Chapter II: Part 2

B.W. Feb. 25.

Sir,--If the signature to the article in No. 16., "on Pet Names," had not been Scottish, I should have been less surprised at the author's passing over the name of _Jock_, universally used in Scotland for _John_. The termination _ick_ or _ck_ is often employed, as marking a diminutive object, or object of endearment. May not the English term _Jack_, if not directly borrowed from the Scottish _Jock_, have been formed _through_ the primary _Jock_--John--Jock--Jack?

EMDEE.

_Origin of the Change of "Mary" into "Polly"_ (No. 14. p. 215.).--This change, like many others in diminutives, is progressive. By a natural affinity between the liquids _r_ and _l_, _Mary_ becomes _Molly_, as _Sarah_, _Sally_, _Dorothea_, _Dora_, _Dolly_, &c. It is not so easy to trace the affinity between the _initials_ M. and P., though the case is not singular; thus, _Margaret_, Madge, Meggy, Meg, _Peggy_, _Peg_--_Martha_, Matty, _Patty_--and _Mary_, Molly, _Polly_ and _Poll_; in which last abbreviation not one single letter of the original word remains: the natural affinity between the two letters, as _medials_, is evident, as in the following examples, all of which, with one exception, are Latin derivatives: _empty_, _peremptory_, _sumptuous_, _presumptuous_, _exemption_, _redemption_, and _sempstress_ and again, in the words _tempt_, _attempt_, _contempt_, _exempt_, _prompt_, _accompt_, _comptroller_ (vid. Walker's _Prin. of Eng. Pron._ pp. 42, 43.); in all which instances however, the _p_ is mute, so that "Mary" is avenged for its being the accomplice in the desecration of her gentle name into "Polly." Many names of the other sex lose their initials in the diminutive; as,

_R_ichard _D_ick _R_obert _B_ob _W_illiam _B_ill _E_dward _N_ed _C_hristopher _K_it _R_oger _H_odge,

and probably many others; but I have no list before me, and these are all that occur.

Philologos. Deanery of Gloucester, Shrove Tuesday, 1850.

* * * * *

PARALLEL PASSAGES OR PLAGIARISMS IN CHILDE HAROLD.

Permit me to add two further plagiarisms or parallel passages on the subject of _Childe Harold_ to those already contributed by your valuable correspondent "Melanion."

Mrs. Radcliffe (who I am informed was never out of England) is describing in her _Mysteries of Udolpho_, Chap. xvi. the appearance of Venice. "Its terraces, crowded with airy, yet majestic fabrics touched as they now were with the splendour of the setting sun, appeared as if they had been _called up from the Ocean by the wand of an enchanter_."

In the 1st stanza of the 4th canto of _Childe Harold_ we have the well known lines--

"I stood in Venice on the bridge of sighs,
A palace and a prison on each hand:
I saw from out the wave her structures rise
As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand."

In one of his letters Lord Byron tells us of his fondness for the above novel.

Again in Kirke White's _Christiad_--

"The lyre which I in early days have strung,
And now my spirits faint, and I have hung
The shell that solaced me in saddest hour
On the dark cypress--"

May be compared with the last stanza but one of the 4th canto.

T.R.M.

* * * * * {300}

INEDITED LINES BY ROBERT BURNS.

The following lines by Robert Burns have never appeared in any collection of his works. They were given to me some time ago at Chatham Barracks by Lieut. Colonel Fergusson, R.M., formerly of Dumfriesshire, by whom they were copied from the _tumbler_ upon which they were originally written.

Shortly before the death of Alan Cunningham I sent these verses to him, as well as two Epigrams of Burns, "On Howlet Face," and "On the Mayor of Carlisle's impounding his Horse," which were not included in his edition of Burns' works. In a letter which I received from Alan Cunningham, and which now lies before me, he says:--

"The pieces you were so good as to send me are by Burns, and the
Epigrams are old acquaintances of mine. I know not how I came to
omit them. I shall print them in the next edition, and say it
was you who reminded me of them."

I believe that one or both of the Epigrams were printed in the 8vo. edition of the works in one volume, but my name is not mentioned as the contributor, which I regret; for, as an enthusiastic admirer of Burns, and a collector for many years of his fugitive pieces, it would have been gratifying to me to have been thus noticed. Perhaps Cunningham did not superintend that edition.

The verses I now send you, and which may, perhaps, be worth preserving in your valuable miscellany, originated thus:--On occasion of a social meeting at Brownhill inn, in the parish of Closeburn, near Dumfries, which was, according to Alan Cunningham, "a favourite resting-place of Burns," the poet, who was one of the party, was not a little delighted by the unexpected appearance of his friend William Stewart. He seized a tumbler, and in the fulness of his heart, wrote the following lines on it with a diamond. The tumbler is carefully preserved, and was shown some years since by a relative of Mr. Stewart, at his cottage at Closeburn, to Colonel Fergusson, who transcribed the lines, and gave them to me with the assurance that they had never been printed.

The first verse is an adaptation of a well known Jacobite lyric.

"You're welcome Willie Stewart!
You're welcome Willie Stewart!
There's no a flower that blooms in May
That's half so welcome as thou art!

Come bumper high, express your joy!
The bowl--ye maun renew it--
The _tappit-hen_--gae fetch her ben,
To welcome Willie Stewart!

May faes be strong--may friends be slack--
May he ilk action rue it--
May woman on him turn her back
Wad wrang thee Willie Stewart!"

J. Reynell Wreford.

* * * * *

LACEDÆMONIAN BLACK BROTH.

Your correspondent "R.O." having inquired after the author of the conjecture that the Lacedæmonian Black Broth was composed wholly, or in part, of coffee, such an idea appearing to me to have arisen principally from a presumed identity of colour between the two, and to have no foundation in fact, I have endeavoured to combat it, in the first instance by raising the question, whether it was black or not?

