Chapter C: Mansfield Ingleby

Birmingham.

* * * * *

CRANMER'S BIBLE.

Queries which I have heard at various times lead me to think that a Note on this interesting volume may be acceptable to many readers who possess or have access to it; and especially to those whose copies may be (as too many are) imperfect at the beginning and end. Under this impression I send you an extract from the late Mr. Lea Wilson's catalogue of his unrivalled Collection of English Bibles. As very few copies of this curious and beautiful work were printed, and not one, I believe, has been sold, it is probable that few of your readers are aware of the criteria which that gentleman's ingenuity and industry have furnished for distinguishing between the {120} various editions which are known under the title of _The Great Bible_, or _Cranmer's Bible_. He begins his description of the edition of April, 1539, thus:

"As this volume is commonly called the First Edition of Cranmer's or
the Great Bible, I class it with the Six following; although in fact
the Archbishop had nothing whatever to do with either the translation
or publication. It was put forth entirely by Thomas Lord Cromwell, vide
Herbert's _Ames_, p. 1550. vol. iii., who employed Coverdale to revise
the existing translations. The first wherein Cranmer took any part is
the large folio of April 1540, the text of which differs from this
edition materially. The pages of this volume and of the four next
following begin and end alike; and the general appearance of the whole
five is so very similar that at first sight, one may be mistaken for
another by those ignorant of the fact that they are all separate and
distinct impressions: the whole of the titles, of which there are five
in each Book, and every leaf of kalendar, prologue, text, and tables
being entirely recomposed, and varying throughout in orthography, &c.
The desire to make perfect copies out of several imperfect, has also
caused extreme confusion, by uniting portions of different editions
without due regard to their identity. These remarks apply equally to
the editions of Nov. 1540, and Nov. 1541, of which, in like manner,
each page begins and ends with the same words. Although the distinctive
marks are very numerous, yet being chiefly typographical ornaments or
arrangement, it is impossible to give here sufficient guides to ensure
the integrity of each volume."--Page 12.

On the next page but one is added:

"The following lines of the forty-first chapter of Job differ in
composition in all the seven volumes, and for the purpose of
distinguishing the edition I have given them to each."

_No. 1. April, 1539._

No m[=a] is so cruell, that is able to stere him up. *Who is able to
stande before me? Or ++who hath geu[=e] me anything afore hande, that I
maye rewarde him agayne? All thynges un-

_No. 2. April, 1540._

No man is so cruell, y^t is able to stere h[=i] up. *Who is able to
st[=a]de before me? Or ++who hath geuen me any thyng afore h[=a]de, y^e
I maye rewarde him agayne? All thynges

_No. 3. July, 1540._

No man is so cruell, y^t is able to stere hym up. *who is able to
stande before me? Or ++who hath geuen me any thynge aforehande, that I
maye rewarde him agayne?

_No. 4. May, 1541._

No man is so cruell, that is hable to styrre hym up. *Who is hable to
stande before me? Or ++who hath geue me any thing aforehande, that I
maye rewarde hym agayne? All thyn-

_No. 5. December, 1541._

No m[=a] is so cruel, that is able to styrre hym up. *Who is hable to
stand before me? Or ++who hathe gyuen me anye thynge afore hande, that
I maye rewarde hym agayne?

_No. 6. November, 1540._

No man is so cruell that is able to styr hym up. *Who is able to stande
before me? Or ++who hath geuen me any thynge afore hande, that I maye
re-

_No. 7. November, 1541._

No man is so cruell that is hable to styrre hym up. *Who is able to
stande before me? Or ++who hath gyuen me any thyng afore hande, that I
maye rewarde hym agayne? All

I believe the foregoing to be an exact copy of Mr. Wilson's catalogue, but, of course, I cannot be responsible for the accuracy of his transcripts. Perhaps none but those who were admitted to his library ever had an opportunity of comparing together all those editions; and nobody would have done it with more care and fidelity than himself.

S. R. M.

* * * * *

SOVEREIGNS DINING AND SUPPING IN PUBLIC.

