Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

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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. 184.] Saturday, May 7, 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page
Old Popular Poetry: "Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough,
and William of Clowdesly," by J. Payne Collier 445
Witchcraft, by Rev. H. T. Ellacombe 446
Spring, &c., by Thomas Keightley 448
Notes and Queries on Bacon's Essays, No. III., by
P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A. 448
Shakspeare Correspondence, by S. W. Singer, Cecil
Harbottle, &c. 449
MINOR NOTES:--Local Rhymes, Norfolk--"Hobson's
Choice"--Khond Fable--Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton,
Bart.--Anagrams 452

QUERIES:--
Seal of William d'Albini 452
Forms of Judicial Oath, by Henry H. Breen 453
MINOR QUERIES:--Passage in Boerhaave--Story of
Ezzelin--The Duke--General Sir Dennis Pack--Haveringemere--Old
Pictures of the Spanish Armada--Bell
Inscription--Loselerius Villerius, &c.--The
Vinegar Plant--Westminster Parishes--Harley Family--Lord
Cliff--Enough--Archbishop Magee--Carpets
at Rome--Nursery Rhymes--Gloves at Fairs--Mr.
Caryl or Caryll--Early Reaping-machines 453
MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--"Diary of a
Self-Observer"--Jockey--Boyle Lectures 456

REPLIES:--
The Discovery and Recovery of MSS., by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie 456
"The Whippiad" 457
Spontaneous Combustion, by Shirley Hibberd 458
Major-General Lambert, by Edgar MacCulloch 459
The "Salt-peter-man," by J. Deck 460
Metrical Psalms and Hymns, by J. Sansom 460
The Sign of the Cross in the Greek Church 461
PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--New Developing
Fluid--Photographic Tent--Mr. Wilkinson's simple
Mode of levelling Cameras--Antiquarian Photographic
Club 462
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Erroneous Forms of
Speech: Mangel Wurzel--The Whetstone--Charade--Parochial
Libraries--Judge Smith--Church Catechism--Charade
attributed to Sheridan--Gesmas and
Desmas--Lode--Epitaphs imprecatory--Straw-bail--How
to stain Deal--Detached Belfry Towers 463

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, &c. 465
Books and Odd volumes wanted 465
Notices to Correspondents 466
Advertisements 466

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Notes.

OLD POPULAR POETRY: "ADAM BELL, CLYM OF THE CLOUGH, AND WILLIAM OF CLOWDESLY."

I have very recently become possessed of a curious printed fragment, which is worth notice on several accounts, and will be especially interesting to persons who, like myself, are lovers of our early ballad poetry. It is part of an unknown edition of the celebrated poem relating to the adventures of Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly.

There are (as many of your readers will be aware from Ritson's small volume, _Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry_, 8vo. 1791) two old editions of _Adam Bell, &c._, one printed by William Copland, without date, and the other by James Roberts in 1605. The edition by Copland must have preceded that by Roberts by forty or fifty years, and may have come out between 1550 and 1560; the only known copy of it is among the Garrick Plays (at least it was so when I saw it) in the British Museum. The re-impression by Roberts is not very uncommon, and I think that more than one copy of it is at Oxford.

When Copland printed the poem, he did not enter it at Stationers' Hall; comparatively few of his publications, generally of a free, romantic, or ludicrous character, were licensed, and he was three times fined for not first obtaining the leave of the Company. Nevertheless, we do find an entry of a "book" called "Adam Bell," &c., among the memoranda belonging to the year 1557-8, but it was made at the instance, not of Copland, but of John Kynge, in this form:

"To John Kynge, to prynte this boke called Adam Bell, &c., and for his
lycense he geveth to the howse"--

What sum he gave is not stated. Again, we meet with another notice of it in the same registers, under the date of 1581-2, when John Charlwood was interested in the undertaking. I mention these two entries principally because neither Ritson nor Percy were acquainted with them; but they may be seen among the extracts published by the Shakspeare Society in 1848 and 1849. {446}

No impressions by Kynge or Charlwood having come down to us, we have no means of knowing whether they availed themselves of the permission granted at Stationers' Hall; and, unless I am deceived, the fragment which occasions this Note is not from the presses of either of them, and is of an earlier date than the time of Copland; the type is much better, and less battered, than that of Copland; at the same time it has a more antique look, and in several respects, which I am about to point out, it furnishes a better text than that given by Ritson from Copland's edition, or by Percy with the aid of his folio manuscript. I am sorry to say that it only consists of a single sheet; but this is nearly half the production, and it comprises the whole of the second, and two pages of the third "fit." The first line and the last of the portion in my hands, testify to the greater antiquity and purity of the text there found; it begins--

"These gates be shut so wonderly well;"

and it ends,

"Tyll they came to the kynge's palays."

