Chapter C: Clifton Barry

[Footnote 1: In one of the Scottish ballads the same idea is more prettily expressed "leaned until a brier."]

* * * * *

COMET SUPERSTITIONS IN 1853.

From the 19th of August to the present time that brilliant comet, which was first seen by M. Klinkerfues, at Goettingen, on the 10th of June last, has been distinctly visible here, and among the ignorant classes its appearance has caused no little alarm. The reason of this we shall briefly explain.

During the past fifty-five years the Maltese have grievously suffered on three different occasions; firstly, by the revolution of 1798, which was followed by the plague in 1813; and lastly, by the cholera in 1837. In these visitations, all of which are in the recollection of the oldest inhabitants, thirty thousand persons are supposed to have perished.

Mindful as these aged people are of these sad bereavements, and declaring as they do that they were all preceded by some "curious signs" in the heavens which foretold their approach, men's minds have become excited, and, reason as one may, still the impression now existing that some fatal harm is shortly to follow will not be removed.

A few of the inhabitants, more terrified than their neighbours, have fancied the comet's tail to be a fiery sword, and therefore predict a general war in Europe, and consequent fall of the Ottoman Empire. But as this statement is evidently erroneous, we still live in great hopes, notwithstanding all previous predictions and "curious signs," that the comet will pass away without bringing in its train any grievous calamity.

By the following extracts, taken from some leading journals of the day, it will be seen that the Maltese are not alone in entertaining a superstitious dread of a comet's appearance. The Americans, Prussians, Spaniards, and Turks come in the same list, which perhaps may be increased by your correspondents:

"The Madrid journals announce that the appearance of the comet has
excited great alarm in that city, as it is considered a symptom of
divine wrath, and a presage of war, pestilence, and affliction for
humanity."--Vide _Galignani's Messenger_ of August 31, 1853.

"The entire appearance (of the comet) is brilliant and dazzling; and
while it engrosses the attention and investigation of the scientific,
it excites the alarm of the superstitious, who, as in ancient times,
regard it as the concomitant of pestilence and the herald of
war."--Vide New York correspondence of _The Sun_, Aug. 24, 1853.

"The splendid comet now visible after sun-set on the western horizon,
has attracted the attention of every body here. The public impression
is, that this celestial phenomenon is to be considered as a sign of
war; and their astrologers, to whom appeal is made for an
interpretation, make the most absurd declarations: and I have been
laughed at by very intelligent Turks, when I ventured to persuade them
that great Nature's laws do not care about troubles here below."--Vide
Turkish correspondence of _The Herald_, Aug. 25, 1853.

"The comet which has lately been visible has served a priest not far
from Warsaw with materials for a very curious sermon. After having
summoned his congregation together, although it was neither Sunday nor
festival, and shown them the comet, he informed them that this was the
same star that had appeared to the Magi at the birth of our Saviour,
and that it was only visible now in the Russian empire. Its appearance
on this occasion was to intimate to the Russian eagle, that the time
was now come for it to spread out its wings, and embrace all mankind in
one orthodox and sanctifying church. He showed them the star now
standing immediately over Constantinople, and explained that the dull
light of the nucleus indicated its sorrow at the delay of the Russian
army in proceeding to its destination."--Vide Berlin correspondence of
_The Times_.

W. W.

Malta.

* * * * *

THE OLD ENGLISH WORD "BELIKE."

The word _belike_, much used by old writers, but now almost obsolete, even among the poor, seems to have been but very imperfectly understood--as far as regards its original meaning and derivation. Most persons understand it to be equivalent, or nearly so, to _very likely_, _in all likelihood_, _perhaps_, or, ironically, _forsooth_; and in that {359} opinion they are not far wrong. It occurs in this sense in numerous passages in Shakspeare; for instance:

"Some merry mocking lord, _belike_."--_Love's Labour's Lost._

"O then, _belike_, she was old and gentle."--_Henry V._

"_Belike_, this show imports the argument."--_Hamlet._

Such also was Johnson's opinion of the word, for he represents it to be "from _like_, as by _likelihood_;" and assigns to it the meanings of "probably, likely, perhaps." However, I venture to say, in opposition to so great an authority, that there is no immediate connexion whatever between the words _belike_ and _likely_, with the exception of the accidental similarity in the syllable _like_.