This has brought us to the main point, what the [Greek: zomos melas] really was. And here "R.O." appears to rest content upon the probablity of coffee having been an ingredient. Permit me to assign some additional reasons for entertaining a different opinion.

We read nothing in native writers of anything like coffee in Greece, indigenous or imported; and how in the world was it to get into Laconia, inhabited, as it is well known to have been, by a race of men the least prone of any to change their customs, and the least accessible to strangers. Lycurgus, we are told, forbade his people to be sailors, or to contend at sea[6], so that they had no means of importing it themselves; and what foreign merchant would sell it to them, who had only iron money to pay withal, and dealt, moreover, as much as possible by way of barter?[7]

But it may be said they cultivated the plant themselves; that is, in other words, that the Helots raised it for them. If so, how happens it that all mention of the berry is omitted in the catalogue of their monthly contributions to the Phiditia, which are said to have consisted of meal, wine, cheese, figs, and a very little money?[8] and when the king of Pontus[9] indulged in the expensive fancy of buying to himself (not hiring, let it be recollected) a cook, to make that famous broth which Dionysius found so detestable, how came he not at the same time to think of buying a pound of coffee also? Moreover, if we consider its universal popularity at present, it is hardly to be supposed that, in ancient times, coffee would have suited no palate except that of a Lacedæmonian.

With respect to the colour of the broth, I am reminded of my own reference to _Pollux_, lib. vi. who is represented by your correspondent to say that the [Greek: melas zomos] was also called [Greek: aimatia], a word which Messrs. Scott and Liddell interpret to {301} denote "blood broth," and go on to state, upon the authority of Manso, that blood was a principal ingredient in this celebrated Lacedæmonian dish. Certainly, if the case were really so, the German writer would have succeeded in preparing for us a most disagreeable and warlike kind of food; but my astonishment has not been small, upon turning to the passage, to find that "R.O.'s" authorities had misled him, and that _Pollux_ really says nothing of the kind. His words (I quote from the edition 2 vols. folio, Amst. 1706) are these,

[Greek: "O de melas kaloumenos zomos Lakonikon men hos epi to poly to edesma. esti de hae kaloumenae haimatia. to de thrion hode eskeuazon, k.t.l."]

The general subject of the section is the different kinds of flesh used by man for food, and incidentally the good things which may be made from these; which leads the writer to mention by name many kinds of broth, amongst which he says towards the end, is that called [Greek: melas zomos] which might be considered almost as a Lacedæmonian dish; adding further, that there was a something called hæmatia (and this might have been a black pudding or sausage for anything that appears to the contrary); also the thrium, which was prepared in a manner he proceeds to describe. Now the three parts of the sentence which has been given above in the original do, to the best of my judgment, clearly refer to three different species of food; and I would appeal to the candid opinion of any competent Greek scholar, whether, according to the idiom of that language, the second part of it is so expressed, as to connect it with, and make it explanatory of, the first. We want, for this purpose, a relative, either with or without [Greek: esti]; and the change of gender in hæmatia seems perfectly unaccountable if it is intended to have any reference to [Greek: zomos].

It may not be unimportant to add that the significant silence of Meursius, (an author surely not to be lightly thought of) who in his _Miscellanea Laconica_ says nothing of blood broth at the Phiditia, implies that he understood the passage of Pollux as intended to convey the meaning expressed above.

Another lexicographer, Hesychius, informs us that [Greek: Bapha] was the Lacedæmonian term for [Greek: zomos]; and this, perhaps, was the genuine appellation for that which other Greeks expressed by a periphrasis, either in contempt or dislike, or because its colour was really dark, the juices of the meat being thoroughly extracted into it. That it was nutritive and powerful may be inferred from what Plutarch mentions, that the older men were content to give up the meat to the younger ones, and live upon the broth only[10], which, had it been very poor, they would not have done.

When these remarks were commenced, it was for the purpose of showing, by means of a passage not generally referred to, what the ancients conceived the "black broth" to be, and that consequently, all idea of coffee entering into its composition was untenable. How far this has been accomplished the reader must decide: but I cannot quit the subject without expressing my sincere persuasion, founded upon a view of the authorities referred to, that the account given by Athenæus is substantially correct. Pig meat would be much in use with a people not disposed to take the trouble of preparing any other: the animal was fit for nothing but food; and the refuse of their little farms would be sufficient for his keep. Athenæus also, in another passage, supplies us with a confirmation of the notion that _the stock_ was made from _pig_, and this is stronger because it occurs incidentally. It is found in a quotation from Matron, the maker of parodies, who, alluding to some person or other who had not got on very well at a Lacedæmonian feast, explains the cause of his failure to have been, that the black broth, and boiled odds and ends of pig meat, had beaten him;

"[Greek: Damna min zomos te melas akrokolia t' hephtha.]"[11]

That their cookery was not of a very recondite nature, is evident from what is mentioned by Plutarch, that the public meals were instituted at first in order to prevent their being in the hands of artistes and cooks[12], while to these every one sent a stated portion of provisions, so that there would neither be change nor variety in them. Cooks again were sent out of Sparta, if they could do more than dress meat[13]; while the only seasoning allowed to them was salt and vinegar[14]; for which reason, perhaps, Meursius considers the composition of the [Greek: zomos melas] to have been pork gravy seasoned with vinegar and salt[15], since there seemed to have been nothing else of which it could possibly have been made.

For MR. TREVELYAN's suggestion of the cuttlefish, I am greatly obliged to him; but this was an Athenian dish, and too good for the severity of Spartan manners. It is impossible not to smile at the idea of the distress which Cineparius must have felt, had he happened to witness the performances of any persons thus swallowing ink bottles by wholesale.

The passages which have been already quoted, {302} either by R.O. or myself, will probably give Mr. T. sufficient information of the principal ones in which the "black broth" is mentioned.

W.

[Footnote 6: _Xen. de Rep. Lac._]

[Footnote 7: "Emi singula non pecuniâ sed compensatione mercium, jussit (Lycurgus)."--_Justin_. iii. 2.]

