Chapter X: Y. Z

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OLIVER ST. JOHN.

In giving the lives of the Commonwealth chief justices, Lord Campbell observes (_Lives of Chief Justices_, vol. i. p. 447.), "in completing the list with the name of Oliver St. John, I am well pleased with an opportunity of tracing his career and pourtraying his character." Then follows a biography of thirty pages. The subject seems to be a favourite one with his lordship, and he accordingly produces a striking picture, laying on his colours in the approved historical style of the day, so as to make the painting an effective one, whether the resemblance be faithful or not. But how is it that the noble biographer appears to be quite unaware of what really is the only document we have relating to Oliver St. John of his own composition, which does give us much light as to his career or character? I refer to _The Case of Oliver St. John, Esq, concerning his Actions during the late Troubles_, pp. 14., 4to., n.d. It is a privately printed tract, emanating from St. John himself, and was no doubt circulated amongst persons in power at the Restoration, with a view to obtaining indemnity and pardon. My copy is signed by himself, and has some corrections in his autograph. His Defence is full of interesting particulars, some of which are very inconsistent with Lord Campbell's speculations and statements. It would, however, occupy too much of your space were I to go through the various articles objected to by him, and to which he gives his replies and explanations. My object in noticing this tract at present, is to prevent any future biographer of this Commonwealth worthy, whose life may well be an historical study, from neglecting an important source of information. I observe Lord Campbell (p. 473.) doubts whether he favoured the measure of making Cromwell king. But if we are to believe the title-page of _Monarchy asserted_, 1660, 12mo., he was one of the speakers at the conference with Cromwell on the 11th April, 1657, in favour of his assuming the title of king. On the list of the committee which follows, the "Lord Chief Justice" only is mentioned, but in the speeches a difference seems to be made between "Lord Chief Justice" (pp. 6. 7. 15.) and "Lord Chief Justice Glynne" (p. 44.), and they would seem to be two different speakers. The title-page states distinctly, "the arguments of Oliver St. John, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Chief Justice Glyn, &c., members of that committee."

JAS. CROSSLEY.

* * * * *

NOTES ON SEVERAL MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS.

(_Continued from_ p. 402.)

_No did, no will, no had, &c._--

"_K. John._ . . . I had a mighty cause
To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.

_Hubert._ _No had_ (my Lord), why, did you not provoke me?"
_King John_, Act IV. Sc. 2.

So the first folio edition of Shakspeare. A palpable error, as the commentators of the present would pleasantly observe, and all the world would echo the opinion; but here, as in most other {521} instances, commentators and all the world may be wrong, and the folios right. The passage has accordingly been corrupted by the editors of Shakspeare into what was more familiar to their modern ears: "Had none, my Lord!" Though the mode of speech be very common, yet, to deprive future editors of all excuse for ever again depraving the genuine text of our national Bible, I shall make no apology for accumulating a string of examples:

"_Fort._ Oh, had I such a hat, then were I brave!
Where's he that made it?

_Sol._ Dead: and the whole world
Yields not a workman that can frame the like.

_Fort._ _No does?_"
"Old Fortunatus," _Old English Plays_, vol. iii. p. 140., by Dilke:

who alters "No does?" into _None does?_ thinking, I presume, that he had thereby simplified the sentence:

"_John._ I am an elde fellowe of fifty wynter and more,
And yet in all my lyfe I knewe not this before.

_Parson._ _No dyd_, why sayest thou so, upon thyselfe thou lyest,
Thou haste euer knowen the sacramente to be the body of Christ."
_John Bon and Mast Person._

"_Chedsey._ Christ said 'Take, eat, this is my body;' and not 'Take ye,
eat ye.'

_Philpot._ _No did_, master doctor? Be not these the words of Christ,
'Accipite, manducate?' And do not these words, in the plural number,
signify 'Take ye, eat ye;' and not 'Take thou, eat thou,' as you would
suppose?"--Foxe's _Acts and Monuments_, vol. vii. p. 637., Cattley's
edition.

"_Philpot._ Master Cosins, I have told my lord already, that I will
answer to none of these articles he hath objected against me: but if
you will with learning answer to that which is in question between my
lord and me, I will gladly hear and commune with you.

