Chapter I: Part 1

{309}

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

* * * * *

="When found, make a note of."=--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

* * * * *

No. 205.]
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1. 1853.
[Price Fourpence.
Stamped Edition, 5_d._

* * * * *

CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page

The Groaning-board, a Story of the Days of Charles II.,
by Dr. E. F. Rimbault 309

The Etymology of the Word "Awkward" 310

Inedited Poem--"The Deceitfulness of Love," by
Chris. Roberts 311

Bale MSS., referred to in Tanner's "Bibliotheca
Britannico-Hibernica," by Sir F. Madden 311

Charles Fox and Gibbon 312

Samuel Williams 312

Shakspeare Correspondence, by Samuel Hickson, &c. 313

MINOR NOTES:--Doings of the Calf's Head Club--Epitaph
by Wordsworth--Tailor's "Cabbage"--Misquotations--The
Ducking Stool--Watch-paper Inscription 315

QUERIES:--

Birthplace of Gen. Monk, by F. Kyffin Lenthall 316

MINOR QUERIES:--Harmony of the Four Gospels--The
Noel Family--Council of Trent--Roman Catholic
Patriarchs--The "Temple Lands" in Scotland--Cottons
of Fowey--Draught or Draft of Air--Admiral Sir Thomas
Tyddeman--Pedigree Indices--Apparition of the White
Lady--Rundlestone--Tottenham--Duval Family--Noses of the
Descendants of John of Gaunt--General Wall--John Daniel
and Sir Ambrose Nicholas Salter--Edward Bysshe--President
Bradshaw and John Milton 316

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--Ket the
Tanner--"Namby-pamby" 318

REPLIES:--

Editions of Books of Common Prayer, by the Rev.
Thomas Lathbury, &c. 318

The Crescent, by J. W. Thomas 319

Seals of the Borough of Great Yarmouth 321

Moon Superstitions, by J. N. Radcliffe and G. William
Skyring 321

Latin Riddle, by the Rev. Robert Gibbings 322

"Hurrah!" by Sir J. E. Tennent and J. Sansom 323

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:--Process for Printing
on Albumenized Paper 324

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Anderson's Royal
Genealogies--Thomas Wright of Durham--Weather
Predictions--Bacon's Essays: Bullaces--Nixon the
Prophet--Parochial Libraries--"Ampers and," &c.--The
Arms of De Sissonne--St. Patrick's Purgatory--Sir
George Carr--Gravestone Inscription--"A Tub to
the Whale"--Hour-glasses in Pulpits--Slow-worm
Superstition--Sincere--Books chained to Desks
in Churches: Seven Candlesticks--D. Ferrand:
French Patois--Wood of the Cross--'Ladies'
Arms in a Lozenge--Burial in unconsecrated
Ground--Table-turning--"Well's a fret"--Tenet
for Tenent 326

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 330

Notices to Correspondents 330

Advertisements 331

* * * * *

Notes.

THE GROANING-BOARD, A STORY OF THE DAYS OF CHARLES II.

The English public has ever been distinguished by an enormous amount of gullibility.

"Ha ha, ha ha! this world doth pass
Most merrily I'll be sworn;
For many an honest Indian ass
Goes for an unicorn."

So sung old Thomas Weelkes in the year 1608, and so echo we in the year 1853! What with "spirit-rapping," "table-moving," "Chelsea ghosts," "Aztec children," &c., we shall soon, if we go on at the same rate, get the reputation of being past all cure.

In looking over, the other day, a volume in the Museum, marked MS. Sloane 958., I noticed the following hand-bill pasted on the first page:

"At the sign of the Wool-sack, in Newgate Market, is to be seen
a strange and wonderful thing, which is an _elm board_, being
touched with a hot iron, doth express itself as if it were a
man dying _with groans_, and trembling, to the great admiration
of all the hearers. It hath been presented before the king and
his nobles, and hath given great satisfaction. _Vivat Rex._"

At the top of the bill is the king's arms, and the letters C. R., and in an old hand is written the date 1682. On the same page is an autograph of the original possessor of the volume, "Ex libris Jo. Coniers, Londini, pharmacopol, 1673."

In turning to Malcolm (_Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London_, 4to. 1811, p. 427.), we find the following elucidation of this mysterious exhibition:

"One of the most curious and ingenious amusements ever offered
to the publick ear was contrived in the year 1682, when an elm
plank was exhibited to the king and the credulous of London,
which being touched by a hot iron, invariably produced a sound
resembling deep groans. This sensible, and very irritable
board, received numbers of noble visitors; and other boards,
sympathising with their afflicted brother, demonstrated how
much affected they might be by similar means. The publicans
in different parts of the city immediately applied ignited
metal to all the woodwork of their houses, in hopes of finding
sensitive timber; but I do {310} not perceive any were so
successful as the landlord of the Bowman Tavern in Drury Lane,
who had a mantle tree so extremely prompt and loud in its
responses, that the sagacious observers were nearly unanimous
in pronouncing it part of the same trunk which had afforded the
original plank."

The following paragraph is also given by Malcolm from the _Loyal London Mercury_, Oct. 4, 1682:

"Some persons being this week drinking at the Queen's Arms
Tavern, in St. Martin's-le-Grand, in the kitchen, and
having laid the fire-fork in the fire to light their pipes,
accidentally fell a discoursing of the _groaning-board_, and
what might be the cause of it. One in the company, having the
fork in his hand to light his pipe, would needs make trial of
a long dresser that stood there, which, upon the first touch,
made a great noise and groaning, more than ever the board that
was showed did; and then they touched it three or four times,
and found it far beyond the other. They all having seen it, the
house is almost filled with spectators day and night, and any
company calling for a glass of wine may see it; which, in the
judgment of all, is far louder, and makes a longer groan than
the other; which to report, unless seen, would seem incredible."

Among the _Bagford Ballads_ in the Museum (three vols., under the press-mark 643. m.) is preserved the following singular broadside upon the subject, which is now reprinted for the first time:

"A NEW SONG, ON THE STRANGE AND WONDERFUL GROANING-BOARD.