[Footnote 8: _Plut. in Lyc._]

[Footnote 9: _Plut. in Lyc._ The word is [Greek: priasthai], the cook probably a slave and Helot. There seems some confusion between this story, and that of Dionysius tyrant of Syracuse, noticed in the beginning of the _Inst. Lacon._, and by Cicero in the _Tusculan Questions_, v. 34. The Syracusan table was celebrated.]

[Footnote 10: _Plut. in Lyc._]

[Footnote 11: _Ath. Deip._ iv. 13. l. 93.]

[Footnote 12: _Plut. in Lyc._ "[Greek: En chersi daemiourgon kai mageiron.]"]

[Footnote 13: "[Greek: Edei de opsopoious en Lakedaimoni einai kreos monou ho de para touto epizamenos exelauneto taes Spartaes]."--_Æl. Var. Hist._ xiv. 7.]

[Footnote 14: "[Greek: Hoi Lakones hoxos men kai halas dontes to mageiro, ta loipa keleuoysin en to hiereio xaetein]."--_Plut. de tuenda Sanitate._]

[Footnote 15: _Meursii Misc. Lacon_. lib. i. cap. 8.]

* * * * *

QUERIES.

TEN QUERIES CONCERNING POETS AND POETRY.

1. In a curious poetical tract, entitled _A Whip for an Ape, or Martin displaied_; no date, but printed in the reign of Elizabeth, occurs the following stanza:--

"And ye grave men that answere Martin's mowes,
He mockes the more, and you in vain loose times.
Leave Apes to Dogges to baite, their skins to Crowes,
And let old LANAM lashe him with his rimes."

Was this _old Lanam_, the same person as Robert Laneham, who wrote "a Narrative of Queen Elizabeth's Visit to Kenilworth Castle in 1575"? I do not find his name in Ritson's _Bibliographica Poetica_.

2. In Spence's _Anecdotes of Books and Men_ (Singer's edit. p. 22.), a poet named Bagnall is mentioned as the author of the once famous poem _The Counter Scuffle_. Edmund Gayton, the author of _Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixote_, wrote a tract, in verse, entitled _Will Bagnall's Ghost_. Who was Will Bagnall? He appears to have been a well-known person, and one of the wits of the days of Charles the First, but I cannot learn anything of his biography.

3. In the _Common-place Book_ of Justinian Paget, a lawyer of James the First's time preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, is the following sonnet:--

"My love and I for kisses play'd;
Shee would keepe stakes, I was content;
But when I wonn she would be pay'd,
This made me aske her what she ment;
Nay, since I see (quoth she), you wrangle in vaine,
Take your owne kisses, give me mine againe."

The initials at the end, "W.S.", probably stand for William Stroud or Strode, whose name is given at length to some other rhymes in the same MS. I should be glad to know if this quaint little conceit has been printed before, and if so, in what collection.

4. What is the earliest printed copy of the beautiful old song "My Mind to me a Kingdom is?" It is to be found in a rare tract by Nicholas Breton, entitled _The Court and Country, or A Briefe Discourse betweene the Courtier and Country-man_, 4to. 1618. Query, is Breton its author?

5. Mr. Edward Farr, in his _Select Poetry, chiefly Devotional, of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth_ (vol. i, p. xix.), calls Nicholas Breton, _Sir Nicholas_. Is there any authority for Breton's knighthood?

6. Can John Davies, the author of _Sir Martin Mar-people_, 1590, be identified with John Davies of Hereford, or Sir John Davies, the author of _Nosce Teipsum_, 1599?

7. In whose possession is the copy of Marlow and Chapman's _Hero and Leander_, 1629, sold in Heber's sale (Part iv., No. 1415)? Has the Rev. Alex. Dyce made use of the MS. notes, and the Latin Epitaph on Sir Roger Manwood, by Marlow, contained in this copy?

8. Has any recent evidence been discovered as to the authorship of _The Complaynt of Scotland_? Is Sir David Lindsay, or Wedderburn, the author of this very interesting work?

9. In the Rev. J.E. Tyler's _Henry of Monmouth_ (vol. ii Appendix, p. 417.), is a ballad on _The Battle of Agincourt_, beginning as follows:--

"Fair stood the wind for France,
When we our sails advance;
Nor now to prove our chance,
Longer will tarry;
But, putting to the main,
At Kaux, the mouth of Seine,
With all his martial train,
Landed King Harry."

The author of this old ballad, the learned editor says, was _Michael Drayton_; but I have not been able to find it in any edition of his works which I have consulted. Can Mr. Tyler have confounded it with Drayton's _Poem_ on the same subject? Any information on this point will be very acceptable.

10. On the fly-leaf of an Old Music Book which I lately purchased is the following little poem. I do not remember to have seen it in print, but some of your correspondents may correct me.

"TO THE LORD BACON WHEN FALLING FROM FAVOUR.

"Dazel'd thus with height of place,
Whilst our hopes our wits beguile;
No man marks the narrow space
'Twixt a prison and a smile.

"Then since fortune's favours fade,
You that in her arms do sleep,
Learn to swim and not to wade,
For the hearts of kings are deep.

"But if greatness be so blind,
As to burst in towers of air;
Let it be with goodness lin'd,
That at least the fall be fair.

"Then, though dark'ned you shall say,
When friends fail and princes frown;
Virtue is the roughest way,
But proves at night a bed of down."

It is in the hand-writing of "Johs. Rasbrick vic. de Kirkton," but whether he was the author, or only the transcriber, is uncertain.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * * {303}

BISHOP COSIN'S FORM OF CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES.

We learn from Wilkins (_Concilia_, tom. iv. p. 566, ed. Lond. 1737), also from Cardwell (_Synodal_. pp. 668. 677. 820. ed. Oxon. 1842), and from some other writers, that the care of drawing up a Form of Consecration of Churches, Chapels, and Burial-places, was committed to Bishop Cosin by the Convocation of 1661; which form, when complete, is stated to have been put into the hands of Robert, Bishop of Oxon, Humphrey, Bishop of Sarum, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, and John, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, for revision.

