Chapter III: Act III: Sc. 1.), which, however, will be found at page 389. of Jackson's

book. I may be in error, but I cannot but think such ignorance, on the part of professional Shakspearians, very culpable.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_On Three Passages in "Measure for Measure."_--I have to crave a small space in your columns, which have already done much good service for the text of Shakspeare, to make a very few remarks on three passages in the play of _Measure for Measure_. It is no sweeping change of reading that I am about to advocate, nor, as I think, anything over ingenious; inasmuch as, in two of the passages in question, I propose to defend the reading of the first folio, which, I contend, has been departed from unnecessarily; while, in the third, I suggest the simple change of an _f_ into an _s_.

In Act II. Sc. 4., these lines occur in Angelo's soliloquy, in my folio of 1623:

"The state whereon I studied
Is like a good thing, being often read,
Growne feard and tedious."

Mr. Knight, and other editors, read _feard_, as in the original, but give no explanation; though such a strange epithet would seem to require one. I propose to read _seared_, _i.e._ dry, the opposite of fresh. This, as the saying is, "requires," I think, "only to be pointed out to be admitted."

Lower down in the same scene we find the following passage, in one of Angelo's addresses to Isabel:

"Such a person,
Whose creadit with the judge, or owne great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-building law."

The word _building_ has always been a stumbling-block to editors. Johnson first proposed to read _binding_, and his successors have adopted it, and such is now the generally received reading. Mr. Collier's old corrector is also in favour of the same change. I have always felt convinced, however, that _building_ was the word which Shakspeare wrote. That which answers to it in the A.-S. is _bytling_, _bytleing_, a building; _bytlian_, to build; which are inflected from _byth_, _biotul_, a hammer or mallet (whence our _beetle_); so that the strict meaning of the verb is _firmare_, _confirmare_, to fasten, close, or bind together. This will give much the same meaning to _building_ as that implied in the proposed substitute _binding_.

Not having met with the word used in this peculiar sense by any old writer, I could not venture to maintain the reading of the folio on these grounds, which I have just mentioned, alone. At length, however, I have been successful, and I am now able to quote a passage from a work published very shortly before this play, entitled:

"The Jewel House of Art and Nature", &c., "faithfully and
familiarly set downe according to the Author's owne experience,
by Hugh Platte, of Lincoln's Inne, gentleman. London, 1594."

in which this word _building_ is used in precisely the same sense as that which I defend. In "the Preface of the Author," the following passage occurs:

"I made a condicionall promise of some farther discouerie in
arteficiall conceipts, then either my health {195} or leisure
would then permit: I am now resolued (notwithstanding the
vnkind acceptation of my first fruits, which then I feared and
hath since falne out, is a sufficient release in law of the
condition) to make the same in some sort absolute (though not
altogether according to the fulnesse of my first purpose), and
to become a _building_ word unto me."

I apprehend that this parallel instance is all that is wanting to preserve, for the future, the reading of the first folio unimpaired.

The third passage on which I have a remark to offer, is that much tormented one in Act III. Sc. 1., which stands in my first folio thus:

"_Cla._ The prenzie, Angelo?

_Isa._ Oh, 'tis the cunning liuerie of hell,
The damnest bodie to inuest, and couer
In prenzie gardes."

I need not say a word about the various suggestions of _primzie_, _priestly_, _princely_, _precise_, &c., which have appeared from time to time; my business is solely with the original word in the first folio. I have always felt sure that this is none other than the poet's own word, and no error of the printer; for how could it be possible to make a gross mistake in a word which occurs twice within four lines, and one, moreover, so unusual; the printer must surely have been able to decipher the letters from _one_ of the two written specimens. It will be observed that there is a comma after _prenzie_ in the original, indicating that the word is a substantive, not an adjective. Now what is the Italian for a prince? Not only _principe_, but also _prenze_; and in like manner we find _principessa_ and _prenzessa_. I have no doubt that what Shakspeare _did_ write was--

"The prenzie, Angelo?"

while a little lower down he converted the word into an adjective:

"To inuest and couer
In prenzie gardes."

