they were thus named after their Portuguese discoverer, but I have not succeeded in finding any notice of them in the histories of Portuguese expeditions to the East Indies which I have consulted. The only appartently authentic indication of their discovery, that I am aware of, is the pillar bearing the name of John III. of Portugal, and dated 1545, which is stated by Leguat, on Du Quesne's authority, to have been found in Bourbon by Flacour, when he took possession of the island in 1653.

_Query II_.--It appears from Leguat's _New Voyage to the East Indies_, London, 1708, pp. 2, 37., that the Marquis Du Quesne, being desirous of sending out a colony from Holland to the Isle of Bourbon in 1689 or 1690, published (probably in Dutch) an account of that Island, with a view of inducing emigrants to go thither. I should be greatly obliged if any of your readers can tell me the title, date, and place of publication of this book, and where a copy of it is to be seen or procured.

_Query III_.--Are there in existence any original oil-paintings of the Dodo by Savery or any other artist, besides the five described in the _Dodo and its Kindred_--viz., the one at the Hague, at Berlin, at Vienna, at the British Museum, and at Oxford? And are there any original engravings of this bird, besides that in De Bry, in Clusius, in Van den Broecke, in Herbert, in Bontekoc, and in Bontius, of all which I have published fac-similes?

_Query IV_.--Are there any _original_ authors who mention the Dodo as a living bird, besides Van Neck, Clusius, Heemskerk, Willem van West-Zanen, Matelief, Van der Hagen, Verhuffen, Van den Broecke, Bontekoe, Herbert, Cauche, Lestrange, and Benjamin Harry? Or any authority for the _Solitaire_ of Rodriguez besides Leguat and D'Heguerty; or for the Dodo-like birds of Bourbon besides Castelton, Carré Sieur D.B., and Billiard?

_Query V_--In Rees' _Cyclopæia_, article BOURBON, we are told that in that island there is "a kind of large bat, denominated _l'Oiseau bleu_, which are skinned and eaten as a great delicacy." Where did the compiler of the article pick up this statement?

_Query VI_.--Is there in existence any figure, published or unpublished, of the Dodo-like bird which once inhabited the Isle of Bourbon?

_Query VII_--What is the derivation or meaning of the words _Dodaers_ and _Dronte_, as applied to the Dodo?

_Query VIII_.--Sir Hamon Lestrange has recorded that about 1638 he saw a living Dodo exhibited in London. (See _Sloane MSS_. 1839, v. p. 9. in Brit. Mus.; Wilkin's ed. of _Sir T. Browne's Works_, vol. i. p. 369.; vol. ii, p. 173.; _The Dodo and its Kindred_, p. 22.) Is there any contemporary notice extant in print or in MS. which confirms this statement? A splendidly bound copy of _The Dodo and its Kindred_ will be given to any one who can answer this query affirmatively.

_Query IX_.--In Holme's _Academy of Armory and Blazou_, Chester, 1688, p. 289, we find a Dodo figured as an heraldic device, a fac-simile of which is given in the _Annals of Natural History_, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 260. The author thus describes it: "He beareth Sable a _Dodo_ or _Dronte_ proper. By the name of _Dronte_. This exotic bird doth equal a swan in bigness," &c. &c. Now I wish to ask, where did this family of _Dronte_ reside? Is anything known concerning them? How did they come by these arms? and are any members of the family now living?

_Query X._--From a passage in the _Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences_, 1776, p. 37, it appears that Pingré the French astronomer, published, or at least wrote, a relation of his voyage to Rodriguez, in which he speaks of _Solitaires_. Is this the fact? and if so, what is the title of his work?

H.E. STRICKLAND.

* * * * *

ON PASSAGES IN COLERIDGE'S CHRISTADEL AND BYRON'S LARA. TABLET TO NAPOLEON.

I am one of those who look upon the creations of our great poets as deserving illustration almost as much as actual history; and I am always distressed when I meet with passages representing events with respect to which I cannot make up my mind as to what the author meant, or intended his readers to believe. Two of these occur to me at this moment, and I shall be much obliged by any of your correspondents giving, in your pages, brief replies to my queries, or referring me to any published works where I may find their solution.

