Chapter C: T. W

* * * * *

NOTES ON SEVERAL MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS.

_Mechal_ is from the mint of Thomas Heywood; but, like many other words of the same stamp, it continued a private token of the party who issued it, and never, as far as I am aware, became current coin. Four times, at least, it occurs in his works; and always in that sense only which its etymon indicates, to wit, "adulterous." In his "Challenge for Beauty:"

"... her own tongue
Hath publish'd her a _mechall_ prostitute."
Dilke's _Old English Plays_, vol. vi. p. 421.

In his "Rape of Lucrece:"

"... that done, straight murder
One of thy basest grooms, and lay you both
Grasp'd arm in arm in thy adulterate bed,
Men call in witness of that _mechall_ sin."
_Old English Drama_, vol. i. p. 71.

--where the editor's note is--"probably derived from the French word _méchant_, wicked." In his "English Traveller:"

"... Yet whore you may;
And that's no breach of any vow to heaven:
Pollute the nuptial bed with _michall_ sin."
Dilke's _Old English Plays_, vol. i. p. 161.

This misprint the editor corrects to _mickle_: professing, however, as he well might, distrust of his amendment. Nares discards Dilke's guess, and says, "If a right reading, it must be derived from _mich_, truant, adulterous." Whereby to correct one error he commits another, assigning to _mich_ a sense that it never bears. If haply any doubt should remain as to what the true reading in the above passage is, a reference to Heywood's _Various History concerninge Women_ will at once assoil it. In that part of his fourth book which treats of adulteresses (p. 195.), reciting the very story on which his play was founded, and calling it "a moderne historie lately happening, and in mine owne knowledge," he continues his narrative thus:

"With this purpose, stealing, softly vp the stayres, and
listening at the doore, before hee would presume to knocke, hee
might heare a soft whispering, which sometimes growing lowder,
hee might plainely distinguish two voyces (hers, and that
gentleman's his supposed friend, whom the maide had before
nominated), where hee might euidently vnderstand more than
protestations passe betwixt them, namely, the _mechall_ sinne
itselfe."

Mr. Halliwell, in his compilation of _Archaic and Provincial Words_, gives _Mechall_, wicked, adulterous, with a note of admiration at Dilke's conjecture; and a reference to Nares, in v. _Michall_. Mr. H. neither adduces any authority for his first sense, "wicked," nor can adduce one.

_To lowt_, to mock or contemn. A verb of very common occurrence, but, as might be expected, quite unknown to the commentators on Shakspeare, though its meaning was guessed from the context. As it would be tedious and unnecessary to write all the instances that occur, let the following suffice:

"To the holy bloud of Hayles,
With your fyngers and nayles,
All that ye may scratche and wynne;
Yet it woulde not be seen,
Except you were shryven,
And clene from all deadly synne.
There, were we flocked,
_Lowted_ and mocked;
For, now, it is knownen to be
But the bloud of a ducke,
That long did sucke
The thrifte, from every degre."

"The Fantassie of Idolatrie," Foxe's _Acts and
Monuments_, vol. v. p. 406. (Cattley's edition.)

"Pride is it, to vaunt princely robes, not princely virtues.
Pride is it to _lowte_ men of lower sort or pore {353} lasers,
as is some men's guise."--_The Third Booke of Nobilitye_; writte
in Latine by Laurence Humfrey, late Englished, 1563.

"Among serving men also, above all other, what wicked and
detestable oaths are there heard! If there be any of that sort
which fear God, and love his word, and therefore abstain from
vain oaths, how doth his company _lout_ him! Look what an ass is
among a sort of apes, even the very same is he among his
fellows."--_The Invective against Swearing_, p. 361.; Works of
Thomas Becon (Parker Society).

Samson was accounted of the Philistines for a fool, but he would rather die than suffer that opprobry unrevenged (Judic. xvi.).

"David was _lowted_ of Michol Saul's daughter, but she was made
therefore barren all her life."--2 Reg. vi.

And same page, a little _above_:

"He that calleth his brother fool, that is to say, contemn him,
mock him, or, as men call it now-a-days, _lowting_ of a man,
committeth such murder as is worthy hell-fire and eternal
damnation."--_A Declaration of the Ten Commandments_, ch. ix. p.
373.; Early Writings of Bishop Hooper (Parker Society).

"Renowned Talbot doth expect my ayde, And I am _lowted_ by a
traitor villaine And cannot help the noble Cheualier."

The First Part of _Henry VI._, Actus Quartus, Scena Prima (First
Folio Shakspeare).

