Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

They were done by Marmaduke Lawson, of St. John's College, Cambridge, for the Pitt Scholarship in 1814, for which he was successful:

"Phyllidis effugiunt nos lumina. Dulcia sunto.
Pulcra licet, nobis haud ea pulcra micant.
Nectar erat labiis, dum spes erat ista tenendi,
Spes perit, isque simul, qui erat ante, decor.
Votis me Galatea petit. Caret arte puella,
Parque rosis tenero vernat in ore color:
Sed nihil ista juvant. Forsan tamen ista juvabunt.
Si jaceant, victâ mente, rubore genæ:
Pura manus mollisque fluit. Neque credere possum.
Ut sit vera fides, ista premenda mihi est.
Nec bene credit amor (nam res est plena timoris),
Conscia ni dextram dextera pressa premat.
Ecce movet pectus suspiria. Pectora nostris
Ista legenda oculis, si meus urat amor.
Et, nostri modo cura memor nostrique caloris
Tangat eam, facere id non pudor ullus erit."

I have not sent the English, as it can be easily got at. The other translation I am not acquainted with.

B.

* * * * *

FLORINS AND THE ROYAL ARMS.

(Vol. viii., p. 621.)

The placing of the royal arms in four separate shields in the form of a cross first occurred upon the medals struck upon the nativity of King Charles II., anno 1630; and adopted upon the reverse of the coins for the first time in 1662, upon the issue of what was then termed the improved milled coin, where the arms are so placed, having the star of the Garter in the centre; the crowns intersecting the legend, and two crowns interlaced in each quarter. The shields, as here marshalled, are each surmounted by a crown; having in the top and bottom shield France and England quarterly, Ireland on the dexter side (which is the second place), and on the sinister Scotland.[2] But on the milled money which followed, France and England being borne separately, that of France, which had been constantly borne in the first quarter singly until James I., and afterwards in the first place quarterly with England, is placed in the bottom shield or fourth quarter. Mr. Leake, in his _Historical Account of English Money_[3], after remarking that this irregular bearing first appeared upon the nativity medals of Charles II. in 1630, where the shields are placed in this manner, adds, that this was no doubt originally owing to the ignorance of the graver, who knew no other way to place the arms circularly than following each other, like the titles, unless (as I have heard, says he) that the arms of each kingdom might fall under the respective title in the legend; and this witty conceit has ever since prevailed upon the coin, except in some of King William and Queen Mary's money, where the arms are rightly marshalled in one shield. That this was owing to the ignorance of the workman, and not with any design to alter the disposition of the arms, is evident from the arms upon the great seal, where France is borne quarterly with England, in the first and fourth quarters, as it was likewise used upon all other occasions, until the alteration occasioned by the union with Scotland in 1707.

In reference to the arrangement consequent upon the union with Scotland, he observes that, how proper soever the impaling the arms of the two kingdoms was in other respects, it appeared with great impropriety upon the money. The four escocheons in cross had hitherto been marshalled in their circular order from the _left_, whereby the dexter escocheon was the fourth; according to which order the united arms, being quartered first and fourth, would have fallen together; therefore they were placed at the top and bottom, {60} which indeed was right: but then France by the same rule was then in the third place, and Ireland in the second; unless to reconcile it we make a rule contrary to all rule, to take sinister first and dexter second.

In the coinage of King George I., the representation of the armorial bearings in four separate shields, as upon the milled money of King Charles II., was continued. In the uppermost escocheon, England impaling Scotland; the dexter the arms of his Majesty's electoral dominions; sinister France; and in the bottom one Ireland, all crowned with the imperial crown of Great Britain. The marshalling of the four escocheon's in this manner might and ought to have been objected to by the heralds (has it been brought under their cognizance?), because it appears by many instances, as well as upon coins and medals of the emperors and several princes of the entire, that arms marshalled in this circular form are blazoned, not in the circular order, but from the dexter and sinister alternately; and thus the emperor at that time bore eleven escocheons round the imperial eagle. In like manner, upon the money of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick, we see the crest with a circle of eleven escocheons in the same order. The same order is observed in marshalling the escocheons of the seven provinces of Holland and there is a coin of the Emperor Ferdinand, another of Gulick, and a third of Erick, Bishop of Osnaburgh, with four escocheons in cross, and four sceptres exactly resembling the English coins. That it was not altered therefore at that time, the mistake being so evident, can be attributed only to the length of time the error had prevailed; so hard is it to correct an error in the first instance whereby the arms of his Majesty's German dominions, which occupy the fourth quarter in the royal arms, do in fact upon the money occupy the second place; a mistake however so apparent, as well by the bearing upon other occasions as by the areas of Ireland, which before occupied the same escocheon, that nothing was meant thereby to the dishonour of the other arms; but that being now established, it is the English method of so marshalling arms in cross or circle, or rather that they have no certain method.