_Cosins._ _No will_ you? Why what is that then, that is in question
between my lord and you?"--_Id._, p. 651.

"_Philpot._ And as I remember, it is even the saying of St. Bernard
[viz. The Holy Ghost is Christ's vicar on earth (_vic-arius_), and a
saying that I need not to be ashamed of, neither you to be offended at;
as my Lord of Durham and my Lord of Chichester by their learning can
discern, and will not reckon it evil said.

_London._ _No will?_ Why, take away the first syllable, and it soundeth
Arius."--_Id._ p. 658.

"_Philpot._ These words of Cyprian do nothing prove your pretensed
assertion; which is, that to the Church of Rome there could come no
misbelief.

_Christopherson._ Good lord, _no doth_? What can be said more
plainly?"--_Id._, p. 661.

Again, at p. 663. there occur no less than three more instances and at p. 665. another.

"_Careless._ No, forsooth: I do not know any such, nor have I heard of
him that I wot of.

_Martin._ _No have_, forsooth: and it is even he that hath written
against thy faith."

Then _Martin_ said:

"Dost thou not know one Master Chamberlain?

_Careless._ No forsooth; I know him not.

_Martin._ _No dost!_ and he hath written a book against thy faith
also."--_Id._, vol. iii. p. 164.

"_Lichfield and Coventry._ We heard of no such order.

_Lord Keeper._ _No did?_ Yes, and on the first question ye began
willingly. How cometh it to pass that ye will not now do so?"--_Id._,
p. 690.

"Then said Sir Thomas Moyle: 'Ah! Bland, thou art a stiff-hearted
fellow. Thou wilt not obey the law, nor answer when thou art called.'
'_Nor will_,' quoth Sir John Baker. 'Master Sheriff, take him to your
ward.'"--_Id._, vol. vii. p. 295.

Is it needful to state, that the original editions have, as they ought to have, a note of interrogation at "Baker?" I will not tax the reader's patience with more than two other examples, and they shall be fetched from the writings of that admirable papist--the gentle, the merry-hearted More:

"Well, quod Caius, thou wylt graunte me thys fyrste, that euery thynge
that hath two erys is an asse.--Nay, mary mayster, wyll I not, quod the
boy.--_No wylt_ thou? quod Caius. Ah, wyly boy, there thou wentest
beyond me."--The Thyrde Boke, the first chapter, fol. 84. of Sir Thomas
More's _Dialogues_.

"Why, quod he, what coulde I answere ellys, but clerely graunt hym that
I believe that thyng for none other cause but only bycause the
Scripture so sheweth me?--_No could ye?_ quod I. What yf neuer
Scripture had ben wryten in thys world, should there neuer haue bene
eny chyrch or congregacyon of faythfull and ryght beyleuyng
people?--That wote I nere, quod he. _No do ye?_ quod I."--_Id._, fol.
85.

In taking leave of this idiom, it would not perhaps be amiss to remark, that "ye can," in Duke Humphey's rejoinder to the "blyson begger of St. Albonys," is not, as usually understood, "you can?" but "yea can?"

* * * * *

_To be at point_ = to be at a stay or stop, _i.e._ settled, determined, nothing farther being to be said or done: a very common phrase. Half a dozen examples shall suffice:

" . . . . . What I am truly
Is thine, and my poore countries to command:
Whither indeed before they (thy) heere-approach,
Old Seyward with ten thousand warlike men
Already _at a point_, was setting forth."
_Macbeth_, Act IV. Sc. 3. 1st Fol.

No profit to give the commentators' various guesses at the import of the phrase in the above passage, which will be best gathered from the following instances of its use elsewhere. But, before passing further, I beg permission to inform MR. KNIGHT that the original suggester of "sell" for "self," in an earlier part of this play, whose name {522} he is at a loss for, was W. S. Landor, whose footnote to vol. ii. p. 273., Moxon's edit. of his works, is as follows:

"And here it may be permitted the editor to profit also by the
manuscript, correcting in Shakespeare what is _absolute nonsense_ as
now printed:

'_Vaulting_ ambition that o'erleaps _itself_,
And falls on the _other side_.'