"What fate inspir'd thee with groans,
To fill phanatick brains?
What is't thou sadly thus bemoans,
In thy prophetick strains?

"Art thou the ghost of _William Pryn_,
Or some old politician?
Who, long tormented for his sin,
Laments his sad condition?

"Or must we now believe in thee,
The old cheat transmigration?
And that thou now art come to be
A call to reformation?

"The giddy vulgar to thee run,
Amaz'd with fear and wonder;
Some dare affirm, that hear thee groan,
Thy noise is petty thunder.

"One says and swears, you do foretell
A change in Church and State;
Another says, you like not well
Your master _Stephen's_ fate.[1]

"Some say you groan much like a _whigg_,
Or rather like a _ranter_;
Some say as loud, and full as big,
As _Conventicle Canter_.

"Some say you do petition,
And think you represent
The woe and sad condition
Of Old _Rump Parliament_.

"The wisest say you are a cheat;
Another politician
Says, 'tis a misery as great
And true as _Hatfield's vision_.[2]

"Some say, 'tis a _new evidence_,
Or witness of the _plot_;
And can discover many things
Which are the Lord knows what.

"And lest you should the _plot_ disgrace,
For wanting of a name,
_Narrative Board_ henceforth we'll place
In registers of fame.

"London: Printed for T. P. in the year 1682."

The extraordinary and long-lived popularity of the "groaning-board" is fully evinced by the number of cotemporary allusions: a few will suffice.

Mrs. Mary Astell, in her _Essay in Defence of the Female Sex_, 1696, speaking of the character of a "coffee-house politician," observes:

"He is a mighty listener after prodigies: and never hears of
a whale or a comet, but he apprehends some sudden revolution
in the state, and looks upon a _groaning-board_, or a
speaking-head, as forerunners of the day of judgment."

Swift, in his _Tale of a Tub_, written in the following year (1697), says of Jack:

"He wore a large plaister of artificiall causticks on his
stomach, with the fervor of which he would set himself a
_groaning_ like the famous _board_ upon application of a
red-hot iron."

Steele, in the 44th number of the _Tatler_, speaking of Powell, the "puppet showman," says:

"He has not brains enough to make even wood speak as it ought
to do: and I, that have heard the _groaning-board_, can despise
all that his puppets shall be able to speak as long as they
live."

So much for the "story" of the _groaning-board_. As to "how it was done," we leave the matter open to the reader's sagacity.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

[Footnote 1: This was _Stephen_ College, a joiner by trade, but a man of an active and violent spirit, who, making himself conspicuous by his opposition to the Court, obtained the name of the Protestant joiner. His fate is well known.]

[Footnote 2: Martha Hatfield, a child twelve years old in Sept. 1652, who pretended to have visions "concerning Christ, faith, and other subjects." She was a second edition of the "holy maid of Kent."]

* * * * *

THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD "AWKWARD."

Most persons who have given their attention to the formation of words, and have employed their leisure in endeavouring to trace them to their source, must have remarked that there are many words in the English language which show on the {311} part of learned philologists, the compilers of dictionaries, either a strange deficiency in reading, or a want of acquaintance with the older tongues: or perhaps, if we must find an excuse for them, a habit of "nodding."

The word _awkward_ is one of these. Skinner's account is as follows:

"Ineptus, ἀμφαριστερός, præposterus, ab A.-S. æþerd perversus;
hoc ab _æ_ præp. loquelari negativa privativa, et _weard_,
versus."

Johnson follows Skinner, interpreting _awkward_ in the same way, and with the same derivation; but unfortunately he had met with the little word _awk_, and, not caring to inquire into the origin of it, as it seemed so plain, he explains it as "a barbarous contraction of _awkward_," giving the following example from L'Estrange:

"We have heard as arrant jingling in the pulpits as the
steeples; and the professors ringing as _awk_ as the bells to
give notice of the conflagration."

Now the real state of the case is, that just as _forward_ and _backward_ are correlatives, so also are _toward_ and _awkward_. We speak of a _toward_ child as one who is quick and ready and apt; while, by an _awkward_ one, we mean precisely the contrary. By the former we imply a disposition or readiness to press on to the mark; by the latter, that which is averse to it, and fails of the right way. Parallel instances, though of course not corresponding in meaning, are found in the Latin _adversus_, _reversus_, _inversus_, _aversus_.

The term _awkward_ is compounded of the two A.-S. words _aweg_ or _awæg_ (which is itself made up of _a_, from, and _wæg_, a way), meaning away, out: "auferendi vim habet," says Bosworth, of which we have an instance in _aweg weorpan_, to throw away; and _weard_, toward, as in _hamweard_, homewards. We thus have the correlatives _to-weard_ and _aweg-weard_, with the same termination, but with prefixes of exactly opposite meanings. In the latter word, the prefix would naturally come to be pronounced as one syllable, and the _g_ as naturally converted into _k_.

The propriety of the use of the word _awkward_ by Shakspeare, in the Second Part of Henry VI., Act III. Sc. 2., is thus rendered apparent:

"And twice by awkward wind from England's bank,
Drove back again," &c.,

_i.e._ untoward wind, or contrary: an epithet which editors, while they thought it required an apology, have been unable to explain rightly.

With regard to the word _awk_, I can only say that it is one of very unfrequent occurrence; I have met with it but once in the course of my own reading, so that I am unable to confirm my view as fully as I could wish; still, that one instance seems, as far as it goes, satisfactory enough: it occurs in Golding's translation of Ovid's _Metam._, London, 1567, fol. 177. p. 2.:

"She sprincled us with bitter jewce of uncouth herbes, and strake
The _awk_ end of her charmed rod uppon our heads, and spake
Woordes to the former contrarie," &c.

The _awk_ end here is, of course, the wrong end, that which was not _towards_ them.

Perhaps some of the readers of "N. & Q." may have met with other instances of the usage of the word. It does not occur in Chaucer nor (I am pretty sure) in Gower.

H. C. K.

* * * * *

INEDITED POEM.--"THE DECEITFULNESS OF LOVE."

