Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

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| Transcriber's Note: Italicized words, phrases, etc. are |
| surrounded by _underline charcters_. Greek transliterations |
| are surrounded by ~tildas~. Diacritical marks over |
| characters are bracketed: [=mt] indicates a macron over the |
| letters mt, [(y] indicates a breve over the y, etc. Archaic |
| spellings such as Ffurther and pseudonymes have been |
| retained. |
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{325} 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. 179.] SATURDAY, APRIL 2. 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page
Jack, by John Jackson 325
Mythe _versus_ Myth, by Thomas Keightley 326
Witchcraft in 1638 326
St. Augustin and Baxter, by E. Smirke 327
FOLK LORE:--Subterranean Bells--Welsh Legend of
the Redbreast 328
Johnsoniana 328
MINOR NOTES:--White Roses--Fifeshire Pronunciation
--Original Letter--Erroneous Forms of Speech 329

QUERIES:--
Eustache de Saint Pierre, by Henry H. Breen 329
Passage in Coleridge 330
MINOR QUERIES:--Cann Family--Landholders in
Lonsdale South of the Sands--Rotation of the Earth
--Nelson and Wellington--Are White Cats deaf?--
Arms in Dugdale's "Warwickshire," &c.--Tombstone
in Churchyard--Argot and Slang--Priests'
Surplices--John, Brother German to David II.--
Scott, Nelson's Secretary--The Axe which beheaded
Anne Boleyn--Roger Outlawe--"Berte au Grand
Pied"--Lying by the Walls--Constables of France--
St. John's Church, Shoreditch 330
MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--Sir John Thompson
--Ring, the Marriage--Amusive--Belfry Towers
separate from the Body of the Church--An Easter-day
Sun 332

REPLIES:--
Hamilton Queries, by Lord Braybrooke, &c. 333
The Wood of the Cross 334
Edmund Chaloner, by T. Hughes 334
"Anywhen" and "Seldom-when:" unobserved Instances
of Shakespeare's Use of the latter, S. W.
Singer 335
Chichester: Lavant, by W. L. Nichols 335
Scarfs worn by Clergymen, by Rev. John Jebb, &c. 337
Inscriptions in Books, by Russell Gole, George S. Master,
&c. 337
PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--Head-rests--
Sir W. Newton's Explanations of his Process--Talc
for Collodion Pictures 338
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Portrait of the Duke
of Gloucester--Key to Dibdin's "Bibliomania"--High
Spirits a Presage of Evil--Hogarth's Works--Town
Plough--Shoreditch Cross and the painted Window in
Shoreditch Church--Race for Canterbury--Lady High
Sheriff--Burial of an unclaimed Corpse--Surname of
Allan--The Patronymic Mac--Cibber's "Lives of
the Poets"--Parallel Passages, No. 2.: Stars and
Flowers--Schomberg's Epitaph--Pilgrimages to the
Holy Land--Album--Gesmas and Desmas--"Quod
fuit esse"--Straw Bail--Pearl--Sermons by Parliamentary
Chaplains, &c. 338

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, &c. 345
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 346
Notices to Correspondents 346
Advertisements 346

* * * * *

NOTES.

JACK.

I wish to note, and to suggest to students in ethnology, the Query, how it comes to pass that John Bull has a peculiar propensity to call things by his own name, his familiar appellative of _Jack_?

Of all the long list of abbreviations and familiar names with which times past and present have supplied us, that which honest Falstaff found most pleasing to his ears, "_Jack_ with my familiars!" is the household word with which ours are most conversant. Were not _Jack_ the Giant-killer, _Jack_ and the Bean-stalk, and Little _Jack_, the intimates of our earliest days? when we were lulled to sleep by ditties that told of _Jack_ Sprat and his accommodating wife (an instance of the harmony in which those of opposite tastes may live in the bonds of wedlock); of _Jack_, the bachelor who lived harmoniously with his fiddle, and had a soul above the advice of his utilitarian friend; of _Jack_ who, like Caliban, was to have a new master; of _Jack_[1] the brother of Gill; and of the _Jack_ who was only remarkable for having a brother, whose name, as a younger son, is not thought worthy of mention. And were not our waking hours solaced by songs, celebrating the good Jack[2], little _Jack_ Horner, and holding up to obloquy the bad Jack, naughty _Jacky_ Green, and his treachery to the innocent cat? Who does not remember the time when he played at _jack_-straws, fished for _jack_-sharps, and delighted in a skip-_jack_, or _jack_-a-jumper, when _jack_-in-a-box came back from the fair (where we had listened not unmoved to the temptations of that eloquent vagabond cheap-_Jack_) and popped up his nose before we could say _Jack_ {326} Robinson; and when _Jack_-in-the-green ushered in May-day? While a halo of charmed recollections encircles the memory of _Jack_-pudding, dear to the Englishman as Jack Pottage and Jack Sausage (Jean Potage and Hans Wurst) are to Frenchman and German.

Our childhood past, _Jack_ still haunts us at every turn and phase of our existence. The smoke-_jack_ and bottle-_jack_, those revolutionary instruments that threw the turnspit out of employment (and have well-nigh banished him from the face of the earth), cook the _Jack_ hare, which we bring in in the pocket of our shooting-_jacket_. We wear _jack_-boots, and draw them off with boot-_jacks_; prop up our houses with _jack_-screws; wipe our hands on _jack_-towels; drink out of black-_jacks_, and wear them on our backs too, at least our ancestors did; while flap-_jacks_[3] gave a relish to their Lenten diet, _jack_-of-the-clock[4] told them the hour; _Jack_ priests held rule over them; and gentle exercise at the _jack_, at bowls, helped them to digest their dinners. We ride upon _jack_-asses; _jacks_ flourish in our fish-ponds; _jack_-a-lanterns and _jack_-snipes flit over our bogs, the one scarcely less difficult to capture than the other; _jack_-daws multiply in our steeples, and _jack_-herons still linger about our baronial halls.

