Chapter C: W. B

July y^e 16^{th}, (16)95.

S^r,

Since you are pleased to demand my opinion concerning your intended
purchase, I shall give you it as well as I can upon so short a warning.
You say, if lett, you suppose it was worth a 130l. per ann[=u]. I
cannot tell by your letter whether the mills, lett at 20l. per ann[=u],
are a part of y^e 130l.: if it be, I think 2600l. a great price, being
much above twenty years' purchase, considering the lord's rent. But if
they are not included in that sum, 'tis a good twenty years' purchase.
Now you must consider what returne this will make for your money. I am
sure, as times goe, not three per cent; and money makes full five, and
very seldom, if ever, pays taxes. I believe it may be very convenient
for you, and it is very advantageous to be entire; but if you should
contract a debt to buy this estate you will be very uneasy, and, if you
marry, the first setting out will be expensive, and it will be ill
taking up money to defray necessary charges. I conceive the land is in
hand, and not lett; so that, if you have not a tenant, you must be at
the expence of stocking, w^{ch} will sett very hard upon you. And you
know, w^n your sister marrys, there is a 1000 pounds more to be
provided. Pray putt all these things together, and propose some way of
solving all these difficultys; and, if you can, I should be glad to
have it annexed to your estate, and settled upon the heirs male of your
body. Upon w^{ch} consideration I shall be more inclined to farther
your desires in a reasonable manner.

Pray, w^n you hear any more of that co[=u]selor's amours send me word,
but lett me advise you never to say anything of him or his estate that
may come to the lady's ears. I hope my Lady Morton will not tell M^{rs}
Tregonell any more than what all the world should know. I heard the K^t
had bid adieu to the Woodland Lady. I am very glad of it, for I wish
him better ffortune. I writt lately to S^r John, who honoured me with a
letter. As for public news, you have heard, I suppose, of our burning
St. Malos and Grandvile; and that wee have left a great many of our men
before Namur, but they continue the siege vigorously. They say the
ffrench are about to sett downe before Dixmude, to bring us of by
revultion. Pray p^rsent mine and my daughter's service to your sister,
and believe me to be, S^r, your affectionate kinsman and servant

J. POTENGER.

Remember, at this time there is a great deal of land to be sold, but
few purchasers. I have spooke to S^r Miles Cooke, who promises to lett
me have your settlement to peruse, and to end matters fairly. Since I
writt my letter 'tis reported ... is surrendered or taken.

These ffor Richard Bingh[=a], Esq., at
Bingham's Malcombe, to be left at
the post-house in St. Andrew's,
Milborne, Dorsett.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Lines on the Institution of the Order of the Garter._--I send you the following, which may be worth a corner in "N. & Q." The only account I can give of them is that I found them in MS. among other poetical extracts, without date or author's name:--

"When Salisbury's famed Countess was dancing with glee,
Her stocking's security fell from her knee.
Allusions and hints, sneers and whispers went round;
The trifle was scouted, and left on the ground.
When Edward the Brave, with true soldier-like spirit,
Cried, 'The garter is mine; 'tis the order of merit;
The first knight in my court shall be happy to wear,
Proud distinction! the garter that fell from the fair:
While in letters of gold--'tis your monarch's high will--
Shall there be inscribed, "Ill to him that thinks ill."'"

TEE BEE.

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_Old Ship._--It may be of interest to some of your readers to learn that the ship which conveyed General Wolfe on his expedition to Quebec is still afloat under the name of the "William and Ann."

She was built in 1759 for a bomb-ketch, and was in dock in the Thames a few days since, sound and likely to endure for many years yet: she is mostly now engaged in the Honduras and African timber trades, which is in itself a proof of her great strength.

A. O. H.

Blackheath.

_The Letter "h" in "humble."_--I was always taught in my childhood to sink the _h_ in this word, and was confirmed in this habit by the usage of all the well-educated people that I met in those days, as also by the authority of every pronouncing dictionary in the English language: and to this day hear many people quite as well educated, and of as high station in all but literary society, as Mr. Dickens, use the same pronunciation; but this eminent writer has thought fit of late to proscribe this practice as far as in him lies, by making it the Shibboleth of two of the meanest and vilest characters in his works. I should like to know whether the aspiration of this letter is due to Mr. D.'s London birth and residence, or whether it has become of late the general usage of good society. If the latter, it is clear that a new edition of _Walker_ is required for the benefit of such as have no wish to be confounded with the "Heeps."

Your late Numbers have given some curious instances of Cockney and other rhymes. I am sorry to see that the offensive _r_ not only appears to be gaining ground in poetry, but also in the mouths of many whose station and education might have been supposed to preserve them from this vulgarism. If the masters of our great schools took as much pains with their pupils' pronunciation of English, as with that of Latin and Greek, we should hear less of this.

