Chapter C: H. Cooper

Cambridge.

In reply to LEICESTRIENSIS, I beg leave to inform him that "W. D." was Wm. Dillingham, D.D., master of Clare Hall, and at the time Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The letter in question, which was the original draft, was, with a variety of other family papers, _stolen_ from me in 1843.

J. P. ORD.

P.S.--Query, from whom did the present possessor obtain it?

_The Ribston Pippin_ (Vol. vii., p. 436.).--The remarks of your correspondent H. C. K., respecting the uncertain origin of the Ribston pippin, reminded me of a communication which I received about fifty years ago, from one of the sisters of the late Sir Henry Goodricke, the last of the family who possessed Ribston. Though it leaves the question concerning the origin of that excellent apple unsettled, yet it may not be uninteresting to {487} H. C. K. and some others of your numerous readers. I therefore send a transcript:

"_Tradition of the Ribston Pippin Tree._

"About the beginning of the last century, Sir Henry Goodricke, father of the late Sir John Goodricke, had three pips sent by a friend in a letter from Rouen in Normandy, which were sown at Ribston. Two of the pips produced nothing: the third is the present tree, which is in good health, and still continues to bear fruit."

"_Another Account._

"Sir Henry, the father of the late Sir John Goodricke, being at Rouen in Normandy, preserved the pips of some fine flavoured apples, and sent them to Ribston, where they were sown, and the produce in due time planted in what then was the park. Out of seven trees planted, five proved decided crabs, and are all dead. The other two proved good apples; they never were grafted, and one of them is the celebrated original Ribston pippin tree."

The latter tradition has, I believe, always been considered as the most correct.

S. D.

_Cross and Pile_ (Vol. vi., _passim._).--The various disquisitions of your correspondents on the word _pile_ are very ingenious; but I think it is very satisfactorily explained as "a ship" by Joseph Scaliger in _De Re nummaria Dissertatio_, Leyden, 1616:

"Macrobius de nummo _ratito_ loquens, qui erat æreus: _ita fuisse
signatum hodieque intelligitur in aleæ lusu, quum pueri denarios in
sublime jactantes, Capita aut Navia, lusu teste vetustatis
exclamant_."--P. 58.

And in Scaligerana (prima):

"Nummus ratitus--ce qu'aujourd'hui nous appellons jouer à croix ou à
pile, car _pile_ est un vieil mot français qui signifiait un Navire,
_unde_ Pilote. Ratitus nummus erat ex ære, sic dictus ab effigie
ratus."--Tom. ii., Amsterdam, 1740, p. 130.

See also, _Auctores Latinæ Linguæ_, by Gothofred, 1585, p. 169. l. 53. Also, _Dictionnaire National_ of M. Bescherelle, tome ii. p 885., Paris, 1846, art. PILE (_subst. fém._)

_En passant_, allow me to point out a very curious and interesting account of this game, being the pastime of Edward II., in the _Antiquarian Repertory_, by Grose and Astle: Lond. 1808, 4to., vol. ii. pp 406-8.

[Phi].

Richmond, Surrey.

_Ellis Walker_ (Vol. vii., p. 382.).--

"Ellis Walker, D.D.," according to Ware, "was born in the city of York;
but came young into Ireland, and was educated in the college of Dublin,
where he passed through all his degrees. He fled from thence in the
troublesome reign of King James II., and lived with an uncle at York,
where he translated _Epictetus_ into verse. After the settlement of
Ireland he returned, and for seven years employed himself with great
reputation in teaching a public school at Drogheda, where he died on
the 17th April, 1701, in the fortieth year of his age; and was buried
there in St. Peter's Church, and twenty years after had a monument
erected to his memory by one of his scholars."

TYRO.

Dublin.

_Blackguard_ (Vol. vii., pp. 77. 273.).--I am not aware that the following extract from Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_ has ever yet been quoted under this heading. Would it not be worth the while to add it to the extract from Hobbes's _Microcosmos_, quoted by JARLTZBERG, Vol. ii., p. 134. and again, by SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT at Vol. vii., p. 78.:

"The same author, Cardan, in his _Hyperchen_, out of the doctrine of
the Stoicks, will have some of these genii (for so he calls them) to be
desirous of men's company, very affable and familiar with them, as dogs
are; others again, to abhor as serpents, and care not for them. The
same, belike, Trithemius calls _igneos et sublunares, qui numquam
demergunt ad inferiora, aut vix ullum habent in terris commercium:
generally they far excel men in worth, as a man the meanest worm_;
though some there are _inferiour to those of their own rank in worth,
as the black guard in a princes court, and to men again, as some
degenerate, base, rational creatures are excelled of brute
beasts_."--_Anat. of Mel._, Part I. sec. 2. Mem. 1. subs. 2. [Blake,
1836, p. 118.]