Chapter C: FOX

Addison Road.

_Passage in Sophocles._--In Vol. viii., p. 73., appears an article by MR. BUCKTON, in which he quotes the following conclusion of a passage in Sophocles:

"[Greek: Hotoi phrenas]
[Greek: Theos agei pros atan;]
[Greek: Prassein d' oligoston chronon ektos atas.]"

This, [Greek: petroi stathmen harmozon], he translates,--

"Whose mind the God leads to destruction; _but that he_ (_the God_)
practises this a short time without destroying such an one."

But for the Italics it might have been an oversight: they would seem to imply he has some authority for his translation. I have no edition of Sophocles by me to discover, but surely no critical scholar can acquiesce in it. The only _active_ sense of [Greek: prassein] I remember at the moment is _to exact_. It surely should be translated, "_And he, whom the God so leads to_ [Greek: ate], _fares_ a _very_ short time without it." The best translation of [Greek: ate] is, perhaps, _infatuation_. Moreover, how is the above translation reconciled with the very superlative [Greek: oligoston]?

M.

_Brothers of the same Name_ (Vol. viii., p. 338.).--It is not unusual in old pedigrees to find two brothers or two sisters with the same Christian name; but it is unusual to find more than two living at the same time with only one Christian name between them: this, however, occurs in the family of Gawdy of Gawdy Hall, Norfolk. Thos. Gawdy married three wives, and by each had a son Thomas. The eldest was a serjeant-at-law, and died in 1556. The second was a judge of the Queen's Bench, and died in November, 1587 or 1588. The third is known as Sir Francis Gawdy, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; but he also was baptized by the name of Thomas. Lord Coke, who succeeded him as Chief Justice, says (Co. Lit. 3. a.):

"If a man be baptized by the name of Thomas, and after at his
confirmation by the bishop he is named John, he may purchase by his
name of confirmation; and this was the case of Sir Francis Gawdie, late
C. J. of C. B., whose name of baptism was Thomas, and his name of
confirmation Francis; and that name of Francis, by the advice of all
the judges in anno 36 Henry VIII. (1544-5), he did bear and after used
in all his purchases and grants."

The opportunity afforded by the Roman Catholic Church of thus changing the baptismal name may help to account for this practice, which probably arose from a desire to continue the particular name in the family. If one of two sons with the same name of baptism died in childhood, the other continued the name: if both lived, one of them might change his name at confirmation. There is no name given at confirmation according to the form of the Church of England.

F. B.

_High Dutch and Low Dutch_ (Vol. viii., p. 413.).--Considerable misapprehension appears to have arisen with regard to these expressions, from the fact of the German word _Deutsch_ being sometimes erroneously understood to mean Dutch. But German scholars very well know that in Germany nothing is more common than to speak of _Hoch Deutsch_ and _Nieder Deutsch_ (High German and Low German), as applied respectively to that language when grammatically spoken and correctly pronounced, and to the bad grammar and worse pronunciation indulged in by many of the provincials, and also by the lower class of people in some of the towns where High German is supposed to prevail. Thus, for examples Dresden is regarded as the head-quarters of _Hoch Deutsch_, because there the language is spoken and pronounced with the most purity: Berlin, also, as regards the well-educated classes, boasts of the _Hoch Deutsch_; but the common people (das Volk) of the Prussian capital indulge in a dialect called _Nieder Deutsch_, and speak and pronounce the language as though they were natives of some remote province. Now, the instance of Berlin I take to be a striking illustration of the meaning of these expressions, as both examples are comprised in the case of this city.

The German word for "German" is _Deutsch_; for "Dutch" the German is _Hollaendisch_; and I presume it is from the similarity of _Deutsch_ and _Dutch_ that this common error is so frequently committed. For the future let it be remembered, that _Dutch_ is a term which has no relation whatever to German; and that "High German" is that language spoken and written in its purity, "Low German" all the dialects and mispronunciations which do not come up to the standard of correctness.

JAMES SPENCE HARRY.

8. Arthur Street.

_Translations of the Prayer Book into French_ (Vol. vii., p. 382.; Vol. viii., p. 343.).--Besides the editions already mentioned, a 4to. one was published at London in 1689, printed by R. Everingham, and sold by R. Bentley and M. Magnes. Prefixed to it is the placet of the king, dated 6th October, 1662, with the subsequent approbation of Stradling, chaplain to Gilbert (Sheldon), Bishop of London, dated 6th April, 1663.

It seems ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 92.) that a {479} copy is in the British Museum; one is also in my possession.

I presume that there were other editions between the years 1663 and 1689.

H. P.

_Divining-rod_ (Vol. viii., p. 293.).--For a full account of the divining rod see _La Physique occulte, ou Traite de la Baguette Divinatoire, &c._, par Pere L. de Vallemont, a work by no means uncommon, having passed through several editions. Mine is "a Paris, chez Jean Boudot, avec priv. 1709, in 12^o. avec figures," with the addition of a "Traite de la Connoissance des Causes Magnetiques, &c., par un Curieux."