Until the union with Scotland, the dexter was the fourth escocheon; from that time the bottom one was fourth; now the dexter was again the fourth. Such is the force of precedent in perpetuating error, that the practice has prevailed even to the present time and it may be inferred, that fancy and effect are studied by the engraver before propriety. No valid reason can be advanced for placing the arms in _separate_ shields after their declared union under one imperial crown.

J.

[Footnote 2: Evelyn's _Discourse_, edit. 1696, p. 121.]

[Footnote 3: London, 8vo., 1745, 2nd edit., then Clarenceux King of Arms, and afterwards Garter.]

* * * * *

CHRONOGRAMS.

(Vol. viii., p. 351. &c.)

The banks of the Rhine furnish abundant examples of this literary pleasantry: chronograms are as thick as blackberries. I send you a dozen, gathered during a recent tour. Each one was transcribed by myself.

1. Cologne Cathedral, 1722; on a beam in a chapel, on the south side of the choir:

"pIa VIrgInIs MarIæ soDaLItas annos sæCV-
LarI renoVat."

2. Poppelsdorf Church, near Bonn. 1812:

"paroChIaLIs teMpLI rVIxIs æDIfICabar."

3. Bonn; on the base of a crucifix outside the minster, on the north side. 1711:

"glorifiCate
et
portate DeVM
In Corpore Vestro.
1 Cor. 6."

4. Bonn; within the minster. 1770:

"CapItVLVM
patronIs pIe
DICaVIt."

5. Aix-la-Chapelle; on the baptistery. 1660:

"sacrvM
paroChIaLe DIVI johannIs
baptIstæ."

6. Aix-la-Chapelle.--St. Michael: front of west gallery. 1821:

"sVM pIa CIVItatIs
LIberaLItate renoVata DeCorata."

7. Aix-la-Chapelle, under the above. 1852:

"eCCe
MIChaeLIs
aeDes."

8. Konigswinter; on the base of a crucifix at the northern end of the village. 1726:

"In VnIVs VerI aC In
CarnatI DeI honoreM
posVere.
------
Joannes Petrus Mümrer et
Maria Gengers Conjuges
2 d[=a] Septembris."

9. Konigswinter; over the principal door of the church. 1828:

"es Ist seInes MenCher WohnUng sonDem eIn
herrLIChes haUsz Unseres gottes, i. b. d. ker.
er. 29. c. v. i."

10. Konigswinter; under the last. 1778:

"VnI sanCtIssIMo Deo, patrI atqVe
fiLIo spIrItVIqVe sanCto."

{61}

11. Konigswinter under the last. 1779:

"erIgor sVb MaX. frIDerICo konIgsegg antIstIte
CoLonIensI pIe gVbernante."

12. Coblenz.--S. Castor; round the arch of the west door. 1765:

"DIro MarIa IVngfraV reIn
Las CobLenz aubefohLen seIn."

Of these, Nos. 9, 10. and 11. are incised on one stone, the letters indicating the chronograph being rubricated capitals; but in No. 10. the second I in "filio," and the first I in "spirituique," though capitals, are not in red. I shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who can supply a complete or corrected copy of the following chronogram, from the Kreutzberg, near Bonn. The height at which it was placed, and its defective colour, prevented me from deciphering the whole; nor do I vouch for the correctness of the subjoined portion:

"sCaLa IesV pr
nobis passI. a..
CLeMente aVgVsto
. . .
antIstIte
CoLonIensI pIe
aVgVst
pretIosi
eXstrV."

Some parts of this inscription might be conjecturally supplied; but I prefer presenting it as I was able to transcribe it. The staircase in question was erected by the Elector Clement Augustus, in or about 1725, in imitation of the Scala Santa at Rome. (See Murray's _Handbook_.)