The following lines, written about 1600, are, I think, well worthy of preservation in your columns. I believe they have never been published; but if any of your correspondents should have met with them, and can inform me of the author, I shall feel much obliged.

CHRIS. ROBERTS.

Bradford, Yorkshire.

_Deceitfulness of Love._

Go, sit by the summer sea,
Thou, whom scorn wasteth,
And let thy musing be
Where the flood hasteth.
Mark how o'er ocean's breast
Rolls the hoar billow's crest;
Such is his heart's unrest
Who of love tasteth.

Griev'st thou that hearts should change?
Lo! where life reigneth,
Or the free sight doth range,
What long remaineth?
Spring with her flow'rs doth die;
Fast fades the gilded sky;
And the full moon on high
Ceaselessly waneth.

Smile, then, ye sage and wise;
And if love sever
Bonds which thy soul doth love,
Such does it ever!
Deep as the rolling seas,
Soft as the twilight breeze,
But of _more_ than these
Boast could it never!

* * * * *

BALE MSS., REFERRED TO IN TANNER'S "BIBLIOTHECA BRITANNICO-HIBERNICA."

Most persons who consult this laborious and useful work will probably have been struck and puzzled by the frequent occurrence of two references given by the Bishop as his authorities, namely, "MS. Bal. Sloan." and "MS. Bal. Glynn." {312} To answer, therefore (by anticipation), a Query very likely to be made on this subject, I have to state, that by "MS. Bal. Sloan." Tanner refers to a manuscript work in two volumes, in Bale's handwriting, formerly in Sir Hans Sloane's collection, and numbered 287, but presented by him to the Bodleian Library; as appears by a letter from Hearne to Baker (in MS. Harl. 7031. f. 142.), dated August 6, 1715, in which he writes:

"We have _Bale's accounts of the Carmelites_, in two volumes,
being not long since given to our public library by Dr. Sloane."

In the original MS. Sloane Catalogue, the work was thus entered: _Joannes Balæus de sanctis et illustribus viris Ordinis Carmelitarum, et eorum Scriptis: Joannis Balæi Annales Carmelitarum_. Another volume, partly, if not wholly, in Bale's handwriting, relative to the Carmelite Order, existed formerly in the Cottonian Library, under the press-mark Otho, D. IV., but was almost entirely destroyed in the fire which took place in 1731.

By "MS. Bal. Glynn.," or (as more fully referred to under "Adamus Carthusiensis") "MS. Bale penes D. Will. Glynn.," Tanner undoubtedly means a printed copy of Bale's _Scriptorum Illustrium Majoris Brytanniæ Catalogus_, with marginal notes in manuscript (probably by Bale himself) which was preserved in the library of Sir William Glynne, Bart., of Anbrosden. I learn this from Tanner's original Memoranda for his _Bibliotheca_, preserved in the Additional MSS. 6261. 6262., British Museum; in the former of which, ff. 122--124., is a transcript of the "MS. notæ in margine Balei, penes D. Will. Glynne." The Glynne MSS. are described in the _Catt. MSS. Angliæ_, fol. 1697, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 49.; but the copy of Bale, here mentioned, is not included among them. These MSS. are said to be preserved at present in the library of Christ Church College, Oxford; and it is somewhat singular, that no account of the MSS. in this college should have been printed, either in the folio Catalogue of 1697, or in the valuable Catalogue of the MSS. in the college libraries recently published. Perhaps some of the correspondents of "N. & Q." may communicate information on this head.

F. MADDEN.

* * * * *

CHARLES FOX AND GIBBON.

The following is taken from the fly-leaves of my copy of Gibbon's _Rome_, 1st vol. 1779, 8vo.:

"The following anecdote and verses were written by the late
Charles James Fox in the first volume of _his_ Gibbon's
_Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_.

"The author of this work declared publicly at Brookes's (a
gaming-house in St. James' Street), upon the delivery of the
Spanish Rescript in June, 1779, that there was no salvation
for this country unless six of the heads of the cabinet
council were cut off and laid upon the tables of both houses
of parliament as examples; and in less than a fortnight he
accepted a place under the same cabinet council.

"ON THE AUTHOR'S PROMOTION TO THE BOARD OF TRADE IN 1779.
By the Right Hon. C. J. Fox.

"King George in a fright
Lest Gibbon should write
The story of Britain's disgrace,
Thought no means more sure
His pen to secure
Than to give the historian a place.

"But his caution is vain,
'Tis the curse of his reign
That his projects should never succeed;
Tho' he wrote not a line,
Yet a cause of decline
In our author's example we read.

"His book well describes
How corruption and bribes
O'erthrew the great empire of Rome;
And his writings declare
A degeneracy there,
Which his conduct exhibits at home."

G. M. B.

* * * * *

SAMUEL WILLIAMS.

The obituary of the past week records the death of Samuel Williams, a self-taught artist, whose pencil and graver have illustrated very many of the most popular works during the last forty years, and to whose productions the modern school of book-illustrations owes its chief force and character. Samuel Williams was born Feb. 23, 1788, at Colchester in Essex; and during his very earliest years, his self-taught powers were remarkable, as he could draw or copy with the greatest ease anything he saw; and he would get up at early dawn, before the other members of the family were stirring, to follow the bent of his genius. His boyish talents attracted much notice, and, had he not been very diffident, would have brought him before the world as a painter. In 1802, he was apprenticed to Mr. J. Marsden, a printer in Colchester, and thenceforward his pencil was destined to be employed in illustrating books. Whilst yet a lad, he etched on copper a frontispiece to a brochure entitled the _Coggeshall Volunteers_; and this was a remarkable production, as he had never seen etching or engraving on copper; and he about the same time taught himself engraving on wood, executing numerous little cuts for Mr. Marsden: amongst others, a frontispiece to a _History of Colchester_. So much was his talent seen by parties calling at his employer's, that Mr. Crosby, a publisher of some note in his day, promised that, when his apprenticeship ended, he {313} should draw and engrave for him a natural history; and this promise was faithfully performed, and a series of three hundred cuts given to him immediately. Besides these, he executed numerous commissions for Mozley, Darton and Harvey, Arliss's _Pocket Magazine_, and other works; in all which a strong natural feeling and vigorous drawing were leading characteristics.