I should feel much obliged if (when you can find space) you would kindly put the query to your correspondents--"What has become of this Form?"

There is at Durham a Form of Consecration of Churches, said to be in the hand-writing of Basire; at the end of which the following notes are written:

"This forme was used at the consecration of Christ's Church,
neare Tinmouth, by the Right Rev. Father in God, John, Lord
Bishop of Duresme, on Sunday, the 5th of July, 1668.

"Hæc forma Consecrationis consonant cum formâ Reverendi in
Christo Patris Lanceloti Andewes, edit. anno 1659.

"Deest Anathema, Signaculum in antiquis dedicationibus.

"Deest mentio (Nuptiarum.
(Purificationis Mulierum."

As this, however, can hardly be the missing Form of Consecration of Churches, &c., which Cosin himself seems to have drawn up for the Convocation of 1661, but which appears to have been no more heard of from the time when it was referred to the four bishops for revision, the question still remains to be answered--What has become of that Form? Can the MS. by any chance have found its way into the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge, or into the Chapter Library at Peterborough--or is any other unpublished MS. of Bishop Cosin's known to exist in either of these, or in any other library?

J. Sansom.

8. Park Place, Oxford, Feb. 18, 1850.

* * * * *

PORTRAITS OF LUTHER, ERASMUS, AND ULRIC VON HUTTEN.

I am very much indebted to "S.W.S." for the information which he has supplied (No. 15. p. 232.) relative to ancient wood-cut representations of Luther and Erasmus. As he has mentioned Ulric von Hutten also (for whom I have an especial veneration, on account of his having published Valla's famous _Declamatio_ so early as 1517), perhaps he would have the kindness to state which is supposed to be the best wood-cut likeness of this resolute ("Jacta est alea") man. "S.W.S." speaks of a portrait of him which belongs to the year 1523. I have before me another, which forms the title-page of the _Huttenica_, issued "ex Ebernburgo," in 1521. This was, I believe, his place of refuge from the consequences which resulted from his annexation of marginal notes to Pope Leo's Bull of the preceding year. In the remarkable wood-cut with which "[Greek: OYTIS, NEMO]" commences, the object of which is not immediately apparent, it would seem that "VL." implied a play upon the initial letters of _U_lysses and _U_lricus. This syllable is put over the head of a person whose neck looks as if it were already the worse from unfortunate proximity to the terrible rock wielded by Polyphemus. I should be glad that "S.W.S." could see some manuscript verses in German, whcih are at the end of my copy of De Hutten's _Conquestio ad Germanos_. They appear to have been written by the author in 1520; and at the conclusion, he has added, "Vale ingrata patria."

R.G.

* * * * *

QUESTIONS CONCERNING CHAUCER.

_Lollius._--Who was the Lollius spoken of by Chaucer in the following passages?

"As write mine authour _Lolius_."
_Troilus and Cresseide_, b. i.

"The Whichecote as telleth _Lollius_."
Ib. b. v.

"And eke he Lollius."--_House of Fame_, b. iii.

_Trophee._--Who or what was "Trophee?" "Saith Trophee" occurs in the _Monkes Tale_. I believe some MSS. read "for Trophee;" but "saith Trophee" would appear to be the correct rendering; for Lydgate, in the Prologue to his Translation of Boccaccio's _Fall of Princes_, when enumerating the writings of his "maister Chaucer," tells us, that

"In youth he made a translacion
Of a boke which is called _Trophe_
In Lumbarde tonge, as men may rede and se,
And in our vulgar, long or that he deyde,
Gave it the name of Troylous and Cressyde."

_Corinna._--Chaucer says somewhere, "I follow Statius first, and then Corinna." Was Corinna in mistake put for _Colonna_? The

"Guido eke the Colempnis,"

whom Chaucer numbers with "great Omer" and others as bearing up the fame of Troy (_House of Fame_, b. iii.).

_Friday Weather._--The following meteorological proverb is frequently repeated in Devonshire, to denote the variability of the weather on Friday:

"Fridays in the week
are never _aleek_."

"Aleek" for "alike," a common Devonianism. {304} Thus Peter Pindar describes a turbulent crowd of people as being

"_Leek_ bullocks sting'd by apple-drones."

Is this bit of weather-wisdom current in other parts of the kingdom? I am induced to ask the question, because Chaucer seems to have embodied the proverb in some well-known lines, viz.:--

"Right as the Friday, sothly for to tell,
Now shineth it, and now it raineth fast,
Right so can gery Venus overcast
The hertes of hire folk, right as hire day
Is gerfull, right so changeth she aray.
_Selde is the Friday all the weke ylike_."

_The Knighte's Tale_, line 1536.

_Tyndale._--Can any of your readers inform me whether the translation of the "_Enchiridion Militis Christiani Erasmi_," which Tyndale completed in 1522, was ever printed?

J.M.B.

Totnes, Feb. 21. 1850.

* * * * *

LETTER ATTRIBUTED TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

In Banks's _Dormant Peerage_, vol. iii. p. 61., under the account of _Pulteney, Earl of Bath_, is the following extraordinary letter, said to be from Sir Robert Walpole to King George II., which is introduced as serving to show the discernment of Walpole, as well as the disposition of the persons by whom he was opposed, but evidently to expose the vanity and weakness of Mr. Pulteney, by exhibiting the scheme which was to entrap him into the acceptance of a peerage, and so destroy his popularity. It is dated Jan. 24. 1741, but from _no place_, and has but little appearance of authenticity.