We find three different meanings attached to the same form _like_ in English, viz. _like_, similis; _to like_, i. e. to be pleased with; and the present word _belike_, whose real meaning I propose to explain.

The first is from the A.-S. _lic_, _gelic_; Low Germ. _lick_; Dutch _gelyk_; Dan. _lig_ (which is said to take its meaning from _lic_, a corpse, _i. e._ an essence), which word also forms our English termination -_ly_, sometimes preserving its old form _like_; as _manly_ or _manlike_, _Godly_ or _Godlike_; A.-S. _werlic_, _Godlic_; to which the Teut. adjectival termination _lich_ is analogous.

The second form, _to like_, i. e. to be pleased with, is quite distinct from the former (though it has been thought akin to it on the ground that _simili similis placet_); and is derived from the A.-S. _lician_, which is from _lic_, or _lac_, a gift; Low Germ. _licon_; Dutch _lyken_.

The third form, the compound term _belike_ (mostly used adverbially) is from the A.-S. _licgan_, _belicgan_, which means, to lie by, near, or around; to attend, accompany; Low Germ. and Dutch, _liggen_; Germ. _liegen_. In the old German, we have _licken_, _ligin_, _liggen_--_jacere_; and _geliggen_--_se habere_; which last seems to be the exact counterpart of our old English _belike_; and this it was which first suggested to me what I conceive to be its true meaning. We find the simple and compound words in juxtaposition in _Otfridi Evang._, lib. i. cap. 23. 110. in vol. i. p. 221. of Schilter's _Thes. Teut._:

"Thoh er nu biliban si,
Farames thoh thar er si
Zi thiu'z nu sar giligge,
Thoh er bigraben ligge."

"Etsi vero is (Lazarus) jam mortuus est,
Eamus tamen ubi is sit,
Quomodo id jam se habeat (quo in statu sint res ejus),
Etiamsi jam sepultus jaceat."

On which Schilter remarks:

"Zi thiu'z nu sar giligge quomodo se res habeat, hodie _standi_ verbo
utimur,--wie es stehe, zustehe."

We thus see that the radical meaning of the word _belike_ is to lie or be near, to attend; from which it came to express the _simple condition_, or _state of a thing_: and it is in this latter sense that the word is used as an adverbial or rather an interjectional expression, when it may be rendered, _it may be so_, _so it is_, _is it so_, &c. Sometimes ironically, sometimes expressing chance, &c.; in the course of time it became superseded by the more modern term _perhaps_. Instances of similar elliptical expressions are common at the present day, and will readily suggest themselves: the modern _please_, used for entreaty, is analogous.

It is not a little singular that this account of the word _belike_ enables us to understand a passage in _Macbeth_, which has been unintelligible to all the commentators and readers of Shakspeare down to the present day. I allude to the following, which stands in my first folio, Act IV. Sc. 3., thus:

" . . . . What I am truly
Is thine, and my poor countries, to command:
Whither indeed before they heere approach,
Old Seyward, with ten thousand warlike men,
Already at a point, was setting foorth:
Now we'll together, and the chance of goodnesse
Be like our warranted quarrel."

Now it is not easy to see why Malcolm should wish that "chance" should "be _like_," i. e. similar to, their "warranted quarrel;" inasmuch as that quarrel was most unfortunate and disastrous. Chance is either fortunate or unfortunate. The epithet _just_, which might apply to the quarrel in question, is utterly irreconcilable with _chance_. Still this sense has pleased the editors, and they have made "of goodnesse" a precatory and interjectional expression. Surely it is far more probable that the poet wrote _belike_ (_belicgan_, _geliggen_) as one word, and that the meaning of the passage is simply "May good fortune attend our enterprise." MR. COLLIER'S old corrector passes over this difficulty in silence, doubtless owing to the circumstance that the word was well understood in his time.