J. S. WARDEN.

_"The Angels' Whisper."_--The admirers of that popular song will be surprised to find that there prevails in India a tradition very similar to the one on which that song is founded.

The other day our Hindoo nurse was watching our baby asleep, and noticing that it frequently smiled, said, "God is talking to it!" The tradition, as elicited from this woman, seems to be here, that when a child smiles in its sleep, God is saying something pleasing to it; but when it cries, He is talking to it of sorrow.

J. C. B.

Punjab.

_Pronunciation of Coke_ (Vol. vii., p. 586.).--Probably the under-mentioned particulars may tend to elucidate the Query discussed in your paper touching the pronunciation of Chief Justice Coke's surname in his Lordship's time.

In numerous original family "Coke documents" in my possession, amongst which are a most spirited and highly interesting letter written by the celebrated Lady Elizabeth Hatton[1], Sir Edward Coke's widow, quite in character with her ladyship, shortly after her husband's death; and likewise several letters written by his children and grandchildren; Sir Edward's surname is invariably spelt Coke, whilst in other his family documents[2] and public precepts I possess, the latter of which came under the eye of Lords Keepers Coventry and Littleton, Sir Edward's name is, in nine cases out of ten in five hundred instances, spelt _Cooke_ and _Cook_; thus, I submit, raising an almost irresistible presumption that, however the Chief Justice's surname was written, it was pronounced _Cook_ and not C_o_ke.

T. W. JONES.

Nantwich.

[Footnote 1: Her surname is so written.]

[Footnote 2: Some of them of so early a date as the year 1600, when Sir Edward was Attorney-General to Queen Elizabeth.]

_The Advice supposed to have been given to Julius III._--The _Consilium_, sometimes and inadvertently called a _Council_, addressed to Julius III., Pope of Rome, by certain prelates, has just been once more quoted, for the fiftieth time, perhaps, within the present generation, as a genuine document, and as proceeding from adherents of the Church of Rome. This re-quotation appears in an otherwise useful little volume of the Religious Tract Society, entitled _The Bible in many Tongues_, p. 96.; and it may tend to check the use made of the supposed Advice or Council to state, what a perusal either of the original in Brown's _Fasciculus Rerum Expetend. et Fugiend._, or of a translation in Gibson's _Preservative_ (vol. i. pp. 183. 191., ed. 1848), will soon make evident, that the document in question is a piece of banter, and must be attributed to the pen of P. P. Vergerio, in whose _Works_ it is in fact included, in the single volume published Tubing. 1563, fol. 94--104.

So frequently has this supposed Advice been cited as a _serious_ affair, that the pages of "N. & Q." may be well employed in endeavouring to stop the somewhat perverse use of a friendly weapon.

NOVUS.

* * * * *

Queries.

BISHOP GARDINER "DE VERA OBEDIENTIA."

It is probable that others of your readers besides myself have had good reason to complain that Dr. Maitland has cruelly raised the price of this little book to a bibliomaniacal height, by his inimitable description of its curious contents and history. (_Essays on Subjects connected with the Reformation_, xvii. xviii. xix.)

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Some of the things which seem to be indubitable respecting the original work are these:--1. That it was first printed in 1535. 2. That, consequently, Bishop Burnet (_Hist. of Ref._, Part I. b. iii. p. 166.: Dublin, 1730) was mistaken in representing it as having been written in reply to Cardinal Pole. 3. That there _was_ an octavo edition published at Strasburg in 1536, and that Goldastus followed it. 4. That there was an additional reprint of the tract at London in 1603. (Schelhornii, _Amoen. Hist. Eccles._, tom. i. pp. 15. 849.) But I am anxious to make three inquiries relative to this really important document and its fictitious preface.

1. The Roane volume, certainly the earliest in English, professes to have been printed by "Michal Wood" in 1553. Can we not determine the place of its origin by the recollection of the fact, that Bishop Bale's _Mysterye of Iniquyte, or Confutation of Ponce Pantolabus_, was printed at _Geneva_ by "Mychael Woode" in 1545?

2. With regard to the typographical achievements of the Brocards, is it not rather an _apropos_ circumstance, that "Biliosus Balaeus," as Fuller calls him, was the author of a _Historia Divi Brocardi_? (Ware's _Works_, ii. 325.)