"Most sacred,

"The violence of the fit of the stone, which has tormented me
for some days, is now so far abated, that, although it will not
permit me to have the honour to wait on your majesty, yet is
kind enough to enable me so far to obey your orders, as to write
my sentiments concerning that troublesome man, Mr. Pulteney; and
to point out (what I conceive to be) the most effectual method
to make him perfectly quiet. Your majesty well knows how by the
dint of his eloquence he has so captivated the mob, and attained
an unbounded popularity, that the most manifest wrong appears to
be right, when adopted and urged by him. Hence it is, that he
has become not only troublesome but dangerous. The inconsiderate
multitude think that he has not one object but public good in
view; although, if they would reflect a little, they would soon
perceive that spleen against those your majesty has honoured
with your confidence has greater weight with him than
patriotism. Since, let any measure be proposed, however
salutary, if he thinks it comes from me, it is sufficient for
him to oppose it. Thus, sir, you see the affairs of the most
momentous concern are subject to the caprice of that popular
man; and he has nothing to do but call it a ministerial project,
and bellow out the word _favourite_, to have an hundred pens
drawn against it, and a thousand mouths open to contradict it.
Under these circumstances, he bears up against the ministry
(and, let me add, against your majesty itself); and every useful
scheme must be either abandoned, or if it is carried in either
house, the public are made to believe it is done by a corrupted
majority. Since these things are thus circumstanced, it is
become necessary for the public tranquility that he should be
made quiet; and the only method to do that effectually is to
destroy his popularity, and ruin the good belief the people have
in him.

"In order to do this, he must be invited to court; your majesty
must condescend to speak to him in the most favourable and
distinguished manner; you must make him believe that he is the
only person upon whose opinion you can rely, and to whom your
people look up for useful measures. As he has already several
times refused to take the lead in the administration, unless it
was totally modelled to his fancy, your majesty should close in
with his advice, and give him leave to arrange the
administration as he pleases, and put whom he chooses into
office (there can be no danger in that as you can dismiss him
when you think fit); and when he has got thus far (to which his
extreme self-love and the high opinion he entertains of his own
importance, will easily conduce), it will be necessary that your
majesty should seem to have a great regard for his health;
signifying to him that your affairs will be ruined if he should
die; that you want to have him constantly near you, to have his
sage advice; and that therefore, as he is much disordered in
body, and something infirm, it will be necessary for his
preservation for him to quit the House of Commons, where
malevolent tempers will be continually fretting him, and where,
indeed, his presence will be needless, as no step will be taken
but according to his advice; and that he will let you give him a
distinguishing mark of your approbation, by creating him a peer.
This he may be brought to, for, if I know anything of mankind,
he has a love of honour and money; and, notwithstanding his
great haughtiness and seeming contempt for honour, he may be won
if it be done with dexterity. For, as the poet Fenton says,
'Flattery is an oil that softens the thoughtless fool.'

"If your majesty can once bring him to accept of a coronet, all
will be over with him; the changing multitude will cease to have
any confidence in him; and when you see that, your majesty may
turn your back to him, dismiss him from his post, turn out his
meddling partizans, and restore things to quiet; the bee will
have lost his sting, and become an idle drone whose buzzing
nobody heeds.

"Your majesty will pardon me for the freedom with which I have
given my sentiments and advice; which I should not have done,
had not your majesty commanded it, and had I not been certain
that your peace is much disturbed by the contrivance of that
turbulent man. I shall only add that I will dispose several whom
I know to wish him well to solicit for his establishment in
power, that you may seem to yield to their entreaties, and the
finesse be less liable to be discovered.

"I hope to have the honour to attend your majesty {305} in a few
days; which I will do privately, that my public presence may
give him no umbrage.

(Signed) ROBERT WALPOLE

"(Dated) 24. January, 1741."

As it seems incredible that Walpole could have written such a letter; and the editor does not say where it is taken from, or where the original is, I beg to ask any of your readers whether they have ever seen the letter elsewhere, or attributed by any other writer to Walpole? The editor adds, "accordingly, the scheme took place very soon after, and Mr. Pulteney was in 1742 dignified with the titles before mentioned, i.e. Earl of Bath, &c."

G.

* * * * *

BISHOPS OF OSSORY.

Acting on "R.R.'s" excellent suggestion (No. 16. p. 243. _antè_), I beg to solicit from all collectors, who may chance to see these lines, information relative to the _Bishops of Ossory_. I am at present engaged on a work which will comprise that portion of Harris's edition of Sir James Ware's _Bishops of Ireland_ bearing on the see of Ossory. The following names are those concerning whom, especially, information, either original or by reference to rare printed books, will be most thankfully acknowledged:--

John Parry Succ. 1672 Ob. 1677. Benjamin Parry Succ. 1677 Ob. 1678. Michael Ward Succ. 1678 Trans. 1679. Thomas Otway Succ. 1679 Ob. 1692. John Hartstong Succ. 1693 Trans. 1713. Sir Thos. Vesey, Bart. Succ. 1714 Ob. 1730. Edw. Tennison Succ. 1731 Ob. 1735. Charles Este Succ. 1736 Trans. 1740. Anthony Dopping Succ. 1740 Ob. 1743. Michael Cox Succ. 1743 Trans. 1755. Edward Maurice Succ. 1755 Ob. 1756. Richard Pococke Succ. 1756 Trans. 1765. Charles Dodgson Succ. 1765 Trans. 1775. William Newcome Succ. 1775 Trans. 1779. Sir John Hotham, Bt. Succ. 1779 Trans. 1782. Hon. W. Beresford Succ. 1782 Trans. 1795. Thos. L. O'Beirne Succ. 1795 Trans. 1798. Hugh Hamilton Succ. 1799 Ob. 1805. John Kearney Succ. 1806 Ob. 1813.

I may state, that I have access to that most excellent work _Fasti Ecclesiæ Hiberniæ_, by Archdeacon Cotton, who has collected many particulars respecting the above-named prelates.

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny, Feb. 21. 1850.