The four _jack_ knaves, _jack_-a-lents, _jack_-a-dandies, _jack_-a-nasties, and _jacks_-in-office (_jack_-an-apeses every man _jack_ of them), with that name fraught with mysterious terror, _Jack_ Ketch, are the scape-graces of this numerous family; and, at every _Jack_ who would be the gentleman, at a saucy _Jack_ who attempts to play the _jack_ with us, our indignation rises, like that of Juliet's nurse. But, on the whole, _Jack_ is an honest fellow, who does his work in this life, though he has been reproached with Tom's helping him to do nothing; but let the house that Jack built vindicate him from this calumny. _Jack_, we repeat, is an honest fellow, and is so more especially, when as _Jack_-tar (Heaven protect him from _Jack_-sharks both on sea and shore!) he has old Ocean beneath, and the union-_jack_ above him. Of black and yellow _jack_, who are foreigners, we make no mention; neither of _Jack_-Spaniards, nor of _Jacko_ the monkey, whom we detest; but, go where we will, _Jack_ meets us, and is master of all trades, for that we hold to be the right, though, we are aware, not the usual version of the saying. In short, with Merry _Andrews_, _Jerry_ Sneaks, _Tom_ Noddies, and Silly _Simons_, we may all have a casual acquaintance; but _Jack_, sweet _Jack_, kind _Jack_, honest _Jack_, _Jack_ still is our familiar.

JOHN JACKSON.

[Footnote 1: Jack and Gill were measures. "Wherefore," says
Grumio, "be the Jacks fair within and the Gills fair without,"
meaning the leathern jacks clean within, and the metal gills
polished without.]

[Footnote 2: His character has suffered by antiquarian
research, which tells us that the song was made on a Colonel
Horner, intrusted by the last Abbot of Wells with a pie,
containing the title-deeds of the abbey, which he was to
deliver to Henry VIII., and that he abstracted one for his own
purposes, whereupon the abbot was hanged.]

[Footnote 3: The old name for pancakes. Slap-_jacks_ is their
present name in America.]

[Footnote 4: The figure which struck the hour, as on the old
clocks of St. Dunstan's, and of Carfax in Oxford.]

* * * * *

MYTHE VERSUS MYTH.

When I first began to write on Mythology, I followed the Germans in using _mythus_ for the Greek ~mythos~. I afterwards thought it would be better to Anglicise it, and, strange to say, I actually found that there was a rule in the English language without an exception. It was this: Words formed from Greek disyllables in ~os~, whether the penultimate vowel be long or short, are monosyllables made long by _e_ final. Thus, not only does ~bôlos~ make _bole_, but ~polos~ _pole_, ~poros~ _pore_, ~skopos~ _scope_, ~tonos~ _tone_, &c.; so also ~gyros~, _gyre_; ~thymos~, _thyme_; ~stylos~, _style_; ~kybos~, _cube_, &c.: I therefore, without hesitation, made an English word _m[=y]the_. Mr. Grote, in his _History of Greece_, has done the very same thing, and probably on the same principles, quite independently of me; for, as I am informed, he has never condescended to read my _Mythology of Greece and Italy_, perhaps because it was not written in German. We have had no followers, as far as I am aware, but Miss Lynn, in her classical novels, and Mr. J. E. Taylor, in his translation of the _Pentamerone_, &c.

Meantime the English language had got another form of ~mythos~, namely, _m[)y]th_, which I believe made its first appearance in Mr. Cooley's _Maritime and Inland Discovery_, and so has the claim of priority, if not of correctness. This form has been so generally adopted, that it seems likely ere long to become a mere slang term. It is used for every kind of fiction whatever; indeed, I have seen it employed where the proper word would be _hoax_. Nay, to make matters worse, it is actually used of persons. Mrs. Harris, for instance, has been termed a _myth_, as also was Robin Hood, not long since, even in "N. & Q."! I wonder how Apolodorus would have looked, if he had heard Orion or Polyphemus called a ~mythos~!

Do I then expect the people of England to surrender their glorious privilege of going wrong without let or hindrance, in matters of grammar and etymology? Far from me be such folly and presumption. All I venture to expect is, that men of learning and good sense will, when they are speaking or writing about those venerable fictions which once commanded the assent of polished nations, use the more dignified term _m[=y]the_, and the adjective _mythic_, instead of the hybrid _mythical_, leaving the poor unhappy little _m[)y]th_ to be bandied about at the popular will and pleasure.

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

* * * * *

WITCHCRAFT IN 1638.

I inclose you an extract from an old document in my possession, which appears to be the examination of two witnesses against one Mary Shepherd for witchcraft. The nature of the offence is not {327} specified. Perhaps it may be interesting to some of your readers.

_The Exa[=m] of Jone Coward of Wareham, taken upon Oath the 28
March, 1638._

Who sayth, y't about Midsomer last past one Mary Sheapheard of
Wareham did pull of one of this Ex[=mt]'s stockings, and
within 2 howers after this Ex[=nt] was taken in all her limbs
that she could not stur hand or foot, where upon this Ex[=nt]
considered that the fors'd Mary Sheapheard had done her that
hurt, and forth w'th cryed out upon the sayd Mary Shep.
(though the sayd M. Shep. was not present), where upon this
Ex[=mt]'s mother went unto the house of M. Shep. to perswaed
her to come downe to this Ex[=nt]; but the sayd M. Shep. would
not. Whereupon this Ex[=nt]'s mother went unto the Mayor of
the Town, who co[=m]anded the s'd M. Shep. to goe to this
Exa[=nt]. At length the s'd Ma. Shep. accordingly did (and
being co[=e]), she did wring this Ex[=nt] by the hande, and
p'esently this Ex[=nt] recouered. Ffurther, the Ex[=nt]
sayth, y't about ye 24 of July _next followinge_, this
Ex[=nt] was taken in ye like manner ye second time, w'th
her hands and feet wrested about, and so sent for the s'd M.
Shep., who instantly pulled the Ex[=nt] by the hands, and
p'esently the Ex[=nt] recovered again.

JONE COWARD.

Joane Coward de Warh[=a], spinster £xx,

To appear and give evidence at the next assizes ag[=nt] Ma.
Sheapheard.