In 1809 he visited London for a short time, and returned to Colchester; and resided there till 1819, when he settled in London. In 1822, Mr. C. Whittingham published an edition of _Robinson Crusoe_, the illustrations to which are drawn and engraved by the subject of this notice; and the freedom of handling, as compared with cotemporary works, was conspicuous. After these, Trimmer's _Natural History_, published by Whittingham; the illustrations to Wiffin's _Garcilasso de la Vega_; and other works, showed his talents as a designer as well as engraver.

In 1825, William Hone started his _Every-Day Book_, employing Mr. Williams to make the drawings for the "Months," and other illustrations; and the peculiar style, like pen-and-ink sketches, attracted much notice, the freedom and ease of these drawings being greatly admired; and some of our present artists confess to having been first taught by copying the free off-hand sketches in Hone's _Every-Day Book_. A second volume followed in 1846, and the _Table Book_ in 1847; in 1848 the _Olio_ was published, and afterwards the _Parterre_; both works remarkable for their spirited illustrations. Several of the engravings to the _London Stage_, 1847, displayed great variety of expression in the figures and faces. Howitt's _Rural Life of England_, Selby's _Forest Trees_, Thomson's _Seasons_ (the edition published by Bogue), Miller's _Pictures of Country Life_, all drawn and engraved by him, exhibit exquisite rural "bits," in which, like Bewick, Samuel Williams could express with the graver the touch of his pencil, thus far excelling his cotemporaries. The _Memorials of the Martyrs_ was the last work on which he exercised his double skill. Of works not drawn by himself, Wiffin's _Tasso_ shows some of his best efforts; but as for years past he had been engaged on most of the best works of the day, it is impossible to specify all. Had he devoted his time to painting, which the constant employment with pencil and graver prevented, he would have taken high rank as a painter of rural life, as his pictures of "Sketching a Countryman," and "Interior of a Blacksmith's Shop," exhibited in the Royal Academy when at Somerset House, testify, as they are marked by perfect drawing and admirable expression. Some miniatures on ivory, painted in his very youthful days, are marvellous for close manipulation and correct likeness. After a long and painful illness, borne with great fortitude, Mr. Williams expired on the 19th September, his wife having predeceased him not quite six weeks, leaving behind him four sons.

J. T.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

_On a Passage in the Second Part of Henry IV.--The Death of Falstaff._--I have read with much pleasure your very temperate remarks on the fiery contributions of some of your correspondents; and I trust that, after so gentle a rebuke from certainly the most good-natured Editor living, all will henceforth go "merry as a marriage bell." Amongst the lore that I have picked up since my first acquaintance with "N. & Q.," is that profound truth,

"'Tis a very good world that we live in:"

but I must say I think it would be a very dull one if we all thought alike; as "N. & Q." would be a very dull book if it were not seasoned with differences of opinion, and its pages diversified with discussions and ingenious argument. And what can be more agreeable, when, like an animated conversation, it is conducted with fairness and good temper?

However, now we are to start fair again; and to begin with a difference, I must presume to question a decision of your own which I would fain see recalled. I believe with you that MR. COLLIER'S _Notes and Emendations_ gives the true reading of the passage in _Henry V._, "on a table of green frieze," and I, moreover, think that Theobald's conjecture "and 'a babbled o' green fields," was worthy of any poet. Theobald was engaged in the laborious work of minute verbal correction, and necessarily took an isolated view of particular passages. Presenting the difficulty which this passage did, his suggestion was a happy and poetical thought. But when you say that the scholiast excelled his author, we must take another view of the case. The question is not as to which passage is the most poetical, but which is most in place; which was the idea most natural to be expressed. And in this I think you will admit that Shakspeare's judgment must be deferred to, and that taking the character of Falstaff, _together with the other circumstances detailed of his death_, it is not natural that he should be represented as "babbling o' green fields."

You are aware that Fielding, in his _Journey from this World to the next_, met with Shakspeare, who, in answer to a similar question to that put to Göthe, gave a like answer to the one you report. This arises in a great measure from the imperfection of language; the most careful writers at times express themselves obscurely. But with regard to Ben Jonson, I should say that, though neither a mean nor an unfriendly critic, he was certainly a prejudiced one. He saw Shakspeare from the conventional-classic point of view, and {314} would doubtless have "blotted" much that we should have regretted submitting to his judgment. Yet, after all, the anecdote is not according to the fact. Shakspeare _did_ "blot" thousands of lines, probably many more than Ben Jonson himself ever did; and of this we have the best evidence in whole plays almost re-written. Even in the single instance rare Ben gives of Shakspeare's incorrectness, published many years after the latter's death, the memory or hearing of the former either were at fault, or the line had been "blotted."

Absolute perfection is, of course, not to be looked for; there is no such thing in reference to human affairs, unless it be in constant and unobstructed growth and development. This is exhibited in Shakspeare's writing to a degree shown by no other writer. The shortcomings of Shakspeare are most evident when he is compared with himself,--the earlier with the later writer. But take his earliest work, so far as can be ascertained, in its earliest form, and the literature of the age cannot produce its equal.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

"I knew there was but one way, for his nose was as sharp as a
pen, and 'a babbled of green fields."--_Shakspeare._

"I knew there was but one way, for his nose was as sharp as a
pen on a table of green frieze."--_Shakspeare corrected._

Some of the alterations in the manuscript corrections in MR. COLLIER'S old edition of Shakspeare's plays I agree with, but certainly not in this one, since we lose much and gain nothing by it. Shakspeare, in drawing a character such as Falstaff, loaded with every vice that flesh is heir to, and yet making him a favourite with the audience, must have been most anxious respecting his death, and therefore awakened our sympathy in his favour. In ushering in the account of the death-bed scene, he makes Bardolph say:

"Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in heaven or
in hell."