It is obvious to remark that this meaning of _prenzie_ exactly fits the sense: Angelo was a prince, and he was clad in robes of office, adorned with princely "gardes," or trappings. Shakspeare, no doubt, was very well acquainted with Italian tales and poems; the word may have become quite familiar to him. His intention here, in putting the term in question into Claudio's mouth, may have been to give an Italian character to the scene, introducing thus the _local term of dignity_ of the deputy; thus recalling the audience, by the occurrence of a single word, to the scene of the plot; for though this is said to be in Vienna, yet it is to be observed that not a name throughout the play is German, _everything is Italian_. And let it not be objected that the use of this word involves an obscurity which Shakspeare would have avoided; we are hardly able to judge, now-a-days, whether a particular word was obscure or not in his time: at all events, there would be no difficulty in adducing instances of what we should call more obscure allusions, and I think there can be little doubt that the well-educated in those days well understood the Italian _prenze_ to mean a prince.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

_"Hamlet" and G. Steevens._--In Act I. Sc. 4., Horatio asks Hamlet "_What does this_ mean, my Lord?" (The noise of music within). Hamlet replies:

"The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassel, and _the swaggering up-spring reels_."

G. Steevens, in a note of this passage, says: "The _swaggering up-spring_ was _a German dance_." Is not the allusion directed to the king, whom Hamlet describes as "a swaggering _up-spring_," or "_upstart_?" Should not the line--

_"O horrible, O horrible, most horrible!"_

in the Ghost's narrative in the _fifth scene_, be given to Hamlet?

JAMES CORNISH.

Falmouth.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Sir Francis Drake._--Having traversed the globe within three years, his travels were thus noticed by a poet of his day:

"Drake, pererrati novit quem terminus orbis,
Quemque semel mundi vidit uterque Polus.
Si taceant homines, faciant te sidera notum,
Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui."

CLERICUS (D.)

_Similarity of Idea in St. Luke and Juvenal._--Examples of identity of expression existing between the Scriptures and ancient heathen writers have already appeared in "N. & Q." Permit me to add the following passages, which appear to me to afford an instance of similarity of idea:

"Λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἐὰν οὗτοι σιωπήσωσῖν, οἱ λίθοι
κεκρὰξονται."--_Luc._ cap xix. v. 40.

"Audis,
Jupiter, hæc, nec labra moves, quum mittere vocem
Debueras, vel marmoreus, vel aëneus?"

Juven. _Sat._ xiii. v. 113.

The satirist would seem to say (taking the sceptic's view), that even if Jupiter existed only in brass and marble, the very statues would "cry out" against the impious perjury.

I drop my initials, and beg to subscribe myself

ARCH. WEIR.

_Sincere._--Trench, _On the Study of Words_, 4th ed., p. 197., says:

"They would be pleased to learn that 'sincere' may be, I will
not say that it is, without wax (sine cerâ), as the best and
finest honey should be."

{196}

Is not this derivation erroneous? _Sincere_ does not mean "pure, like virgin-honey;" but it expresses the absence of deception. I doubt not that it is derived from--

"The practice of Roman potters to rub wax into the flaws of
their unsound vessels when they sent them to market. A sincere
[without wax] vessel was the same as a sound vessel, one that
had no disguised flaw."

So says Bushnell (_God in Christ_, p. 17.). The derivation is no novelty. I reproduce it merely to correct an error which is obtaining currency under the name of Mr. French. I should be obliged to any of your correspondents who would refer me to, or still better cite, any passages in the Latin classics relating to the practice I have mentioned.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_Epitaph in Appleby Church-yard, Leicestershire._--

"I was a fine young man,
As you would see in ten.
And when I thought of this,
I took in hand my pen,
And wrote it down so plain
That every one might see;
How I was cut down,
Like blossoms from a tree."

J. G. L.

* * * * *

Queries.

THE CRESCENT.