3. May not Bale (or _Baal_, according to Pits) be suspected to have been the composer of the Bonnerian Preface? He might have reckoned it among the many _Facetias et Jocos_ which he declares that he had put forth. It is observable that, while the writer of this Preface designates Bishop Gardiner as the "common cutthrot of Englande," the same title is bestowed upon Bonner in the Foxian Letter addressed to him by "an unknown person" (Strype's _Memor._ iii., Catal. p. 161.: London, 1721), and which, from internal evidence taken from the part relating to Philpot, must be referred to the year 1555. The style of these performances is similar; and let "gaie Gardiner, blow-bole Boner, trusti Tonstal, and slow-bellie Samson" of the Preface be compared with "glorious Gardiner, blow-bolle Bonner, tottering Tunstal, wagtaile Weston, and carted Chicken." (Bale's _Declaration of Bonner's Articles_, fol. 90. b., London, 1561.)

R. G.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Lord Byron._--What relation to the poet was the Lord Byron mentioned in the _Apology for the Life of George Ann Bellamy_?

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Curious Custom of ringing Bells for the Dead._--In Marshfield, Massachusets, it has been customary for a very long period to ring the bell of the parish church most violently for eight or ten minutes, whenever a death occurs in the village; then to strike it slowly three times three, which makes known to the inhabitants that a man or boy has expired, and finally to toll it the number of times that the deceased had numbered years of existence.

The first settlers of Marshfield having been Englishmen, may I ask if this custom ever did, or does now, exist in the mother country?

W. W.

Malta.

_Unpublished Essay by Lamb._--Coleridge is represented in his _Table Talk_ (p. 253. ed. 1836), to have said that "Charles Lamb wrote an essay on a man, who had lived in past time." The editor in a note tells us he knows "not when or where." I do not find it in the edition of his works published in 1846, nor have I been able to discover it in any of the journals, to which he contributed, that have fallen in my way. Have any of your correspondents met with it?

R. W. ELLIOTT.

_Peculiar Ornament in Crosthwaite Church._--On lately visiting Crosthwaite Church, Cumberland, I was exceedingly struck with the great peculiarity of a carving, pointed out to me by the sexton, on the left jambs of all the windows in the north and south aisles, both inside and out. It is in the form of a circle with eight radiations, and always occurs about half-way between the shoulder of the arch and the sill. During the late restoration of the church, it has been covered with plaster in every case in the interior, save one in the north aisle, which is left very distinct. It does not appear on any of the windows at the east end or in the tower. I noticed a similar figure over the stone door-way of the old inn at Threlkeld, with the letters C G inscribed on one side, and the date 1688 on the other. The sexton said, he had never been able to obtain any intelligence as to its symbolical meaning or history, although he had inquired of nearly every one who had been to see the church. Can any of your correspondents throw a light upon the subject?

R. W. ELLIOTT.

_Cromwell's Portrait._--In the _Annual Register_, 1773, "Characters," p. 77.; in Hughes's _Letters_, ii. 308.; in _Gent. Mag._, xxxv. 357.; and in Noble's _House of Cromwell_, i. 307., is a statement, originally made by Mr. Say, of Lowestoft, in his account of Mrs. Bridget Bendish, importing that the best picture of Oliver which the writer had ever seen, was at Rosehall (Beccles), in the possession of Sir Robert Rich. Where is this portrait? Has it ever been engraved?

S. W. RIX.

Beccles.

_Governor Brooks_, about a century since, was governor of one of the West India Islands. I have heard Cuba named as his government; and it might have been that, the short time Cuba was in {56} the possession of the English, he was governor of it; but I am uncertain. If any correspondent, versed in West Indian affairs, can give me any particulars of the family and antecedents of the above, or any reference to his services (for I suppose him to have been a military man), it will great oblige

TEE BEE.

_Old Books._--I notice some of your correspondents, having fancied that they have picked up at some old book-stall an invaluable treasure, are coolly told by others more learned, "It would be a bad exchange for a shilling;" and, again, "If it cost three shillings and sixpence, the purchaser was most unfortunate."

May I ask the value of the following? They came into possession of my family about thirty years ago:

"Epitome Thesauri antiquitatum hoc est Impp. Rom. orientalium et
occidentalium Iconum ex antiquis numismatibus quam fidelissime
delineatum.

"Ex Musaeo Jacobi de Strada Mantuani Antiquatum.

"Lugduni, apud Jacobum de Strada et Thomam Guercinum, MDLIII. (1553).
Cum Privilegio Regio."

Handsomely got up; gilt edges, pp. 339. Also,

"Sommario delle vite de gl'Imperiatore Romani da C. Giolio Cesare sino
a Ferdinando II., con le loro effigie Causte dalle Medaglie: In Roma
apresso, Lodovico Grignani, MDCXXXVII, pp. 80."