I have alluded to the word _like_ as expressive in the English language of three distinct ideas, and in the A.-S. of at least four; is it not possible that these meanings, which, as we find the words used, are undoubtedly widely distinct, having travelled to us by separate channels, may nevertheless have had originally one and the same source? I should be glad to elicit the opinion of some one of your more learned correspondents as to whether the unused Hebrew [Hebrew: YLN] may not be that source.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

* * * * *

{360}

DRUSES.

Comparing the initiatory undertaking or covenant of the Druses, as represented by Col. Churchill in his very important disclosures (_Lebanon_, ii. 244.), with the original Arabic, and the German translation of Eichhorn (_Repertorium fuer Bibl. und Morgenland_, lib. xii. 222.), I find that the following additions made by Col. Churchill (or De Sacy, whom he follows) are not in the Arabic, but appear to be glosses or amplifications. For example:

"I put my trust and confidence in our Lord Hakem, the One, the Eternal,
without attribute and without number."

"That in serving Him he will serve no other, whether past, present, or
to come."

"To the observance of which he sacredly binds himself by the present
contract and engagement, should he ever reveal the least portion of it
to others."

"The most High, King of Kings, [the creator] of the heaven and the
earth."

"Mighty and irresistible [force]."

Col. Churchill, although furnishing the amplest account which has yet appeared of the Druse religion, secretly held under the colour of Mahometanism, has referred very sparingly to the catechisms of this sect, which, being for the especial instruction of the two degrees of monotheists, constitute the most authentic source of accurate knowledge of their faith and practices, and which are to be found in the original Arabic, with a German translation in Eichhorn's _Repertorium_ (xii. 155. 202.). In the same work (xiv. 1., xvii. 27.), Bruns (Kennicott's colleague) has furnished from Abulfaragius a biography of the Hakem; and Adler (xv. 265.) has extracted, from various oriental sources, historical notices of the founder of the Druses.