I shall be obliged to any correspondent of "N. & Q." who will point out the period at which the crescent became the standard of Mahometanism. Poets and romancers freely bestow it upon any time or scene in which Mussulmans are introduced; Sir Walter Scott mentions it in the _Talisman_, but after the strange liberties he has taken with Saladin and Richard, he becomes, on such a question, no higher authority than writers of meaner name. I cannot find it in the history of Mahomet, or in that of his immediate successors. The first time Michaud, in his fine _Histoire des Croisades_, speaks of it is in the reign of Mahomet II., which is many centuries after periods at which modern poets, and even historians, have named it as the antagonistic standard to the cross. The crescent is common upon the reverses of coins of the Eastern empire long before the Turkish conquest, and was, I have reason to believe, in some degree peculiar to the Sclave nations. Was it the standard of the Turks, as contradistinguished from other Saracens? or, was it adopted by Mahomet II. after his conquests of Constantinople and the eastern countries of Europe? I am aware that if this last idea be substantiated, it will make it much more modern than it is generally supposed to be, but our ideas of everything, Turkish were for so long a time mixed with the wonderful and the romantic, that we must not expect much correctness on such points. The Turks came into fearful contiguity with the West in the fifteenth century; Europe had as much to dread from them then as from the Russians now. This event and the art of printing were almost cotemporary, and the crescent has been presented to us as the symbol of Mahometanism ever since; but I much doubt it can be proved to have been so at a far remoter period.

W. ROBSON.

Stockwell.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_The Hebrew Testament._--Having lately completed the above work, so as to be "ready for the press" without much delay, I should be glad before I resign the MS. to the hands of the printer, to have the advantage of the suggestions of those of your erudite readers who have made sacred criticism their study.

MOSES MARGOLIOUTH.

_Dr. Franklin._--I possess the following lines in the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, written in the year 1780. Can any of your readers tell me who was the author of them, and when and where they were first printed?

"When Orpheus went down to the Regions below,
Which men are forbidden to see;
He tun'd up his Lyre, as historians show,
To set his Euridice free.
All Hell was astonish'd, a person so wise
Should so rashly endanger his life,
And venture so far! But how vast their surprise
When they heard that he came for his wife.

"To find out a punishment due to the fault
Old Pluto had puzzled his brain;
But Hell had not torments sufficient he thought,
So he gave him his _wife_ back again.
But pity succeeding, soon mov'd his hard heart,
And, pleas'd with his playing so well,
_He took her again_, in reward of his Art;
Such power had Music in Hell!"

G. M. B.

_Flemish Refugees._--In the troubled times of the Reformation, England was not seldom the refuge for Flemings who, for the sake of religion, abandoned their country. Among these was Mr. Joos Tuck, who, according to a consistorial decision of Dec. 14, 1582, was proposed by G. Van Den Haute, then pastor at Sluis, to the brethren of the Flemish Class, since "they had taken knowledge of the sound and good gifts of their brother." He left Sluis soon after, probably in July, 1583, and withdrew to England. I should be glad to learn what befell him there.

Peter Lambert was a student of the University of Ghent: though, as far as I am aware, he is not {197} mentioned in Te Water's _History of the Reformed Church and University in Ghent_. On July 21, 1583, a student made known his wish to propose himself as candidate for the ministry; and on August 4 appeared Peter Lambert, student of the University of Ghent, before the consistory, requesting the brethren to grant him the twenty-five guilders which had been promised; because, on account of the troubled state of the country, he wished to flee to England, on which request was decided: "Since a well-known and pious brother, who is compelled to flee, is in need of help, let the deacons and _pensionary_ of the town be addressed thereon." Very probably, therefore, he also took refuge in England. Can any one give me farther information?--From the _Navorscher_.

J. H. VAN DALE.

_"Sad are the rose leaves," &c._--Can you or any of your correspondents tell me whence come the following lines?--

"Sad are the rose leaves which betoken
That there the dead lie buried low;
But sadder, when the heart is broken,
Are smiles upon the lips of woe."

They are quoted from memory from the album of a lady friend.

ISELDUNENSIS.

_Wanted, the original_ habitat _of the following Sentences_:

1. "Ministeriun circa, non magisterium supra, Scriptures."

2. "Virtus rectorem ducemque desiderat, vitia sine magistro discuntur."

3. "In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in omnibus charitas."

4. "Exiguum est ad legem bonum esse." Wetstein assigns this last to Seneca, _Epist._ 17.; but there is some error. It very likely is in Seneca.

5. "Verbum audimus, motum sentimus, præsentiam credimus, modum nescimus." Durandus is the author.

6. "En rem indignam! nos qui jam tot annos sumus doctores S. Theologiæ, denuo cogimur adire ludos literarios." Spoken by the adversaries of Erasmus.

What is the earliest authority for the story of St. John and his partridge?

Will MR. BOLTON CORNEY be kind enough to explain the occasion of Porson's notable speech recorded on the last page of his _Curiosities Illustrated_?