A Cornish lady informs me that the Cornish miners to this day use the divining-rod in the way represented in fig. 1. of the above-mentioned work.

R. J. R.

In the 351st number of the _Monthly Magazine_, dated March 1st, 1821, there is a letter to the editor from W. Partridge, dated Boxbridge, Gloucester, giving several instances of his having successfully used the divining-rod for the purpose of discovering water. He says the gift is not possessed by more than one in two thousand, and attributes the power to electricity. Those persons in whose hands it will work must possess a redundancy of that fluid. He also states that metals are discovered by the same means.

K. B.

_Slow-worm Superstition_ (Vol. vii., p. 33.).--The belief that the slow-worm cannot die until sunset prevails in Dorsetshire. In the New Forest the same superstition exists with regard to the brown adder. Walking in the heathy country between Beaulieu and Christ Church I saw a very large snake of this kind, recently beaten to death by the peasant boys, and on remarking that the lower jaw continued to move convulsively, I was told it would do so "till the moon was up."

An aged woman, now deceased, who had when young been severely bitten by a snake, told me she always felt a severe pain and swelling near where the wound had been, on the anniversary of the occurrence. Is this common? and can it be accounted for?

W. E.

Pimperne, Dorset.

_Ravailliac_ (Vol. viii., p. 219.).--The destruction of the pyramid erected at Paris upon the murder of Henry IV., is mentioned by Thuanus, _Hist._, lib. 134. cap. 9. In your correspondent's Query, _Thesaur._ is, I presume, misprinted for Thuan.

B. J.

_Lines on the Institution of the Garter_ (Vol. viii., p. 182.).--A. B. R. says, "as also from the proverbial expression used in Scotland, and to be found in Scott's _Works_, of 'casting a leggin girth,' as synonymous with a female 'faux pas.'" I may mention to your correspondent (if he is not already aware) that the expression is taken from Allan Ramsay's continuation of _Christ's Kirk on the Green_ (edit. Leith, 1814, 1 vol. p. 101.):

"Or bairns can read, they first maun spell,
I learn'd this frae my mammy;
And _coost a legen girth_ mysell,
Lang or I married Tammie."

and is explained by the author in a note, "Like a tub that loses one of its bottom hoops." In the west of Scotland the phrase is now restricted to a young woman who has had an illegitimate child, or what is more commonly termed "a misfortune," and it is probable never had another meaning. _Legen_ or _leggen_ is not understood to have any affinity in its etymology to the word _leg_, but is _laggen_, that part of the staves which projects from the bottom of the barrel, or of the child's _luggie_, out of which he sups his oatmeal _parritch_; and the _girth_, _gird_, or hoop, that by which the vessel at this particular place is firmest bound together. Burns makes a fine and emphatic use of the word _laggen_ in the "Birthday Address," in speaking of the "Royal lasses dainty" (_Cunninghame_, edit. 1826, vol. ii. p. 329.):

"God bless you a', consider now,
Ye're unco muckle dantet:
But ere the course o' life be thro'
It may be bitter santet.
An I hae seen their coggie fou,
That yet hae tarrow't at it;
But or the day was done, I trow,
The _laggen_ they hae clautet."

which means, that at last, whether through pride, hunger, or long fasting, the appetite had become so keen, that all, even to the last particle of the _parritch_, was _clautet_, _scartit_, or scraped from the bottom of the _coggie_, and to its inmost recesses surrounded by the _laggen girth_. Of the motto of the garter, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," I have heard a burlesque translation known but to few, in "_Honeys sweet quo' Mally Spence_," synonymous with Proverbs, chap. ix. verse 17: "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread _eaten_ in secret is pleasant."

G. N.

_Passage in Bacon_ (Vol. viii., p. 303.).--I had, partly from inadvertence, and partly from a belief that a tautology would be created by a recurrence to the idea of death, after the words "mortis terrore carentem," in the preceding line, understood the verse in question to mean, "which regards length of life as the last of Nature's gifts." On reconsideration, however, I do not doubt that the received interpretation, which makes _spatium extremum_ equivalent to _finem_, is the correct one.

L.

_What Day is it at our Antipodes?_ (Vol. viii., p. 102.).--A person sailing to our Antipodes westward will lose twelve hours; by sailing thither eastward he will gain twelve hours. If {480} both meet at the same hour, say eleven o'clock, the one will reckon 11 A.M., the other 11 P.M.

ESTE.

_Calves' Head Club_ (Vol. viii., p. 315.).--In Hone's _Every Day Book_, vol. ii. pp. 158, 159, 160., some more information is given on the interesting event referred to in the Note made by MR. E. G. BALLARD. A print is given of the scene; and the obnoxious toasts are also quoted; they are: "The pious memory of Oliver Cromwell;" "Damn--n to the race of the Stuarts;" "The glorious year 1648;" "The man in the mask," &c. The print is dated 1734, which proves that the meeting at which the disturbance arose was not the first which had taken place.