It is "_wonderous_ well" in Copland's impression, and palace is there spelt "pallace," a more modern form of the word than _palays_. Just afterwards we have, in my fragment,

"Streyght comen from oure kyng,"

instead of Copland's

"Streyght _come nowe_ from our king."

_Comen_ is considerably more ancient than "come nowe;" so that, without pursuing this point farther, I may say that my fragment is not only an older specimen of typography than Copland's impression, but older still in its words and phraseology, a circumstance that communicates to it additional interest. I subjoin a few various readings, most, if not all, of them presenting a superior text than is to be met with elsewhere. Speaking of the porter at the gate of Carlisle, we are told--

"And to the gate faste he throng."

Copland's edition omits _faste_, and it is not met with in Percy. In another place a rhyme is lost by an awkward transposition, "he saide" for _sayd he_; and farther on, in Copland's text, we have mention of

"The justice with a quest of squyers."

instead of "a quest of _swerers_," meaning of course the jury who had condemned Cloudesly "there hanged to be." Another blunder committed by Copland is the omission of a word, so that a line is left without its corresponding rhyme:

"Then Clowdysle cast hys eyen aside,
And sawe his two bretheren _stande_
At the corner of the market-place,
With theyr good bowes bent in theyr hand."

The word I print in Italics is entirely wanting in Copland. It is curious to see how Percy (_Reliques_, i. 157., ed. 1775) gets over the difficulty by following no known copy of the original:

"Then Cloudesle cast his eyen asyde,
And saw hys brethren twaine
At a corner of the market-place,
Ready the justice for to slaine."

Cloudesly is made to exclaim, in all editions but mine, "I see comfort," instead of "I see _good_ comfort." However, it would perhaps be wearisome to press this matter farther, and I have said enough to set a few of your readers, zealous in such questions, rummaging their stores to ascertain whether any text with which they are acquainted, tallies with that I have above quoted.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

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WITCHCRAFT.

Observing that you have lately admitted some articles on witchcraft, it may be interesting to make a note of two or three original papers, out of some in my possession, which were given to me many years ago by an old general officer, who served in the American war, and brought them with him to England about 1776. I send exact copies from the originals.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

Whereas several persons, being by authority co[=m]itted to Ipswich Goall for fellony and witchcraft, and order being given that search should be made carefully upon their bodyes, to see if there nothing appeared preternaturall thereon: for that end, on July y^e 4^th, 1692, a Jurie of one man and eight women were su[=m]oned to attend, and sworne to make dilligent search, and to give a true account of what they found, viz^t.--

Doctor Philemon Dance,
Mrs. Joha[=n]a Diamond, midwife,
Mrs. Grace Graves,
Mrs. Mary Belcher,
Mrs. Gennet Pengery,
Ann Lovell,
Francis Davis,
Mary Browne,

Who, after search made in particular, give this account, viz^t.--Upon the body of goodwife Estue they find three unnaturall teats, one under left arme, and one on the back side of her sholder-blade, one near to her secret parts on one thigh, which, being pricked throw with a pin, remained without sense, and did not bleed.

2. Upon y^e veiwing and searching y^e body of Sarah Cloice, there was nothing unnaturall appeared on her.

3. Upon searching y^e body of Mrs. Bradbury, there was nothing appeared unnaturall on her, {447} only her brest were biger than usuall, and her nipples larger than one y^t did not give suck, though her body was much pined and wasted, yet her brests seemed full.

4. Upon y^e searching y^e body of y^e wife of Giles Cory, there was severall darke moulds, one of which was upon one of her buttocks, and being pricked with a pin, it was without sence, and did not bleed.