In some observations which I made upon two or three pictures in Hampton Court Palace, in Vol. viii., p. 538., I specified two worthy of notice on the above subject, and which are the first instances of such ceremony I have met with. It has been supposed to have been a foreign custom but I do not find any traces of it upon record.[1] {121} One can easily imagine that the _fastueux_ Louis XIV. would have no objection to such display, and that his mistresses, as well as queen, would be of the party, when we read, that in the royal progresses two of the former were scandalously paraded in the same carriage with his queen. To this immoral exhibition, indeed, public opinion seemed to give no check, as we read, that "les peuples accouraient 'pour voir,' disaient-ils, 'les trois reines,'" wherever they appeared together. Of these three _queens_, the true one was Marie-Thérèse: the two others were La Marquise de Montespan and Mme. de la Vallière. But to return to my subject. I find by the _London Gazette_, No. 6091. of Sept. 4, 1722, that Geo. I., in his progress to the west of England, supped in public at the Bishop's (Dr. Richard Willis) palace at Salisbury on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 1722; and slept there that night.

The papers of the period of George II. say:

"There was such a resort to Hampton Court on Sunday, July 14, 1728, to
see their Majesties dine, that the rail surrounding the table broke;
and causing some to fall, made a terrible scramble for hats, &c., at
which their Majesties laughed heartily."

And,--

"On Thursday, the 25th of the same month, it is stated, the concourse
to see their Majesties dine in public at Hampton Court was exceedingly
great. A gang of robbers (the swell-mob of that day?) had mixed
themselves among the nobility and gentry; several gold watches being
lost, besides the ladies' gown tails and laced lappets cut off in
number."

And again:

"On Sunday, 15th September, 1728, their Majesties dined together in
public at Windsor (as they will continue to do every Sunday and
Thursday during their stay there), when all the country people, whether
in or out of mourning, were permitted to see them."

Besides those three occasions of George II. and Queen Caroline dining in public, we have another recorded attended with some peculiar circumstances, as mentioned in the _London Gazette_, No. 7623. of Tuesday, Aug. 2, 1737:

"The 31st ult. being Sunday, their Majesties, the Prince and Princess
of Wales, and the Princesses Amelia and Caroline, went to chapel at
Hampton Court, and heard a sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Blomer.
Their Majesties, and the rest of the royal family, dined afterwards in
public as usual before a great number of spectators. About seven
o'clock that evening, the Princess of Wales was taken with some slight
symptoms of approaching labour, and was removed to St. James's; where,
a little after eleven, she was delivered of a princess."

This was the Princess Augusta, who was married to the Prince of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel.

[Phi].

Richmond.

[Footnote 1: [The custom was observed at a much earlier period; for we find that King Edward II. and his queen Isabella of France kept their court at Westminster during the Whitsuntide festival of 1317; and on one occasion, as they were _dining in public_ in the great banqueting-hall, a woman in a mask entered on horseback, and riding up to the royal table, delivered a letter to King Edward, who, imagining that it contained some pleasant conceit or elegant compliment; ordered it to be opened and read aloud for the amusement of his courtiers; but, to his great mortification, it was a cutting satire on his unkingly propensities, setting forth in no measured terms all the calamities which his misgovernment had brought upon England. The woman was immediately taken into custody, and confessed that she had been employed by a certain knight. The knight boldly acknowledged what he had done, and said, "That, supposing the King would read the letter in private, he took that method of apprising him of the complaints of his subjects."--Strickland's _Queens of England_, vol. i. p. 487.--ED.]]

* * * * *

PARALLEL IDEAS FROM POETS.

Longfellow and Tennyson:

"And like a lily on a river floating,
She floats upon the river of his thoughts."
_Spanish Student_, Act II. Sc. 3.

"Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake;
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me."
_Princess_, Part vii.

Wordsworth and Keble:

"A book, upon whose leaves some chosen plants
By his own hand disposed with nicest care,
In undecaying beauty were preserved;--
Mute register, to him, of time and place,
And various fluctuations in the breast;
To her, a monument of faithful love
Conquered, and in tranquillity retained!"
_Excursion_, Book vi.

"Like flower-leaves in a precious volume stor'd,
To solace and relieve
Some heart too weary of the restless world."
_Christian Year_: Prayers to be used at Sea.