Where I would note, by the way, that in three copies of the folio 1632, now by me, it is printed "_at_ traitor," although two of these folios have different title-pages; that which appears to be the later impression bears under the portrait these words: "London, printed by Thos. Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold _at his shop_ at the signe of the Blacke Beare, in Paul's Church-yard, 1632." The other wants the words "at his shop," as described in MR. COLLIER'S edition.

The mention of MR. COLLIER'S name is a hint that reminds me to advertise him of a mistake he lies under, in supposing that the Duke of Devonshire's copy of the Play of _King Richard II._ in 4to., dated 1605, is unique (_vid._ Collier's _Shakspeare_, vol. iv. p. 105., Introduction); as there is another in the Philosophical Institute at Hereford, presented by the late Edward Evans, Esq., of Eyton Hall, in the same county.

But to return. Mr. Halliwell, in his work above quoted, furnishes another instance of the verb _lowt_, from Hall's _History of King Henry IV._, which the reader may consult for himself. I will merely add, that the interpretation there propounded is plausible but unsound, the context only giving aim to his conjecture.

(_To be continued._)

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Drills presaging Death._--In Norfolk, agricultural labourers generally believe that if a drill go from one end of a field to the other without depositing any seed--an accident which may result from the tubes and coulters clogging with earth--some person connected with the farm will die before the year expires, or before the crop then sown is reaped. It is a useful superstition, as it causes much attention to be paid to make the drill perform its work correctly. Still it is remarkable that such a superstition should have arisen, considering the recent introduction of that machine into general use. I should be glad to learn from other readers of "N. & Q." whether this belief prevails in other parts of England where the drill is generally used.

E. G. R.

_Beltane in Devonshire._--Seeing that the ancient superstition of the Beltane fire is still preserved in Scotland, and is lighted on the 1st of May, the origin of which is supposed to be an annual sacrifice to Baal, I am induced to state that a custom, evidently derived from the same source, is, or was a few years since, annually observed in the wild parts of Devonshire. At the village of Holne, situated on one of the Spurs of Dartmoor, is a field of about two acres, the property of the parish, and called the Ploy (_Play_) Field. In the centre of this stands a granite pillar (Menhir) six or seven feet high. On May morning, before daybreak, the young men of the village assemble there, and then proceed to the Moor, where they select a ram lamb (doubtless with the consent of the owner), and after running it down, bring it in triumph to the Ploy Field, fasten it to the pillar, cut its throat, and then roast it whole, skin, wool, &c. At midday a struggle takes place, at the risk of cut hands, for a slice, it being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year on the fortunate devourer. As an act of gallantry, in high esteem among the females, the young men sometimes fight their way through the crowd to get a slice for their chosen amongst the young women, all of whom, in their best dresses, attend the _Ram Feast_, as it is called. Dancing, wrestling, and other games, assisted by copious libations of cider during the afternoon, prolong the festivity till nightfall.

The time, the place (looking east), the mystic pillar, and the ram, surely bear some evidence in favour of the Ram Feast being a sacrifice to Baal.

AN OLD HOLNE CURATE.

_Touching for King's Evil._--The following passage bearing upon the custom of touching for the King's Evil, and its antiquity, is extracted from Laing's translation of Snorro Sturleson's _Heimskringla_. King Olaf the Rich, afterwards Saint, had fled to Russia on being driven out of his kingdom by {354} Knut the Great. Ingigerd, Queen of Russia, desired a widow to take her son, who "had a sore boil upon his neck," to King Olaf, "the best physician here, and beg him to lay his hands on thy lad." The king was unwilling to do so, saying that he was not a physician; but at last consented:

"Then the king took the lad, laid his hands upon his neck, and
felt the boil for a long time, until the boy made a very wry
face. Then the king took a piece of bread, laid it in the figure
of the cross upon the palm of his hand, and put it into the
boy's mouth. He swallowed it down, and from that time all the
soreness left his neck, and in a few days he was quite well....
Then first came Olaf into the repute of having as much healing
power in his hands as is ascribed to men who have been gifted by
nature with healing by the touch."

Laing asks in a note:

"Is the touching for the King's Evil ... connected with this
royal saint's healing by the touch?"--_The Heimskringla_, vol.
ii. p. 297., 8vo.: London, 1844.

DE CAMERA.

* * * * *

GAFFER OR GAMMER, ETC.

These two venerable words were used by our ancestors. Every one has heard of Gammer Gurton; Gaffer Gingerbread was also famous in, as well as I can remember, a portion of the literature which amused my childhood. In _Joseph Andrews_, Fielding styles the father of Pamela "Gaffer Andrews:" and, for aught I know, the word may be still in use in Wilts and Somerset.