5. Upon y^e searching y^e body of Widow Hoer, nothing appeared on her unnaturall, only her body verry much scratched, and on her head a strange lock of haire, verry long, and differing in color from y^e rest on her head, and matted or tangled together, which she said was a widow's lock, and said, if it were cutt off she should die.

6. Upon searching y^e body of Rachell Clenton, there was found an unnaturall teat on one side, something lower than just under her arme, which teat having a pin thrust throw it she was not senceable of, till by scratching her side, pricked her fingers with y^e pin y^t was then in y^e teat; neither did y^e teat bleed.

There was also ordered, with ye foresaid Doct^r, four other men, viz^t, Mr. Har. Symonds, Samuel Graves, Sen^r, Thomas Knewlton, and John Pinder, to search y^e body of Giles Cory, and they returned y^t they, having searched him, found nothing unnaturall upon him.

The truth of which I heare attest. (Signed) THO^S WADE, J.P.

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Province of Massachusettes Bay,
New England, Essex.

Anno R. R. et Reginæ Gulielmi et Mariæ Angliæ, &c. quarto, annoqu Dom. 1692.

The Jurors for our Sov^n Lord and Ladye the King and Queen present--

That Abigail Barker, wife of Ebenezer Barker of Andiver, in the County of Essex aforesaid, about two years since, at and in the town of Andiver aforesaid, wickedly, maliciously, and felloniously, a covenant with the Devill did make, and signed the Devill's Booke, and by the Devill was baptized, and renounced her former Christian baptism; and gave herselfe up to the Devill to serve him, and for the Devill to be her lord and master; by which wicked and diabollicall couvenant, shee the said Abigaill Barker is become a detestable witch, contrary to the peace of our Soveraigne Lord and Lady the King and Queene, their crowne and dignity, and the law in that case made and provided.

_Sep., '92._ The examination and confession of Abigail Barker, taken before John Hawthorn, Esq., and other their Majesties Justices:

_Q._ How long have you been in the snare of the Devil?

_A._ Not above two yeares and a half.

_Q._ At what place were you first overtaken?

_A._ I am at present very much bewildered.--But a little after she said as followes:--About two yeare and a half agoe she was in great discontent of mynd, her husband being abroad, and she at home alone; at which tyme a black man appeared to her, and brought a book with him, to which he put her finger and made a black mark. She saith, her memory now failes her now more than ordinary; but said she gave herself up to the Devil to serve him, and he was her lord and master; and the Devil set a mark upon her legg, which mark is black and blue, and she apprehends is a witch mark; and said that she is a witch, and thinks that mark is the cause of her afflicting persons, though she thought nothing of it then till afterwards she heard of others having a mark upon them. She sayes, that some tyme after this the black man carryed her singly upon a pole to 5-mile pond, and there were 4 persones more upon another pole, viz. Mistriss Osgood, Goody Wilson, Goody Wardwell, Goody Tyler, and Hanneh Tyler. And when she came to the pond the Devil made a great light, and took her up and dypt her face in the pond, and she felt the water, and the Devil told her he was her lord and master, and she must serve him for ever. He made her renounce her former baptisme, and carryed her back upon the pole. She confesses she has afflicted the persones that accused her, viz. Sprague, Lester, and Sawdy, both at home and in the way comeing downe. The manner thus:--The Devil does it in her shape, and she consents unto, and clinches her hands together, and sayes the Devil cannot doe it in her shape without her consent. She sayes she was at a meeting at Moses Tyler's house, in company with Mistriss Osgood, Goody Wilson, Goody Tyler, and Hanah Tyler. She said the mark above was on her left legg by her shin. It is about two yeare agoe since she was baptized. She said that all this was true; and set her hand to the original as a true confession. _Noate_, that before this her confession she was taken dumb, and took Mr. Epps about the neck and pulled him down, thereby showing him how the black man bowed her down; and for one houre's tyme could not open her lips.

I, underwritten, being appointed by authority to take the above examination, doe testify upon oath taken in court, that this is a true coppy of the substance of it to the best of my knowledge.

WM. MURRAY.

6th July, 1692/3.

The above Abigail Barker was examined before their Majesties Justices of the Peace in Salem.

(Atest.) JOHN HIGGINSON, Just. Peace.