Moore and Keble:

"Now by those stars that glance
O'er Heaven's still expanse
Weave we our mirthful dance,
Daughters of Zea!"
_Evenings in Greece._

"Beneath the moonlight sky,
The festal warblings flow'd,
Where maidens to the Queen of Heaven
Wove the gay dance."
_Christian Year_: Eighth Sunday after Trinity.

NORRIS DECK.

Cambridge.

* * * * *

THE GREAT ALPHABETIC PSALM, AND THE SONGS OF DEGREES.

In attempting to discover a reason for the division of Psalm cxix. into twenty-two portions of _eight_ verses each, instead of _seven_ or _ten_, the more favourite numbers of the Hebrew, I have thought that, as the whole Psalm is chiefly laudatory of the Thorah, or Law of Moses, and was written alphabetically for the instruction mainly of the younger people, to be by them committed to memory, a {122} didactic reason might exist for making up the total number of 176 verses, peculiar to this Psalm. Adverting then to the necessity, for the purposes of Jewish worship, of ascertaining the periods of the new moons, to adjust the year thereby, I find that a mean lunation, as determined by the latest authorities, is very nearly 29.5306 days (29d. 12h. 44m.) and as the Jewish months were lunar, six of these would amount to 177d. 4h. 24m., being somewhat more than _one_ over the number of verses in this Psalm. As lunations, from observation, vary from 29d. 7h. 32m. to 29d. 18h. 50m., the above was a very close approximation to the half-year. The other half of the year would vary a whole lunation (_Veadar_) betwixt the ordinary and the intercalary year.[2] This was, at least, the best possible combination of twenty-two letters for such purpose. This Psalm might then have answered some of the purposes of an almanac. It is a very important one in fixing the Hebrew metres, the initial letter being the same for every eight verses in succession.

The words at the commencement of Psalms cxx. to cxxxiv., rendered "Song of Degrees," appear to me to signify rather "song of _ascents_," in reference to the Jewish practice of _ascending_ to the house-top to watch and pray, as well as to sleep. If it be assumed that these fifteen Psalms were appropriated for domestic use on the Jew retiring, by ascending the ladder or stairs, to the upper part or top of the house (Ps. cxxxii. 3.), the meaning of several passages will be better apprehended, I conceive, than by supposing that they were composed solely for temple use, or, as Eichhorn thinks, to be sung on a journey. Standing on the house-top, the praying Jew, like David and Solomon, would have in view heaven and earth (cxxi. 2., cxxiii 1.), the sun and moon (cxxi. 6.), the surrounding hills (cxxi. 1.) and mountains (cxxv. 2.), the gates and city of Jerusalem (cxxii. 2. 3. 7.), Mount Zion (cxxv. 1.), the watchmen on the walls (cxxvii. 1., cxxx. 6.), his wife and children at home (cxxviii. 3., cxxxi. 2.), the mover bringing in his sheaves, compared with the grass on the house-tops (cxxix. 6-8.), all subjects especially noted in these fifteen Psalms. The number _eight_ appears to be a favourite one in these, as well as in Psalm cxix., but there is no reason to believe that such number refers to the _octave_ in music. It may refer, however, to the number of stairs or steps of ascent. I am not aware that the above views have been previously taken, which is my reason for calling attention to this interesting and well-debated subject.

T. J. BUCKTON.

[Footnote 2: Their shortest ordinary year consisted of 353, and its half of 176½ days. The Mahometan ordinary half-year consists of 177 days. The calendar months of both Jews and Mahometans consist of 29 and 30 days.]

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Inscription on a Grave-stone in Whittlebury Churchyard, Northamptonshire._--

"In Memory of John Heath, he dy'd Dec^{br} y^e 17^{th},
1767. Aged 27 years.

While Time doth run from Sin depart;
Let none e'er shun Death's piercing dart;
For read and look, and you will see
A wondrous change was wrought on me.
For while I lived in joy and mirth
Grim Death came in and stop't my breath:
For I was single in the morning light,
By noon was marri'd, and was dead at night."

