Chapter I: Front Matter

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

{493} 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. 186.] Saturday, May 21, 1853. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page
Lord Bacon's "Advancement of Learning" 493
Erection of Forts at Michnee and Pylos, by C. Forbes 495
Hoveden's Annals: Bohn's "Antiquarian Library," by
James Graves 495
FOLK LORE:--Raven Superstition--African Folk Lore
--Funeral Custom 496
Shakspeare Readings, No. VII. 496
MINOR NOTES:--Portrait of Luther--Randle Wilbraham
--Unpublished Epigram by Sir W. Scott--Crassus'
Saying 498

QUERIES:--
Bees and the Sphynx atropos, by Sydney Smirke 499
"The Craftsman's Apology," by James Crossley 499
Palissy and Cardinal Wiseman 499
MINOR QUERIES:--Polidus--St. Paul's Epistles to
Seneca--Meaning of "folowed"--Roman Catholic
Registers--St. Alban's Day--Meigham, the London
Printer--Adamsoniana--Canker or Brier Rose--
"Short red, god red"--Overseers of Wills--Lepel's
Regiment--Vincent Family--Passage in the First
Part of Faust--Lady Anne Gray--Continental Brasses
--Peter Beaver--Cremonas--Cranmer and Calvin 499
MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--"A Letter to a Convocation
Man"--Prester John--Homer's Iliad in a
Nut--Monogram of Parker Society--The Five Alls--
Corvizer 502

REPLIES:--
English Comedians in Germany 503
A Gentleman executed for whipping a Slave to Death,
by Henry H. Breen 503
Longevity 504
Derivation of Canada, by Robert Wright 504
Setantiorum Portus 505
PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:--Stereoscopic Queries
--Photographic Portraits of Criminals, &c.--Photography
applied to Catalogues of Books--Application
of Photography to the Microscope 505
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Discovery At Nuneham
Regis--Eulenspiegel, or Howleglas--Parochial Libraries
--Painter--Pepys's "Morena"--Pylades and
Corinna--Judge Smith--Grindle--Simile of the Soul
and the Magnetic Needle--English Bishops deprived
by Queen Elizabeth--Borrowed Thoughts--Dr. South
_v._ Goldsmith, Talleyrand, &c.--Foucault's Experiment
--Passage in "Locksley Hall"--Lake of
Geneva--"Inter cuncta micans"--"Its"--Gloves
at Fairs--Astronomical Query--Tortoiseshell Tom
Cat--Sizain on the Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender
--Wandering Jew--Hallett and Dr. Saxby--
"My mind to me a kingdom is"--Claret--Suicide at
Marseilles--Etymology of Slang--Scanderbeg's Sword
--Arago on the Weather--Rathe--Carr Pedigree--
Banbury Cakes--Detached Belfry Towers, &c. 507

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, &c. 513
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 514
Notices to Correspondents 514
Advertisements 514

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NOTES.

LORD BACON'S "ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING."

Considering the large number of quotations from previous writers which occur in Lord Bacon's works, and especially in his most popular and generally read works--his _Essays_ and his _Advancement of Learning_--it is remarkable how little his editors have done for the illustration of his text in this respect. The French editors of Montaigne's _Essays_, who is likewise a writer abounding in quotations, have bestowed much care on this portion of their author's text. The defect in question has, however, been to a great extent supplied in a recent edition of the _Advancement of Learning_, published by Mr. Parker in West Strand; and it is to be hoped that the beginning, so usefully made, may be followed up by similar editions of other of Bacon's works.

The edition in question, though it traces the great majority of Bacon's quotations, has left some gleanings to its successors; and I propose now to call attention to a few passages of the _Advancement of Learning_ which, after the labours of the late editor, seem still to require further elucidation. My references are to the pages of the new edition:--

P. 25. "Then grew the flowing and watery vein of Osorius the Portugal
bishop to be in price."

The editor prints _Orosius_ for _Osorius_, and adds this note:

"All the editions have _Osorius_, which, however, must be a mere
misprint. He was not a Portuguese, but a Spaniard, born at Tarragona,
nor indeed ever a bishop. He was sent by St. Augustine on a mission to
Jerusalem, and is supposed to have died in Africa in the earlier part
of the fifth century."