The subject is peculiarly interesting at the present juncture, as it is probable that the Chinese religious movement, partaking of a peculiar kind of Christianity, may have originated amongst the Druses, who appear from Col. Churchill to have been in expectation of some such movement in India or China in connexion with a re-appearance of the Hakem.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Legends of the County Clare._--_How Ussheen_ (_Ossian_) _visited the Land of_ "_Thiernah Ogieh_" (_the Country of perpetual Youth_).--Once upon a time, when Ussheen was in the full vigour of his youth, it happened that, fatigued with the chace, and separated from his companions, he stretched himself under a tree to rest, and soon fell asleep. "Awaking with a start," he saw a lady, richly clothed and of more than mortal beauty, gazing on him; nor was it long until she made him understand that a warmer feeling than mere curiosity had attracted her; nor was Ussheen long in responding to it. The lady then explained that she was not of mortal birth, and that he who wooed an immortal bride must be prepared to encounter dangers such as would appal the ordinary race of men. Ussheen, without hesitation, declared his readiness to encounter any foe, mortal or immortal, that might be opposed to him in her service. The lady then declared herself to be the queen of "Thiernah Ogieh," and invited him to accompany her thither and share her throne. They then set out on their journey, one in all respects similar to that undertaken by Thomas the Rhymer and the queen of Faerie, and having overcome all obstacles, arrived at "the land of perpetual youth," where all the delights of the terrestrial paradise were thrown open to Ussheen, to be enjoyed with only one restriction. A broad flat stone was pointed out to him in one part of the palace garden, on which he was forbidden to stand, under penalty of the heaviest misfortune. One day, however, finding himself near the fatal stone, the temptation to stand on it became irresistible, and he yielded to it, and immediately found himself in full view of his native land, the existence of which he had forgotten from the moment he had entered the kingdom of Thiernah Ogieh. But alas! how was it changed from that country he had left only a few days since, for "the strong had become weak," and "the brave become cowards," while oppression and violence held undisputed sway through land. Overcome with grief, he hastened to the the queen to beg that he might be restored to his country without delay, that he might endeavour to apply some remedy to its misfortunes. The queen's prophetic skill made her aware of Ussheen's transgression of her commands before he spoke, and she exerted all her persuasive powers to prevail upon him to give up his desire to return to Erin, but in vain. She then asked him how long he supposed he had been absent from his native land, and on his answering "thrice seven days," she amazed him by declaring that three times thrice seven years had elapsed since his arrival at the kingdom of Thiernah Ogieh; and though Time had no power to enter that land, it would immediately assert its dominion over him if he left it. At length she persuaded him to promise that he would return to his country for only one day, and then come back to dwell with her for ever; and she gave him a jet-black horse of surpassing beauty, from whose back she charged him on no account to alight, or at all events not to allow the bridle to fall from his hand. She farther endued him with wisdom and knowledge far surpassing that of men. Having mounted his fairy steed, he soon found himself approaching his former home; and as he journeyed he met a man {361} driving before him a horse, across whose back was thrown a sack of corn: the sack having fallen a little to one side, the man asked Ussheen to assist him in balancing it properly; Ussheen instantly stooped from his horse, and catching the sack in his right hand, gave it such a heave that it fell over on the other side. Annoyed at his mistake, he forgot the injunctions of his bride, and sprung from his horse to lift the sack from the ground, letting the bridle fall from his hand at the same time: instantly the horse struck fire from the ground with his hoofs, and uttering a neigh louder than thunder, vanished; at the same instant his curling locks fell from Ussheen's head, darkness closed over his beaming eyes, the more than mortal strength forsook his limbs, and, a feeble helpless old man, he stretched forth his hands seeking some one to lead him: but the mental gifts bestowed on him by his immortal bride did not leave him, and, though unable to serve his countrymen with his sword, he bestowed upon them the advice and instruction which flowed from wisdom greater than that of mortals.

FRANCIS ROBERT DAVIES.

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.

_On "Run-awayes" in Romeo and Juliet._--

"Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steedes,
Towards Phoebus' lodging such a wagoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudie night immediately.
Spred thy close curtaine, Love-performing night,
That run-awayes eyes may wincke, and Romeo
Leape to these armes, vntalkt of and vnseene."

Your readers will no doubt exclaim, is not this question already settled for ever, if not by MR. SINGER'S substitution of _rumourer's_, at least by that of R. H. C., viz. _rude day's_? I must confess that I thought the former so good, when it first appeared in these pages, that nothing more was wanted; yet this is surpassed by the suggestion of R. H. C. As conjectural emendations, they may rank with any that Shakspeare's text has been favoured with; in short, the poet might undoubtedly have written either the one or the other.

But this is not the question. The question is, did he write the passage as it stands in the first folio, which I have copied above? Subsequent consideration has satisfied me that he did. I find the following passage in the _Merchant of Venice_, Act II. Sc. 6.:

"---- but come at once,
For the close night doth play the run-away,
And we are staid for at Bassanio's feast."

Is it very difficult to believe that the poet who called the departing _night_ a _run-away_ would apply the same term to the _day_ under similar circumstances?

Surely the first folio is a much more correctly printed book than many of Shakspeare's editors and critics would have us believe.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

The Word "_clamour" in "The Winter's Tale_."--MR. KEIGHTLEY complains (Vol viii., p. 241.) that some observations of mine (p. 169.) on the word _clamour_, in _The Winter's Tale_, are precisely similar to his own in Vol. vii., p. 615. Had they been so in reality, I presume our Editor would not have inserted them; but I think they contain something farther, suggesting, as they do, the A.-S. origin of the word, and going far to prove that our modern _calm_, the older _clame_, the Shakspearian _clamour_, the more frequent _clem_, Chaucer's _clum_, &c., all of them spring from the same source, viz. the A.-S. _clam_ or _clom_, which means a band, clasp, bandage, chain, prison; from which substantive comes the verb _claemian_, to clam, to stick or glue together, to bind, to imprison.