H. T. WAKE.

_Epitaph on Sir Henry St. George_, Garter Principal King of Englishmen [_sic_ in MS.], from a MS. in the Office of Arms, London (see Ballard MSS., vol. xxix.):

"Here lie a knight, a king, a saint,
Who lived by tilt and tournament.
His namesake, George, the dragon slew,
But, give the herald king his due,
He could disarm ten thousand men,
And give them arms and shields again.
But now the mighty sire is dead,
Reposing here his hoary head;
Let this be sacred to the mem'ry
Of knight St. George and of King Henry"

BALLIOLENSIS.

_Newton and Milton._--Has it been observed that Sir Isaac Newton's dying words, so often quoted,--

"I am but as a child gathering pebbles on the seashore, while the great
ocean of truth still lies undiscovered before me."

are merely an adaptation of a passage in _Paradise Regained_, book iv.:

"Deep versed in books and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate,
collecting toys And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge, As
_children gathering pebbles_ on the shore."

ANON.

_Eternal Life._--In the _Mishna_ (Berachoth, ch. ix. s. 5) the doctrine of a future eternal state is clearly set forth in a passage which is rendered by De Sola and Raphall:

"But since the Epicureans perversely taught, there is but one state of
existence, it was directed that men should close their benedictions
with the form [Blessed be the Lord God of Israel] from eternity to
eternity."

A like explicit declaration of such future state occurs again in the _Mishna_ (Sanhedrin, ch. xi. s. l.).

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

_Inscriptions in Books._--The following are taken _literatim_ from the margins of an old black-letter {123} Bible. From the numerous errors we may suppose they were copied from dictation by a person unacquainted with Latin.

"Quanto doctiores tanto te gesas submiseias."

"Forasmuch as y^u art y^e better learned,
By so much y^u must carry thy self more lowly."
------
"Si deus est animus nobis ut carmina dicunt,
Sic tibi pricipus (bus?) sit pura mente colendus."

"Seing y^t God is, as y^e poets say,
A liveing soul, lets worship him alway."
------
"Tempora (e?) felici multa (i?) numerantur amici,
Cum fortuna perit nulus amicus erit."

"In time of prosperity friends will be plenty,
In time of adversity not one among twenty."

On the title-page, "John Threlkeld's Book:"

"Hujus in dominum cupius (as?) cognescere libri,
Supra prospiscias, nomen habebis ibi."

"Whose booke I am if you would know,
I will to you in letters show."

On the other side:

"Thomas Threlkeld is my name, and for to write ... ing ashame,
And if my pen had bene any better, I would have mended it every letter."

This last example closely resembles some others given in a late Number of "N. & Q."

J. R. G.

Dublin.

_Churchill's Grave._--It is not perhaps generally known, that the author of _The Rosciad_ was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary, Dover. On a small moss-covered head-stone is the following inscription:

"1764.
Here lie the remains of the celebrated
C. CHURCHILL."

"Life to the last enjoy'd,
Here Churchill lies.
CANDIDATE."

The notice is sufficiently brief; no date, except the year, nor age being recorded. The biographers inform us, that he died at Boulogne of a fever, while on a visit to Wilkes.

The cemetery where his remains are deposited is in the centre almost of Dover; and has recently been closed for the purposes of sepulture, with the exception of family vaults. Adjoining it is a small retired burial-place, containing at the most but two or three graves, and originally belonging to the Tavenors. Here is the tomb of Captain Samuel Tavenor, an officer of Cromwell, and, during his ascendancy, one of the governors of Deal Castle. Tavenor was a man distinguished for his courage, integrity, and piety.

J. BRENT.

* * * * *

Queries.

CORONATION STONE.

A few years ago the following tradition was related to me by a friend, and I should be glad if any of your correspondents can inform me whether it is current in any part of Great Britain or Ireland, and whether there are any grounds for it. As it is connected with one of our most interesting national relics, the coronation stone, it may not prove beneath notice; and I here give it in full, shielding myself with the Last Minstrel's excuse:

"I know not how the truth may be,
But I tell the tale as 'twas told to me."

I must allow that its extreme vagueness, if not improbability, hardly warrants an inquiry; but having failed in obtaining any satisfactory proofs among my own friends, as a last resource I apply myself to the columns of your well-known and useful journal.