Unde derivantur _Gaffer_ and _Gammer_? Lye said they were _quasi_ good-father and good-mother; Somner, that they were the Anglo-Saxon _Gefæder_ and _Gemeder_, i. e. godfather and godmother; Webster derives the former from the Hebrew _geber_, man, the latter from the Scandinavian _gamel_, old. Having a fondness for simplicity, I go less learnedly to work. I have observed little children, when commencing to speak, to say "ganpa" and "gamma" for grandpapa and grandmamma: whence I conjecture that, in the olden time, ere we had Pa's and Ma's, the little aspirants used to say "ganfa'er" and "gamma'er," which easily became _Gaffer_ and _Gammer_. I am confirmed in this view by a friend to whom I mentioned it, and who told me that his own children always called his father _gaffer_, a word entirely of their own formation.

There is a term now coming a little into use, which is I believe of pure Irish origin, namely, _old fogie_. Indeed, I have heard it used rather disrespectfully of those mature old warriors, whom it pleases the wisdom of our government to send out in the command of our fleets and armies. The word, as I said, is of Irish, or rather of Dublin birth. The _old fogies_ are the inmates of the Royal or Old Men's Hospital, the Irish Chelsea. I think, then, that it must be plain to every one that the term is nothing more than a good-humoured corruption or diminutive of _old folks_.

This leads me to the simple origin of a word which seems to have posed all our etymologists--it has done so to Richardson at least--namely, "PETTIFOGGER, a low, tricky attorney." According to my view, _pettifogger_ is neither more nor less than _pettifolker_, i. e. one whose practice lies among the _petty folk_, small tradesmen, day-labourers, and such like. This derivation, too, has simplicity in its favour.

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

* * * * *

MINOR NOTES.

_Search for MSS._--A proposal was made some time ago in "N. & Q." by MR. MACKENZIE, that some systematic effort should be made for the recovery of ancient MSS. I have heard nothing more of it, but am sure that, if a beginning were made, it would receive warm support from the friends of literature. There is, however, a kindred search which can be prosecuted nearer home, with more certain success and more important results. I mean a continued search among the numerous MSS. in which so much of our unknown history is buried. Might not a systematic examination of these be instituted, with the help of the "division of labour" principle, so that important portions of the great mass should be accurately described and indexed, valuable papers abridged for publication, and thus given to the world entire? Much is being done, no doubt, here and there; but surely much more would be accomplished by united and systematised labour. How much light might be thrown on a given period of our history by such a study of all the records, correspondence, &c. relating to it. Is there none of our existing societies within whose scope such an undertaking would fall, or might not different societies unite for the purpose? The books, of course, should be sold to the public. I leave the hint to the judgment of your readers.

ELSNO.

_Clifton of Normanton._--Following the excellent example of DR. TODD, of Trin. Coll. Dublin, I send you from the fly-leaves of an old English Bible (C. Barker, London, 1599, small 4to.), for the information of any one connected, some of the particulars inscribed on the leaves, relating to--

"Thomas Clifton of Normanton, in the county of Darby, who had
issue by his first wife three sonnes and four daughters; and by
his second wife, two sonnes and one daughter."

The names of his wives are not mentioned. The details of births, marriages, and deaths extend from 1586 to 1671, and some of the branches of {355} the family went to Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Zachary Clifton was at the Universities of Utrecht and Leyden (at which latter university "hee co[=m]enct M'r. of Arts, March 5, 1654"), and in 1659 was ordained minister of the gospel at Wisborough Green in Sussex. Many other particulars are given. The Bible is in the library of Sir Robert Taylor's Institution, Oxford, and is in excellent preservation, having been recently carefully repaired.

J. M.

Oxford.

_The Three per Cent. Consols._--In Jerdan's _Autobiography_, vol. iii., published in 1852, we read this anecdote:

"At a City dinner, so political that the three Consuls of France
were drunk, the toast-master, quite unacquainted with Bonaparte,
Cambacères, and Lebrun, hallooed out from behind the chair,
'Gentlemen, fill bumpers! The chairman gives the Three per Cent.
Consols!'"

In _Merrie England in the Olden Time_, vol. ii. p. 70. (published ten years before), will be found the following note:

"This eminent professor (toast-master Toole), whose sobriquet is
'Lungs,' having to shout the health of the 'three present
Consuls,' at my Lord Mayor's feast, proclaimed the health of the
'Three per Cent. Consols!'"

The _latter_ version is the _correct_ one. It was the three foreign Consuls who were present among this annual gathering of grandees that was given; not Bonaparte, Cambacères, and Lebrun. The after-dinner organ of Toole might easily, on hearing the toast, mistake "present" for "per cent.," and "Consuls" (in the City, too) for "Consols."

A SUBSCRIBER.

* * * * *

QUERIES.

WOLVES NURSING CHILDREN.

