Chapter C: Waymor

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SCOTCHMEN IN POLAND.

Can any of your readers throw any light on this passage in Dr. Johnson's _Life of Sir John Denham_?

"He [Sir John Denham] now resided in France, as one of the followers of
the exiled king; and, to divert {476} the melancholy of their
condition, was sometimes enjoined by his master to write occasional
verses; one of which amusements was probably his ode or song upon the
Embassy to Poland, by which he and Lord Crofts procured a contribution
of ten thousand pounds from the Scotch, that wandered over that
kingdom. Poland was at that time very much frequented by itinerant
traders, who, in a country of very little commerce and of great extent,
where every man resided on his own estate, contributed very much to the
accommodation of life, by bringing to every man's house those little
necessaries which it was very inconvenient to want, and very
troublesome to fetch. I have formerly read, without much reflection, of
the multitude of Scotchmen that travelled with their wares in Poland;
and that their numbers were not small, the success of this negociation
gives sufficient evidence."

The title of Denham's poem is "On my Lord Crofts' and my journey into Poland, from whence we brought 10,000l. for his Majesty by the decimation of his Scottish subjects there."

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

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BISHOP JUXON AND WALTON'S POLYGLOTT BIBLE.

In the library at this island, which formerly belonged to the Knights of Malta, there is an edition of Walton's Polyglott Bible, which was published in London in 1657. This work is in a most perfect state of preservation.

On the title-page of the first of the eleven volumes, there is written, in a bold and perfectly legible manner, the following words:

"Liber Coll. Di Joannis Bapt^a Oxon Ex dono Reverendiss. in Xt^o Patris
Gvil^i Jvxon Archiep. Cantvariensis. A^o D^{ni} 1663."

Just below, but on the right of the above, there is written in a clear hand as follows:

"Ex Libris domus Abbatialis S. Antonij Viennensis, Catalogo Inscript
an. 1740. No. 11."

That the question which I shall ask at the end of this Note may be the more easily answered, it will perhaps be necessary for me to state, that in the year 1777, Rohan, the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, succeeded in annexing the property belonging to the Order of St. Antonio de Vienna to that of Malta. In accepting of these estates, which were situated in France and Savoy, Rohan bound himself to pay the many mortgages and debts with which they were encumbered; and so large an amount had to be thus defrayed, that for a hundred years the convent would not be reimbursed for its advances, and receive the 120,000 livres, at which sum their annual rental would then be valued. Of the foundation of this Order a recent writer (Thornton) thus remarks:

"In 1095 some nobles of Dauphiny united for the relief of sufferers
from a kind of leprosy called St. Anthony's fire, which society, in
1218, was erected into a religious body of Hospitallers, having a
grand master for chief. This order, after many changes in its
constitution, having been left the option between extinction and
secularisation, or union with another order, accepted the latter
alternative, and selected that of St. John of Jerusalem."

Among the moveable effects which came to the Knights of Malta by this arrangement, was a small and well-selected library, and in it this edition of Walton's Bible.

Without, therefore, writing more at length on this subject, which might take up too much space in "N. & Q.," I would simply add, that my attention was called to this work by the Rev. Mr. Howe, chaplain of H.B.M. ship "Britannia," and for the purpose of asking, At what time, by whom, and in what manner, were these volumes removed from St. John's College at Oxford, and transferred to the library of the Order of St. Antonio de Vienna in France?

W. W.

La Valetta, Malta.

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Minor Queries.

_Was Andrew Marvell poisoned?_--I have just been reading the three ponderous quarto volumes comprising _The Works_ of Andrew Marvell, as collected and edited by his townsman, Capt. Edward Thompson of Hull. In the "Life," near the end of vol. iii., we are told that the patriot died on Aug. 16, 1678, "and by poison for he was healthful and vigorous to the moment he was seized with the premeditated ruin." And again, in a summary of his merits, we are told that "all these patriot virtues were insufficient to guard him against the jesuitical machinations of the _state_; for what vice and bribery could not influence, was perpetrated by poison." This heinous crime, so formally averred against the enemies of Marvell, may have been committed by "some person or persons unknown;" but, as not a tittle of evidence is adduced or indicated by the zealous biographer in support of the charge--Query, had it any foundation in fact? In the court, and out of the court, the anti-popish, anti-prelatical Puritan had enemies numerous and bitter enough; but is there really any other ground for the abominable imputation of foul play alluded to, beyond his actually sudden death? Is the hypothesis of poison coeval with the date of Marvell's demise? If so, was there any official inquiry--any "crowner's quest?" Surely his admiring compatriots on the banks of the Humber did not at once quietly sit down with the conviction, that _thus_ "fell one of the first characters of this kingdom or of any other."

H.

_Anonymous Pamphlet by Dr. Wallis_ (Vol. vii., p. 403.).--Will MR. CROSSLEY have the kindness to give the title of the anonymous pamphlet which, he informs us, was published by Dr. John Wallis {477} in defence of the Oxford decree of 1695, on the subject of the Trinity?

TYRO.

Dublin.

_Mrs. Cobb's Diary._--Can any of your readers give me any information as to the following book, _Extracts from the Diary and Letters of Mrs. Mary Cobb_: London, printed by C. and R. Baldwin, 1805, 8vo., pp. 324.; said to be _privately printed_?

JOHN MARTIN.

Roxfield, Bedfordshire.

_Compass Flower._--

"Look at this delicate flower that lifts its head from the meadow--
See how its leaves all point to the north, as true as the magnet;
It is the compass flower, that the finger of God has suspended
Here on its fragile stalk, to direct the traveller's journey
Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert."
_Evangeline_, Part II. IV. line 140., &c.

Where can I find a description of this flower, and what is its scientific name?

In Abercrombie's _Intellectual Powers_, p. 49. edit. 1846, I find the following passage:

"The American hunter finds his way in the trackless forests by
attention to minute appearances in the trees, which indicate to him the
points of the compass."

Can any one tell me what these "minute appearances" are?

A. H. BATTIER.

East Sheen, Surrey.

_Nuns of the Hotel Dieu._--What is the religions habit of the nuns at the hospital of the Hotel Dieu in Paris at the present day?

M. L.

_Purlieu._--Some of your correspondents seem afraid that an attempt to repair the deficiencies of our English dictionaries, by research into disputed etymologies in "N. & Q.," would tend to produce too much and too tedious discussion, and fill its space too much. Could _this_, at least, not be done without much objection? Could we not co-operate in finding the earliest known mention of words, and thus perhaps trace the occasion and manner of their introduction?

At any rate, this word _purlieu_ is certainly in want of some examination. Johnson has adopted the wretched etymology of _pur_, Fr. for pure, and _lieu_, Fr. for place; and he defines it as a place on the outskirts of a forest free of wood.

The earliest record in which this word occurs, so far as I have seen, is in an act of Edward III., quoted by Manwood, and it is there spelt _puraley_; and it relates to the disafforested parts which several preceding kings permitted to be detached from their royal forests.

Might I ask if any of your correspondents find an earlier use of the word; and can it be gifted with a probable paternity?

The tracing of the earliest known mention of disputed words is a task capable of being finished, and might perhaps be attended, in many cases, with happy results. It would rid us probably of many puerilities which degrade our current dictionaries.