If I passed over in silence those points on which MR. KEIGHTLEY and myself agreed, I need scarcely assure him that it was for the sake of brevity, and not from any want of respect to him.

I may remark, by the way, on a conjecture of MR. KEIGHTLEY'S (Vol. vii., p. 615.), that perhaps, in _Macbeth_, Act V. Sc. 5., Shakspeare might have written "till famine _clem_ thee," and not, as it stands in the first folio, "till famine _cling_ thee," that he is indeed, as he says, "in the region of conjecture:" _cling_ is purely A.-S., as he will find in Bosworth, "_Clingan_, to wither, pine, to cling or shrink up; marcescere."

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

_Three Passages in "Measure for Measure._"--H. C. K. has a treacherous memory, or rather, what I believe to be the truth, he, like myself, has not a complete Shakspeare apparatus. COLLIER'S first edition surely cannot be in his library, or he would have known that Warburton, long ago, read _seared_ for _feared_, and that the same word appears in Lord Ellesmere's copy of the first folio, the correction having been made, as MR. COLLIER remarks, while the sheet was at press. I however assure H. C. K. that I regard his correction as perfectly original. Still I have my doubts if _seared_ be the poet's word, for I have never met it but in connexion with hot iron; and I should be inclined to prefer _sear_ or _sere_; but this again is always physically _dry_, and not metaphorically so, and I fear that the true word is not to be recovered.

I cannot consent to go back with H. C. K. to the Anglo-Saxon for a sense of _building_, which I do not think it ever bore, at least not in our poet's time. His quotation from the "Jewel House," &c. is not to the point, for the context shows that "a building word" is a word or promise that will {362} set me a-building, _i. e._ writing. After all I see no difficulty in "the _all-building_ law;" it means the law that builds, maintains, and repairs the whole social edifice, and is well suited to Angelo, whose object was to enhance the favour he proposed to grant.

Again, if H. C. K. had looked at COLLIER'S edit., he would have seen that in Act I. Sc. 2., _princely_ is the reading of the second folio, and not a modern conjecture. If he rejects this authority, he must read a little farther on _perjury_ for _penury_. As to the Italian _prenze_, I cannot receive it. I very much doubt Shakspeare's knowledge of Italian, and am sure that he would not, if he understood the word, use it as an adjective. MR. COLLIER'S famed corrector reads with Warburton _priestly_, and substitutes _garb_ for _guards_, a change which convinces me (if proof were wanting) that he was only a guesser like ourselves, for it is plain, from the previous use of the word _living_, that _guards_ is the right word.

THOS. KEIGHTLEY.

_Shakspeare's Works with a Digest of all the Readings_ (Vol. viii., pp. 74, 170.).--I fully concur with your correspondent's suggestion, and beg to suggest to MR. HALLIWELL that his splendid monograph edition would be greatly improved if he would undertake the task. As his first volume contains but one play (_Tempest_), it may not be too late to adopt the suggestion, so that every variation of the text (in the briefest possible form) might be seen at a glance.

ESTE.

* * * * *

DEATH ON THE FINGERS.