* * * * *

_The Ex[=am] of Ann Trew, single woman, of Wareham, taken upon
Oath as afors'd._

Who sayth, y't on ye 16th of March last past she saw Mary
Shep. come into ye house of Joh. Gillingame, and likewise saw
Ed. Gillingame come down bare-footed very well, without any
lamnesse or sickness at all, and p'esently after ye sayd
Mary Shep. had pulled on the legginge upon the legge of ye
s'd Ed. Gill., he fell instantly both lame and sick. Further,
the Ex[=nt] asked the s'd Ed. Gill. (in the time of his
sickness) what Ma. Shep. did unto him, who answered, she did
put her hand upon his thigh.

ANN TREW.

Anne Trew de Warh[=a], spinster £xx,

To appear and give evidence at next assizes ag[=nt] M.
Shepheard.

I should like to know if the effect of her supposed sorcery could be attributed to mesmerism. The document in my possession appears to be original, as Jone Coward's signature is in a different hand to that of the examination.

J. C. M.

Spetisbury.

* * * * *

ST. AUGUSTIN AND BAXTER.

I am not aware that any author has pointed out a remarkable coincidence in the Confessions of St. Augustin and of Baxter:

"Divers sins I was addicted to, and oft committed against my
conscience, which, for the warning of others, I will here
confess to my shame. I was much addicted to the excessive and
gluttonous eating of apples and pears, which, I think, laid
the foundation of the imbecility and flatulency of my
stomach.... To this end, and to concur with naughty boys that
gloried in evil, I have oft gone into other men's orchards and
stolen the fruit, when I had enough at home.... These were my
sins in my childhood, as to which conscience troubled me for a
great while before they were overcome."

Sir W. Scott cites the above passages in his _Life of Dryden_, with sharp comments on the rigid scruples of the Puritans:

"How is it possible," he says, "to forgive Baxter for the
affectation with which he records the enormities of his
childhood?... Can any one read this confession without
thinking of Tartuffe, who subjected himself to penance for
killing a flea with too much anger?..."

It probably did not occur to the biographer, that no less illustrious a saint than Augustin, to whom Puritanism can hardly be imputed, had made a parallel confession of like early depravity many centuries before. Enlarging on his own puerile delinquencies, and indeed on the wickedness of children in general, he confesses that, in company with other "naughty boys" ("nequissimi adolescentuli"), he not only stole apples, but stole them for the mere pleasure of the thing, and when he "had enough at home":

"Id furatus sum quod mihi abundabat, et multo melius. Nec eâ
re volebam frui quam furto appetebam; sed ipso furto et
peccato. Arbor erat pirus in viciniâ vineæ nostræ pomis
onusta, nec formâ nec sapore illecebrosis. Ad hanc excutiendam
atque asportandam, nequissimi adolescentuli perreximus nocte
intempestâ; et abstulimus inde onera ingentia, non ad nostras
epulas, sed vel projicienda porcis, etiamsi aliquid inde
comedimus.... Ecce cor meum, Deus meus, ecce cor meum, quod
miseratus es in imo abyssi!"--_Confessionum_, lib. ii. cap.
iv.

In comparing the two cases, the balance of juvenile depravity is very much against the great Doctor of Grace. He does not seem to have had even a fondness for fruit to plead in extenuation of his larceny. He robbed orchards by wholesale of apples, which, by his own admission, had no attractions either of form or flavour to tempt him. Yet the two anecdotes are so much alike, that one would be inclined to suspect one story of being a mere recoction of the other if it were possible to doubt the veracity of Richard Baxter.

{328} The incident, however, is one too familiar in schoolboy life to make the repetition of the story a matter of surprise. The property in an apple growing within the reach of a boy's hand has from time immemorial been in peril, and the law itself has not always regarded it as an object of scrupulous protection. The old laws of the Rheingau, and (if I mistake not) of some other states, warranted a wayfaring man in picking apples from any tree, provided he did not exceed the number of three.

E. SMIRKE.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Subterranean Bells_ (Vol. vii., pp. 128. 200.).--In answer to J. J. S.'s inquiry, I beg to state, that at Crosmere, near Ellesmere, Shropshire, where there is one of a number of pretty lakes scattered throughout that district, there is a tradition of a chapel having formerly stood on the banks of the lake. And it is said that the belief once was, that whenever the waters were ruffled by wind, the chapel bells might be heard as singing beneath the surface. This, though bearing on the subject of "submarine" or "subaqueous," rather than "subterranean" bells, illustrates, I think, the tradition to which J. J. S. refers.

J. W. M.

Hordley, Ellesmere.

_Welsh Legend of the Redbreast._--According to my old nurse (a Carmarthenshire woman), the redbreast, like Prometheus, is the victim ~philanthrôpou tropou~. Not only the babes in the wood, but mankind at large, are indebted to these deserving favourites. How could any child help regarding with grateful veneration the little bird with bosom red, when assured--

"That far, far, far away is a land of woe, darkness, spirits
of evil, and _fire_. Day by day does the little bird bear in
his bill a drop of water to quench the flame. So near to the
burning stream does he fly, that his dear little feathers are
_scorched_: and hence he is named Bron-_rhuddyn_.[5] To serve
little children, the robin dares approach the Infernal Pit. No
good child will hurt the devoted benefactor of man. The robin
returns from the land of _fire_, and therefore he feels the
_cold_ of winter far more than his brother birds. He shivers
in the brumal blast; hungry, he chirps before your door. Oh!
my child, then, in gratitude throw a few crumbs to poor
red-breast."

Why, a Pythagorean would have eaten a peacock sooner than one of us would have injured a robin.

R. P.

[Footnote 5: Bron-rhuddyn = "breast-burnt," or
"breast-scorched."]

* * * * *

JOHNSONIANA.

I inclose you a transcript of a letter of Boswell's which I think worthy of being permanently recorded, and am not aware of its having been before in print.

Edinburgh, 11th April, 1774.