This expression Burns the poet considered the highest mark of regard that one man could pay to another, for in his poem on a departed friend, he says:

"With such as he, where'er he be,
May I be saved, or damn'd."

Mrs. Quickly, in describing the scene, says:

"He's in Arthur's (Abraham's) bosom, if ever man went to
Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had
been any christom child; for after I saw him fumble with the
sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his finger's
ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp
as a pen, and 'a _babbled of green fields_."

Mrs. Quickly, after describing the outward signs of decay and second childishness, tells us he _babbled_. Shakspeare, as the only means of gaining our forgiveness, makes him die in repentance for his sins, and seems to have had the Twenty-third Psalm in his mind, where David puts his trust in God's grace, when amongst other passages it says: "He maketh me lie down in _green pastures_," and further on, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." I have endeavoured to give you a reason why I prefer the _old_ reading of the text: if any of your correspondents will give a better for the _new_, I shall be glad to see it, as I am convinced the more we examine into the works of our wonderful bard, the more we shall be convinced of his superhuman genius; we are, therefore, all indebted to MR. COLLIER for his searching investigations, as they set us in a reflective mood.

J. B.

Your just remarks on Theobald's "'a babbled of green fields" recalls to me a note which I find appended to the passage in the margin of my Shakspeare,

"'A babbled of green fields, _i.e._ singing snatches of the
23rd Psalm:

'In pastures green He feedeth me,' &c.
'And though I walk e'en at death's door,' &c."

This note I jotted down in my schoolboy days, and thirty years' experience at the beds of the dying only convinces me of its correctness. Again and again have I heard the same sweet strains hymned from the lips of the dying, and soothing with hope the sinking spirit, ay, even of great and grievous sinners. Indeed, I have come to stamp it as a sure mark of impending death, and have said with the dame, "I knew there was but one way, for 'a babbled of green fields;" though I trust with different doctrine than her's, viz. that religion is the business of none but the dying, and thence, that to talk of religion is a sure sign of approaching death.

When Falstaff "babbled of green fields," he was labouring under no "calenture." His heart was far away amid the early fresh pure scenes of childhood, and he was babbling forth snatches of hymns and holy songs, learned on his mother's knee, and now called up, in his hour of need, to cheer, as best they might, his parting spirit. Strange is it that Theobald, when he suggested so happy an emendation, missed half its beauty and its real bearing.

Throughout the whole passage it is evident that Falstaff was ejaculating scraps of long forgotten hymns and Scripture texts, which were utterly incomprehensible to those about him. "'A babbled of green fields,"--"he cried out of sack,"--"and of women,"--"incarnate,"--"whore of Babylon,"--all suggest holy ejaculations, perverted by the ignorance of the godless bystanders.

In all Shakspeare there is hardly to be found a more touching scene, or one more true to nature; {315} it is most graphic and characteristic. The loneliness of the dying sinner, with none to stand by him but the godless companions of his riot and debauchery; the eagerness of the despairing man to catch at anything of the semblance of hope that he could recall from the lessons of his childhood, "He shall feed me in a green pasture," &c.--then--ere he could reach those assuring words, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me," the miserable consciousness that it is all too late, "So 'a cried out God, God, God;"--then--the utter want of religious sympathy in the bystanders, Nym, Quickly, Bardolph, Boy, in their misinterpretations, and perverse commentaries on his ejaculations, just such as we might expect from hearts gorged to the full with vice and sensuality;--then--the redeeming touch of tenderness in the Dame, beaming through all her benighted efforts to cheer, in her own way (awful to think on, the only way known to her), the last hours of her dear old roysterer, "Now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of God, I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet;" and the undying fondness with which she upholds his memory, and will not brook a word of ribaldry, or what _she_ deems slander, against it, all evidencing that--

"The worst of _sin_ had left her woman still."

Surely a scene more characteristic of all the parties in it, is not to be found in Shakspeare.

NEMO.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Doings of the Calf's Head Club._--In an old newspaper called _The Weekly Oracle_, of Feb. 1, 1735, is the following curious paragraph:

"Thursday (Jan. 29) in the evening a disorder of a very
particular nature happened in Suffolk Street; 'tis said that
several young gentlemen of distinction having met at a house
there, calling themselves the Calf's Head Club; and about seven
o'clock a bonfire being lit up before the door, just when it
was in its height, they brought a calf's head to the window
dressed in a napkin-cap, and after some huzzas, threw it into
the fire. The mob were entertained with strong beer, and for
some time hallooed as well as to best; but taking a disgust at
some healths which were proposed, grew so outrageous that they
broke all the windows, forced themselves into the house, and
would probably have pulled it down, had not the guards been
sent to prevent further mischief. The damage is computed at
some hundred pounds. The guards were posted all night in the
street for the security of the neighbourhood."

E. G. BALLARD.

_Epitaph by Wordsworth._--There is a beautiful epitaph by Wordsworth in Sprawley Church, Worcestershire, to the wife of G. C. Vernon, Esq., of Hanbury. Wordsworth has made the following slight alterations to it, in his published poems: I quote from the one-volume 8vo. edition of Moxon (1845). The first two lines are not on the tablet. The words within brackets are those which appear in the original epitaph:--

"_By a blest husband guided, Mary came_
_From nearest kindred_, Vernon _her new name_;
She came, though meek of soul, in seemly pride
Of happiness and hope, a youthful bride.
O dread reverse! if aught _be_ so which proves
That GOD will chasten whom he dearly loves,
Faith bore her up through pains in mercy given,
And troubles _that_ [which] were each a step to Heaven.
Two babes were laid in earth before she died;
A third now slumbers at the mother's side;
Its sister-twin survives, whose smiles _afford_ [impart]
A trembling solace to _her widow'd lord_ [her father's heart.]

Reader! if to thy bosom cling the pain
Of recent sorrow combated in vain;
Or if thy cherish'd grief have fail'd to thwart
Time, still intent on his insidious part,
Lulling the mourner's best good thoughts asleep,
Pilfering regrets we would, but cannot, keep;
Bear with _him_ [those]--judge _him_ [those] gently who _makes_
[make] known
_His_ [their] bitter loss by _this memorial_ [monumental] stone;
And pray that in _his_ [their] faithful breast the grace
Of resignation find a hallow'd place."