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

* * * * *

OATHS.

(Vol. viii., pp. 364. 471.)

In Primate Colton's _Metropolitan Visitation of the Diocese of Derry_, A.D. 1397, edited by the Rev. William Reeves, D.D., it is stated, at p. 44., that several persons therein mentioned took their oath "tactis sacrosanctis Evangeliis;" and in a note Dr. Reeves says that--

"Until the arrival of the English the custom of swearing on the holy
evangelists was unknown to the Irish, who resorted instead to croziers,
bells, and other sacred reliquaries, to give solemnity to their
declarations. Even when the Gospels were used, it was not uncommon to
introduce some other object to render the oath doubly binding. Thus in
a monition directed by Primate Prene to O'Neill, he requires him to be
sworn 'tactis sacrosanctis Dei evangeliis ad ea, et super Baculum Jesu
in ecclesia cathedrali Sanctæ Trinitatis Dublin.' (_Reg. Prene_, fol.
117.)"

The following lines upon the subject in question will be found in the _Red Book_ of the Irish Exchequer:

"Qui jurat super librum tria tacit.

"Primo quasi diceret omnia que scripta sunt in hoc libro nunquam mihi
perficiant neque lex nova neque vetus si mencior in hoc juramento.

"Secundo apponit manum super librum quasi diceret numquam bona opera
que feci michi proficiant ante faciem Jeshu Christi nisi veritatem
dicam quando per manus significentur opera.

"Tercio et ultimo osculatur librum quasi diceret numquam oraciones
neque preces quas dixi per os meum michi ad salutem anime valeant si
falsitatem dicam in hoc juramento michi apposito."

Judging by the character of the handwriting, I would say that the above-mentioned lines were written not later than the time of Edward I.; and as many of the vellum leaves of this book have been sadly disfigured, as well by the pressure of lips as by tincture of galls, I am inclined to think that official oaths were formerly taken in the Court of Exchequer of Ireland by presenting the book when opened to the person about to be sworn in the manner at this day used (as we are informed by Honoré de Mareville) in the Ecclesiastical Court at Guernsey.

It appears by an entry in one of the Order Books of the Exchequer, deposited in the Exchequer Record Office, Four Courts, Dublin, that in James I.'s time the oath of allegiance was taken upon bended knee. The entry to which I refer is in the following words:

"_Easter Term, Wednesday, 22nd April, 1618._--Memorandum: This day at
first sitting of the court, the lord threasurer, vice threasurer, and
all the barons being present on the bench, the lord chauncellor came
hither and presented before them Thomas Hibbotts, esq., with his
Majesty's letters patents of the office of chauncellor of this court to
him graunted, to hold and execute the said office during his naturall
life, which being read the said lord chauncellor first ministred unto
him the oath of the King's supremacy, which hee tooke kneeling on his
knee, and presently after ministred unto him the oath ordayned for the
said officer, as the same is contayned of record in the redd booke of
this court; all which being donn the said lord chauncellor placed him
on the bench on the right hand of the lord threasurer, and then
departed this court."

JAMES F. FERGUSON.

Dublin.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_Splitting Paper for Photographic Purposes._--If the real and practical mode of effecting this were disclosed, it would be (in many cases) a valuable aid to the photographer. I have had many negative calotypes ruined by red stains on the back (but not affecting the impressed side of the paper); which, could the paper {62} have been split, would in all probability have been available, and printed well.

I was sorry to see in "N. & Q" (Vol. iii., p. 604.) an article under this head which went the round of the papers several months ago. Anything more impracticable and ridiculously absurd than the directions there given can hardly be imagined: "cylinders of amber!" or "cylinders of _metallic_ amalgam!!" "excited in the usual manner," &c. I presume _electrical_ excitation is intended. Though, how cylinders of _metal_ are to receive electrical _excitation_, and to have sufficient attractive power over a sheet of paper as to rend it asunder, would be a problem which I believe even a Faraday could not solve: neither would excited glass cylinders effect the object any better; or if they could, it would be erecting a wheel to break a fly upon.

The whole proposition must originally have been a hoax: in fact, we live in a day when the masses of the people are easily induced to believe that _electricity_ can _do everything_.