Dear Sir,

When Mr. Johnson and I arrived at Inveraray after our
expedition to the Hebrides, and there for the first time
_after many days_ renewed our enjoyment of the luxuries of
civilised life, one of the most elegant that I could wish to
find was lying for me, a letter from Mr. Garrick. It was a
pineapple of the finest flavour, which had a high zest indeed
amongst the heath-covered mountains of Scotia. That I have not
thanked you for it long ere now is one of those strange facts
for which it is so difficult to account, that I shall not
attempt it. The _Idler_ has strongly expressed many of the
wonderful effects of the _vis inertiæ_ of the human mind. But
it is hardly credible that a man should have the warmest
regard for his friend, a constant desire to show it, and a
keen ambition for a frequent epistolary intercourse with him,
and yet should let months roll on without having resolution,
or activity, or power, or whatever it be, to write a few
lines. A man in such a situation is somewhat like Tantalus
reversed. He recedes, he knows not how, from what he loves,
which is full as provoking as when what he loves recedes from
him. That my complaint is not a peculiar fancy, but deep in
human nature, I appeal to the authority of St. Paul, who
though he had not been exalted to the dignity of an apostle,
would have stood high in fame as a philosopher and orator,
"_What I would that do I not._" You need be under no concern
as to your debt to me for the book which I purchased for you.
It was long ago discharged; for believe me, I intended the
book as a present. Or if you rather chuse that it should be
held as an exchange with the epitaphs which you sent me, I
have no objection. Dr. Goldsmith's death would affect all the
club much. I have not been so much affected with any event
that has happened of a long time. I wish you would give me,
who am at a distance, and who cannot get to London this
spring, some particulars with regards to his last appearances.
Dr. Young has a fine thought to this purpose, that every
friend who goes before us to the other side of the river of
death, makes the passage to us the easier. Were our club all
removed to a future world but one or two, _they_, one should
think, would incline to follow. By all means let me be on your
list of subscribers to Mr. Morrell's _Prometheus_. You have
enlivened the town, I see, with a musical piece. The prologue
is admirably fancied _arripere populum tributim_; though, to
be sure, Foote's remark applies to it, that your prologues {329}
have a culinary turn, and that therefore the motto to your
collection of them should be, _Animus jamdudum in Patinis_. A
player upon words might answer him, "Any Patinis rather than
your Piety in Pattens." I wonder the wags have not been
quoting upon you, "Whose erudition is a _Christmas tale_." But
Mr. Johnson is ready to bruise any one who calls in question
your classical knowledge and your happy application of it. I
hope Mr. Johnson has given you an entertaining account of his
Northern Tour. He is certainly to favour the world with some
of his remarks. Pray do not fail to quicken him by word as I
do by letter. Posterity will be the more obliged to his
friends the more that they can prevail with him to write. With
best compliments to Mrs. Garrick, and hoping that you will not
punish me by being long silent, I remain faithfully yours,

JAMES BOSWELL.

To David Garrick, Esq.,
Adelphi, London.

W. P.

* * * * *

MINOR NOTES.

_White Roses._--In an old newspaper, _The Weekly Journal, or British Gazetteer_, of Saturday, June 15, 1723, I find the following paragraph:

"Monday being the anniversary of the White Roses, some persons
who had a mind to boast that they had bid defiance to the
government, put them on early in the morning; but the mob not
liking such doings, gathered about them, and demolished the
wearers; which so terrified the crew, that not one of them
afterwards would touch a white rose."

Can you, or any of your correspondents, explain this curious allusion? Is it to the emblem of the House of York, or the badge of the Pretender?

E. G. B.

_Fifeshire Pronunciation._--I have observed, in various parts of Fifeshire, a singular peculiarity in the pronunciation of certain words, of which the following are specimens:

Pronounced

Wrong, Vrang.
Wright, Vricht (_gut._).
Wretch, Vretch.
Write, _v. a._ Vrite.
Write, or writing, _s._ Vreat.

This strange mode is not altogether confined to the most illiterate portion of the people. My query is, Does this peculiarity obtain in any other portion of Scotland?

A. R. X.

Paisley.

_Original Letter._--The following letter, written by the French general at Guadaloupe, when it was taken in 1810, to his conqueror, is an exquisite specimen of something more than that national politeness which does not desert a Frenchman even in misfortune. I possess the original:

Au quartier général du Parc,
le 6 Février, 1810.

A son Excellence

Le Général Beckwith, Commandant en chef les forces de sa
Majesté Britannique aux isles du Vent.

Monsieur le Général,

J'ai été prévenu que Votre Excellence se proposait de venir au
Parc demain dans la matinée. J'ose espérer qu'elle voudra bien
me faire l'honneur d'accepter le diner que lui offre un Général
malheureux et vaincu, mais qu'il présente de tout coeur.

Daignez, Monsieur le Général, agréer l'assurance de la haute
considération avec laquelle

J'ai l'honneur d'être,
de votre Excellence,
Le très-obéissant serviteur,
EMOUF.

EDWARD FOSS.

_Erroneous Forms of Speech._--Since you allow your correspondents to correct such words as _teetotal_, I hope you will allow me to call the attention of your agricultural readers to the corruption in the word _mangold_, as they now write it. The word is in German _mangel wurzel_, root of scarcity. It is wrong to use even such a name as this, in my opinion, while we have the English name _beet_, which has the additional advantage of being derived from the botanical name _Beta_. But if a new name must be used, let it, at any rate, be the pure German _mangel_, and not the mongrel _mangold_. Indeed, those who spell the word in the latter way, ought in common consistency to write _reddishes_, _sparrowgrass_, and _cowcumbers_ for radishes, asparagus, and cucumbers.

E. G. R.

* * * * *

QUERIES.

EUSTACHE DE SAINT PIERRE.

(Vol. vii., p. 10.)

MR. KING'S inquiry reminds me of two Queries on the same subject which I sent you as far back as the end of 1851, or beginning of 1852. Those Queries have not appeared in "N. & Q.," and I was led to suppose, either that you had laid them aside for some future occasion, or had found something objectionable in the form in which they were presented. The following is a literal copy.

"There are two circumstances connected with this event (the
surrender of Calais), respecting which I am desirous of
obtaining information. The first has reference to the
individuals who offered themselves as victims to appease the
exasperation of Edward III., after the obstinate siege of {330}
that town in 1347. They are represented as _six_ of the
principal citizens; Eustache de Saint Pierre was at their
head, and the names of three others have come down to us, as
Jean d'Aire, Jacques de Wissant, and Pierre de Wissant. Who
were the other two?