S. A. S.

Bridgewater.

_Heraldic Query_ (Vol. viii., p. 219.).--Although A. was killed in open rebellion, I think his armorial bearings were not forfeited unless he was subsequently attainted by act of parliament; and even in that case it is possible that the act contained a provision that the penalty should not extend to the prejudice of any other person than the offender. Assuming that A. was not attainted, or that the consequences of his attainder were thus restricted to himself, or that his attainder has been reversed, it is clear that his lawful posterity are still entitled to his arms, notwithstanding the acceptance by his grandson C. of a new grant, which obviously could no more affect the title to the ancient arms than the creation of a modern barony can destroy the right of its recipient to an older one. The descendants of C. being thus entitled to both coats, could, I imagine, without difficulty obtain a recognition of their right; and I think they might either use the ancient arms alone, or the ancient and the modern arms quarterly, precedence being given to the former. The proper course would be to seek the licence of the crown for the resumption of the ancient surname, as well as of the arms. Such permission would, I apprehend, be now conceded, even though it should appear that the arms were really forfeited.

HENRY GOUGH.

Emberton, Bucks.

_The Temple Lands in Scotland_ (Vol. viii., p. 317.).--These lands, or a portion of them, were acquired, and afterwards transferred by sale, to Mr. Gracie, by James Maidment, Esq., the eminent Scottish antiquary, who, in 1828-29, privately printed--

"Templaria: Papers Relative to the History, Privileges, and Possessions
of the Scottish Knights Templars, and their Successors, the Knights of
St. John of Jerusalem, with Notes," &c.

This will no doubt contain all that your correspondent ABREDONENSIS could desire upon the subject, provided he can obtain it; for the work, professing to be printed by the author for presents, is confined to twenty-five copies, and must therefore be rare. In 1831 was published by Stevenson, Edinburgh, an _Historical Account of Linlithgowshire_, by the late John Penney.[9] This is edited by Mr. Maidment, and contains a chapter entitled an "Account of the Transmission of the United Estates of the Templars and Hospitallers, after the dissolution of the Order in the reign of Queen Mary;" and although the object of the editor is to notice the charters connected with Linlithgowshire, the book contains a sketch of the general history of the lands in question, abridged from the _Templaria_.

J. O.

[Footnote 9: Query the late George Chalmers.]

_Sir John Vanbrugh_ (Vol. viii., p. 65. &c.).--In _An Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Matthew Henry_, published in the year 1716, his biographer having related that he was chosen a minister of a congregation of Dissenters in the city of Chester, and that he went there to reside on the first day of June, 1687, goes on to state (p. 75.):

"That city was then very happy in several worthy gentlemen that had
habitations there; they were not altogether strangers to Mr. Henry
before he came to live among them, but now they came to be his very
intimate acquaintance; some of these, as Alderman Mainwaring and Mr.
Vanbrugh, father to Sir John Vanbrugh, were in communion with the
Church of England, but they heard Mr. Henry on the week-day lectures,
and always treated him with great and serious respect."

This evidence serves to show that a Mr. Vanbrugh, who was living in Chester in 1687, was the father of Sir John Vanbrugh. I have been told that in former times there was a sugar-bakery at Chester. Did the father of Sir John Vanbrugh carry on that business at Chester during any period of his residence there?

N. W. S.

_Sir Arthur Aston_ (Vol. viii., p. 126.).--In reference to the Query of your correspondent CHARTHAM, I take leave to refer him to Playfair's _Baronetage_, vol. ii. p. 257., where a pedigree of that ancient family is inserted. In p. 261. is a note, by which it appears that the said Sir Arthur Aston had a daughter Elizabeth, born in Russia, and married to James Thompson of Joyce Grove in Berkshire.

In addition thereto, I recollect seeing the copy of a deed of sale, dated April, 1637, by which it appears that Nicholas Hercy, of Nettlebed, in co. Oxon., sold to James Thompson of Wallingford, in co. Berkshire, "Joys Grove," in Nettlebed aforesaid; and there is united with the same James Thompson, apparently as a trustee, "George Tattersall the younger, of Finchampstead in said co. of Berkshire."

{481}

I also take leave to refer your correspondent to Lysons's _Environs of London_, vol. ii. p. 393., under head of "Fulham," where it is stated that Sir Arthur Aston's father resided in that parish.

AN ANTIQUARY.

_Nugget_ (Vol. viii., p. 357.).--Colonel Mundy, in _Our Antipodes_, says that the word _nugget_ was, before the days of gold digging, used by the farmers of Australia to express a small thick bullock, such as our English farmers would call a lumpy one, or a little great one.

A. H. WHITE.

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