At the meeting of the Cambrian Archæological Society, Lord Cawdor in the chair, I read a letter on this subject from the resident at Lucknow, Colonel Sleeman, to whom India is indebted for the suppression of Thuggee, and other widely extended benefits. Though backed by such good authority, the letter in question was received with considerable incredulity, although Colonel Sleeman represents that he has with him one of these wolf-nurtured youths.

Since reading the letter, I have received from the Colonel's brother a more full account, printed in India, and containing additional cases, which I should have no objection to print in the pages of "N. & Q." In the meantime, further information from Indian experience, where mothers so often expose their children, would be thankfully received.

I appended my letter, for want of a better opportunity, and at the request of several members, to a paper on the doctrine of the Myth, read at the time; observing, that if the account is credible, perhaps Niebuhr may have been precipitate in treating the nurture of the founders of Rome as fabulous, and consigning to the Myth facts of infrequent occurrence. There is both danger and the want of philosophy in rejecting the marvellous, merely as such.

Nor is the invention of Lupa, for the name of the mother of the Roman twins, by any means satisfactory. May not the mysteries of Lycanthropy have had their origin in such a not infrequent fact, if Col. Sleeman may be trusted, as the rearing of infants by wolves?

GILBERT N. SMITH.

The Rectory, Tregwynfrid, Tenby, S. W.

* * * * *

"THE LUNEBURG TABLE."--QUEEN ELIZABETH'S LOVE OF PEARLS.

In the _Travels_ of Hentzner, who resided some time in England in the reign of Elizabeth, as tutor to a young German nobleman, there is given (as most of your readers will doubtless remember) a very interesting account of the "Maiden Queen," and the court which she then maintained at "the royal palace of Greenwich." After noticing the appearance of the presence-chamber,--"the floor, after the English fashion, strewed with hay,"--the writer gives a descriptive portrait of her Majesty. He states,--

"Next came the Queen, in her sixty-fifth year, as we were told,
very majestic; her face oblong, fair, but wrinkled; her eyes
small, but black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked; her
lips narrow, and her teeth black (a defect the English seem
subject to, from their too great use of sugar). She had in her
ears two _pearls_, with very rich drops.[2] She wore false hair,
and that red."

{356} Then comes the passage to which I beg to call especial attention, and on which I have to invite some information:

"Upon her head a small crown, _reported to be made of some of
the gold of the celebrated Luneburg table_."

What was this table? The work from which I quote (_Recollections of Royalty_, vol. ii. p. 119.) has a note hereon, merely remarking that, "at this distance of time, it is difficult to say what this was." If, anything, however, can be gleaned on the subject, some of the readers of "N. & Q." in some one of the "five _quarters_" of the world will assuredly be able to answer this Query.

J. J. S.

Middle Temple.

P.S.--Since the above was written, I find that Elizabeth's christening gift from the Duchess of Norfolk was a cup of gold, fretted with _pearls_; that noble lady being (says Miss Strickland) "completely unconscious of the chemical antipathy between the acidity of wine and the misplaced pearls." Elizabeth seems thus to have been rich in those gems from her infancy upwards, and to have retained a passionate taste for them long after their appropriateness as ornaments for her had ceased.

[Footnote 2: With respect to the rich pearl earrings above
mentioned, it may not be uninteresting to remark, that Elizabeth
seems to have been particularly fond of pearls, and to have
possessed the same taste for them from youth to even a later
period than "her sixty-fifth year." The now faded wax-work
effigy preserved in Westminster Abbey (and which lay on her
coffin, arrayed in royal robes, at her funeral, and caused, as
Stowe states, "such a general sighing, groaning, and weeping, as
the like hath not being seen or known in the memory of man")
exhibits large round Roman _pearls_ in the stomacher; a carcanet
of large round _pearls_, &c. about her throat; her neck
ornamented with long strings of _pearls_; her high-heeled
shoe-bows having in the centre large _pearl_ medallions. Her
earrings are circular _pearl_ and ruby medallions, with large
pear-shaped _pearl_ pendants. This, of course, represents her as
she dressed towards the close of her life. In the Tollemache
collection at Ham House is a miniature of her, however, when
about twenty, which shows the same taste as existing at that
age. She is here depicted in a black dress, trimmed with a
double row of _pearls_. Her point-lace ruffles are looped with
_pearls_, &c. Her head-dress is decorated in front with a jewel
set with _pearls_, from which three pear-shaped _pearls_ depend.
And, finally, she has large _pearl_-tassel earrings. In the
Henham Hall portrait (engraved in vol. vii. of Miss Strickland's
_Lives of the Queens of England_), the ruff is confined by a
collar of _pearls_, rubies, &c., set in a gold filagree pattern,
with large pear shaped _pearls_ depending from each lozenge. The
sleeves are ornamented with rouleaus, wreathed with _pearls_ and
bullion. The lappets of her head-dress also are adorned at every
"crossing" with a large round _pearl_. Her gloves, moreover,
were always of white kid, richly embroidered with _pearls_, &c.
on the backs of the hands. A poet of that day asserts even that,
at the funeral procession, when the royal corpse was rowed from
Richmond, to lie in state at Whitehall,--

"Fish wept their eyes of _pearl_ quite out,
And swam blind after,"

doubtless intending, most loyally, to provide the departed
sovereign with a fresh and posthumous supply of her favorite
gems!]