Other side of what? It should be _its sell_. _Sell_ is saddle in
Spenser and elsewhere, from the Latin and Italian."

A correspondent of "N. & Q."., Vol. vii., p. 404., will be delighted to find his very ingenious discovery brought home, and corroborated by Landor's valuable manuscript: but it is an old said saw--"Great wits jump." Now to our examples:

"_Pasquin._ Saint Luke also affirmeth the same, saying flatly that he
shall not be forgiuen. Beholde, therefore, how well they interprete the
Scriptures.

_Marforius._ I am alreadie _at a poynt_ with them, but thou shalt doo
me great pleasure to expounde also vnto me certayne other places, vppon
the which they ground this deceit."--_Pasquine in a Traunce_, turned
but lately out of the Italian into this tongue by W. P.: London, 1584.

"But look, where malice reigneth in men, there reason can take no
place: and, therefore, I see by it, that you are all _at a point_ with
me, that no reason or authority can persuade you to favour my name, who
never meant evil to you, but both your commodity and profit."--Foxe's
_Acts and Monuments_, vol. viii. p. 18.

"Not so, my lord," said I, "for I am _at a full point_ with myself in
that matter; and am right well able to prove both your
transubstantiation with the real presence to be against the Scriptures
and the ancient Fathers of the primitive Church."--_Id._, p. 587.

"_Winchester._ No, surely, I am fully determined, and fully _at a
point_ therein, howsoever my brethren do."--_Id._, p. 691.

"_Brad._ Sir, so that you will define me your church, that under it you
bring not in a false church, you shall not see but that we shall soon
be _at a point_."--_Id._, vol. vii. p. 190.

"_Latimer._ Truly, my lord, as for my part I require no respite, for I
am _at a point_. You shall give me respite in vain; therefore, I pray
you let me not trouble you to-morrow."--_Id._, p. 534.

"Unto whom he (Lord Cobham) gave this answer: 'Do as ye shall think
best, for I am _at a point_.' Whatsoever he (Archbishop Arundel) or the
other bishops did ask him after that, he bade them resort to his bill:
for thereby would he stand to the very death."--_Id._, vol. iii. pp.
327-8.

"'Et illa et ista vera esse credantur et nulla inter nos contentio
remanebit, quia nec illis veris ista, nec istis veris illa
impediuntur.' Let bothe those truthes and these truthes be beleued, and
we shall be _at appoinct_. For neither these truthes are impaired by
the other, neither the other by these."--_A Fortresse of the Faith_, p.
50., by Thomas Stapleton: Antwerp, 1565.

"A poore man that shall haue liued at home in the countrie, and neuer
tasted of honoure and pompe, is alwayes _at a poynt_ with himselfe,
when menne scorne and disdayne him, or shewe any token of contempt
towardes his person."--John Calvin's _CVIII. Sermon on the Thirtieth
Chap. of Job_, p. 554., translated by Golding: London, 1574.

"As for peace, I am _at a point_."--_Leycester Correspondence_, Camd.
Soc., p. 261.

W. R. ARROWSMITH.

(_To be continued._)

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Weather Rules._--The interesting article on "The Shepherd of Banbury's Weather Rules" (Vol. vii., p. 373.) has reminded me of two _sayings_ I heard in Worcestershire a few months back, and upon which my informant placed the greatest reliance. The first is, "If the moon changes on a Sunday, there will be a flood before the month is out." My authority asserted that through a number of years he has never known this fail. The month in which the change on a Sunday has occurred has been fine until the last day, when the flood came. The other saying is, "Look at the weathercock on St. Thomas's day at twelve o'clock, and see which way the wind is, and there it will stick for the next quarter," that is, three months. Can any of your readers confirm the above, and add any similar "weather rules?"

J. A., JUN.

Birmingham.

_Drills presaging Death_ (Vol. vii., p. 353.).--Your correspondent asks if the superstition he here alludes to in Norfolk is believed in other parts. I can give him a case in point in Berkshire:--Some twenty years ago an old gentleman died there, a near relative of my own; and on going down to his place, I was told by a farm overseer of his, that he was certain some of his lordship's family would die that season, as, in the last sowing, he had missed putting the seed in one row, which he showed me! "Who could disbelieve it now?" quoth the old man. I was then taken to the bee-hives, and at the door of every one this man knocked with his knuckles, and informed the occupants that they must now work for a new master, as their old one was gone to heaven. This, I believe, has been queried in your invaluable paper some time since. I only send it by the way. I know the same superstition is still extant in Cheshire, North Wales, and in some parts of Scotland.