Owned before the Grand Jury.

(Atest.) ROBERT PAYNE, Foreman.

6th January, 1692. {448}

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SPRING, ETC.

Our ancestors had three verbs and three corresponding substantives to express the growth of plants, namely, _spring_, _shoot_, and _sprout_,--all indicative of rapidity of growth; for _sprout_, (Germ. _spriessen_) is akin to _spurt_, and denotes quickness, suddenness. The only one of these which remains in general use is _shoot_: for _sprout_ is now only appropriated to the young growth from cabbage-stalks; and _spring_ is heard no more save in _sprig_, which is evidently a corruption of it, and which now denotes a small slip or twig as we say, sprigs of laurel, bay, thyme, mint, rosemary, &c.

Of the original meaning of _spring_, I have met but one clear instance; it is, however, an incontrovertible one, namely,

"Whoso spareth the _spring_ (_i. e._ rod, switch), spilleth his
children."--_Visions of Piers Plowman_, v. 2554., ed. Wright.

Perhaps this is also the meaning in--

"Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy _love-springs_ rot?"
_Com. of Errors_, Act III. Sc. 2.

and in "Time's Glory"--

"To dry the old oak's sap and cherish _springs_."
_Rape of Lucrece._

_Spring_ afterwards came to be used for underwood, &c. Perhaps it answered to the present _coppice_, which is composed of the springs or shoots of the growth which has been cut down:

"The lofty high wood and the lower _spring_."
Drayton's _Muses' Elysium_, 10.

"The lesser birds that keep the lower _spring_."
_Id._, note.

It was also used as equivalent to grove:

"Unless it were
The nightingale among the thick-leaved _spring_."
Fletcher's _Faith. Shep._, v. 1.

where, however, it may be the coppice.

"This hand Sibylla's golden boughs to guard them,
Through hell and horror, to the Elysian _springs_."
Massinger's _Bondman_, ii. 1.

In the following place Fairfax uses _spring_ to express the "salvatichi soggiorni," i. e. _selva_ of his original:

"But if his courage any champion move
Too try the hazard of this dreadful _spring_."
_Godf. of Bull._, xiii. 31.

and in

"For you alone to happy end must bring
The strong enchantments of the charmed _spring_."
_Id._, xviii. 2.

it answers to _selva_.

When Milton makes his Eve say--

"While I
In yonder _spring_ of roses intermix'd
With _myrtles_ find what to redress till noon."
_Par. Lost_, ix. 217.

he had probably in his mind the _cespuglio_ in the first canto of the _Orlando Furioso_; for _spring_ had not been used in the sense of thickets, clumps, by any previous English poet. I am of opinion that _spring_ occurs for the last time in our poetry in the following lines of Pope:

"See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan _springs_."
_Messiah_, 93.

Johnson renders the last line--

"Cinnameos cumulos, Nabathæi munera _veris_;"

and this is probably the sense in which the place has generally been understood. But let any one read the preceding quotations, and reflect on what a diligent student Pope was of the works of his predecessors, and perhaps he will think with me.

THOMAS KEIGHTLEY.

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NOTES AND QUERIES ON BACON'S ESSAYS, NO. III.

(Vol. vii., pp. 6. 80.)

Essay IX. p. 21. (note _a_). "They used the word 'præfiscini.'" See _e. g._, Plaut. _Asin._, ii. 4. 84. (Weise):

"Præfiscini hoc nunc dixerim: nemo etiam me adcusavit
Merito meo."

(Leonida boasts of his integrity.)

Ditto, p. 22. (note _c_). "From the _Stichus_ of Plautus," ii. 1. 54.

Ditto, p. 23. "Which has the character of Adrian the Emperor." See _Hist. Aug. Script._, i. 149., _ut supr._ (Spartian. _Vit. Hadrian._ cap. 15.)

Ditto p. 26. "It was well said." By whom?

Essay X. ditto. "A poor saying of Epicurus." Where recorded?

Ditto, p. 27. "It hath been well said, 'That the arch flatterer,'" &c. By whom, and where?

Ditto, ditto. "It hath been well said, 'That it is impossible,'" &c. By whom and where?

Ditto, ditto. "The poet's relation." Ovid. _Heroid._ xvi. 163.