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

_St. Dominic._--Was St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominican order, a descendant of the noble family of the Guzmans? Machiavelli wrote a treatise to prove it; but in the _Biographie Universelle_ it is stated (I know not on what authority) that Cardinal Lambertini, afterwards Benedict XIV., having summoned that lawyer to produce the originals, Machiavelli deferred, and refused at last to obey the order: and further, that Cuper the Bollandist wrote on the same subject to some learned men at Bologna, who replied that the pieces cited in Machiavelli's dissertation had been forged by him, and written in the old style by a modern hand.

A BOOKWORM.

_"Will" and "shall."_--Can you refer me to any grammar, or other work, containing a clear and definite rule for the distinctive use of these auxiliaries? and does not a clever contributor to "N. & Q." make a mistake on this point at Vol. vi., p. 58., 1st col., 16th line?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

_Sir John Fleming._--What was the coat of arms borne by Sir John Fleming, or Le Fleming, of St. George's Castle, co. Glamorgan, A.D. 1100? Where is it to be found sculptured or figured? And does any modern family of the name of Fleming, or Le Fleming, claim descent from the above?

CARET.

_Deal, how to stain._--I should be much obliged if some one of your correspondents would inform me what is the best composition for giving plain deal the appearance of oak for the purpose of church interiors?

C.

Winton.

_Irish Characters on the Stage._--Could any of your correspondents inform me of the names of any old plays (besides those of Shadwell) in which Irishmen are introduced? and which of the older dramatists have enrolled this character among their _dramatis personæ_? Was Shakspeare an Irishman?

PHILOBIBLION.

_Arms on King Robert Bruce's Coffin-plate._--Can any of your heraldic readers give me any information as to whom the arms found on King Robert Bruce's coffin-plate in 1818 belonged? They are a cross inter four mullets pierced of the field. They are not the arms given in Nisbet to the families of Bruce; neither does Sir. Wm. Jardine, in his report to the Lords of the Exchequer on the finding of the king's tomb, take any notice of them further than to mention their discovery.

ALEXANDER CARTE.

_Chaucer's Prophetic View of the Crystal Palace_ (Vol. iii., p. 362.).--

"Chaucer it seems drew continually, through Lydgate and Caxton,
from Guido di Colonna, whose Latin _Romance of the Trojan War_
was, in turn, a compilation from Dares, Phrygius, Ovid, and
Statius. Then Petrarch, Boccacio, and the Provençal poets, are
his benefactors; the _Romaunt of the Rose_ is only judicious
{357} translation from William of Lorris and John of Meun;
_Troilus and Creseide_, from Lollius of Urbino; _The Cock and
the Fox_, from the Lais of Marie; _The House of Fame, from the
French or Italian_: and poor Gower he uses as if he were only a
brick-kiln or stone quarry, out of which to build his
house."--_Representative Men; Shakspeare or the Poet_, by R. W.
Emerson.

From what sources in the French or Italian is "The House of Fame" taken? And ought not an attack on Chaucer's claim to be the original author of that beautiful poetical vision to be grounded, especially by an American, on some better evidence than bare assertion?

AN OXFORD B. C. L.

_Magistrates wearing Hats in Court._--What authority is there for magistrates wearing their hats in a court of justice, and is it an old custom?

PARVUS HOMO.

West Chillington, Hurst, Sussex.

_Derby Municipal Seal._--What is the origin and meaning of the "buck in the park," on the seal now in use at the Town Hall, Derby?*

B. L.

[* Edmondson gives the arms, as painted in the Town Hall, as
"Ar. on a mount vert, a _stag_ lodged within park-pales and
gate, all proper. The seal, which is very ancient, has not any
park-pales; and the stag is there represented as lodged in a
wood."--ED.]

_Sir Josias Bodley._--Was Sir Josias Bodley, as stated by Harris in Ware's _Writers of Ireland_, a younger brother of Sir Thomas Bodley, the founder of the Bodleian Library? Who did Sir Josias Bodley marry; where did he live after his employment in Ireland ceased, and where did he die? Any information relating to him and his descendants will be most gratefully received.