"The second point relates to the character of that occurrence.
Some historians are of opinion that the devotedness of Saint
Pierre and his associates was prompted by the most exalted
sentiments of patriotism; while others assert that it was all
a 'sham,' that Saint-Pierre was secretly attached to the cause
of the English monarch, and that he was subsequently employed
by him in some confidential negociations. To which of these
opinions should the historical inquirer give his assent?"

I may add, in reply to MR. KING, that "the light thrown on the subject, through M. de Bréquigny's labours," has been noticed in the _Biographie Universelle_, sub voce _Saint-Pierre (Eustache de)_; and it was the remarks in that work that first drew my attention to it. The circumstances disclosed by Bréquigny are also commented upon by Lévesque in his _La France sous les Valois_.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

* * * * *

PASSAGE IN COLERIDGE.

De Quincy, in his "Suspiria de Profundis," Blackwood's _Magazine_, June, 1845, p. 748., speaking of the spectre of the Brocken, and of the conditions under which that striking phenomenon is manifested, observes that

"Coleridge ascended the Brocken on the Whitsunday of 1799 with
a party of English students from Goettingen, but failed to see
the phantom; afterwards in England (and under the same three
conditions) he saw a much rarer phenomenon, which he described
in the following eight lines. I give them from a corrected
copy. The apostrophe in the beginning must be understood as
addressed to an ideal conception:

"'And art thou nothing? Such thou art as when
The woodman winding westward up the glen
At wintry dawn, when o'er the sheep-track's maze
The viewless snow-mist weaves a glist'ning haze,
Sees full before him, gliding without tread,
An image with a glory round its head:
This shade he worships for its golden hues,
And makes (not knowing) that which he pursues.'"

These lines are from "Constancy to an ideal Object;" but in the usual editions of Coleridge's _Poems_, the last two lines are printed thus:

"The enamour'd rustic worships its fair hues,
Nor knows he makes the shadow he pursues."
Coleridge's _Poetical Works_, vol. ii. p. 91., 1840.

Query: Which reading is the correct one? Coleridge refers to the _Manchester Philosophical Transactions_ for a description of this phenomenon; but, as the earlier volumes of these are scarce, perhaps some of your correspondents would copy the description from the volume which contains it, or furnish one from some authentic source.

J. M. B.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

_Cann Family._--Can any of your correspondents enlighten me as to the origin of this family name; and if of foreign extraction, as I suspect, in what county of England they first settled? There is a village in Dorsetshire called Cann St. Rumbold. Possibly this may afford some clue. Burke informs us that William Cann, Esq., was Mayor of Bristol in 1648, and that his son, Sir Robert Cann, also Mayor, and afterwards M.P. for that city, was knighted by Charles II. in 1662, and created a Baronet, September 13th in the same year. The title became extinct in 1765, by the death of Sir Robert Cann, the sixth Baronet. The first Baronet had several brothers, some of whom most probably left issue, as I find a respectable family of that name now, and for many years past, located in Devonshire; but I am not aware if they are descended from the same stock.

DOMINI-CANN.

Canada.

_Landholders in Lonsdale South of the Sands._--In his _History of Lancashire_, Baines states (vol. i. chap. iv.) that a return of the principal landholders in Lonsdale South of the Sands, in the time of James I., has been kept; but he does not state where the return is registered, nor whether it was in a private or public form. In fact, it is impossible to make any reference to the return, from the brief mention made of it by Baines.

Perhaps some one of your Lancashire correspondents may be acquainted with the sources of the learned historian's information. If so, it would much oblige your correspondent to be directed to them, as also to any of the Lancashire genealogical authorities referring to the district of Lonsdale South of the Sands.

OBSERVER.

_Rotation of the Earth._--Has the experiment which about two years ago was much talked of, for demonstrating the rotation of the earth by means of a pendulum, been satisfactorily carried out and proved? And if so, where is the best place for finding an account of it? The diagram by Mr. Little in the _Illustrated London News_ does not seem to explain the matter very fully.

[?]

_Nelson and Wellington._--The following statement has been going the round of the American newspapers since the death of the Duke of Wellington. Is it true?--"Lord Nelson was the eighteenth in descent from King Edward I., and {331} the Duke of Wellington was descended from the same monarch."

UNEDA.

_Are White Cats deaf?_--White cats are reputed to be "hard of hearing." I have known many instances, and in all stupidity seemed to accompany the deafness. Can any instances be given of white cats possessing the function of hearing in anything like perfection?

SHIRLEY HIBBERD.

_Arms in Dugdale's "Warwickshire," &c._--In Dugdale's _Warwickshire_ (1656), p. 733. fig. 21., is a coat of arms from the Prior's Lodgings at Maxstoke, viz. Or, fretty of ten pieces sa. with a canton gu. And in Shaw's _Hist. of Staffordshire_, vol. i. p. *210., is the notice of a similar coat from Armitage Church, near Rugeley, extracted out of _Church Notes_, by Wyrley the herald, taken about 1597: viz. "Rugeley as before, impaling O. fretty of ... S. with a canton G. Query if ..."

Dugdale gives another coat, p. 111. fig. 12., from the windows of Trinity Church, Coventry; viz. Arg. on a chev. sa. three _stars_ of the first. There is a mitre over this coat.

Can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." assign the family names to these arms? Does the mitre necessarily imply a bishop or mitred abbot; and, if not, does it belong to John de Ruggeley, who was Abbot of Merevale (not far from Coventry) temp. Hen. VI., one branch of whose family bore--Arg. on a chev. sa. three _mullets_ of the first. I may observe that this John was perhaps otherwise connected with Coventry; for Edith, widow of Nicholas de Ruggeley, his brother, left a legacy, says Dugd., p. 129., to an anchorite mured up at Stivichall Church, a member of St. Michael's Church, Coventry.

The same coat (_i. e._ with the mullets) is assigned by Dugd., p. 661. fig. 12., to the name of Knell.

J. W. S. R.

_Tombstone in Churchyard._--Does any one know of a legible inscription older than 1601?

A. C.

_Argot and Slang._--I shall be much obliged by learning from any correspondent the etymons of _argot_ (French) and _slang_, as applied to language; and when did the latter term first come into use?