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_Tailor's "Cabbage."_--

"The term _cabbage_, by which tailors designate the cribbed
pieces of cloth, is said to be derived from an old word,
'cablesh,' _i. e._ wind-fallen wood. And their 'hell,' where
they store the cabbage, from 'helan,' to hide."

CLERICUS RUSTICUS.

_Misquotations._--1. Sallust's memorable definition of friendship, as put into the mouth of Catiline (cap. 20.), is quoted in the "Translation of Aristotle's Ethics," in Bohn's _Classical Library_ (p. 241. note _h_), as the saying of Terence.

2. The _Critic_ of September 1st quotes the "Viximus insignes inter utramque facem" of Propertius (lib. iv. 11. 46.) as from Martial.

3. In _Fraser's Magazine_ for October 1852, p. 461., we find "Quem patente portâ," &c. quoted from Terence instead of Catullus, as it is correctly in the number for May, 1853.

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

_The Ducking Stool._--In the Museum at Scarborough, one of these engines is preserved. It is said that there are persons still living in the town, who remember its services being employed when it stood upon the old pier. It is a substantial arm-chair of oak; with an iron bar extending {316} from elbow to elbow, just as the wooden one is placed in child's chair to prevent the occupant from falling forward.

W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

_Watch-paper Inscription._--Akin to dial inscriptions are inscriptions on watch-papers used in the days of our grandfathers, in the outer case of the corpulent watch now a-days seldom seen. I send you the following one, which I read many years since; but as I did not copy the lines, I cannot vouch for their being strictly accurate:

"Onward perpetually moving,
These faithful hands are ever proving
How quick the hours fly by;
This monitory pulse-like beating,
Seems constantly, methinks, repeating,
Swift! swift! the moments fly.
Reader, be ready--for perhaps before
These hands have made one revolution more
Life's spring is snapt--you die!"

F. JAMES.

* * * * *

Queries.

BIRTHPLACE OF GEN. MONK.

In a clever biographical sketch by M. Guizot, originally published in a French periodical (the _Revue Française_) under the title of "Monk, Etude Historique," George Monk, first Duke of Albemarle, is said to have been born on the 6th of December, 1608, at the manor-house of Potheridge, the ancient inheritance of his family, in the county of Devon.

This Potheridge (otherwise Pen-the-ridge) is, it appears, a village or hamlet situated "on the ascendant ridge of a small hill," in the parish of Merton, about four miles south-west of Torrington. As M. Guizot's statement, in so far as locality is concerned, seems open to doubt at least, if not positive exception, I wish to elicit, and place on record, through the medium of "N. & Q." if I can, some farther and perhaps more decisive information on the subject. In opposition to M. Guizot's authority (whence derived or whatever it might be), Lysons, in his account of Devonshire in the _Magna Britannia_, positively lays the _venue_ of Monk's birth in the parish of Lancros or Landcross, near Bideford, confirmatorily alleging that his baptism took place there on the 11th of December in the year above mentioned. In another account, a notice of the Restoration by M. Riordan de Muscry, appended to Monteth's _History of the Rebellion_, he is said to have been born in Middlesex, an assertion to which (in the absence of all authority) little value can, of course, be given. The slightest local investigation, including a reference to the parochial registers of Landcross and Merton, would, however, probably at once solve the difficulty. But for the known fidelity of Lysons, and the probability of his possessing superior information on the specific point at issue over that of M. Guizot, I should be most reluctant to impeach the accuracy of any statement of fact, however trifling or minute, emanating from that distinguished writer. Few indeed there are, even amongst our own historians, whose claims on our faith, arising from close and accurate research, intimate knowledge, clear perception, and thorough comprehension of the events of that most eventful period of English history, commencing with the Revolution of 1640, can (as manifested in their published works at least) vie with those of M. Guizot. With some few of the opinions, interpretations, constructions, and comments passed or placed by M. Guizot on the life and actions of Monk in this same "Etude Historique," I shall, perhaps (with all deference), be tempted to deal on some future occasion. An able translation of the work, from the pen of the present Lord Wharncliffe, appeared in 1838, the year immediately succeeding its first publication. The prefatory observations and valuable notes there introduced richly illustrate the text of M. Guizot, whose labours, in this instance, are certainly not discreditably reflected through the medium of his English editor. With one expression of Lord Wharncliffe's, however (in the note to which this paper chiefly refers), I take leave to differ, wherein he hints that the question of Monk's birthplace can have little interest beyond the limits of the county of Devon, clearly a palpable error.

F. KYFFIN LENTHALL.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Harmony of the Four Gospels._--Can any of your correspondents furnish me with the date of the earliest Harmony, or the titles of any early ones? Any information on the subject will much oblige

Z.4.

_The Noel Family._-Will any of your readers be kind enough to give me information on the following point? About the commencement of the last century, a Rev. Wm. Noel lived at Ridlington, county of Rutland: he was rector of that parish about the year 1745. What relation was he to the Earl of Gainsborough then living? Was it not one of the daughters of this clergyman who married a Capt. Furye?

TEECEE.

_Council of Trent._--References are requested to any worlds illustrative of the extent of knowledge attainable by the Romish clergy at the sittings of this council, in (1.) ecclesiastical antiquities, (2.) historical traditions, (3.) biblical hermeneutics.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

{317}

_Roman Catholic Patriarchs._--Has any bishop in the Western Church held the title of patriarch besides the Patriarch of Venice? And what peculiar authority or privileges has he?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_The "Temple Lands" in Scotland._--I am anxious to learn some particulars of these lands. I recollect of reading, some time ago, that the superiorities of them had been acquired by John B. Gracie, Esq., W. S. Edinburgh; but whether by purchase or otherwise, I did not ascertain. Mr. Gracie died some four or five years ago. Perhaps some correspondent will favour me with some information on the subject. In the Justice Street of Aberdeen, there is a tenement of houses called Mauchlan or Mauchline Tower Court, which is said to have belonged to the order. In the charters of this property, themselves very ancient, reference is made to another, of about the earliest date at which the order began to acquire property in Scotland.