1. What did Coleridge mean to represent or imply in his tale of _Christabel_? Who or what was Geraldine? What did Christabel see in her, at times, so unutterably horrible? What is meant by "the ladye strange" making Christabel _carry_ her over the sill of the portal? &c., &c. {263}

2. What does Byron mean us to infer that Lara _saw_ in his hall that midnight, when he so alarmed his household with

"A sound, a voice, a shriek, a fearful call,
A long loud shriek--and silence."?

The poet, it is true, seems to refuse, purposely, to let his readers into the truth, telling them:--

"Whate'er his frenzy dream'd or eye beheld,
If yet remember'd, ne'er to be reaveal'd,
Rests at his heart."

But still, I conceive there can be no doubt that _he knew the truth_ (I speak as of realities), --knew what he intended to represent by so full and elaborate a delineation of a scene. And it is the author's meaning and intention that I wish to come at.

I will ask one more question relative to this magnificent poem (which I don't think has had justice done it by the critics), but one respecting which I hardly think there can be any doubt as to the author's secret meaning:--Is not the _Kaled_ of _Lara_ the _Gulnare_ of the _Giaour_?

Before concluding, I will add a query on a very different subject.

3. Many of your readers have, doubtless, seen the large marble tablet erected by the Vallaisians in honour of Napoleon, in the Convent of the Great St. Bernard. A recent traveller in Switzerland (Dr. Forbes) has, I find, noticed the inscription, and questioned, as I had done, both its meaning and Latinity. I extract this author's note as expressing exactly the point on which I desiderate information:--

"Having doubts both as to the precise meaning and lingual
purity of the compound epithet _Bis Italicus_, here applied
to Napoleon, I subjoin the passage in which it occurs, for the
judgement of the learned:--

'NAPOLEONI ... ÆGYPTIACO BIS ITALICO SEMPER INVICTO ... GRATA
RESPUBLICA.'"--_A Physician's Holiday_, p. 468.

EMDEE.

Athenæum, January 26. 1850.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

_Howkey or Horkey._-- Can anybody explain the etymology of the word _Howkey_ or _Horkey_, generally used to denote a harvest-home merriment in our eastern counties? Forbes speaks of it as an intractable word, and neither he nor Sir J. Cullum have succeeded in explaining it satisfactorily.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End, Feb. 16.

_Lord Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms._--The answer in No. 15. p. 235. to A CORNISHMAN'S Query (No. 13. p. 202) respecting "Bacon's Metrical Version of the Psalms," suggests another query. The work in question was a mere "exercise of sickness;" it contains only seven psalms (the 1st, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 137th, and 149th), and is, without pretension of any kind, a very proper diversion for a mind that could not be inactive and yet required rest; and very good verses for a man unpractised in metrical composition. The _Collection of Apophthegms_ (also a recreation in sickness), though considerably larger and altogether weightier, was considered so trifling a work that Dr. Rawley, in his "perfect list of his Lordship's true works, &c.," appended to the first edition of the _Resuscitatio_ (1657), either forgot or did not think fit to mention it. Yet both these trifles were not only written but _published_, by Bacon himself the year before his death--a thing quite contrary to his practice; for though he had written and carefully preserved and circulated in manuscript so much, he had till then published nothing that was not of the weightiest and most solid kind. Can any of your correspondents inform me how much two such books may possibly have been _worth_ to a publisher in the year 1625; being works of low price and popular character, proceeding from an author of great name? How much is it reasonable to suppose that a publisher may have given for the copyright? or how far may it have gone towards the payment of a bookseller's bill?

J.S.

Feb. 7. 1850.