The text of Bacon is quite right. The allusion is not to Paulus Orosius, a Spaniard, who flourished at the beginning of the fifth century; but to Jerome Osorio, who was born at Lisbon in 1506, afterwards became Bishop of Silves, and died in 1580. His works were published at Rome in 1592, in 4 vols. folio. His principal work, _De rebus Emanuelis Virtute et Auspicio gestis_, which first appeared in 1571, was several times reprinted, and was translated into French and English. {494}

P. 31. "Time, which is the author of authors."

In _Nov. Org._, i. 84., Time is called "Auctor auctorum, atque adeo omnis auctoritatis."

P. 34. "But of these conceits Aristotle speaketh seriously and wisely,
when he saith, 'Qui respiciunt ad pauca de facili pronunciant."

The editor does not attempt to trace this passage. Query, If it is not in Aristotle, where is it to be found?

P. 60. "Ulysses, 'Qui vetulam prætulit immortalitati' is a figure of
those which prefer custom and habit before all excellency."

The editor refers to _Cic. de Orat._, i. 44., where it is said that such is the love of country,

"Ut Ithacam illam, in asperrimis saxulis, tanquam nidulum, affixam,
sapientissimus vir immortalitati anteponeret."

Another application of the saying is made by Bacon in his Essay VIII., "On Marriage and Single Life:"

"Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly
loving husbands, as was said of Ulysses, 'vetulam suam prætulit
immortalitati.'"

The passage in Cicero does not agree with the dictum quoted by Bacon, which seems to be a reference to the _Odyssey_, v. 136. 208-10.

P. 62. "Claudus in vià antevertit cursorem extra viam."

The same proverb is quoted in _Nov. Org._, i. 61.

P. 85. "Omnia mutantur, nil interit"--

from Ovid, _Met._, xv. 165.

Several passages are cited by Bacon from Seneca, which the editor does not trace. Thus, in p. 146., it is said,--

"Nocet illis eloquentia, quibus non rerum cupiditatem facit, sed sui."

Page 147.,--

"Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei."

The same passage is also quoted by Bacon in Essay V., "On Adversity," and in the treatise _De Sap. Vet._, vol. x. p. 343., edit. Montagu.

Again, p. 159.:

"De partibus vitæ quisque deliberat, de summâ nemo."

Page 152.,--

"Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris," &c.,

repeated in part in the "Essay on Death."

This last passage is taken, with considerable verbal variations, from Epist. 77. § 6.

"Therefore Aristotle, when he thinks to tax Democritus, doth in truth
commend him, where he saith, _If we shall indeed dispute, and not
follow after similitudes_," &c.

The passage referred to is in _Eth. Nic._, vi. 3.; but it contains no allusion to Democritus, who is not even named in the _Ethics_; and the word which Bacon renders _dispute_ ([Greek: akribologeisthai]) means _to speak with precision_.

P. 163. "For as the ancient politiques in popular states were wont to
compare the people to the sea, and the orators to the winds."

The allusion is to a couplet of Solon:

"[Greek: ex anemôn de thalassa tarassetai? ên de tis autên]
[Greek: mê kinêi, pantôn esti dikaiotatê.]"
_Fragm._ i. 8., ed. Gaisford.

And to a passage of Livy (xxviii. 27.):

"Multitudo omnis, sicut natura maris, per se immobilis est, venti et
auræ cient."

Compare Babrius, fab. 71.

P. 165. "Did not one of the Fathers, in great indignation, call poesy
_vinum dæmonum_?"

The same citation recurs in Essay I., "On Truth:"

"One of the Fathers, in great severity, called poesy _vinum dæmonum_."

Query, Who is the Father alluded to?

Page 177., the sayings, "Faber quisque fortunæ propriæ" is cited; and again, p. 178., "Faber quisque fortunæ suæ." In Essay XL., "On Fortune," it is quoted, with the addition, "saith the poet." The words are to be found in Sallust, _Ad Cæsar. de Rep. Ord._, ii. 1.:

"Sed res docuit, id verum esse, quad in carminibus Appius ait, fabrum
suæ esse quemque fortunæ."

The Appius alluded to is Appius Claudius the Censor.