Another, and far more feasible plan has been proposed ("N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 413.), viz. to paste the paper to be split between two pieces of calico or linen; and when perfectly dry, part them. One half, it is said, will adhere to each piece of the linen, and may afterwards be obtained or set free from the linen by soaking.

I have tried this with partial, but not satisfactory success. It will be remembered that the _results_ of the _true_ process were some years ago exhibited before a scientific company (I think at the Royal Institution), when a page of the _London Illustrated News_ was first exhibited in its usual condition, printed on both sides; and was then taken to an adjoining apartment, and in a short time (perhaps a quarter of an hour) re-exhibited to the company split into two laminæ, each being perfect. Neither the _pasting_ plan, nor the electrical gammon, could have effected this. I hope some of your readers (they are a legion) will confer on photographers the favour of informing them of this art.

COKELY.

_Curling of Iodized Paper._--The difficulty which your correspondent C. E. F. has met with, in iodizing paper according to DR. DIAMOND'S valuable and simple process, may be easily obviated.

I experienced the same annoyance of "curling up" till it was suggested to me to damp the paper previously to floating it. I have since always adopted this expedient, and find it answer perfectly. The method I employ for damping it is to leave it for a few hours previously to using it upon the bricks in my cellar: and I have no doubt but that, if C. E. F. will try the same plan, he will be equally satisfied with the result.

W. F. W.

_How the Glass Rod is used._--Would you be kind enough to inform me how paper is prepared or excited with the glass rod in the calotype process? Is the solution first poured on the paper, and then equally diffused over it with the rod?

DUTHUS.

[The manner in which the glass rod is to be used for exciting or
developing is very simple, although not easily described. The operator
must provide himself with some pieces of thin board, somewhat larger
than the paper intended to be used; on one of these two or three folds
of blotting-paper are to be laid, and on these the paper intended to be
excited, and which is to be kept steady by pins at the top and bottom
right-hand corners, and the forefinger of the left hand. The operator,
having ready in a small measure about thirty drops of the exciting
fluid, takes the glass rod in his right hand, moves it steadily over
the paper from the right hand to the left, where he keeps it, while
with the left hand he pours the exciting fluid over the side of the
glass rod, and moving this _to and fro_ once or twice to secure an
equal portion of the exciting fluid along the whole length of the rod;
he then moves the rod from left to right and back again, until he has
ascertained that the whole surface is covered, taking care that none of
the exciting fluid runs over the side of the paper, as it is then apt
to discolour the back of it. When the whole surface has been thoroughly
wetted, the superfluous fluid is to be blotted off with a piece of new
blotting-paper.]

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Wooden Tombs and Effigies_ (Vol. viii., p. 604.).--In addition to that mentioned by J. E. J., there is a wooden chest in the centre of the chancel of Burford Church, in the county of Salop, with a figure in plated armour on the top; the head resting on a helmet supported by two angels, and at the feet a lion crowned. An ornament of oak leaves runs round the chest, at the edge. This effigy is supposed to represent one of the Cornwall family, the ancient, but now extinct, barons of Burford. As I am preparing, with a view to publication, a history of this very ancient family, with an account of the curious and interesting monuments in Burford and other churches, I should esteem it a favour if any of your correspondents could furnish me with authentic information relative to any members of the family, or of any memorials of them in other churches than those of Worcestershire and Shropshire.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

_Epitaph on Politian_ (Vol. viii., p. 537.).--Harwood's _Alumni Etonenses_, A.D. 1530, Hen. VIII., p. 22.:

"Edward Bovington was born at Burnham, and was buried in the chapel.
Some member of the College made these lines on him:

'Unum caput tres linguas habet,
(Res mira!) Bovingtonus.'"

This member must have seen Politian's epitaph.

J. H. L.

_Defoe's Quotation from Baxter on Apparitions_ (Vol. ix., p. 12.).--The story copied by DR. MAITLAND from Defoe's _Life of Duncan Campbell_, is to be found nearly word for word in pp. 60, 61. of {63} _The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits fully evinced by the unquestionable Histories of Apparitions, &c._, by Richard Baxter, London, 1691. I can trace no mention of the Dr. Beaumont, author of the _Treatise of Spirits_, unless he be the "eminent apothecary in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden," stated by Nichols (_Literary Anecdotes_, vol. ix. p. 239.) to be the father of Mr. Beaumont, Registrar of the Royal Humane Society.