_Treatise of Equivocation._--I shall feel happy if, through your very opportune medium, I can obtain some information respecting a very extraordinary and mysterious book, as to its existence, local habitation, and any other _material_ circumstance, which has the title of _A Treatise of Equivocation._ The first recognition of the work is in the _Relation of the Proceedings in the Trial for the Powder Plot_, 1604. At signat. I. the Attourney-General, Sir E. Coke, appeals to it, and affirms that it was allowed by the Archpriest Blackwel, and that the title was altered to _A Treatise against Lying and Fraudulent Dissimulation_. He proceeds to describe some of its contents, as if he were himself acquainted with the book. Thomas Morton, Bishop of Lichfield, and Coventry, afterwards of Durham, in his _Full Satisfaction concerning a double Romish Iniquitie; Rebellion and Equivocation_, 1606, refers to the work as familiarly acquainted with it. (See Ep. Dedic. A. 3.; likewise pages 88 & 94.) He gives the authorship to Creswell or Tresham. He refers likewise to a Latin work entitled _Resolutio Casuum_, to the same effect, possibly a translation, to which he subjoins the names of Parsons and Allen. Robert Abbot, in his _Antilogia_, 1613, pp. 13, 14. emphatically and at length produces the same book and facts; but they are merely copied from the _Relation_ of the Powder-treason Trial. Henry Mason, in his most satisfactory work, _The New Art of Lying, &c._, 1624, has spoken of the {264} _Treatise_ with the same familiarity (see p. 51.), and elsewhere, if my memory does not deceive me. Dodd, in his _Church history_,--when will the new edition begin to move again? Can Stonyhurst tell?--ascribes the work to Tresham. Hardly any of the similar works in these times belong to _one_ author. It may just be added, that Parson's _Mitigation_ contains, perhaps, all the substance of the Roman equivocation, with not much reserve or disguise. It was published in answer to Bishop Morton's work in 1607. Foulis has, of course, substantially all the above, but nothing more.

Now, the questions which I want to have solved are these:--Was the book ever extant in MS. Or print? Is it now extant, and where? Who has seen a copy? What is its size, date, and extent? Has the Durham Cathedral Library, in particular, a copy? Mr. Botfield might have informed us. In fact, where is any effectual intelligence of the fugitive to be found?

J.M.

Feb. 8. 1850.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

ETYMOLOGY OF "ARMAGH."

Some of your correspondents have taken up the not unnatural idea, that the last syllable of the word "Armagh" is identical with the Celtic word _magh_, a plain. But there are two objections to this. In the first place, the name is never spelt in Irish _Armagh_, nor even _Ardmagh_, but always ARDMACHA. _Ardmagh_ or _Armagh_ is only the anglicised spelling, adapted to English tongues and ears. It is therefore clearly absurd to take this corrupt form of the word as our _datum_, in the attempt to search for its etymology. Secondly, the Irish names of places which are derived from, or compounded of, _magh_, a plain, are always anglicised, _moy, moi, mow_, or _mo_, to represent the pronunciation: as Fermoy, Athmoy, Knockmoy, Moira, Moyagher, Moyaliffe (or Me-aliffe, as it is now commonly spelt), Moville, Moyarta, and thousands of other cases. And those who are acquainted with the Irish language will at once tell, by the ear, that _Armagh_, as the word is pronounced by the native peasantry, even by those who have lost that language (as most of them in that district now have), could not be a compound of _magh_, a plain.

The work of M. Bullet, quoted by your correspondent "HERMES," is full of ignorant blunders similar to that which he commits, when he tells us that Armagh in compounded of "_Ar_, article, and _mag_, ville." The article, in Irish, is _An_, not _ar_; and _mag_ does not signify a town. He adopts, your readers will perceive, the modern English spelling, which could not lead to a correct result, even if M. Bullet had been acquainted with the Celtic languages. The same remark applies to the explanation given by the author of _Circles of Gomer_. _Ard_, not _Ar_, is the word to be explained; and therefore, even though _Ar_ and _Ararat_ meant, as he tells us, "earth, country, or upon and on the earth," this would throw no light on the etymology of ARD_macha_.

"HIBERNICUS" (No. 14. p. 217.) is partly right and partly wrong; he adopts the anglicised spelling of the second syllable, although he seems aware that the first syllable ought to be _Ard_; and he admits also that this word is a substantive, signifying a _height_, not the adjective _high_. "A high plain," in Irish, would be, not Ardmagh, or Ardmoy (as it would have been anglicised), but _Magh-ard_ (Anglice _Moyard_). Great light will be thrown on the whole subject of the etymology of Irish typographical names, when the Index to my friend Mr. O'Donovan's edition of the _Annals of the Four Masters_ makes its appearance.