T. W. N.

Malta.

A friend supplies me with the information that before drills were invented, the labourers {523} considered it unlucky to miss a "bout" in corn or seed sowing, will sometimes happened when "broadcast" was the only method. The ill-luck did not relate alone to a _death_ in the family of the farmer or his dependents, but to losses of cattle or accidents. It is singular, however, that the superstition should have transferred itself to the drill; but it will be satisfactory to E. G. R. to learn that the process of _tradition_ and _superstition-manufacturing_ is not going on in the nineteenth century.

E. S. TAYLOR.

_Superstition in Devonshire; Valentine's Day_ (Vol. v., pp. 55. 148.).--This, according to Forby, vol. ii. p. 403., once formed in Norfolk a part of the superstitious practices on _St. Mark's Eve_, not St. Valentine's, as mentioned by J. S. A., when the sheeted ghosts of those who should die that year (Mrs. Crowe would call them, I suppose, _Doppelgängers_) march in grisly array to the parish church.

The rhyme varies from J. S. A.'s:--

"Hempseed I sow:
Hempseed grow;
He that is my true love
Come after me, and mow."

and the Norfolk spectre is seen with a _scythe_, instead of a rake like his Devonshire compeer.

E. S. TAYLOR.

* * * * *

A NOTE ON GULLIVER'S TRAVELS.

If I may argue from the silence of the latest edition of _Gulliver's Travels, with Notes_, with which I am acquainted, viz. that by W. C. Taylor, LL.D., Trinity College, Dublin, the Preface to which is dated May 1st, 1840, I may say that all the commentators on Swift--all, at least, down to that late date--have omitted to refer to a work containing incidents closely resembling some of those recorded in the "Voyage to Lilliput."

The work to which I allude is a little dramatical composition, the Bambocciata, or puppet-show, by Martelli, entitled _The Sneezing of Hercules_. Goldoni, in his _Memoirs_, has given us the following account of the manner in which he brought it out on the stage:

"Count Lantieri was very well satisfied with my father, for he was
greatly recovered, and almost completely cured: his kindness was also
extended to me, and to procure amusement for me he caused a
puppet-show, which was almost abandoned, and which was very rich in
figures and decorations, to be refitted.

"I profited by this, and amused the company by giving them a piece of a
great man, expressly composed for wooden comedians. This was the
_Sneezing of Hercules_, by Peter James Martelli, a Bolognese.

. . . . . . . . . .

"The imagination of the author sent Hercules into the country of the
pigmies. Those poor little creatures, frightened at the aspect of an
animated mountain with legs and arms, ran and concealed themselves in
holes. One day as Hercules had stretched himself out in the open field,
and was sleeping tranquilly, the timid inhabitants issued out of their
retreats, and, armed with prickles and rushes, mounted on the monstrous
man, and covered him from head to foot, like flies when they fall on a
piece of rotten meat. Hercules waked, and felt something in his nose,
which made him sneeze; on which, his enemies tumbled down in all
directions. This ends the piece.

"There is a plan, a progression, an intrigue, a catastrophe, and
winding up; the style is good and well-supported; the thoughts and
sentiments are all proportionate to the size of the personages. The
verses even are short, and everything indicates pigmies.

"A gigantic puppet was requisite for Hercules; everything was well
executed. The entertainment was productive of much pleasure; and I
could lay a bet, that I am the only person who ever thought of
executing the Bambocciata of Martelli."--_Memoirs of Goldoni_,
translated by John Black, 2 vols., duod. vol. i. chap. 6.

It is certainly not necessary to point out here in what respects the adventures of Hercules, the _animated mountain_, and those of Quinbus Flestrin, the _man mountain_, differ from, or coincide with, each other, as the only question I wish to raise is, whether a careful analysis of Martelli's puppet-show ought, or ought not, to have been placed among the notes on _Gulliver's Travels_.