ABREDONENSIS.

_Cottons of Fowey._--A family of "Cotton" was settled at Fowey, in Cornwall, in the seventeenth century. The first name of which I have any notice is that of Abraham Cotton, who married at Fowey in 1597. They bore for their arms, Sable, a chevron between three cotton-hanks, Or a crescent for difference: crest, a Cornish chough holding in the beak a cotton-hank proper. William Cotton, mayor of Plymouth in 1671, was probably one of this family. The name is not Cornish; and these Cottons had without doubt migrated at no distant period from some other part of the kingdom. Any information relating to the family or its antecedents will be very gratefully received by

R. W. C.

_Draught or Draft of Air._--Will some of your contributors inform a reader what term or word may be correctly used to signify the phrase "current of air" up the flue of a chimney, or through a room, &c.? The word _draught_ or _draft_ is generally or universally used; but that signification is not to be found attached to the word _draught_ or _draft_ in any dictionary accessible to the inquirer. The word is used by many English scientific writers, and was undoubtedly used by Dr. Franklin to signify a current of air in the flue of a chimney (see also Ure's _Dict._). Yet the word cannot be found in Johnson or Ogilvie's _Imp. Dict._ with this signification. The word "tirage" is also used by French writers with the above signification; and though in French dictionaries its meaning is nearly the same, and nearly as extended as the English word _draught_ or _draft_, yet it cannot be found in the _Dict. de l'Acad._ to signify as above.

New York.

_Admiral Sir Thomas Tyddeman_ commanded the squadron sent during the war with the Dutch in the reign of Charles II. to assist in the capture of certain richly laden merchant vessels which had put into Bremen, but (owing to the treachery of the Danish governor, who instead of acting in concert with the English, as had been agreed, opened fire upon them from the town) was unable to effect his purpose.

After the admiral's return to England, a question was raised as to his conduct during the engagement; and some persons went so far as to accuse him of cowardice; but the Duke of York, who was then in command of the fleet, entirely freed him from such charges, and declared that he had acted with the greatest discretion and bravery in the whole affair.

He died soon after this, in 1668, according to Pepys's account, of a broken heart occasioned by the scandal that had been circulated about him, and the slight he felt he was suffering from the Parliament. Perhaps some of your readers can inform me where I may meet with farther particulars relating to Admiral Tyddeman. I am particularly desirous to gain information as to his family and his descendants; also to learn upon what occasion he was created a baronet or knight.

CAPTAIN.

_Pedigree Indices._--Is there any published table of kin to Sir Thomas White, the founder of St. John's College, Oxford, or of William of Wykeham, after the plan of _Stemmata Chicheliana_?

Is there any Index to the Welsh and Irish pedigrees in the British Museum? Sims' valuable book is confined to England.

Are there Indices to the pedigrees in the Lambeth Library, or the Bodleian Library at Oxford?

The proper mode of making a search in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge wanted?

Y. S. M.

_Apparition of the White Lady._--I observe in two works lately published, an allusion made to an apparition of the "White Lady," as announcing the death of a prince; in the one case of the throne of Brandenburgh[3], the other that of France.[4] Can any of your readers point out the origin of this popular tradition?

C. M. W.

[Footnote 3: In Michaud's _Biographie_.]

[Footnote 4: _Louis XVII._, by A. De Beauchesne.]

_Rundlestone._--Can any information be given of the origin of the term "Rundlestone," as applied to a rock off the Land's End; and also to a remarkable stone near Hessory Tor? (Vide Mr. Bray's Journal, Sept. 1802, in Mrs. Bray's work on the Tamar and Tavy: and see also in the Ordnance Maps.)

J. S. R.

Garrison Library, Malta.

{318}

_Tottenham._--What is the derivation of Tottenham Park, Wilts, and of Tottenham Court Road? The ancestor of the Irish family of that name was from Cambridgeshire.

Y. S. M.

_Duval Family._--Is or was there a French family of the name of Duval, gentilhommes; and if so, can any relationship be traced between such family and the "Walls of Coolnamuck," an ancient Anglo-Norman family of the south of Ireland, who are considered to have been originally named "Duval?"

H.

_Noses of the Descendants of John of Gaunt_ (Vol. vii., p. 96.).--What peculiarity have they? I am one, and I know many others; but I am at _a loss to know_ the meaning of E. D.'s remark.

Y. S. M.

_General Wall._--Can any of your Irish correspondents give me any information respecting the parentage and descent of General Richard Wall, who was Prime Minister at the Court of Spain in the year 1750 or 1753 (vide Lord Mahon); also whether the General belonged to that branch of the Walls of Coolnamuck, whose property fell into the hands of certain English persons named Ruddall, in whose family some Irish property still remains?

Did the general have any sisters? Is there any monograph life of the general?

H.

_John Daniel and Sir Ambrose Nicholas Salter._--Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." give any information respecting one John Danyel or Daniel, of Clement's Inn, who translated from the Spanish, _Jehovah, A free Pardon with many Graces therein contained, granted to all Christians by our most Holy and Reuerent Father God Almightie, the principal High Priest and Bishoppe in Heaven and Earth, 1576_; and _An excellent Comfort to all Christians against all kinde of Calamities, 1576_?

Also any information respecting Sir Ambrose Nicholas Salter, son of John Nicholas of Redingworth, in Huntingdonshire, to whom the first tract is dedicated; or of his mayoralty of the city of London, 1575-6.

B. B. W.

_Edward Bysshe._--I shall feel particularly obliged to any of your correspondents who will favour me with a biographical notice of Edward Bysshe, author of _The Art of English Poetry, The British Parnassus_, &c., especially the dates and places of his birth and death.

CIVIS.