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

_Priests' Surplices._--Will some of the readers of "N. & Q." favour me with a decision or authority on the following point? Does a priest's surplice differ from that worn by a lay vicar, or vicar choral? I have been an old choir-boy; and some few years since, as a boy, used to remark that the priests' surplices worn at St. Paul's, the Chapel Royal, and Westminster Abbey, were, as a sempstress would term it, _gaged_, or stitched down in rows over the shoulders some seven or eight times at the distance of about half an inch from each other. In the cathedral churches of Durham, York, Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester, and Oxford, I have remarked their almost universal adoption; but, to the best of my belief, I have never seen such a description of vestment in use among parochial clergymen, above half-a-dozen times, and I am desirous of knowing if the _gaged_ surplice is peculiar to cathedrals and collegiate churches (I have even seen canons residentiary in them, habited in the lay vicar's surplice), or is the surplice used by choristers, undergraduates, and vicars choral, which, according to my early experience, is one without needlework, the correct officiating garment; the latter is almost universally used at funerals, where the officiating priest seldom wears either his scarf or hood, and presents anything but a dignified appearance when he crowns this _négligée_ with one of our grotesque chimney-pot hats, to the exclusion of the more appropriate college cap.

AMANUENSIS.

_John, Brother German to David II._--Can any of your readers solve the problem in Scotch history, who was John, brother german to King David II., son of Robert Bruce? David II., in a charter to the Priory of Rostinoth, uses these words: "Pro salute animæ nostræ, etc., ac ob benevolentiam et affectionem specialem quam erga dictum prioratum devote gerimus eo quod ossa celebris memoriæ Johannis fratris nostri germani ibidem (the Priory) humata quiescunt dedimus, etc., viginti marcas sterlingorum, etc." Dated at Scone, "in pleno parliamento nostro tento ibidem decimo die Junii anno regni sexto decimo."

The expression "celebris memoriæ" might almost be held to indicate that John had lived to manhood, but is perhaps only a style of royalty; nevertheless, the passage altogether seems to lead to the inference, that the person had at least survived the age of infancy. King Robert's bastard son, Sir Robert Bruce, had a grant of the lands of Finhaven, in the neighbourhood of Rostinoth.[6]

DE CAMERA.

[Footnote 6: Dr. Jamieson has a note on King David II.,
brother, in his edition, of Barbour's Bruce; but does not
quote the words of the charter so fully as they are here
given.--_The Bruce and Wallace_, 4to., Edin. 1820, vol. i. p.
485.]

_Scott, Nelson's Secretary._--Can any of your readers give me information as to the pedigree and family of John Scott, Esq., public secretary to Lord Nelson? He was killed at Trafalgar on board the Victory; and dying while his sons were yet very young, his descendants possess little knowledge on the subject to which I have alluded. He was, I _think_, born at Fochabers, near Gordon Castle, where his mother is known to have died.

A SUBSCRIBER.

{332} _The Axe which beheaded Anne Boleyn._--A friend of mine has excited my curiosity by stating, that in his school-boy readings of the history of England, he learned that the axe which deprived Henry VIII.'s second wife (Anne Boleyn) of her head was preserved as a relic in the Northgate Street of Kent's ancient citie, Canterbury. I have written to friends living in that locality for a confirmation of such a strange fact; but they plead ignorance. Can any of your numerous readers throw any light relative to this subject upon the benighted mind of

PHILIP WEST.

_Roger Outlawe._--A friend of mine in Germany has met with some ancient rolls, said to have been from the Irish Court of Common Pleas, chiefly of the time of Edward III., and headed thus:

"Communia placita apud Dublin coram fratre Rogero Outlawe
priore hospitii sancti Johannis de Jerusalem in hibernia
tenens locum Johannis Darcy le Cosyn Justiciarii hiberniæ apud
Dublin die pasche in viiij mense anno B. Etii post ultimum
conquestum hiberniæ quarto."

Can any person state who this _Roger Outlawe_ was? And is it not singular that a prior of a religious and military establishment should be qualified to sit as _locum tenens_ of a judge in a law court?

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

"_Berte au Grand Pied._"--I should be glad to know what is the history or legend of the goose-footed queen, whose figure Mr. Laing, in his _Norway_, p. 70. 8vo. edition, says is on the portals of four French cathedrals.

THOS. LAWRENCE.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

_Lying by the Walls._--What is the origin of the phrase "Lying by the walls," an euphemism for _dead_? It was very commonly used in this county some years ago. Instead of saying "Poor M. or N. is _dead_," they always said "Poor M. or N. _lies by the walls_."

R. P.

St. Ives, Hunts.

_Constables of France_ (Vol. vi., pp. 128. 254.).--Has no person been appointed to fill that high office since the death of the Duc de Luynes, in 1621?

A. S. A.

Wuzzeerabad.

_St. John's Church, Shoreditch._--The church of St. John, within the priory of Holywell, Shoreditch, and the chapel adjoining it, built by Sir Thomas Lovel, treasurer of the household to King Henry VII., knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, &c.

Is there any better or other account of this priory, church, and chapel than that given in the _Monasticon_? Judging by the statement copied by Mr. Lysons from the original entry in the books of the College of Arms, the chapel must have been a splendid building. Sir Thomas Lovel was buried there on the 8th June, 1525, "in a tombe of whyte marbell which both hit and the chappell were founded by hym, and it stondeth on the southe syde of the quyre of the saide churche." At his funeral there were present the Bishop of London, Lord St. John, Sir Richard Wyngfield, and many others, nobles and gentlemen. The Abbot of Waltham, the Prior of St. Mary Spital, four orders of friars, the Mayor and all the aldermen of London, the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, the Lord Steward, and all the clerks of London, &c., also attended. What a contrast to the present condition of the place, now a scavenger's yard, once the apparently last resting-place of the councillor of a mighty sovereign! "They that did feed delicately, that were brought up in scarlet, embrace dunghills. The holy house where our fathers worshipped is laid waste."

WARDEN S. HENDRY.