* * * * *

_Burton's Anatomy of (Religious) Melancholy._--In compliance with the very useful suggestion of "R.R." (No. 16. p. 243.), I venture to express my intention of reprinting the latter part of Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy," (viz. that relating to _Religious Melancholy_), and at the same time to intimate my hope that any of your readers who may have it in their power to render me any assistance, will kindly aid me in the work.

M.D.

Oxford, Feb. 23.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

_Master of Methuen--Ruthven and Gowrie Families._--Colonel Stepney Cowell is desirous of inquiring who was the Master of Methuen, who fell at the Battle of Pinkey, and whose name appears in the battle roll as killed?

Was he married, and did he leave a daughter? He is presumed to have been the son of Lord Methuen by Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII.

Who was the wife of Patrick Ruthven, youngest son of William, first Earl of Gowrie, and where was he married? Any notices of the Gowrie and Ruthven family will be acceptable.

Brooke's Club, St. James's Street, Feb. 18. 1850.

"_The Female Captive: a Narrative of Facts which happened in Barbary in the Year 1756. Written by herself."_ 2 vols. 12 mo. Lond. 1769.--Sir William Musgrave has written this note in the copy which is now in the library of the British Museum:--

"This is a true story. The lady's maiden name was Marsh. She
married Mr. Crisp, as related in the narrative; but he, having
failed in business, went to India, when she remained with her
father, then Agent Victualler, at Chatham, during which she
wrote and published these little volumes. On her husband's
success in India, she went thither to him.

"The book, having, as it is said, been bought up by the lady's
friends, is become very scarce."

Can any of your readers furnish a further account of this lady?

_Parliamentary Writs._--It is stated in Duncumb's _History of Herefordshire_, 1. 154. that "the writs, indentures, and returns, from 17 Edw. IV. to 1 Edw. VI., are all lost throughout England, except one imperfect bundle, 33rd Hen. VIII." This book was published in 1803. Have the researches since that time in the Record Offices supplied this hiatus; and if so, in which department of it are these documents to be found?

W.H.C. Temple.

_Portraits in the British Museum._--I have often wished to inquire, but knew not where till your publication met my notice, as to the portraits in the British Museum, which are at present hung so high above beasts and birds, and everything else, that it requires better eyes than most people possess to discern their features. I should suppose {306} that if they were not originals and of value, they would not have been lodged in the Museum, and if they are, why not appropriate a room to them, where they might be seen to advantage, by those who take pleasure in such representations of the celebrated persons of former days? Any information on this subject will be gratefully received.

L.O.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

COLLEGE SALTING.

In reply to the query of the Rev. Dr. Maitland (No. 17. p. 261.), I would remark, that _Salting_ was the ceremony of initiating a freshman into the company of senior students or sophisters. This appears very clearly from a passage in the _Life of Anthony a Wood_ (ed. 1771, pp. 45-50.). Anthony a Wood was matriculated in the University of Oxford, 26th May, 1647, and on the 18th of October "he was entered into the Buttery-Book of Merton College." At various periods, from All Saints till Candlemas, "there were Fires of Charcole made in the Common hall."

"At all these Fires every Night, which began to be made a little
after five of the clock, the Senior Under-Graduats would bring
into the hall the Juniors or Freshmen between that time and six
of the clock, and there make them sit down on a Forme in the
middle of the Hall, joyning to the Declaiming Desk: which done,
every one in Order was to speake some pretty Apothegme, or make
a Jest or Bull, or speake some eloquent Nonsense, to make the
Company laugh: But if any of the Freshmen came off dull or not
cleverly, some of the forward or pragmatical Seniors would
_Tuck_ them, that is, set the nail of their Thumb to their chin,
just under the Lipp, and by the help of their other Fingers
under the Chin, they would give him a chuck, which sometimes
would produce Blood. On Candlemas day, or before (according as
Shrove Tuesday fell out), every Freshman had warning given him
to provide his Speech, to be spoken in the publick Hall before
the Under-Graduats and Servants on Shrove-Tuesday night that
followed, being alwaies the time for the observation of that
Ceremony. According to the said Summons A. Wood provided a
Speech as the other Freshmen did.

"Shrove Tuesday Feb. 15, the Fire being made in the Common hall
before 5 of the Clock at night, the Fellowes would go to Supper
before six, and making an end sooner than at other times, they
left the Hall to the Libertie of the Undergraduats, but with an
Admonition from one of the Fellowes (who was the Principall of
the Undergraduats and Postmasters) that all things should be
carried in good Order. While they were at Supper in the Hall,
the Cook (Will. Noble) was making the lesser of the brass pots
full of Cawdle at the Freshmens Charge; which, after the Hall
was free from the Fellows, was brought up and set before the
Fire in the said Hall. Afterwards every Freshman, according to
seniority, was to pluck off his Gowne and Band, and if possible
to make himself look like a Scoundrell. This done, they were
conducted each after the other to the high Table, and there made
to stand on a Forme placed thereon; from whence they were to
speak their Speech with an audible voice to the Company: which,
if well done, the person that spoke it was to have a Cup of
Cawdle and no _salted Drinke_; if indifferently, some Cawdle and
some _salted Drinke_; but if dull, nothing was given to him but
_salted Drinke_ or _salt_ put in College Bere, with Tucks to
book. Afterwards when they were to be admitted into the
Fraternity, the Senior Cook was to administer to them an Oath
over an old Shoe, part of which runs thus: _Item tu jurabis,
quot penniless bench non visitabis, &c._: the rest is forgotten,
and none there are that now remembers it. After which spoken
with gravity, the Freshman kist the Shoe, put on his Gowne and
Band, and took his place among the Seniors."

Mr. Wood gives part of his speech, which is ridiculous enough. It appears that it was so satisfactory that he had cawdle and sack without and salted drink. He concludes thus:--

"This was the way and custome that had been used in the College,
time out of mind, to initiate the Freshmen; but between that
time and the restoration of K. Ch. 2. it was disused, and now
such a thing is absolutely forgotten."