When Jacob awoke after his wonderful dream, as related in Genesis (chap. xxviii.), he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not;" and he was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place. This is none other but the house of God; and this is the gate of heaven." He "took the stone that he had put for his pillow and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee."

That stone (so runs the legend) is supposed to have been taken away from Bethel by the House of Joseph, when they destroyed the city and its inhabitants (Judges i.); and a tradition, that whosoever possessed that stone would be especially blessed, and be king or chief, was current among the Jews; the stone itself being guarded by them with jealous care.

On the first destruction of Jerusalem, some of the royal family of Judah are supposed to have escaped, and to have gone in search of an asylum beyond the sea, taking this precious stone with them. Their resting-place was Ireland, where they founded a kingdom. Many centuries afterwards, a brother of the king descended from these exiles, named Fergus, went, with his brother's permission, to found a kingdom in Scotland. He said, however, he would not go without the sacred stone. This his brother refused to give him; but Fergus stole it, and established a kingdom in Scotland. His descendants became kings of all Scotland, and were crowned sitting on that stone, {124} which was taken away by Edward I., and is now in Westminster Abbey.

These are the outlines of this tradition. My object now is to ask whether any of your correspondents can inform me, first, Whether the Jews had, or have, any like superstition concerning Jacob's pillar; and whether the royal family of Judah possessed such a stone among their treasures? Secondly, Whether any Jews are supposed to have settled in Ireland at so early a period; and whether (that being the case) there are now, or were once, proofs of their having done so, either in the Irish language or in any of the ancient laws, customs, buildings, &c. of the country? Thirdly, Whether the Scotch believe that stone to have come from Ireland; and whether that belief in the owner of it being king existed in Scotland? and, lastly, Can any of your correspondents, learned in geology, inform me whether the like kind of stone is to be met with in any part of the British Isles? or whether, as the legend runs, a similar kind of stone is found in the Arabian plains? The story has interested me greatly; and if I could gain any enlightenment on the subject, I should be much obliged for it.

AN INDIAN SUBSCRIBER.

[Several of our historians, as Matthew of Westminster, Hector Boethius,
Robert of Gloucester, the poet Harding, &c., have noticed this singular
legend; but we believe the Rabbinical writers (as suggested by our
Indian correspondent) have never been consulted respecting it.
Sandford, in his valuable _History of the Coronation of James II_.
(fol., 1687, p. 39.), has given some dates and names which will
probably assist our correspondents in elucidating the origin of this
far-famed relic. He says, "Jacob's stone, or _The Fatal Marble Stone_,
is an oblong square, about twenty-two inches long, thirteen inches
broad, and eleven inches deep, of a bluish steel-like colour, mixed
with some veins of red; whereof history relates that it is the stone
whereon the patriarch Jacob is said to have lain his head in the plain
of Luza. That it was brought to Brigantia in the kingdom of Gallacia in
Spain, in which place Gathal, King of Scots, sat on it as his throne.
Thence it was brought into Ireland by Simon Brech, first King of Scots,
about 700 years before Christ's time, and from thence into Scotland, by
King Fergus, about 330 years before Christ. In the year 850 it was
placed in the abbey of Scone in the sherifdom of Perth by King Kenneth,
who caused it to be inclosed in a wooden chair (now called St. Edward's
Chair), and this prophetical distich engraven on it:

'Ni fallat Fatum, Scoti hunc quocunque locatum
Inveniunt lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem.'

'If Fates go right, where'er this stone is found,
The Scots shall monarchs of that realm be crown'd.'

Which is the more remarkable by being fulfilled in the person of James
I. of England." Calmet, however, states that the Mahometans profess to
have this relic in their custody. He says, The Mahometans think that
Jacob's stone was conveyed to the Temple of Jerusalem, and is still
preserved in the mosque there, where the Temple formerly stood. They
call it _Al-sakra_, or the stone of unction. The Cadi Gemaleddin, son
of Vallel, writes, that passing through Jerusalem, in his way to Egypt,
he saw Christian priests carrying glass phials full of wine over the
Sakra, near which the Mussulmen had built their temple, which, for this
reason, they call the Temple of the Stone. The wine which the Christian
priests set upon the stone was no doubt designed for the celebration of
mass there."]