I may add too, in conclusion, that Camden is wrong in suggesting that _Armach_ (as he spells it, retaining, curiously enough, the correct etymology of the last syllable) is identical with _Dearmach_ (where the last syllable ought to be _magh_). This latter place is the well-known Durrow, in the county Westmeath; and its name, in Irish, is _Duir-magh_, which is really a compound from _magh_, a plain. Bede tells us, that the word signified, in the Scottish language, _Campus roborum_ (see Bede, _Hist. Eccl._ lib. iii. c. 4.); but Adamson (_Vit. Columbæ_, c. 39.) more correctly translates it, "monasterium _Roboreti Campi_." It is not likely that such authorities could confound Durrow, in Westmeath, with the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, and patriarchal see of St. Patrick.

Whoever the Mach or Macha was from whom Ardmacha has its name (whether the queen called Macha-mong-ruadh, whose reign is assigned by O'Flaherty to A.M. 3603, or the older Macha, who is said to be the wife of Nemedius), it should be borne in mind, that the word whose etymology is required is ARDMACHA[16], and not _Armagh._ What would be thought of the critic who would now attempt to investigate the etymology of the English word _bishop_, by dividing it into two syllables, and seeking analogies in sound for each syllable.

I have ventured to go at greater length into this matter than its importance may seem to warrant, because it illustrates so clearly a very general error, from which Celtic literature has deeply suffered, of inventing fanciful etymologies adapted to the modern English spellings, instead of the original Celtic forms of names; and this error, as the question before us proves, is as old as Camden's time, and older.

J.H. TODD.

Trin. Coll. Dublin, Feb. 2, 1850.

[16] Those who have access to Colgan's _Acta Sanctorum
Hiberniæ_ will see that he always spells Armagh, _Ardmacha_;
and Durrow, _Durmugia_.

* * * * *{265}

WILLIAM BASSE AND HIS POEMS.

I read with great pleasure MR. COLLIER'S interesting paper on "William Basse and his Poems," inserted in your 13th Number. Very little is known of this once popular poet, but it is very desirable that that little should be collected together, which cannot be better effected than through the friendly system of inter-communication established by your valuable journal.

From my limited researches upon this subject, it appears that there were two poets of the name of William Basse. Anthony Wood (_Athen. Oxon._, edit. Bliss. iv. 222.) speaks of one William Basse, of Moreton, near Thame, in Oxfordshire, who was some time a retainer of Lord Wenman, of Thame Park, i.e. Richard Viscount Wenman, in the peerage of Ireland. And I find among my MS. biographical collections that a William Basse, of Suffolk, was admitted a sizar of Emanuel College, Cambridge, in 1629. A.B. 1632, and A.M. in 1636. The William Basse who wrote _Great Brittaines Sunnes-set_ in 1613, was also the author of the MS. collection of poems entitled _Polyhymnia_, mentioned by MR. COLLIER. In proof of this it is merely necessary to notice the dedication of the former "To his Honourable Master, Sir Richard Wenman, Knight," and the verses and acrostics in the MS. "To the Right Hon. the Lady Aungier Wenman, Mrs. Jane Wenman, and the truly noble, vertuous, and learned Lady, the Lady Agnes Wenman." Basse's Poems were evidently intended for the press, but we may conjecture that the confusion of the times prevented them from appearing. Thomas Warton, in his _Life and Literary Remains of Ralph Bathurst, M.D._, has a copy of verses by the Dr. "To Mr. W. Basse, upon the intended publication of his Poems, January 13, 1651;" to which the learned editor adds, "I find no account of this writer or his poems." The whole consists of forty-four verses, from which I extract the beginning and the end:--

Basse, whose rich mine of wit we here behold
As porcelain earth, more precious, 'cause more old;
Who, like an aged oak, so long hath stood,
And art religion now as well as food:
Though thy grey Muse grew up with elder times,
And our deceased grandsires lisp'd thy rhymes;
Yet we can sing thee too, and make the lays
Which deck thy brow look fresher with thy praise.
* * * * *
Though these, your happy births, have silent past
More years than some abortive wits shall last;
He still writes new, who once so well hath sung:
That Muse can ne'er be old, which ne'er was young."