Essay XI. p. 28. "Cum non sis qui fueris," &c. Whence?

Ditto, p 29. "Illi mors gravis incubat," &c. Seneca, _Thyest._ 401. (ed. Lemaire), Act II. extrem.

Ditto, p. 31. "That was anciently spoken." By whom?

Ditto, ditto. "Tacitus of Galba." Tac. _Hist._, i. 49.

Ditto, ditto. "Of Vespasian." Tac. _Hist._, i. 50.

Essay XII. ditto. "Question was asked of Demosthenes." See Cic. _De Orat._, III. 56. § 213.

Ditto, p. 32. "Mahomet's miracle." Where recorded?

Essay XIII. p. 33. "The desire of power," &c. Cf. Shaksp. _Hen. VIII._, III. 2. "By that sin (ambition) fell the angels," &c. {449}

Essay XIII. p. 33. "Busbechius." In Busbequii _Legationes Turciæ Epist. Quatuor_ (Hanoviæ, 1605), p. 133., we find this told of "Aurifex quidam Venetus."--N. B. In the Index (_s. v._ Canis) of an edition of the same work, printed in London for R. Daniel (1660), _for_ 206 _read_ 106.

Ditto, ditto (note _b_). Gibbon (_Miscellaneous Works_, iii., 544., ed. 1815) says, "B. is my old and familiar acquaintance, a frequent companion in my post-chaise. His Latinity is eloquent, his manner is lively, his remarks are judicious."

Ditto, p. 34. "Nicholas Machiavel." Where?

Ditto, p. 35. "Æsop's cock." See Phædrus, iii. 12.

Essay XV. p. 38. "Ille etiam cæcos," &c., Virg. _Georg_. i. 464.

Ditto, ditto. "Virgil, giving the pedigree," &c. _Æn_. iv. 178.

Ditto, p. 39. "That kind of obedience which Tacitus speaketh of." Bacon quotes, from memory, Tac. _Hist_., ii. 39., "Miles alacer, qui tamen jussa ducum interpretari, quam exsequi, mallet."

Ditto, ditto. "As Machiavel noteth well." Where?

Ditto, p. 40. "As Tacitus expresseth it well." Where?

Ditto, p. 41. "Lucan," i. 181.

Ditto, ditto. "Dolendi modus, timendi non item." Whence?

Ditto, ditto. "The Spanish proverb." What is it? Cf. "A bow long bent at last waxeth weak;" and the Italian, "L'arco si rompe se sta troppo teso." (Ray's _Proverbs_, p. 81., 4th edit., 1768.)

Ditto, p. 43. "The poets feign," &c. See _Iliad_, i. 399.

Ditto, ditto (note _y_). "The myth is related in the _Works and Days of Hesiod_," vv. 47-99., edit. Göttling.

Ditto, p. 44. "Sylla nescivit." Sueton. _Vit. Cæs._, 77.

Ditto, p. 45. "Galba." Tac. _Hist_., i. 5.

Ditto, ditto. "Probus." Bacon seems to have quoted from memory, as we find in Vopiscus (_Hist. Aug. Script., ut supr._, vol. ii. 679. 682.), as one of the _causæ occidendi_, "Dictum ejus grave, Si unquam eveniat salutare, Reip. brevi milites necessarios non futuros."

Ditto, ditto. "Tacitus saith." _Hist_., i. 28.

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

(_To be continued._)

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SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

_The Passage in King Henry VIII., Act III. Sc._ 1. (Vol. vii., pp. 5. 111. 183. 494.).--MR. INGLEBY has done perfectly right to "call me to account" for a rash and unadvised assertion, in saying that we must interpolate _been_ in the passage in _King Henry VIII._, Act III. Sc. 2., after _have_; for even that would not make it intelligible. So far I stand corrected. The passages, however that are cited, are not parallel cases. In the first we have the word _loyalty_ to complete the sense:

" . . . . . My loyalty,
Which ever has [been] and ever shall be growing."

In the second, the word _deserved_ is clearly pointed out as being understood, from the occurrence of _deserve_ after _will_:

"I have spoken better of you than you have [deserved] or will deserve at my hands."

I will assist MR. INGLEBY'S position with another example from _Rich. II._,