* * * * *

OLD MEREWORTH CASTLE, KENT.

Among your subscribers there are doubtless many collectors of topographical drawings and engravings. I shall feel specially obliged if any of them could find in their collections a view of old Mereworth Castle (as it stood prior to the comparatively modern erection of Lord Westmoreland), and furnish me with a long desiderated description of it. Local tradition represents it as having been a baronial castle rising from the middle of a small lake, like that of Leeds, though of smaller dimensions, with the parish church attached. I should rather conjecture it to have been an ancient moated manor-house, magnified, in the course of tradition, into a baronial castle and lake.

Whatever the old building was, it was pulled down by John, seventh Earl of Westmoreland, during the first half of the last century. Had it been of the character of Leeds Castle, as the representative of a long line of baronial ancestry, he would hardly have levelled such a structure, with all its inspiring associations, merely for the purpose of gratifying his passion for Palladian architecture by the erection of the present mansion.

The ancient building seems to have been the residence of the knightly family of De Mereworth during the twelfth, thirteenth, and part of the fourteenth centuries, and from that time, till near the end of Elizabeth's reign, it ceased to be a _family residence_; for, after passing through various hands (none of whom were likely to have resided there), it descended in 1415 to Joan, wife of the Lord Burgavenny, sister and coheir to the Earl of Arundel. The Burgavennys of that day resided always at their castle of Birling, which circumstance would intimate that it was a grander and more baronial residence than Mereworth Castle (for they had come into possession of both estates very nearly at the same period); and afterwards Mereworth by settlement passed to Sir Thomas Fane of Badsell, in marriage with Mary, daughter and sole heiress of Henry Lord Burgavenny, and "jure suo" Baroness Despencer, in 1574. From that time till its dismantling in the last century, Mereworth Castle was again a family residence, the seat of the Earls of Westmoreland; Francis, eldest son of said Sir Thomas {125} Fane and Mary Baroness Despencer, having been advanced to that earldom. As the seat of a noble family for more than a century and a half, it is hardly likely that no view should have been taken of it; I have searched, however, in vain for it in Harris, Buck, and other published collections.

It would be a matter of special interest to many besides myself, to obtain some information respecting it.

John, seventh earl, the builder of the present Palladian mansion, died in 1762, when the earldom passed to a distant cousin, and the barony of Despencer was called out of abeyance in favour of Sir Francis Dashwood, the son and representative of Mary, sister and _eldest_ co-heir of John, seventh Earl of Westmoreland, and heir to his estates. On his death _s.p._, Sir Thomas Stapleton, sole heir to the Barony of Despencer (as lineal descendant and heir of Catherine, the _younger_ sister and co-heir of the said John, seventh earl), succeeded to the estate; and from him it has lineally descended to Mary, Viscountess Falmouth, and "jure suo" Baroness Despencer, the present representative of the family. At Mereworth Castle itself, where the Viscount and Viscountess Falmouth reside, there is no view of the old building; but it is very possible that some drawing or engraving of it may exist in some of the residences of the Earls of Westmoreland subsequent to the seventh earl, or at the seat of the Dashwoods, or in the British Museum.

I trouble you with this Query, in the hope that, among your numerous readers, some one may be placed in a position to give us information on the subject. In doing so they would greatly oblige

CANTIANUS.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

"_I could not love thee, dear, so much._"--Where are the following lines to be found? what is the context?

"I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not honour more."

H.

_Leicester as Ranger of Snowden._--In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Leicester was made Ranger of Snowden Forest, and using violent means to extort unjust taxes from the people, under cover of this appointment, he was opposed and resisted by eight Welsh gentlemen, under the leadership of Sir Richard Bulkeley, of Baron Hill, in Anglesey. Among these was a Madryn of Madryn, a Hugh ap Richard of Cefnllanfair, a Griffith of Cefn Amlwch, &c. These patriotic gentlemen met with imprisonment in the Tower of London as their only recompense; and there are extant poems by Guttyn, Peris, and other bards, addressed to them on the subject. I should be obliged to any of your correspondents to give me any farther information on this subject, or reference to documents which bear upon it.