These verses are valuable as showing that Basse was living in 1651, and that he was then an aged man. The Emanuelian of the same name, who took his M.A. degree in 1636, might possibly be his son. At any rate, the latter was a poet. There are some of his pieces among the MSS. in the Public Library, Cambridge; and I have a small MS. volume of his rhymes, scarcely soaring above mediocrity, which was presented to me by an ancient family residing in Suffolk.

A poem by William Basse is inserted in the _Annalia Dubrensia_, 1636, in praise of Robert Dover and his revival of the Cotswold Games; but it is not clear to which of these poets we may ascribe it. Malone attributes two rare volumes to one or other of these poets. The first, a translation or paraphrase of Juvenal's tenth satire, entitled _That which seems Best is Worst_, 12mo., 1617; the second, "A Miscellany of Merriment," entitled _A Helpe to Discourse_, 2nd edit. 8vo., 1620: but the former is more probably the work of William Barkstead. I may mention that a copy of Basse's _Sword and Buckler, or Serving Man's Defence_, 1602, is among Malone's books in the Bodleian.

Izaac Walton speaks of William Basse, "one that hath made the choice songs of the _Hunter in His Career_, and of _Tom of Bedlam_, and many others of note." The ballad mentioned by MR. COLLIER, "Maister Basse his Career, or the Hunting of the Hare," is undoubtably the one alluded to by Walton. I may add, that it is printed in _Wit and Drollery_, edit. 1682. p. 64.; and also in _Old Ballads_, 1725, vol. iii. p. 196. The tune is contained in the _Shene MS._, a curious collection of old tunes in the Advocate's Library, Edinburgh; and a ballad entitled _Hubert's Ghost_, to the tune of _Basse's Carrier_, is preserved among the Bagford Collection of Old Ballads in the British Museum. With regard to the second ballad mentioned by Walton, our knowledge is not so perfect. Sir John Hawkins in a note (_Complete Angler_, 5th edit. p. 73.) says:--

"This song, beginning--
'Forth from my dark and dismal cell,'

with the music to it, set by Hen. Lawes, is printed in a book,
entitled _Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues, to sing to the
Theorbo Lute, and Bass Viol_, folio. 1675, and in Playfield's
_Antidote against Melancholy_, 8vo. 1669, and also in Dr.
Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_, vol. ii. p. 350;
but in the latter with a mistake in the last line of the third
stanza, of the word _Pentarchy_ for _Pentateuch_."

A copy of the _Choice Ayres_, 1675, is now before me, but Henry Lawes's name does not appear to the song in question. Sir John has evidently made a mistake; the air of _Mad Tom_ was composed by John Cooper, alias _Giovanni Coperario_, for one of the Masques perfomed by the Gentlemen of Gray's Inn. (See _The English Dancing Master_, 1651, in the British Museum, and Additional MS. 10,440, in the same repository.) With regard to the ballad itself, there is an early copy (of the latter part of the sixteenth century) {266} preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 7332, fol. 41. It purports to have been

"Written (i.e. transcribed) be Feargod Barebone, who being
at many times idle and wanting employment, wrote out certain
songs and epigrams, with the idea of mending his hand in
writing."

There is another copy among Malone's MSS. in the Bodleian (No. 16. p. 55.), where it is entitled _A new Tom of Bedlam_. But I contend there is no evidence to show that this is the ballad alluded to by Walton; none of the copies having the name of the author. We have two other songs (probably more) bearing the same title of _Tom of Bedlam_; one beginning, "From the top of high Caucasus;" the other commencing, "From the hag and hungry goblin;" either of which are quite as likely to have been intended as that mentioned above.

It still remains a question, I think, which of the two Basses was the author of the ballads mentioned by Walton. But I have already trespassed so long upon your valuable space that I will leave the further consideration of the subject until a future period: in the meantime, perhaps some of your correspondents may be enabled to "illuminate our darkness" upon the various knotty points.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

BEAVER HATS--PISAN.