P. S.--Part of the chapel is now to be found under the floor of the "Old King John," Holywell Lane. The stone doorway into the porter's lodge of the priory still exists; but, from the accumulation of earth, the crown of the arch is six feet below the ground. I took a sketch of it, and some other remains of the priory, also under ground, about ten years ago.

W. S. H.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS.

_Sir John Thompson._--What are the crest, arms, motto, and supporters of Sir John Thompson, Bart., created Baron Haversham, of Haversham and Newport Pagnel, about the eighth year of William III.?

R. P. D.

[Or, on a fesse indented az. three etoiles ar.; on a canton of
the second, a sun in his glory, ppr.--Crest, an arm, erect,
vested gu. cuff ar. holding in the hand ppr. five ears of
wheat or. Motto, "In lumine luce."--Robson's _British Herald_,
vol. ii. _s. v._; and for the plate, vol. iii. pl. 50.]

_Ring, the Marriage._--When and how did the use of the ring, in the marriage ceremony, originate? Is it of Christian origin; or is it derived from the Jews, or from the Greeks or Romans?

JONATHAN PIM.

[Brand quotes Vallancey and Leo Modena for the use of the
marriage ring among the Jews (_Popular Antiq._, vol. ii. p.
103. edit. 1849). Wheatly, however, has given the most
detailed account of its origin:--"The reason," he says, "why a
ring was pitched upon for the pledge rather than anything else
was, because anciently the ring was a _seal_, by which all
orders were signed, and things of value secured (Gen. xxxviii.
18., Esther iii. 10. 12., 1 Maccab. vi. 15.); and therefore
the delivery of it was a sign that the person to whom {333} it was
given was admitted into the highest friendship and trust (Gen.
xli. 42.). For which reason it was adopted as a ceremony in
marriage to denote that the wife, in consideration of her
being espoused to the man, was admitted as a sharer in her
husband's counsels, and a joint-partner in his honour and
estate: and therefore we find that not only the _ring_, but
the _keys_ also were in former times delivered to her at the
marriage. That the ring was in use among the old Romans, we
have several undoubted testimonies (Juvenal, _Sat._ vi. ver.
26, 27.; Plin. _Hist. Nat._, lib. iii. c. i.; Tertull.
_Apol._, c. vi. p. 7. A.). Pliny, indeed, tells us, that in
his time the Romans used an iron ring without any jewel; but
Tertullian hints, that in the former ages it was a ring of
gold."--_Rational Illustration of the Common Prayer_, p. 390.
edit. 1759.]

_Amusive._--Is this word peculiar to Thomson, or is it made use of by other poets? Its meaning does not appear to be very definite. In the _Spring_ it is applied to the rooks, with their "ceaseless caws amusive;" in the _Summer_ to the thistledown, which "amusive floats;" and in the _Autumn_, the theory of the supposed cause of mountain springs is called an "amusive dream." Thomson seems to have been partial to these kind of adjectives, "effusive," "diffusive," "prelusive," &c.

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

[A reference to Richardson's _Dictionary_ will show that,
however fond Thomson may have been of this word, it is not one
peculiar to him. Whitehead says:

"To me 'twas given to wake _th' amusive_ reed,"

and Chandler, in his _Travels in Greece_, speaks of the wind
"murmuring _amusively_ among the pines."]

_Belfry Towers separate from the Body of the Church._--At Mylor, near Falmouth, there is an old tower for the bells (where they are rung every Sunday), separate from the church itself, which has a very low tower. Are there many other instances of this? I do not remember to have seen any.

J. S. A.

[If our correspondent will refer to the last edition of the
_Glossary of Architecture_, s. v. _Campanile_, he will learn
that though bell towers are generally attached to the church,
they are sometimes unconnected with it, as at Chichester
cathedral, and are sometimes united merely by a covered
passage, as at Lapworth, Warwickshire. There are several
examples of detached bell-towers still remaining, as at
Evesham, Worcestershire; Berkeley, Gloucestershire; Walton,
Norfolk; Ledbury, Herefordshire; and a very curious one
entirely of timber, with the frame for the bells springing
from the ground, at Pembridge, Herefordshire. At Salisbury a
fine early English detached campanile, 200 feet in height,
surmounted by a timber turret and spire, stood near the
north-west corner of the cathedral, but was destroyed by
Wyatt.]

_An Easter-day Sun._--In that verse of Sir John Suckling's famous _Ballad upon a Wedding_, wherein occurs the simile of the "little mice," what is the meaning of the allusion to the Easter-day sun?--

"But oh! she dances such a way,
No sun upon an Easter-day
Is half so fine a sight!"

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

[It was formerly a common belief that the sun danced on
Easter-day: see Brand's _Popular Antiquities_, vol. i. p. 161.
_et seq._ So general was it, that Sir Thomas Browne treats on
it in his _Vulgar Errors_, vol. ii. p. 87. ed. Bohn.]

* * * * *

Replies.

HAMILTON QUERIES.

(Vol. vii., p. 285.)

On reference to the Peerages of Sir Harris Nicolas and Wood, I feel no doubt that the father of Lord Spencer Hamilton, as TEE BEE remarks, was the fifth Duke of Hamilton, and not the third, as Collins (edition Brydges) states, who misled me. Perhaps the perplexity, if any, arose from Anne Duchess of Hamilton, the inheritress of the ducal honours by virtue of the patent of 1643, after the deaths of her father and uncle _s. p. m._, having obtained a _life dukedom_ for her husband, William Earl of Selkirk, and, subsequently to his decease, having surrendered all her titles in favour of their eldest son, James Earl of Arran, who was in 1698 made Duke of Hamilton, with the same precedency of the original creation of 1643, as if he had succeeded thereto.

Sir William Hamilton, the ambassador, married first, Jan. 25, 1752, the only child of Hugh Barlow, Esq., of Lawrenny in Pembrokeshire, with whom he got a large estate: she died at Naples, Aug. 25, 1782, and was buried in Wales. His second lady was Emma Harte, a native of Hawarden in Flintshire; where her brother, then a bricklayer working for the late Sir Stephen Glynne, was pointed out to me forty years ago. In Wood's _Peerage_ it is stated that Sir W. Hamilton's second marriage took place at London, Sept. 6, 1794: he died in April, 1803, and was buried in Slebech Church.