The editors in a note intimate that it was probable the custom was not peculiar to Merton College, and that it was perhaps once general, as striking traces of it might be found in many societies in Oxford, and in some a very near resemblance of it had been kept up until within a few years of that time (1772).

C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Feb. 23. 1850.

"E.V.," after quoting the passage given by Mr. Cooper from Anthony Wood, proceeds:--

It is clear from Owen's epigram that there was some kind of _salting_ at Oxford as well as at Cambridge; is it not at least probable that they were both identical with the custom described by old Anthony, and that the charge made in the college book was for _the cawdle_ mentioned above, as provided at the freshman's expense; the whole ceremony going under the name of "salting," from the salt and water potion, which was the most important constituent of it? If this be so, it agrees with Dr. Maitland's idea, that "this 'salting' was some entertainment given by the newcomer, from and after which he ceases to be fresh;" or, as Wood expresses it, "he took his place among the seniors."

The "tucks" he speaks of could have been no very agreeable addition to the salted beer; for, as he himself explains it, a few lines above, "to tuck" consisted in "setting the nail of the thumb to their chin, just under the lip, and by the help of their other fingers under the chin, they would give him a mark, which sometimes would produce blood."

Before I leave Anthony Wood, let me mention {307} that I find him making use of the word "bull" in the sense of a laughable speech ("to make a jest, or _bull_, or speake some eloquent nonsense," p. 34.), and of the now vulgar expression "to go to pot." When recounting the particulars of the parliamentary visitation of the University in 1648, he tells us, that had it not been for the intercession of his mother to Sir Nathan Brent, "he had infallible _gone to the pot_." If Dr. Maitland or any of your readers can give the history of these expressions, and can produce earlier instances of their use, they would greatly oblige me.

P.S. I ought to mention, that "Penniless Bench" was a seat for loungers, under a wooden canopy, at the east end of old Carfax Church: it seems to have been notorious as "the idle corner" of Oxford.

E.V.

* * * * *

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 5.

A comparative statement of the number of those who ask questions, and those who furnish replies, would be a novel contribution to the statistics of literature. I do note mean to undertake it, but shall so far assume an excess on the side of the former class, as to attempt a triad of replies to recent queries without fear of the censures which attach to monopoly.

To facilitate reference to the queries, I take them in the order of publication:--

1. "What is the earliest known instance of the use of a _beaver hat_ in England?"--T. Hudson Turner, p. 100.

The following instance from Chaucer (_Canterbury tales_, 1775, 8°. v. 272.), if not the earliest, is precise and instructive:

"A marchant was ther with a forked berd,
In mottelee, and highe on hors he sat,
And on his hed a Flaundrish _bever hat_."

2. "Has _Cosmopoli_ been ever appropriated to any known locality?"--John Jebb, p. 213.

Cosmopolis has been used for London, and for Paris (G. Peignot, _Répertoire de bibliographies spéciales_, Paris, 1810. 8°. pp. 116, 132.) It may also, in accordance with its etymology, be used for Amsterdam, or Berlin, or Calcutta, etc. As an imprint, it takes the dative case. The _Interpretationes paradoxæ quatuor evangeliorum_ of Sandius, were printed at Amsterdam. (M. Weiss, _Biographie universelle_, Paris, 1811 28. 8°. xl. 312.)

3. References to "any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the Arabic numerals" are requested by "E.N." p. 230.

To the well chosen works enumberated by the querist, I shall add the titles of two valuable publications in my own collection:

DICTIONNAIRE RAISONNÉ DE DIPLOMATIQUE--par dom de Vaines. _Paris_, 1774. 8°. 2 vol.

ELÉMENTS DE PALÉOGRAPHIE, par M. Natalis de Wailly. _Paris_, Imprimerie royale, 1838. 4°. 2 vol.

The former work is a convenient epitome of the _Nouveau traité de diplomatique_. The latter is a new compilation, undertaken with the sanction of M. Guizot. Its appearance was thus hailed by the learned Daunou: "Cet ouvrage nous semble recommandable par l'exactitude des recherches, par la distribution méthodique des matières et par l'élégante précision du style." (_Journal des savants_, Paris, 1838. 4°. p. 328.)

A query should always be worded with care, and put in a _quotable_ shape. The observance of this plain rule would economise space, save the time which might otherwise be occupied in useless research, and tend to produce more pertinency of reply. The first and second of the above queries may serve as models.

Bolton Corney.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Old Auster Tenement_ (No. 14. p. 217.).--I think that I am in a condition to throw some light on the meaning of this expression, noticed in a former Number by "W.P.P." The tenements held in villenage of the lord of a manor, at least where they consisted of a messuage or dwelling-house, are often called _astra_ in our older books and court-rolls. If the tenement was an ancient one, it was _vetus_ or _antiquum astrum_; if a tenure of recent creation (or a new-take, as it is called in some manors), it was _novum astrum_. The villenage tenant of it was an _astrarius_. "W.P.P." may satisfy himself of these facts by referring to the printed _Plautorum Abbrevietis_, fo. 282.; to Fleta, _Comment. Juris. Anglicani_, ed. 1685, p. 217.; and to Ducange, Spelman, and Cowel, under the words "Astrum," "Astrarius," and "Astre." In the very locality to which "W.P.P." refers, he will find that the word "Auster" is "Astrum" in the oldest court-rolls, and that the term is not confined to North Curry, but is very prevalent in the eastern half of Somerset. At the present day, an _auster_ tenement is a species of copyhold, with all the incidents to that tenure. It is noticed in the Journal of the Archæological Institute, in a recent critique on Dr. Evans's Leicestershire words, and is very familar to legal practitioners of any experience in the district alluded to.

E. Smirke.

_Tureen_ (No. 16. p. 246.).--There is properly no such word. It is a corruption of the French _terrine_, an earthen vessel in which soup is served. It is in Bailey's Dictionary. I take this opportunity of suggesting whether that the word "_swinging_," applied by Goldsmith to his tureen, should be rather spelt _swingeing_; though the former is the more usual way: a _swinging_ dish and a _swingeing_ are different things, and Goldsmith meant the latter.