Allow me to say a few words in reply to your correspondent "GASTROS." His quotation from Fairholt (_Costume in England_), who cites Stubbes's _Anatomy of Abuses_ as the earliest authority for the use of beaver hats in England, is not a satisfactory reply to my query; inasmuch as I am aware that beaver hats were occasionally worn by great people in this country some centuries before Stubbes was born. For example, Henry III. possessed "unum capellum de Bevre cum apparatu auri et lapidibus preciosis;" as appears from the "Wardrobe Account," of the 55th year of his reign. I have, therefore, still to ask for the _earliest_ instance of the use of hats or caps of this material in England; such hats, as well as gloves, are mentioned in several English inventories made between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Is there any example earlier than the time of Henry III.?

"GASTROS" has also obligingly replied to my query as to "the meaning of the term _Pisan_, used in old records for some part of defensive armour," but he seems to have forgotten that I expressly stated that term had no relation to "the fabrics of Pisa;" at least such is my belief. With regard to the inventory of the arms and armour of Louis le Hutin, taken in 1316, printed in Meyrick's _Ancient Armour_, to which he kindly refers me, it may be observed that the said inventory is so perversely translated in the first edition of that work (just now I have no means of consulting the second), as to be all but useless; indeed it might be termed one of the most extraordinary literary performances of modern times, as the following instance may suffice to show. One of the items of the inventory is, "une cote gamboisée à arbroissiaus d'or broudées à chardonereus;" and it is thus rendered into English, "a gamboised coat with a rough surface (like a thicket;--_note_) of gold embroidered on the nap of the cloth!" The real signification is "a gamboised coat embroidered in gold, with little bushes (or trees), with gold-finches [on them]." But I am rather wandering from my point: I never could ascertain on what authority Sir Samuel Meyrick asserted that "jazeran armour," as he calls it, was formed of "overlapping plates." The French word _jazeran_ was derived from the Italian _ghiazarino_, or _ghiazzerino_, which signified "a gorget of mail," or what some of our antiquaries have termed "a standard of mail;" in France this word always preserved its relation to mail, and in process of time came to be applied to so lowly an object as a flagon-chain: see Cotgrave's _Fr. Dict._ ed. 1673. Roquefort, indeed, says a "jaserans" was a cuirass, but to my apprehension the passage which he quotes from the _Roman d'Alexandre_--

"Es haubers, _jazerans_, et ès elmes gemez"--

seems to prove that, in that instance at least, a gorget is meant. At any rate, the translation of the passage in the inventory to which "GASTROS" refers should be, "three Pisan collerets of steel mail," not that given by Meyrick. Here we have clearly a fabric of Pisa: whereas the _pisan_, of which I desire to know the meaning, invariable occurs as an independent term, e.g. "_item, unum pisanum_," or "_unum par pisanorum_." Of course I have my own conjecture on the subject, but should be glad to hear other opinions; so I again put the question to your correspondents. In conclusion I would observe to "GASTROS" that they must be _very_ late MSS. indeed in which such a contraction as _pisan_ for _partisan_ can be found. If you have room, and think it worth while, I will from time to time send you some corrections of the more flagrant errors of Meyrick.

T. HUDSON TURNER.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Norman Pedigrees_. In reference to your correspondent "B.'s" inquiries, he will find much information in the Publications de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie. Under their auspices, M. Estancelin published in 1828 a full history of the Earls of Eu. I am not aware of any full collection of pedigrees of the companions of William the Conqueror: the names of several of the lands from which they took their designations yet remain.

W. DURRANT COOPER.

{267}

_Norman Pedigrees._--In answer to "B.'s" query (No. 14. p. 214.), an excellent Gazetteer was published in Paris, 1831, entitled _Dictionnaire Complet Géographique, Statistique, et Commercial de la France et de ses Colonies; par M. Briand-de-Verzé_, pp. 856. Many of the names of the Conqueror's Norman companions will be found in that work; as, for instance, Geoffrey de "_Mandeville_, village. Calvados arrondissement, 31½ O.N.O. de Bayeaux," &c.

Norman de _Beauchamp_: three Beauchamps are mentioned; that 51. from Avranches will be the one in question.

C.I.R.

Oxford, Feb. 19. 1850.