Y. L.

_Sir Edwin Sadler._--In the Appendix to the _Cambridge University Commission Report_, p. 468., we find that nothing is known of Sir E. Sadler, the husband of Dame Mary Sadler, foundress of the "Algibræ" Lectures in that university. Can any of your correspondents throw any light on this?

P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.

_The Cross given by Richard I. to the Patriarch of Antioch._--The "hero of Acre," Sir Sidney Smith, received from the hands of the Archbishop of Cyprus, in the name of a grateful people, a cross of which the tradition was, that it had been given by King Richard Coeur de Lion to the Patriarch of Antioch, when he went to Palestine on the third Croisade. This gift was preserved by Sir Sidney with the care due to a relique so venerable in its associations; and it was bequeathed by him to the Convent of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, at Paris, as successors of the Templars, from whose Order it originally came. He directed that it should be worn by the grand masters in perpetuity. In the biographical memoirs of Sir Sidney Smith, published a few years ago, the cross is stated to be preserved in the house of the Order at Paris. Perhaps some member of the Order residing there would take the trouble to give some description of this interesting relique, and would say whether its style and character are consistent with the tradition of its antiquity? I am not at all acquainted with the evidence on which the tradition rests; but any particulars relating to such a relique must be interesting to the countrymen of the illustrious admiral, and would much oblige his godson,

WM. SIDNEY GIBSON.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

P.S.--_Apropos_ of Sir Sydney Smith, may I be allowed to suggest that, in the decoration of _The St. Jean d'Acre_, recently launched, some personal _souvenir_ might be introduced that would visibly connect his memory with the stately vessel whose name commemorates the scene of his greatest victory.

_Lister Family._--In a communication relating to Major-General Lambert (Vol. vii, p. 269.), LORD BRAYBROOKE mentions his marriage with Frances, daughter of Sir William Lister, of Thornton in Craven. I imagine that this lady was sister to Sir Martin Lister, physician to King Charles I., of whose (Sir Martin's) descendants I shall be glad of any information.

Sir Martin Lister married Susanna, daughter of Sir Alexander Temple, widow of Sir Gifford Thornhurst. This lady, by her first husband (Thornhurst), had issue a daughter, who married Mr. Jennings, and became the mother of three celebrated women; of whom one was Sarah, duchess of Marlborough, wife of the great duke.

Had Sir Martin Lister any issue by her? and, if so, can their descendants be traced?

Mr. Lister, of Burwell Park, Lincolnshire, is probably descended from Sir Martin (if he left issue), or is of kin to him, through Dr. Martin Lister, physician to Queen Anne, who, if not a son or grandson, was certainly his nephew.

My mother's great-grandmother was a Lister, a daughter of Dr. Martin Lister.

Any information through the pages of "N. & Q." will be appreciated.

R. B. A.

Walthamstow, Essex.

_Family of Abrahall, Eborall, or Ebrall._--I shall be obliged if any of your readers can give me some information relative to this family, or refer me to any work containing an account of it, more particularly as regards the first settlers in England. The arms are--Azure, three hedgehogs or.

QUÆRIST.

_Eulenspiegel--Murner's Visit to England._--Are any of your correspondents acquainted with the history and literature of the German tales {358} which go under the name of _Till Eulenspiegel_? I am searching to find out which are the English translations, but have only succeeded to trace two. The oldest is a very curious black-letter volume in small 4to. in the British Museum, C. 21. c/5, formerly in the possession of Mr. Garrick, as appears from Bishop Percy ("Dissertation on the Origin of the British Stage," _Reliques_, vol. i. p. 134., ed. 1812). It is entitled, "Here begynneth a merye Jest of a man that was called Howleglas, and of many marucylous thinges and Jestes that he dyd in his lyfe, in Eastlande and in many other places." Colophon: "Imprynted at London in Tamestrete at the Vintre on the thre Craned wharfe by Wylliam Copland."

Of the second I have only a reference of the title: _The German Rogue, or the Life of Till Eulenspiegel_, 1709.

I am also anxious to learn whether there are any more notices about the visit of Thomas Murner, the author of the German _Eulenspiegel_, in England, besides that in a letter of Thomas More to Cardinal Wolsey in the _State Papers_, vol. i. p. 125.

~alpha~.

_Aged 116._--When your correspondents were all in a state of excitement about the old Countess of Desmond, I ventured to ask for proof that some person had, within the age of registers, insurance offices, and legal proof, ever lived to 150, or even to within twenty or thirty years of that age. No answer was given, no such proof offered; all our clever actuaries were silent. The newspapers now report one such mitigated case:

"_Singular Longevity._--The Irish papers announce the recent
death of Mrs. Mary Power, widow of J. Power, Esq., and aunt of
the late Right Hon. R. L. Sheil, at the Ursuline Convent, Cork,
at the advanced age of 116 years."