C. {308}

_Burning the Dead._--"T." will find some information on this subject in Sir Thomas Browne's _Hydriotaphia_, chap. i., which appears to favour his view except in the following extract:

"The same practice extended also far west, and besides
Heruleans, Getes and Thracians, was in use with most of the
Celtæ, Sarmatians, Germans, Gauls, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians;
not to omit some use thereof among _Carthaginians_, and
_Americans_."

The Carthaginians most probably received the custom from their ancestors the Phoenicians, but where did the Americans get it?

Henry St. Chad.

Corpus Christi Hall, Maidstone, Feb. 8. 1850.

_Burning the Dead._--Your correspondent "T." (No. 14. p. 216.) can hardly have overlooked the case of Dido, in his inquiry "whether the practice of burning the dead has ever been in vogue amongst any people, excepting the inhabitants of Europe and Asia?" According to all classical authorities, Dido was founder and queen of Carthage in _Africa_, and was burned at Carthage on a funeral pile.

If it be said that Dido's corpse underwent burning in conformity with the custom of her native country Tyre, and not because it obtained in the land of her adoption, then the question arises, whether burning the dead was not one of the customs which the Tyrian colony of Dido imported into Africa, and became permanently established at Carthage. It is very certain that the Carthaginians had human sacrifices by fire, and that they burned their children in the furnace to Saturn.

A.G.

Ecclesfield, Feb. 8. 1850.

* * * * *

MISCELLANIES.

_M. de Gournay._--The author of the axioms _Laissez faire, laissez passer_, which are the sum and substance of the free trade principles of political economy, and perhaps the pithiest and completest exposition of the doctrine of a particular school ever made, was Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay, who was born at St. Malo in 1712, and died at Paris in 1759. In early life he was engaged in trade, and subsequently became Honorary Councillor of the Grand Council, and Honorary Intendant of Commerce. He translated, in 1742, Josiah Child's _Considerations on Commerce and on the Interest on Money_, and Culpepper's treatise _Against Usury_. He also wrote a good deal on questions of political economy. He was, in fact, with Dr. Quesnay, the chief of the French economists of the last century; but he was more liberal than Quesnay in his doctrines; indeed he is (far more than Adam Smith) the virtual founder of the modern school of political economy; and yet, perhaps, of all the economists he is the least known!

The great Turgot was a friend and ardent admirer of M. de Gournay; and on his death wrote a pompous _Eloge_ on him.

A Man in a Garret.

_Cupid Crying._--"Our readers will remember that some time since (_antè_, p. 108.) we copied into our columns, from the 'Notes and Queries,' an epigram of great elegance on the subject of 'Cupid Crying;' the contributor of which was desirous of finding through that medium, especially established for such discoveries, the original text and the name of its author. Subsequently, a correspondent of our own [_antè_, p. 132.] volunteered a translation by himself, in default of the original. The correspondent of the 'Notes and Queries' has now stumbled on what he sought, and is desirous that we should transmit it to the author of the volunteer version, with his thanks. This we take the present means of doing. Under the signature of 'Rufus,' he writes as follows:--'In a MS. book, long missing, I find the following copy, with a reference to _Car. Illust. Poet. Ital._ vol. i. 229, wherein it is ascribed to Antonio Tebaldeo--

"_De Cupidine._

Cur natum cædit Venus? Arcum perdidit. Arcum
Nunc quis habet? Tusco Flavia nata solo.
Qui factum? Petit hæc, dedit hic; nam lumine formæ
Deceptus, matri se dare crediderat."

"Since printing this communication from 'Rufus' we have received the same original (with the variation of a single word--_quid_ for _cur_ in the opening of the epigram) from a German correspondent at Augsburgh. 'You will find it,' he says, 'in the _Anthologia Latina Burmanniana_, iii. 236, or in the new edition of this _Latin Anthology_, by Henry Meyer, Lipsiæ, 1835, tom. ii. page 139, No. 1566. The author of the epigram is doubtful, but the diction appears rather too quaint for a good ancient writer. Maffei ascribes it to Brenzoni, who lived in the sixteenth century; others give it to Ant. Tebaldeo, of Ferrara.' Our readers will perceive that the translator has taken some liberties with his text. 'Lumine formæ deceptus,' for instance, is not translated by 'she smiled.' But it may be questioned if the suggestion is not even more delicate and graceful in the translator's version than in the original."--_The Athenæum_.

* * * * *

THE MIRROR.

(_From the Latin of Owen._)

Bella, your image just returns your smile--
You weep, and tears its lovely cheek bedew--
You sleep, and its bright eyes are closed the while--
You rise, the faithful mimic rises too.--
Bella, what art such likeness could increase
If glass could talk, or woman hold her peace?

Rufus.

* * * * * {309}

_Journeyman._--Three or four years since, a paragraph went the round of the press, deriving the English word "journeyman" from the custom of travelling among work-men in Germany. This derivation is very doubtful. Is it not a relic of Norman rule, from the French _journée_, signifying a day-man? In support of this it may be observed, that the German name for the word in question if _Tagelöhner_, or day-worker. It is also well known, that down to a comparatively recent period, artisans and free labourers were paid daily.

Gomer.

_Balloons._--In one of your early numbers you mention the _History of Ringwood_, &c. Many years since I sent to a periodical (I cannot recollect which) a circumstance connected with that town, which I never heard or read of anywhere, and which, as it is rather of importance, I forward to you in hopes that some of your correspondents may be able to throw some light upon it. When my father was in the Artillery Ground at the ascension of Lunardi's balloon, he remarked to several persons present, "This is no novelty to _me_; I remember well, when I was at school in Ringwood [about the year 1757], an apothecary in that town that used to let off _balloons_ (he had no other name, I suppose, to give them) on a smaller scale, but exactly corresponding with what he then saw, _many_ a time."