_President Bradshaw and John Milton._--In a pamphlet by T. W. Barlow, Esq., of the Honorable Society of Gray's Inn, entitled _Cheshire, its Historical and Literary Associations_, published in 1852, it is stated that among the memorials of friends which President Bradshaw's will contains, is a bequest of _ten pounds_ to his _kinsman, John Milton_, which cannot be said to be an insignificant legacy two centuries ago.

Can any of your numerous correspondents afford a clue to the family connexion between these distinguished individuals?

T. P. L.

Manchester.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Ket the Tanner._--Can you or any of your correspondents give me any information about "Ket the Tanner;" or refer me to any book or books containing a history or biography of that remarkable person? As I want the information for a historical purpose, I hope you will give me as lengthy an account as possible.

W. J. LINTON.

Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire.

[A long account of Ket, and his insurrection, is given in Blomefield's _Norfolk_, vol. iii. pp. 222-260., edit. 1806. Incidental notices of him will be also found in Alexander Nevyllus' _Norfolke Furies and their Folye, under Ket, their accursed Captaine_, 4to., 1623; Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. i.; Heylin's _History of the Reformation_; Stow's _Chronicle_; Godwin's _Annales of England_; and Sharon Turner's _Modern History of England_, under Edward VI. A Fragment of the Requests and Demands of Ket and his Accomplices is preserved in the Harleian MS. 304. art. 44.]

"_Namby-pamby._"--What is the derivation of namby-pamby?

Clericus Rusticus.

[Sir John Stoddart, in his article "Grammar" (_Ency. Metropolitana_, vol.i. p. 118.), remarks, that the word "_Namby-pamby_ seems to be of modern fabrication, and is particularly intended to describe that style of poetry which affects the infantine simplicity of the nursery. It would perhaps be difficult to trace any part of it to a significant origin."]

* * * * *

Replies.

EDITIONS OF BOOKS OF COMMON PRAYER.

(Vol. vii., pp. 18. 91. 321.)

As you have printed various lists of Prayer-Books, I send you the following of such books as are in my own possession. Other persons may, perhaps, send lists of copies in private libraries:

1549. Book of Common Prayer. Whitchurch. June. Folio.
1549. May. Folio. (Wants title and last leaf.)
1549. June. Folio. (Last leaf wanting.)
1552. Whitchurch. Folio.
1552. Grafton. Folio. (Title wanting)
1552. Whitchurch. 4to. The first edition to which the prose
Psalter and the Godly Prayers were appended.
1567. 4to. (No title.)
1571. 24mo.

{319}

1580. Folio.
1574. 4to.
1578. Folio.
1551. Ordinatio Ecclesiæ seu Ministerii, &c. 4to. A Latin
translation of the Book of 1549.
1548. Ordo Distributionis Sacramenti, &c. 12mo. A Latin
translation of the Order of Communion.
1571. Liber Precum Publicarum, &c. Londini, 24mo.
1574. 8vo.
1596. 8vo.
1604. Book of Common Prayer. Folio. (Royal Arms on sides.)
The first edit. of the reign of James I.
1605. Folio.
1605. Folio.
1614. 4to.
1615. Folio.
1618. 4to.
1616. 12mo., bound in silver by the nuns of Little Gidding.
1621. 4to. In Welsh.
1622. Folio.
Liturgia Inglesia, 4to., large paper. A Spanish translation,
made at the cost of Archbishop Williams.
4to. The same.
1616. La Liturgie Angloise, 4to., large paper. This translation
was also made at the charge of Williams.
4to. The same.
1625. Common Prayer. Folio. First edition of the reign of
Charles I. This copy was used by Secretary Nicholas,
in his family, during the period of the Commonwealth.
A clause in his own hand is inserted in the Prayer for
the King.
1628. 12mo.
1631. Folio.
1633. Folio.
1633. Edinburgh. 12mo. (Young.)
1633. 12mo. The same.
1634. 4to.
1636. Folio, large paper. (Royal Arms on sides.)
1636. Folio.
1637. 4to.
1637. 12mo.
1639. 4to.
1640. 24mo.
1657. Edinburgh. Folio. (Young.)
1713. 8vo., large paper. (Watson's reprint of the preceding.)
1660. Folio.
1660. Folio. (A different edition.)
1660. 4to.
1690. 12mo.
1661. Folio, large paper, with the Form at the Healing.
1662. Folio, large paper, with the Form at the Healing.
1662. Folio, large paper.
1662. Folio.
1662. Folio.
1662. Folio. Second edition of this year.
1662. Cambridge. 8vo.
1662. Cambridge. 8vo. Different edition.
1669. Folio.
1686. Folio.
1687. Folio, large paper.
1692. 8vo.
1694. Folio.
1699. 8vo.
1700. 8vo.
1703. Folio, with the Form at the Healing.
1708. 8vo., with the Form at the Healing.
1769. 12mo., with the Form at the Healing.
1715. Folio, with the Form at the Healing.

I have excluded from my list all those thin editions of the Prayer Book, which were usually bound up with Bibles, except in three instances. The exceptions are these:--The folio, 1578; Young's edition, 1633; and that of 1715. Generally these thin books, which have only references to the Epistles and Gospels, are of no value whatever. The exceptions in this list, however, are important books. The book of 1578 was prepared by the Puritans, and is so altered that the word _priest_ does not occur in a single rubric. Young's book of 1633 is the first Prayer Book printed in Scotland; and the edition of 1715 is remarkable for "The Healing," though George I. never attempted to touch for the king's evil.

Should you deem this list worth printing, I will send another of _occasional forms_, now in my possession, from the reign of Elizabeth to the accession of the House of Hanover. It may lead others to do the same, and thus bring to light some forms not generally known. The Prayer Books and occasional forms in our public libraries are known to most persons; but it is important to ascertain the existence of others in private collections.

THOMAS LATHBURY.

Bristol.

I possess a copy of the Prayer Book of an edition I do not see mentioned in any of the lists published in "N. & Q." It is small octavo, _imprinted_ by Bonham, Norton, and John Bill, 1627.

K. L.

* * * * *

THE CRESCENT.

(Vol. viii., p. 196.)