I well remember Single-speech Hamilton, who was a fried of the family, dining with my father when I was a little boy; and I still retain the impression of his having been a tall and thin old gentleman, very much out of health. He left a treatise called _Parliamentary Logick_, published in 1808. The brief memoir of the author prefixed to the work, makes no mention of him as a member of the House of Hamilton; but it is said that he derived his name of Gerard from his god-mother Elizabeth, daughter of Digby, Lord Gerard of Bromley, widow of James, fourth Duke of Hamilton, who fell in the duel with Lord Mohun, which looks as if some affinity was recognised. {334} The same authority tells us that William Gerard Hamilton was the only child of a Scotch advocate, William Hamilton, by Hannah Hay, one of the sisters of David Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller; and that he removed to London, and practised with some reputation at the English bar. Mr. W. G. Hamilton died, unmarried, in July, 1796, æt. sixty-eight.

BRAYBROOKE.

TEE BEE has, by his Queries about Sir W. Hamilton, recalled some most painful reminiscences connected with our great naval hero. According to the statement in the _New General Biographical Dictionary_, Sir William Hamilton was married to _his first wife_ in the year 1755; but although it is asserted that she brought her husband 5000l. a-year, her name is not given. She died in 1782, and in 1791 "he married Emma Harte, the fascinating, mischievous, and worthless Lady Hamilton." Pettigrew, in his _Memoirs of Nelson_, says, that this marriage took place at St. George's, Hanover Square, _on the 6th of September_, 1791. TEE BEE will find a full account of Lady H. in the above-mentioned work of Pettigrew.

F. S. B.

* * * * *

THE WOOD OF THE CROSS.

(Vol. vii., p. 177.)

I never heard of our Lord's cross having been made of _elder_ wood. The common idea, legend, or tradition, that prevailed formerly was, that the upright beam of the cross was made of _cedar_, the cross-beam of _cypress_, the piece on which the inscription was written of _olive_, and the piece for the feet of palm.

The legend concerning the wood of the cross is very curious, and may be analysed as follows:--When Adam fell sick, he sent his son Seth to the gate of the garden of Eden to beg of the angel some drops of the oil of mercy that distilled from the tree of life. The angel replied that none could receive this favour till five thousand years had passed away. He gave him, however, a cutting from the tree, and it was planted upon Adam's grave. It grew into a tree with three branches. The rod of Moses was afterwards cut from this tree. Solomon had it cut down to make of it a pillar for his palace. The Queen of Sheba, when she went to visit Solomon, would not pass by it, as she said it would one day cause the destruction of the Jews. Solomon then ordered it to be removed and buried. The spot where it was buried was afterwards dug for the pool of Bethsaida, and the mysterious tree communicated the power of healing to the waters. As the time of the Passion of Christ approached, the wood floated on the surface of the water, and was taken for the upright beam of the cross. See this curious legend at greater length in the _Gospel of Nicodemus_; the _Legenda Aurea_ at the feasts of the Discovery and Exaltation of the Cross; Curzon's _Monasteries of the Levant_, p. 163.; and Didron's _Iconography_, p. 367., Bohn's edition.

I think, however, that I can explain the origin of the question put to RUBI by his poor parishioner as to the cross having been made of _elder_ wood. His question may have sprung from a corruption of an old tradition or legend regarding not our Saviour, but Judas his betrayer. Judas is said to have hanged himself on an _elder_ tree. Sir John Maundeville, in his description of Jerusalem, after speaking of the Pool of Siloe, adds,

"And fast by is still the elder tree on which Judas hanged
himself for despair, when he sold and betrayed our Lord."--P.
175., Bohn's edit.

To return to the wood of the cross. In Sir John Maundeville's time a spot was pointed out at Jerusalem as the spot where the tree grew:

"To the west of Jerusalem is a fair church, where the tree of
the cross grew."--P. 175.

and he speaks of the wood of this tree as having once been used as a bridge over the brook Cedron (p. 176.). Henry Maundrell describes a Greek convent that he visited, about half an hour's distance from Jerusalem:

"That which most deserves to be noted in it, is the reason of
its name and foundation. It is because there is the earth that
nourished the root, that bore the tree, that yielded the
timber, that made the cross. Under the high altar you are
shown a hole in the ground where the stump of the tree
stood."--P. 462.

These are some of the legendary traditions regarding the history and site of the wood of the cross, up to the time of the Passion of Christ.

CEYREP.

* * * * *

EDMUND CHALONER.

(Vol. vi., p. 292.)

I have been waiting for several months in expectation of seeing some satisfactory reply to URSULA'S Query. It seems, however, that, in common with myself, your numerous correspondents are quite at a nonplus. Wood, in his _Athenæ Oxoniensis_, vol. ii. p. 163., mentions this Edmund Chaloner as being about nineteen (URSULA says twenty-one) years old at the death of his father, James Chaloner, in 1660. Wood, Granger, as also Burke in his _Extinct Baronetage_, represent James as being the fourth son of Sir Thomas Chaloner of Gisborough, in the county of York, and this appears to be the general impression as to his parentage. In a _History of Cheshire_, however, written, I believe, by Cowdray, and published in 1791, the author claims him as a native of that county, and makes him to be of much {335} humbler birth and descent than any of his other biographers. Hear him in his own words:

"Our succeeding (Cheshire) collectors form a family harmonic
trio, a father, son, and grandson, of the surname of Chaloner,
and of the several Christian names, Thomas, Jacob, and
_James_. Thomas was an arms-painter in Chester about 1594; he
knew the value of learning sufficiently to give his son a
better education than he received himself. And this son
followed the same occupation in Chester, and made collections,
about the year 1620. But it was _James_, the grandson, who
reflected the greatest credit upon his family, by a very
concise, accurate, and sensible account of the Isle of Man,
printed at the end of King's _Vale Royal_, in 1656. He laid
the foundation of a learned education in our much honoured
college (Brazennoze); and when the parliament invested Lord
Fairfax with the Seignory of Man, he was one of his lordship's
three commissioners for settling the affairs of that island.
The antiquarian collections of all the three Chaloners are
valuable."