"Isaac saith, I am old, and I know not the day of my death (_Gen._
xxvii. 2.); no more doth any, though never so young. As soon (saith the
proverb) goes the _lamb's_ skin to the market as that of the _old
sheep_; and the Hebrew saying is, There be as many _young_ skulls in
Golgotha as _old_; young men _may_ die (for none have or can make any
agreement with the grave, or any covenant with death, _Isa._ xxviii.
15. 18.), but old men _must_ die. 'Tis the grant statute of heaven
(_Heb._ ix. 27.). _Senex quasi seminex_, an old man is half dead; yea,
now, at fifty years old, we are accounted three parts dead; this lesson
we may learn from our fingers' ends, the dimensions whereof demonstrate
this to us, beginning at the end of the little finger, representing our
childhood, rising up to a little higher at the end of the ring-finger,
which betokens our youth; from it to the top of the middle finger,
which is the highest point of our elevated hand, and so most aptly
represents our middle age, when we come to our [Greek: akme], or height
of stature and strength; then begins our declining age, from thence to
the end of our forefinger which amounts to a little fall, but from
thence to the end of the thumb there is a great fall, to show, when man
goes down (in his old age) he falls fast and far, and breaks (as we
say) with a witness. Now, if our very fingers' end do read us such a
divine lecture of mortality, oh, that we could take it out, and have it
perfect (as we say) on our fingers' end, &c.

"To old men death is _prae januis_, stands before their door, &c. Old
men have (_pedem in cymba Charonis_) one foot in the grave already; and
the Greek word [Greek: geron] (an old man) is derived from [Greek: para
to eis gen oran], which signifies a looking towards the ground;
decrepit age goes stooping and grovelling, as groaning to the grave. It
doth not only expect death, but oft solicits it."--Christ. Ness's
_Compleat History and Mystery of the Old and New Test._, fol. Lond.
1690, chap. xii. p. 227.

From _The Barren Tree_, a sermon on Luke xiii. 7., preached at Paul's Cross, Oct. 26, 1623, by Thos. Adams:

"Our bells ring, our chimneis smoake, our fields rejoice, our children
dance, ourselues sing and play, _Jovis omnia plena_. But when
righteousnesse hath sowne and comes to reape, here is no haruest;
[Greek: ouk eurisko], I finde none. And as there was neuer lesse
wisdome in Greece then in time of the Seven Wise Men, so neuer lesse
pietie among vs, then now, when vpon good cause most is expected. When
the sunne is brightest the stars be darkest: so the cleerer our light,
the more gloomy our life with the deeds of darkness. The Cimerians,
that live in a perpetuall mist, though they deny a sunne, are not
condemned of impietie; but Anaxogoras, that saw the sunne and yet
denied it, is not condemned of ignorance, but of impietie. Former times
were like Leah, bleare-eyed, but fruitful; the present, like Rachel,
faire, but barren. We give such acclamation to the Gospell, that we
quite forget to observe the law. As vpon some solenne festivall, the
bells are rung in all steeples, but then the clocks are tyed vp: there
is a great vntun'd confusion and clangor, but no man knowes how the
time passeth. So in this vniuersall allowance of libertie by the
Gospell (which indeed rejoyceth our hearts, had we the grace of sober
vsage), the clocks that tel vs how the time passes, Truth and
Conscience, that show the bounded vse and decent forme of things, are
tyed vp, and cannot be heard. Still _Fructum non invenio_, I finde no
fruits. I am sorry to passe the fig-tree in this plight: but as I finde
it, so I must leave it, till the Lord mend it."--Pp. 39, 40., 4to.
Lond. 1623.

BALLIOLENSIS.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_On a "Custom of y^e Englyshe._"--When a more than ordinarily doubtful matter is offered us for credence, we are apt to inquire of the teller if he "sees any green" in our optics, accompanying the query by an elevation of the right eyelid with the forefinger. Now, regarding this merely as a "fast" custom, I marvelled greatly at finding a similar action noted by worthy Master Blunt, as conveying to his mind an analogous meaning. I can scarcely credit its antiquity; but what other meaning can I understand from the episode he {363} relates? He had been trying to pass himself off as a native, but--

"The third day, in the morning, I, prying up and down alone, met a
Turke, who, in Italian, told me--Ah! are you an Englishman, and with a
_kind of malicious posture laying his forefinger under his eye_,
methought he had the lookes of a designe."--_Voyage in the Levant,
performed by Mr. Henry Blunt_, p. 60.: Lond. 1650.