His sagacity was not at fault in suspecting a French origin for D'Israeli's story, p. 89. See Bassompière, in _Retrospective Review_, xiii. 346.

S. Z. Z. S.

_Tea-marks._--Accident threw in my way lately a catalogue of a large sale of teas in Mincing Lane; and my attention was drawn to certain marks against the several lots, which appeared to indicate particular qualities, but to me, as uninitiated, perfectly incomprehensible. In this dilemma I asked one of our principal brokers the meaning of all this, and I was informed that teas are sampled and tasted by the brokers, and divided in the main into seven classes, distinguished as follows:

Can any of your correspondents tell us when this classification was first introduced, or the origin of the first two characters? Can they be Chinese, and the names given from some fancied resemblance to the gallows, or the letter _T_ turned sideways? My friend the broker, though a very intelligent man, could give me no information whatever on these points.

W. T.

42. Lowndes Square.

_William the Conqueror's Surname._--Had William a surname? If so, what was it? By surname I mean such as is transmitted from father to son, not the epithets he used to bestow on himself in documents, as "I, William the Bastard," "I, William the Conqueror," &c.

TEE BEE.

_Old Saying._--

"Merry be the first
And merry be the last,
And merry be the first of August."

Having frequently heard this old saying, I take the liberty of asking, through your much valued paper, it any of your readers are able to tell me its origin?

EDM. L. BAGSHAWE.

Bath Literary Institution.

_To pluck a Crow with One._--It is a common expression in all ranks, I believe, of this country, to speak of "plucking a crow" with such a one; meaning to call him to account for some delinquency. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of the phrase?

W. W.

_"Well's a fret."_--When, after a short pause in conversation, any one utters the interjection, "Well!" it is a very common practice in Nottingham to say:

"... and _well's a fret_,
He that dies for love will not be hang'd for debt."

I have asked a great number of persons for an explanation, but they all use the phrase without any meaning. Can you, or any of your readers, tell me if it have any; or if it be only nonsensical doggrel?

DEVONIENSIS.

{198}

_Pay the Piper._--This expression surely has a firm foundation. Can any of your correspondents trace it?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

_Greek Inscription upon a Font, mentioned by Jeremy Taylor._--

"This was ingeniously signified by that Greek inscription upon
a font, which is so prettily contrived, that the words may be
read after the Greek or after the Hebrew manner, and be exactly
the same:

'Νίψον ἀνόμημα, μὴ μόναν ὄψιν,'

'Lord, wash my sin, and not my face only.'"--_Life of Christ_,
part i. sect. 9. disc. 6., "On Baptism," vol. ii. p. 235.,
Eden's edition.

Can any reader of "N. & Q." state the bishop's authority for this ingenious device?

A. TAYLOR.

_Acharis._--The following is extracted from Dugdale's _Monasticon_:

"Radulphus Wicliff armiger tenet in Wicliff duas partes
decimarum de dominicis quondam _Acharis_, quondam ad 5. s.
modò nihil quia ut dicit sunt inclusæ in parco suo, ideo ad
consilium."

What is the meaning of the term _Acharis_, and of the passage? It is an extract from the _Rentale spiritualium Possessionum atque temporalium Prioratus Sancti Martini juxta Richmund in agro Eboracensi_.

A. W. H.

_Attainment of Majority._--Professor DE MORGAN will, I am sure, permit me to put this question to him:

In a short treatise "On Ancient and Modern Usage in Reckoning," written by him for the _Companion to the Almanac_ of 1850, he explains, at page 9., the usage of attainment of majority in these words:

"Nevertheless in the law, which here preserves _the old
reckoning_, he is of full age on the 9th: though he were born
on the 10th, he is of age to execute a settlement _a minute
after midnight_ on the morning of the 9th."

I want to have this statement reconciled with the opening scene of Ben Jonson's _Staple of News_, where Pennyboy jun. counts, as his watch strikes--"one, two, three, four, five, six!"--

"Enough, enough, dear watch,
Thy pulse hath beat enough
--The hour is come so long expected," &c.

Then "the fashioner" comes in to fit on the heir's new clothes; he had "waited below 'till the clock struck," and gives, as an excuse, "your worship might have pleaded _nonage_, if you had got 'em on ere I could make just affidavit of the time."