[Greek: Halieus].

Dublin.

_Barrels Regiment_ (Vol. viii., p. 620.).--If the song referring to Barrel's regiment was written about 1747, it was not original, but a parody or adaptation of one in _The Devil to Pay_, performed as a ballad opera in 1731; and which still maintains its place, if not on the stage, in recent editions of the "acting drama." I have not an old edition of the play, but quote from a collection of songs called _The Nightingale_, London, 1738, p. 232.:

"He that has the best wife,
She's the plague of his life;
But for her that will scold and will quarrel,
Let him cut her off short,
Of her meat and her sport,
And ten times a day hoop her barrel, brave boys,
And ten times a day hoop her barrel."

May I append a Query to my reply? Was _The Nightingale_ published with a frontispiece? My copy is mutilated, but has belonged to some person who valued it much more highly than I do, as he has neatly repaired and replaced torn leaves and noted deficiencies. Prefixed is a mounted engraving of a bird in the act of singing, which, if intended for a nightingale, is really curious; as it is of the size and shape of a pheasant, with corvine legs and beak, and a wattle round the eye like that of a barb pigeon. The book is "printed and sold by J. Osborn," and shows that the post assigned to him in _The Dunciad_ was not worse than he deserved.

H.B.C.

Garrick Club.

[Our correspondent seems to have the veritable original engraving; the
nightingale or pheasant, or whatever it may he, is mounted on a branch
over a stream near to three houses, and a village on its banks is seen
in the distance.]

_Sneezing_ (Vol. viii., pp. 366. 624.).--To the very interesting illustrations given by Mr. Francis Scott of the ancient superstitions associated with sternutation, I should like to add one not less curious than any which he has given. It is recorded in Xenophon's _Anabasis_, lib. iii. cap. 2.

At the council of Greek generals, held after the death of Cyrus, Xenophon rose and made a speech. He set before his comrades the treachery of their late associate Ariæus; the serious difficulties attendant upon the position of the Greeks; and the necessity for immediate and vigorous action. Just as he had alluded to the probability of a severe conflict, and had invoked the aid of the gods, one of the company _sneezed_. He paused for a moment in his harangue, and every one present did reverence ([Greek: prosekonêsan]) to Jupiter. The circumstance seemed to give new spirit and fortitude to the whole assembly; and when Xenophon resumed, he said, "Even now, my comrades, while we were talking of safety, Zeus the saviour has sent us an omen; and I think it would become us to offer to the god a sacrifice of thanksgiving for our preservation." He then, in the manner of a modern chairman at Exeter Hall, invited all of that opinion to hold up their hands. This appeal having met a unanimous response, they all made their vows, sung the pæan, and the orator proceeded with his discourse.

The adoration of the god, or the use of some auspicious words or religious formulary, appears to have been designed to avert any evil which might possibly be portended by the omen. It seems by no means certain that it was always regarded as favourable. Xenophon, in the case referred to, contrived very adroitly to turn the incident to good account, and to interpret it as a sign of the divine favour. The form of one of the sentences I have translated--

"[Greek: Epei peri sôtêrias hêmôn legontôn oiônos tou Dios tou Sôtêros
ephanê]."

affords a little illustration of the benediction in current use among the Greeks on such occasions, "[Greek: Zeu sôson]."

J. G. F.

_Does "Wurm," in modern German, ever mean Serpent?_ (Vol. viii pp. 465. 624.).--F. W. J. is quite right as regards his interpretation of the word _Wurm_, used by Schiller in his _Wallenstein_ in the passage spoken by Butler.

_Wurm_ is not used in German to mean a serpent. Serpents (_Schlangen_) are vertebrata, and are therefore not confounded with _Würmer_ by the Germans. The language of the people frames proverbs, not the language of science. The Germans apply the word _Wurm_ to express pity or contempt. The mother says to her sick child, "Armes _Würmchen_!" signifying poor, suffering, little creature. Man to man, in order to express contempt, will say "Elender _Wurm_!" meaning miserable wretch; an application arising out of the contemplation of the helpless state and inferior construction of this division of the animal kingdom. The German proverb corresponds to the English.