If this story be true, there can be no difficulty in proving it. The lady was not an obscure person, whose antecedents are unknown. Will some one connected with the Ursuline Convent, or Mr. Sheil's family, obligingly tell us where the lady was born, and produce the register of her birth--give us, in brief, _legal_ evidence that she was born in the year 1737.

A. I.

_Annuellarius._--Can any of your numerous readers inform me what the meaning of the word _annuellarius_ is? It occurs in a section of the constitutions of one of our cathedral churches:

"Item, quod nullus quicq' sit qui aliqui alii servit nisi tantum
Ep[=i] servus sit, in Vicarior' Choralium Annuellarior' vel
Choristarum numerum in Eccl[=i]a Cath. ... deinceps eligatur."

P. S.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS.

_Boyer's "Great Theatre of Honour and Nobility,"_ 4to. London, 1729.--At the end of the preface to this work, a copy of which is in my possession, the following advertisement occurs:

"Although this volume exceeds by one-fourth part the number of
sheets proposed for subscription, nevertheless it shall be
delivered to the subscribers without enhancing the price; and
their coats of arms shall be inserted in the second volume; as
well as theirs who shall purchase this, provided thay take care
to send them, with their blazon, to any one of the booksellers
named in the title-page."

I want to know whether Boyer ever published this second volume; and shall be much obliged to any correspondent of "N. & Q." who will enlighten me on the subject.

S. I. TUCKER.

[Only the first volume has been published. According to the
original prospectus, now before us, the work was to have made
two volumes, divided into six parts. So that the volume of 1729,
consisting of three parts, is half of what Boyer originally
proposed to publish.]

_List of Bishops of Norwich._--Where can I find a list of the bishops of Norwich, with their coats of arms, from an early date?

CARET.

[In Blomefield's _History of Norfolk_, edit. 1739, fol., vol.
ii. pp. 330-430.]

"_A Letter to a Convocation Man._"--Who, I am desirous of knowing, was the author of _A Letter to a Convocation Man, concerning the Rights, Powers, and Privileges of that Body_, published about 1697, which occasioned Wake's book of _The Authority of Christian Princes over their Ecclesiastical Synods asserted_? Atterbury says, in the Preface of his _Rights, Powers, and Privileges of an English Convocation_:

"If at least I were not prevented by some abler hand, particular
by the author of that letter which first gave rise to this
debate; and who, it was expected, would have appeared once more
upon it, and freed what he had advanced from all exceptions."

W. FRASER.

[According to the Bodleian Catalogue, it was written by Sir
Bartholomew Shower; but we have seen it attributed to William
Binkes, the Prolocutor to the Convocation of 1705.]

_Nicholas Thane._--Dr. Browne Willis, in his _History of the Town of Buckingham_, published London, 1755, says (p. 49.):

"About the year 1545, as we are told in the _Peerage of
England_, in the account of the Earl of Pomfret's family, his
ancestor Richard Fermour of Easton Neston in Northamptonshire,
Esq., had his estate seized on and taken away from him upon his
having incurred a _præmunire_, by relieving one Nicholas Thane,
an obnoxious Popish priest, who had been committed a close
prisoner to the gaol in the town of Buckingham."

Can any of your readers inform me what crime or offence this "obnoxious priest" had been guilty of, as to be committed a "close prisoner;" and that {359} Richard Fermour, Esq., who had relieved him during his incarceration, should, for this apparently simple act of charity, have incurred a _præmunire_, for which he was subjected to so heavy a fine as the forfeiture of his estate? I should be glad of any further particulars respecting him, or to be referred to any work in which an account of him is recorded; and also to be informed by whom the _Peerage of England_, quoted by Dr. Willis, was compiled, when published, and whether it contains a more copious account of this reprehensible ecclesiastic.

ARTHUR R. CARTER.

Camden Town.

[Richard Fermor was a merchant of the staple at Calais, and
having acquired a considerable fortune, located himself at
Easton Neston, co. Northampton. Being a zealous Romanist he
refused to conform to the Reformed faith, and thus rendered
himself obnoxious to the court; and being accused of
administering relief to Nicholas Thane, formerly his confessor,
who was then a prisoner in Buckingham Castle for denying the
supremacy of the king, he was committed to the Marshalsea in
July, 1540, and was afterwards arraigned in Westminster Hall,
though nothing could be proved against him, except that he had
sent 8d. and a couple of shirts to the imprisoned priest. He was
adjudged to have incurred a _præmunire_, whereby all his lands
and goods became forfeited, and the rapacious monarch enforced
the sentence with the most unrelenting severity. See Baker's
_Hist. of Northamptonshire_, vol. ii. p. 142.; Collins's
_Peerage_, edit. Brydges, vol. iv. p. 199.; and Lipscomb's
_Buckinghamshire_, vol. ii. p. 570.]