All these particulars are too _verbatim_ to admit of doubt as to the peculiar usage of that time; and from other sources I know that Ben Jonson was right: but it is not alluded to in the treatise first mentioned, nor is it stated when the usage was altered to "a minute after midnight."

A. E. B.

Leeds.

_Hartman's Account of Waterloo._--In the note to the 3rd Canto of _Childe Harold_, Stanza 29, Lord Byron says:

"The place where Major Howard fell was not far from two tall
and solitary trees, which stand a few yards from each other at
a pathway's side. Beneath these he died and was buried. The
body has since been removed to England."

I have a copy on which one has written--

"Hartman's account is full and interesting. He was in
conversation with Major Howard when he was killed; and
afterwards gave directions for his burial. Though no poet, he
could describe graphically what he saw and did."

The position of Hartman, and his apparent familiarity with Major Howard, seem to take him out of the herd of writers on Waterloo; but I cannot learn who he was, or what he wrote. Can any of your readers tell me? The note may have been made in mere wantonness, but it looks genuine.

G. D.

_Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury._--When was Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, born; who, Camden tells us, was the "greatest ornament" of Higham Ferrers? I have seen his birth somewhere stated to have taken place in the year 1360; but no day or month was given. I should also be glad to know to what extent he was a contributor towards the restoration of Croydon Church, the tower and porch of which bear his arms?

R. W. ELLIOT.

_Translation of Athenæus._--I find, in the _Classical Journal_, xxxviii. 11., published in 1828, that an English translation of Athenæus had been completed before his death by R. Fenton, Esq., F.R.S., author of the _History of Pembrokeshire_. The writer farther says: "We have reason to believe that the MS. is now in possession of his son, the Rev. S. Fenton, Vicar of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire." Has this version, or any part of it, ever been published?

P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.

_Passages from Euripides._--Rogers translates two fine passages from Euripides:

"There is a streamlet issuing from a rock," &c.

and

"Dear is that valley to the murmuring bees," &c.

Where is the original Greek to be found?

F.

_Anderson's Royal Genealogies._--Is there any memoir or biographical account extant of James Anderson, D.D., the learned compiler of that most excellent and valuable work bearing the above title, and published in London, 1732, fol.?

G.

{199}

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Louis le Hutin._--When or for what reason was the _sobriquet_ "Hutin" attached to Louis X. of France? And what is the meaning of "Hutin?"

F. S. A.

[_Hutin_ is defined by Roquefort, _brusque_, _emporté_, _querelleur_, from the Low Latin _Hutinus_; and in illustrating the word he furnishes the following reply to our correspondent's Query: "Mezerai rapporte que Louis X. fut surnommé _Hutin_, parceque, dès son enfance, il aimait à quereller et à se battre, et que ce surnom fut lui donné par allusion à un petit maillet dont se servent les tonneliers, appelé _hutinet_, parce-qu'il fait beaucoup de bruit."]

* * * * *

Replies.

BEE-PARK--BEE-HALL.

(Vol. v., pp. 322. 498.)

Enjoying as we do the advantages of the extension of scientific knowledge, and its application to our routine of daily wants, we are apt to forget that our forefathers were without many things we deem essentials. Your correspondents C. W. G. and B. B. have touched upon a curious feature of antiquity, which science and commerce have rendered obsolete. Yet, before the introduction of sugar, bees were important ministers to the luxuries of the great, as mentioned at the above-cited pages. I was struck with the following passage in the first forest charter of King Henry III.:

"Every freeman ... shall likewise have the honey which shall be
found in his woods."

This, in a charter second only in importance, perhaps, to Magna Charta itself, sounds strange to our ideas; moderns would not think it a very royal boon. But the note with which Mr. R. Thomson (_Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John_, p. 352.) illustrates this passage is interesting, and, though rather long, may be worth insertion in your columns:

"The second part of this chapter secures to the woodland
proprietor all the honey found in his woods; which was
certainly a much more important gift than it would at first
appear, since the Hon. Daines Barrington remarks, that perhaps
there has been no lawsuit or question concerning it for the
last three hundred years. In the middle ages, however, the
use of honey was very extensive in England, as sugar was not
brought hither until the fifteenth century; and it was not
only a general substitute for it in preserving, but many of
the more luxurious beverages were principally composed of it,
as mead, metheglin, pigment, and morat, and these were famous
from the Saxon days, down even to the time of the present
charter (1217). In the old Danish and Swedish laws bees form a
principal subject; and honey was a considerable article of rent
in Poland, in which it was a custom to bind any one who stole
it to the tree whence it was taken. The Baron de Mayerberg also
relates, that when he travelled in Muscovy in 1661, he saw
trees there expressly adapted to receive bees, which even those
who felled their own wood were enjoined to take down in such a
manner that they who prepared them should have the benefit of
the honey. Nor was the wax of less importance to the woodland
proprietors of England, since candles of tallow are said to
have been first used only in 1290, and those of wax were so
great a luxury, that in some places they were unknown: but a
statute concerning wax-chandlers, passed in 1433 (the 11th of
Henry VI. chap. 12.), states that wax was then used in great
quantities for the images of saints. Only referring, however,
to the well-known use of large wax tapers by King Alfred in
the close of the ninth century, it may be observed that in the
laws of Hoel Dha, king of South Wales, which are acknowledged
as authentic historical documents, made about A.D. 940, of
much older materials, is mentioned the right of the king's
chamberlain to as much wax as he could bite from the end of
a taper."--_Coke_; _Manwood_; _Barrington_; _Statutes of the
Realm_.

Perhaps you will allow a few words more in illustration of B. B.'s Query (Vol. v., p. 498.). A recent correspondent, writing of some modern experiments on the venom of toads, suggests the propriety of contributing to a list of "vulgar errors" which have proved to be "vulgar truths." It would not much surprise me to learn that, after all, the popular belief in the efficacy of the rough music of the key and warming-pan might be added to his list. At all events the reason stated by B. B. to prove its uselessness, viz. that bees have no sense of hearing, must, I think, be abandoned, as a Query of MR. SYDNEY SMIRKE (Vol. vii., p. 499.), and an answer (Vol. vii., p. 633.), will show. That all insects are possessed of hearing, naturalists seem now as well convinced of as that they have eyes; though some naturalists formerly considered they were not, as Linnæus and Bonnet; while Huber (his interesting observations on bees notwithstanding) seems to have been quite undecided on the point. Bees, as well as all other insects, hear through the medium of their antennæ, which in a subordinate degree are used as feelers; observing which, perhaps, Huber and others were indisposed to ascribe to them the sense in question.

In reference to MR. SYDNEY SMIRKE'S Query, so far from other naturalists confirming Huber's observations as to the effect produced by the sound emitted by the _Sphynx atropos_ on the bees, besides Dr. Bevan (quoted Vol. vii., p. 633.), the intelligent entomologist, Mr. Duncan, author of the entomological portion of _The Naturalist's Library_ (vol. xxxiv. pp. 53-55.), completely disproves them. He tells us that he has closely watched bees, and has seen the queen attack the larva cells; but the sentinels, notwithstanding the reiteration of the queenly sound, so far from remaining motionless, {200} held their sovereign in check, and stubbornly persisted in the defence of their charge against the attacks of their queen and mother. Besides this disproval of the incapacitation of bees by the emission of a sound, another from the experiments of Huber himself may be mentioned. He introduced a _Sphynx atropos_ into a hive in the daytime, and it was immediately attacked and killed by the workers. Query, Might not the explanation of the robbery of hives by this moth be, that the darkness of night incapacitates the bees, while it is the time nature has provided for the wanderings of the _Sphynx_?

TEE BEE.

* * * * *

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. vii., p. 596.; Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134.)