BRISTOLIENSIS.

_The Privileges of the See of Canterbury._--I find preserved by William of Malmsbury, in his _Chronicle_, book iii., the following letter from Pope Boniface to Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury, respecting the privileges of his see:

"Far be it from every Christian, that anything concerning the city of
Canterbury be diminished or changed, in present or _future times_,
which was appointed by our predecessor Pope Gregory, _however human
circumstances may be changed_: but more especially by the authority of
St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles, we command and ordain, that the
city of Canterbury _shall ever hereafter be esteemed the Metropolitan
See_ of all Britain; and we decree and appoint _immutably_, that all
the provinces of the kingdom of England shall be subject to the
Metropolitan Church of the aforesaid See. And if any one attempt to
injure this church, which is more especially under the power and
protection of the Holy Roman Church, or to lessen the jurisdiction
conceded to it, may GOD expunge him from the book of life; and let him
know that he is bound by the sentence of a curse."

How can the expressions I have Italicised be reconciled with the creation of the Archiepiscopal See of Westminster?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_Heraldic Colour pertaining to Ireland._--There occurs in the _Dublin University Magazine_ for October, 1852, an article entitled "A Night in the Fine Arts' Court of our National Exhibition," and at the conclusion a "Note," in which I find the following remarks:--

"This last (the figure of Erin), as described, is purely ideal, but
legitimately brought in, as Hogan's figure of 'Hibernia' occupied a
position in the Fine Arts' Court, and suggested it. It may be as well
to add that Erin is described as wearing a _blue_ mantle, as blue, not
green, is the heraldic colour pertaining to Ireland now."

May I inquire at what time, and under what circumstances, blue was substituted for the old favourite green?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

_Descendants of Judas Iscariot._--In Southey's _Omniana_ is the following:

"It was believed in Pier della Valle's time that the descendants of
Judas still existed at Corfu, though the persons who suffered this
imputation stoutly denied the truth of the genealogy."

Is anything farther to be met with on this curious subject?

G. CREED.

_Parish Clerks and Politics._--In _Twenty-six Psalms of Thanksgiving and Praise, Love and Glory, for the use of a Parish Church_ (Exon., And. Brice, 1725), the rector (who compiled it), among other reasons for omitting all the _imprecatory_ Psalms, says,--

"Lest a parish clerk, or any other, should be whetting his _spleen_, or
obliging his _spite_, when he should be entertaining his devotion."

That such practices were indulged in, we have the farther evidence of Bramston the satirist:

"Not long since _parish clerks_, with saucy airs,
Apply'd _King David's Psalms_ to _state-affairs_."[3]

Can any readers of "N. & Q." point out examples of such misapplication?

J. O.

[Footnote 3: _The Art of Politicks, in imitation of Horace_, 1729, with a hybrid portrait of Heidegger, the _arbit. elegant._ of his day.]

"_Virgin Wife and widowed Maid._"--Whence come the words "Virgin wife and widow'd maid," quoted, apparently, by Liddell and Scott in their Greek Lexicon, s.v. [Greek: aparthenos], as a rendering or illustration of Hec. 610.?

"[Greek: Numphen t' anumphon, parthenon t' aparthenon]."

ANON.

"_Cutting off the little heads of light._"--Perhaps you or one of your correspondents would help me to the whereabouts of some thoughtful lines which I recently came across, in a volume which I accidentally took up, but the name of which has completely skipped my memory.

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The lines referred to typified Tyranny under the form of the man who puts out the gas-lights at dawn: "Cutting off the little heads of light which lit the world." I am not sure of the rhythm, and so have put the lines like prose; but they wind up with a fine analogy of the sun in all its glory bursting on the earth, and putting the proceedings of the light extinguisher utterly to nought.

A. B. R.

_Medal of Sir Robert Walpole._--On a brass medal, without date, rather larger than half a crown, are these effigies.

On one side the devil, horned and tailed proper, with a fork in his right hand, and marching with a very triumphant step, is conducting a courtier in full dress (no doubt meant for Walpole), by a rope round his neck, into the open jaws of a monster, which represent the entrance to the place of punishment. Out of the devil's mouth issues a label with the words, "Make room for Sir Robert." Underneath, "No Excise."

On the reverse are the figures of two naval officers, with the legend, "The British Glory revived by Admiral Vernon and Commodore Brown." This refers of course to the taking of Porto Bello in November, 1739.

Is this piece one of rarity and value?

J.

_La Fete des Chaudrons._--In the exhibition of pictures in the British Institution is one (No. 17.) by Teniers, entitled "La Fete des Chaudrons." In what publication can the description of this fete, or fair, be found?