Bacon proceeds to say:

"This conceit or position [viz. 'Faber quisque,' &c.], if it be too
much declared and professed, hath been thought a thing impolitic and
unlucky, as was observed in Timotheus the Athenian, who, having done
many great services to the estate in his government, and giving an
account thereof to the people, as the manner was, did conclude every
particular with this clause, 'And in this Fortune had no part.' And it
came so to pass, that he never prospered in anything he took in hand
afterwards."

The anecdote is as follows:--Timotheus had been ridiculed by the comic poets, on account of the small share which his own management had had in his successes. A satirical painting had likewise been made, in which he was represented sleeping, while Fortune stood over him, and drew the cities into his net. (See Plutarch, _Reg. et Imp. Apophth._, vol. ii. p. 42., ed. Tauchnitz; Ælian, V. H. xiii. 42.) On one occasion, however, having returned from a successful expedition, he remarked to the Athenians, in allusion to the previous sarcasms, that in this campaign at least Fortune had no share. Plutarch, who relates the latter {495} anecdote in his _Life of Sylla_, c. 6., proceeds to say, that this boast gave so much offence to the deity, that he never afterwards prospered in any of his enterprises. His reverse of luck, in consequence of his vainglorious language against Fortune, is also alluded to by Dio Chrysost. _Orat._, lxiv. § 19., edit. Emper. It will be observed that Plutarch refers the saying of Timotheus to a single expedition; whereas Bacon multiplies it, by extending it over a series of acts.

P. 172. "Cicero reporteth that it was then in use for senators that had
name and opinion for general wise men, as Coruncanius, Curius, Lælius,
and many others, to walk at certain hours in the Place," &c.

The passage alluded to is _De Orat._, iii. 83. The persons there named are Sex. Ælius, Manius Manilius, P. Crassus, Tib. Coruncanius, and Scipio.

P. 179. "We will begin, therefore, with this precept, according to the
ancient opinion, that the sinews of wisdom are slowness of belief, and
distrust."

The precept adverted to is the verse of Epicharmus:

"[Greek: naphe kai memnas' apistein? arthra tauta tôn phrenôn.]"

P. 180. "Fraus sibi in parvis fidem præstruit, ut majore emolumento
fallat."

Query, Where does this passage occur, as well as the expression "alimenta socordiæ," which Demosthenes, according to Bacon, applies to small favours.

L.

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ERECTION OF FORTRESS AT MICHNEE AND PYLOS.

Mr. Dartnell, Surgeon of H. M. 53rd regiment, gives the following account of the building of a fort which has lately been erected at Michnee to check the incursions of the Momunds into the Peshawur Valley:

"There was little to be done, except to build a fort, and here the
officers had to superintend and direct the working parties which were
daily sent out.... Laborers from far and near, Cashmerees, Caboolees,
men from the Hindoo Koosh, Afreedees, Khyberees, &c., all working
together with hearty goodwill, and a sort of good-humoured rivalry....
It is only when working by contract, however, that the Cashmeree
displays his full physical powers, and it is then perfectly refreshing,
in such a physically relaxing and take-the-world-as-it-goes sort of a
country as this, to observe him.... And then to see him carry a burden!
On his head? No. On his back? Yes, but after a fashion of his own,
perfectly natural and entirely independent of basket, or receptacle of
any kind in which to place it. I have now in my garden some half-dozen
of these labourers at work, removing immense masses of clay, which are
nearly as hard as flint, and how do they manage? My friend Jumah Khan
reverts his arms, and clasping his hands together behind his back,
receives the pyramidal load, which generally overtops his head, and
thus he conveys it to its destination," &c.--Colburn's _United Service
Magazine_, December, 1852, pp. 514, 515.

Thucydides tells us that as soon as the crews of the Athenian ships, weatherbound at Pylos in the spring of the year B.C. 425, had made up their minds to kill time by fortifying their harbour of refuge,--

"They took the work in hand, and plied it briskly.... The mud that was
anywhere requisite, for want of vessels, they carried on their
shoulders, bending forwards as much as possible, that it might have
room to stick on, and holding it up with both hands clasped fast behind
that it might not slide down."--Book iv. chap. 4. (Smith's
Translation.)