A contribution of mine to the miscellaneous vol. of the Chetham Society's publications having been introduced to your readers by the handsome notice of MR. HUGHES, I feel bound to notice the objection raised by your correspondent GARLICHITHE (Vol. viii., p. 134.), who has confounded Randle the _grandfather_ and Randle the _son_ of the writer of these letters quoted by Mr. Hunter. Richard Minshull, who was the writer of these letters in 1656, and died in the following year, had several sons, of whom the eldest, Randle, correctly described by MR. HUGHES as the great-great-grandson of the Minshull who first settled at Wistaston, had seven children, of whom Elizabeth, the widow of Milton, was one. She was baptized at Wistaston on the 30th Dec. 1638. In 1680 (about six years after her husband's death), by means of a family arrangement with Richard Minshull of Wistaston, frame-work knitter, who, there can be little doubt, was her brother, evidenced by a bond in my possession, she acquired a leasehold interest in a farm at Brindley, near Nantwich. On the 20th July, 1720, by her name and description of Elizabeth Milton, of Nantwich, widow, she administered to the effects of her brother, John Minshull, in the Consistory Court of Chester; and her will, the probate of which is also in my possession, is dated 22nd August, and proved 10th October, 1727. MR. HUGHES having given a reference to the volume where this information will be found in detail, a reference to it might have saved GARLICHITHE the trouble of starting an objection, and shown him that, so far from the facts stated being irreconcilable with Mr. Hunter's tract, that gentleman's reference to Randle Holme's _Correspondence_ was suggested by a communication of my own to _The Athenæum_, and in its turn furnished me with the clue from which I eventually ascertained the particulars of Mrs. Milton's birth and parentage. I am sorry to say that I have wholly failed in finding the register of her marriage: it is not in the register-book of her native place. It might be worth while to search the register of the parishes in which Milton's residence in Jewin Street, and Dr. Paget's in Coleman Street, are situate. There is no uncertainty as to the date, which Aubrey tells us was in "the yeare before the sicknesse."

Though CRANMORE (Vol. v., p. 327.) is said to be a deserter from the ranks of "N. & Q.," I hope he is known to some of your readers, and that they will convey to him a hint that he is under something like a promise to furnish information, which, as regards Dr. Paget's connexion with the poet's widow, will still be welcome.

J. F. MARSH.

Despite his acknowledged infidelity, I must tender my thanks to GARLICHITHE for his obliging reference to Mr. Hunter's tract; albeit there is, I may be permitted to suggest, no position assumed in any note upon Milton's widow which that tract in any way contravenes or sets aside. The fact is, GARLICHITHE, in the outset, entirely misapprehends the nature of my argument; and so leads himself, by a sort of literary "Will-o-the-wisp," unconsciously astray.

It was not Randle the _grandfather_ of Richard Minshull, writer of the two letters transcribed by Mr. Hunter, but Randle the eldest _son_ of this Richard Minshull to whom I referred as the father of Elizabeth Milton. Nor is it _possible_ that this Elizabeth could have "died in infancy," seeing that I possess a copy of a bond (the original is also extant) from her brother Richard, then of Wistaston, where he was baptized April 7, 1641, secured to her as Elizabeth _Milton_, dated June 4, 1680.

As to the marriage itself, it may have taken place in London, where the poet resided; or, which is more probable, at or near the residence of their mutual friend, Dr. Paget. Milton was certainly not over-careful about ritual observances, and it is not therefore unlikely that the rigid Puritan preferred a private, or what is termed a civil marriage, to one religiously and properly conducted in the church of his forefathers.

T. HUGHES.

* * * * *

PECULIAR ORNAMENT IN CROSTHWAITE CHURCH.

(Vol. viii., p. 55.)

It is probable that these circles with eight radiations are the original dedication-crosses of the church. Such crosses are still to be seen painted on the piers of the nave in Roman Catholic churches. Durandus, describing the consecration of a church, says:

"In the meanwhile within the building twelve lamps be burning
before twelve crosses, which be depicted on the walls of the
church.... Lastly, he [the bishop] anointeth with chrism the
twelve crosses {201} depicted on the wall."--Durandus _On
Symbolism_, ed. Neale and Webb, p. 115.

In the Pontifical, _De Ecclesiæ Dedicatione_, the rubric directs,--

"Item, depingantur in parietibus Ecclesiæ intrinsecùs per
circuitum duodecim cruces, circa decem palmos super terram,
videlicet tres pro quolibet, ex quatuor parietibus. Et ad
caput cujuslibet crucis figatur unus clavus, cui affigatur una
candela unius unciæ."

Dedication-crosses occur at Salisbury Cathedral, and at Uffington Church, Berks, and in both cases on the exterior of the buildings.