--a silent, but expressive, "posture," tending to eradicate any previously formed opinion of the verdantness of Mussulmans!

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

_Epitaph at Crayford._--I send the following lines, if you think them worthy an insertion in your Epitaphiana: a friend saw them in the churchyard of Crayford, Kent.

"To the Memory of PETER IZOD, who was thirty-five years clerk of this
parish, and always proved himself a pious and mirthful man.

"The life of this clerk was just three score and ten,
During half of which time he had sung out Amen.
He married when young, like other young men;
His wife died one day, so he chaunted Amen.
A second he took, she departed,--what then?
He married, and buried a third with Amen.
Thus his joys and his sorrows were treble, but then
His voice was deep bass, as he chaunted Amen.
On the horn he could blow as well as most men,
But his horn was exalted in blowing Amen.
He lost all his wind after threescore and ten,
And here with three wives he waits till again
The trumpet shall rouse him to sing out Amen."

Tradition reports these verses to have been composed by some curate of the parish.

QUAESTOR.

_The Font at Islip._--

"In the garden is placed a relic of some interest--the font in which it
is said King Edward the Confessor was baptised at Islip. The block of
stone in which the basin of immersion is excavated, is unusually massy.
It is of an octangular shape, and the outside is adorned by tracery
work. The interior diameter of the basin is thirty inches, and the
depth twenty. The whole, with the pedestal, which is of a piece with
the rest, is five feet high, and bears the following imperfect
inscription:

'This sacred Font Saint Edward first _receavd_,
From Womb to Grace, from Grace to Glory went,
His virtuous life. To this _fayre_ Isle _beqveth'd_,
_Prase_ ... and to _vs_ but lent.
Let this remaine, the Trophies of his Fame,
A King baptizd from hence a Saint became.'

"Then is inscribed:

'This Fonte came from the Kings Chapel_l_ in Islip.'"--Extracted from
the _Beauties of England and Wales_, title "Oxfordshire," p. 454.

In the gardens at Kiddington there--

"was an old font wherein it is said Edward the Confessor was baptized,
being brought thither from an old decayed chapel at Islip (the
birth-place of that religious prince), where it had been put up to an
indecent use, as well as the chapel."--Extracted from _The English
Baronets, being a Historical and Genealogical Account of their
Families_, published 1727.

The Viscounts Montague, and consequently the Brownes of Kiddington, traced their descent from this king through Joan de Beaufort, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

C. B.

"_As good as a Play._"--I note this very ordinary phrase as having royal origin or, at least, authority. It was a remark of King Charles II., when he revived a practice of his predecessors, and attended the sittings of the House of Lords.

The particular occasion was the debate, then interesting to him, on Lord Roos' Divorce Bill.

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

* * * * *

Queries.

LOVETT OF ASTWELL.