_Churchwardens, Qualification of._--Can any of your correspondents give the title and price of any work which will define the qualifications requisite for filling the office of churchwarden? The case on which the question has arisen is that of a country parish divided into two townships, each township naming a warden. One of these is a dissenter, and seldom or never attends church; the other is said not to be a householder. Both of these are, by many of the parishioners, considered ineligible, owing to these circumstances. Should any one send the required information, you would oblige by allowing it to appear in the next Number of "N. & Q.," where it would be sure to be seen, and thankfully acknowledged by

B. B. F. F. T. T.

[Our correspondent will find the required information in
Prideaux's _Churchwarden's Guide_, 5th edit. 1850, price 6s.,
who has devoted sect. ii. "to the persons liable to be chosen to
the office of churchwarden, and the persons disqualified and
exempt from serving that office." (Pp. 4-17.) Consult also
Cripps's _Practical Treatise on the Law relating to the Church
and the Clergy_, 8vo. 1850, pp. 176-201., price 26s.]

_Sir John Powell._--In Vol. vii., p. 262., of "N. & Q." is an inquiry respecting Sir John Powell, and an answer given, in which there must surely be some mistake, or there must have been two Sir John Powells.

I beg to give the following extract from Britton's _History and Antiquities of the Abbey Church of Gloucester_:

"A full-length marble statue, in judicial robes, erected by John
Snell, Esq., to the memory of his uncle, Judge Powell, who in
1685 represented this city, his native place, in parliament. He
was successively a Justice of Common Pleas and the King's Bench,
and was one of the Judges who tried the seven Bishops, and
joined in the declaration against the King's dispensing power.
For this, James II. deprived him of his office, July 2, 1688;
but William III. created him, first a Baron of the Exchequer,
then a Judge in the Common Pleas, and on June 18, 1702, advanced
him to the King's Bench, where he sat till his death, June 14,
1713."

I will add, that on the floor near the above monument are inscribed the names, &c., of various members of his family.

Sir John Powell is traditionally said to have lived at an old house called Wightfield in this county, which certainly belonged, at one time, to the above John Snell, who had married the judge's niece, and from whose descendants it was purchased by the grandfather of the present possessor.

Allow me to ask, by-the-bye, if the place, as spelt in your paper, should not be Langharne, or more correctly still, Llangharne?

F. S.

Gloucestershire.

[There were not only two, but three judges of the name of
Powell, who were cotemporaries, viz.--

1. Sir John Powell, mentioned in "N. & Q." (Vol. vii., p. 262.),
whose burial-place should have been printed Llangharne, as our
correspondent suggests. He was made a Judge of the Common Pleas
on April 26, 1686, and a Judge of the King's Bench on April 16,
1687. He was removed on June 29, 1688, on consequence of the
resolution he displayed on the trial of the seven bishops; but
was restored to the Bench, as a Judge of the Common Pleas, in
May, 1689, and continued to sit till his death in 1696.

2. Sir Thomas Powell became a Baron of the Exchequer on April
22, 1687, and was transferred into the King's Bench in June,
1688, to take the seat there left vacant by the removal of the
above Sir John Powell. He himself was removed in May, 1689.

3. Sir John Powell, or, as he was then called, John Powell,
junior, was made a Baron of the Exchequer on November 10, 1691,
removed into the Common Pleas on October 29, 1695, and into the
King's Bench in June, 1702, where he sat till his death in 1713.
He it was who was buried at Gloucester.

Britton has evidently, as Chalmers and Noble had done before
him, commingled and confused the histories of the two Sir
Johns.]

_S. N.'s "Antidote," &c._--I have just purchased an old book, in small quarto, of which the title is--

"An Antidote or Soveraigne Remedie against the pestiferous
Writings of all English Sectaries, and in {360} particular
against Dr. Whitaker, Dr. Fulke, Dr. Bilson, Dr. Reynolds, Dr.
Sparkes, and Dr. Field, the chiefe upholders, some of
Protestancy, some of Puritanisme; divided into three Parts, &c.,
&c., &c. By S. N., doctour of divinity. Permissu superiorum,
MDCXV."

Who is the author S. N., and what other particulars are known respecting it?

LEWIS KELLY.

Leeds.

[Sylvester Norris is the author. There is an edition published
in 1622, 4to.]

_Beads._--When was the use of beads, for the purpose of counting prayers, first introduced into Europe?