The crosses at Salisbury are seven in number, viz. one over each side-door at the west end, two on the buttresses of the north and south transepts, two on the buttresses of the east end, and one in the centre of the east wall. The number at Uffington is twelve, disposed as follows: Three under the east window, three under the west window, one under the south window of the south transept, one under the north window of the north transept, one on the south wall of the nave, one on the north wall of the nave, one on the south wall of the chancel, and one in the east wall of the south transept. In each case the crosses have been of brass inlaid in the wall, with the exception of one, which is of stone, and of more elaborate design. The _rationale_ of dedication-crosses, according to Durandus, is,--

"First, as a terror to evil spirits, that they, having been
driven forth thence, may be terrified when they see the sign
of the cross, and may not presume to enter therein again.
Secondly, as a mark of triumph; for crosses be the banners of
CHRIST, and the signs of his triumph.... Thirdly, that such
as look on them may call to mind the passion of CHRIST, by
which he hath consecrated his Church, and their belief in his
passion," &c.--Page 125.

Under these aspects the exterior would seem the more fitting, and may have been the original position of them. Perhaps MR. ELLIOT will inform us what is the number of crosses at Crosthwaite?

CHEVERELLS.

* * * * *

CURIOUS MISTRANSLATIONS.

(Vol. vi., p. 321.)

I have found, in _D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature_, two or three instances in which he mistranslates from the French. The first occurs in the following passage in the article headed "Inquisition:"

"Once all were Turks when they were not Romanists. Raymond,
Count of Toulouse, was constrained to submit. _The inhabitants
were passed on the edge of the sword_, without distinction of
age or sex."

From the words which I have marked for Italics, it is clear that D'Israeli translated the passage from some French author; but not being aware of the idiomatic expression "passer au fil de l'épée," and that it means "to put to the sword," he translated the words in their literal sense, which in English is no sense at all.

The second example will be found in the article headed "Mysteries, Moralities," &c. D'Israeli quotes some extracts from the _Mystery of St. Dennis_, and concludes with the following on the subject of baptism:

"Sire, oyez que fait ce fol prestre:
Il prend de l'yaue _en_ une escuelle,
Et gete aux gens sur le cervele,
Et dit que _partants_ sont sauvés."

which he translates thus:

"Sir, hear what this mad priest does:
He takes water _out of_ a ladle,
And, throwing it at people's heads,
He says that _when they depart_ they are saved!"

The error of "out of" for "into" is unimportant; but not so where he renders "partants" by "when they depart." The word "partant," in the original, is an adverb, and means "thereupon," "forthwith." This D'Israeli has mistaken for "partant," the participle of "partir:" and hence the erroneous construction given to the passage.

A third sample occurs in the same article, where the author quotes from one of the dramas called _Sotties_, a passage in which are these lines:

"Tuer les gens pour leurs plaisirs,
_Jouer le leur_, l'autrui saisir."

These he translates as follows:

"Killing people for their pleasures,
_Minding their own interests_, and seizing on what belongs to another."

Here we have "jouer le leur," to gamble, rendered by "to mind their own interests;" a rather equivocal method, it must be confessed, of accomplishing that object.

These are among the very few instances in which D'Israeli, by quoting from the original authorities, enables us to form an opinion as to the correctness of his anecdotes; and when we consider that by far the greater proportion of these are drawn from French sources, there is reason to apprehend that they may not have always been given with sufficient fidelity. I am confirmed in this view by another quotation which D'Israeli seems to have misunderstood. He is speaking of the feudal custom of the French barons, according to which they were allowed to cohabit with the new bride during the first three nights after marriage. Upon this he remarks:

"Montesquieu is infinitely French when he could turn this
shameful species of tyranny into a bon mot; for he boldly
observes on this: 'C'était bien ces trois nuits là qu'il
fallait choisir; car pour les autres on {202} n'aurait pas
donné beaucoup d'argent.' The legislator, in the wit, forgot
the feelings of his heart."

I have never been able to conceive what meaning D'Israeli could have attached to this quotation from Montesquieu, so as to torture it into a _bon mot_. Not only is there nothing of the kind in the words he quotes, but there is not even an attempt at it. The writer merely suggests a reason for the preference given to the first three nights; and in doing so he expresses the sentiments of the barons, and not his own. And yet, it is upon this strange misapprehension of Montesquieu's meaning, that D'Israeli lays at the door of that illustrious man the imputation of being "infinitely French," and of forgetting, for the sake of a _bon mot_, the feelings of his heart!

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

* * * * *

"TO SPEAK IN LUTESTRING."

(Vol. iii., p. 188.)

The Query on the meaning of the phrase "to speak in lutestring," used by Philo-Junius, has remained so long without an answer, that to attempt to give one now seems almost to require an apology. I will however do so. In