It is stated in all the pedigrees of this family which I have seen, that Thomas Lovett, Esq., of Astwell in Northamptonshire, who died in 1542, married for his first wife Elizabeth, daughter (Burke calls her "heir," _Extinct Baronetage_, p. 110.) of John Boteler, Esq., of Woodhall Watton, in Hertfordshire. The pedigree of the Botelers in Clutterbuck's _Hertfordshire_ (vol. ii. p. 476.) does not notice this marriage, nor is there any distinct allusion to it in the wills of either family. Thomas Lovett's will, dated 20th November, 1542, and proved on the following 19th January, does not contain the name of Boteler. (_Testamenta Vetusta_, vol. ii. p. 697.) His father Thomas Lovett, indeed, in his will dated 29th October, 7 Henry VII., and proved 28th January, 1492 (_Test. Vetust._, vol. ii. p. 410.), bequeaths to Isabel Lovett and Margaret, his daughters, "Cl. which John Boteler oweth me," but he refers to no relationship between the families. Again, "John Butteler, Esquier," by his will, dated 7th September, 1513, and proved at Lambeth 11th July, 1515, appoints "his most gracious Maister, Maister Thomas Louett," to be supervisor of his will, and bequeaths to him "a Sauterbook as a poore remembraunce;" but he alludes to no marriage, nor does he mention a daughter Elizabeth. This John Boteler is said by Clutterbuck to have married three wives: 1. Katherine, daughter of Thomas Acton; 2. Margaret, daughter of Henry Belknap, who died 18th August, 1513; 3. Dorothy, daughter of William Tyrrell, Esq., of Gipping in Suffolk: the last-mentioned was the mother of his heir, Sir Philip Boteler, Kt.; but I can nowhere find who was the mother of the son Richard, and the daughters Mary and Joyce mentioned in his will, {364} or of Thomas Lovett's wife. I cannot help fancying that Elizabeth Lovett was his only child by one of his wives, and was perhaps heir to her mother. Can one of your contributors bring forward any authority to confirm or disprove this conjecture? Whilst I am speaking of the Lovett pedigree, I would also advert to two other contradictions in the popular accounts of it. That most inaccurate of books, Betham's _Baronetage_, vol. v. p. 517., says, Giles Pulton, Esq., of Desborough, married Anne, daughter of Thomas Lovett, Esq., of Astwell: the same author, vol. i. p. 299., calls her Catherine; which is correct? Neither Anne nor Catherine is mentioned in Thomas Lovett the Elder's will (_Test. Vetust._, vol. ii. p. 410). Again, Betham, Burke, and Bridges (_History of Northamptonshire_, "Astwell") have rolled out Thomas Lovett into two persons, and in fact have made him appear the son of his second wife Joan Billinge, who was not the ancestress of the Lovetts of Astwell at all. Nor was it possible she could be; for Thomas Lovett, in his will, dated 1492, speaks of her as "Joan, my wife, late the wife of John Hawys, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas." Now this John Hawys was living in 1487, and Lovett's son and heir, Thomas, was seventeen years old in 1492. The abstract of Lovett's will in the _Test. Vetust._, calling Thomas Lovett the Younger "my son and heir by the said Joan my wife," must therefore be manifestly incorrect. I will not apologise for the minuteness of this account, as I believe the correction of detail in published pedigrees to be one of the most valuable features of "N. & Q.;" but I am almost ashamed of the length of my communication, which I hope some of your readers may throw light upon.

TEWARS.

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OATHS.

The very remarkable distinction between the manner in which English and Welsh witnesses take the book at the time when they are sworn, has often struck me. An English witness always takes the book with his fingers under, and his thumb at the top of the book. A Welsh witness, on the contrary, takes it with his fingers at the top, and his thumb under the book. How has this singular difference arisen? I am inclined to suggest that originally the oath was taken by merely laying the hand on the top of the book, without kissing it. Lord Coke (3 _Inst._ 165.) says, "It is called a corporal oath, because he toucheth with his hand some part of the Holy Scripture." And Jacob (_L. D._, "Oath"), says it is so called "because the witness, when he swears, _lays his right hand upon_, and toucheth the Holy Evangelists." And Lord Hale (2 _H. P. C._ 279.) says, "The regular oath, as is allowed by the laws of England, is 'Tactis sacrosanctis Dei Evangeliis'," and in case of a Jew, "Tacto libro legis Mosaicae:" and, if I rightly remember, the oath as administered in the Latin form at Oxford concludes: "Ita te Deus adjuvet, tactis sacrosanctis Christi Evangeliis." In none of these instances does kissing the book appear to be essential. Whereas the present form used in the Courts is, "So help you God, kiss the book;" but still the witness is always required to touch the book with his hand, and he is never permitted to hold the book with his hand in a glove. When then did the practice of kissing the book originate? And how happens it that the Welsh and English take the book in the hand in the different manners I have described?