ELFFIN AP GWYDDNO.

_Crabb of Telsford._--Any information respecting the settlement of the family of Crabb, or Crabbe, at Telsford, county of Somerset, together with the names of the present representatives of that family, would be most thankfully received through the medium of your valuable pages, or in any other way, by

ONE OF THE NAME.

_Tolling the Bell while the Congregation is leaving Church._--Can you inform me why this is done at Richmond Church; and whether the custom is adopted in any other?[3]

J. H. M.

[Footnote 3: [This custom is observed in many of the London churches.--ED.]]

_O'Brien of Thosmond._--In the _Calendar of Inquisitions post mortem_, there appears one taken on the death of Alicia, wife of Nicholas Thosmound, in the second year of King Henry IV. The estates were in Somersetshire. From the appearance of this name, I suspect it is not an English one; but rather an old form of spelling the name of the province of Tothmound or Thomond (South Munster), Ireland; and that this Nicholas was an O'Brien, who called himself from his family's principality, for it was not uncommon in England formerly to take names from estates. Perhaps some of your correspondents having access to the _Inquisition_ would ascertain more on the subject, and give it to the public. The name of Nicholas O'Brien occurs in the Irish rolls of Chancery about that very period.

A. B.

_Order of St. David of Wales._--In the reign of Queen Elizabeth there was an order of knighthood--the Order of St. David of Wales. When was that Order created? Who was the first knight? Who was the last knight? What prelate was the chaplain to the Order? Why was it dissolved? Why is it not revived again? We have several Welsh peers, noblemen, knights; four bishops, men of science and learning, Welshmen. I hope the good Queen Victoria will revive this ancient order of knighthood, and the Prince of Wales be created the first knight. The emblem of Wales is a red dragon.

Can any of your readers give an account of this ancient order? Some years ago there were several letters in _The Times_, and other papers, respecting it and the Welsh motto. Wales should have its knight as well as Ireland, Scotland, and England.

W.

_Warple-way._--The manor of Richmond, in Surrey, has been the property of the crown for many hundred years, I may say from time {126} immemorial: and in all the old records and plans, the green roads are called "warple-ways." Some of the old plans are marked "w_o_rple way," some "w_a_rple way " Can any of your readers tell me the derivation and meaning of the word, and refer me to an authority?

WM. SMYTHE.

_Purlet._--Nelson, and the subsequent historians of Islington, relate a marvellous story on the authority of _Purlet de Mir. Nat._ x. c. iv.:

"And as to the same heavings, or _tremblements de terre_, it is sayde,
y^t in a certaine fielde neare unto y^e parish church of Islingtoun, in
like manner, did take place a wondrous commotion in uarious partes, y^e
earthe swellinge, and turninge uppe euery side towards y^e midst of y^e
sayde fielde; and, by tradycion of this, it is obserued y^t one Richard
de Clouesley lay buryed in or neare y^t place, and y^t his bodie being
restles, on y^e score of some sinne by him peraduenture committed, did
shewe or seeme to signifye y^t religious obseruance should there take
place, to quiet his departed spirit; whereupon certaine exorcisers, if
wee may so term y^m, did at dede of night, nothing lothe, using divers
diuine exercises at torche light, set at rest y^e unrulie spirit of y^e
shade Clouesley, and y^e earthe did returne aneare to its pristine
shape, neuermore commotion procedeing therefrom to this day, and this I
know of a verie certaintie."--Nelson's _Islington_, 4to. 1811, p. 305.,
or 8vo. 1823, p. 293.

The spelling of this extract seems at least as old as the time of Cloudesley's death (1517), although it would appear to be a translation; and though the exorcism is apparently spoken of as having taken place long before the time of the writer. From these and other circumstances, I am led to suspect that Nelson was the victim of cruel hoax, particularly as I am unable to find any such book as _Purlet de Mir. Nat._ in the British Museum.

Query, Does any such book exist; and if so, where?

FRIDESWIDE.

Islington.

_Liveries, Red and Scarlet._--In a Provincial paper, I noticed a paragraph dating the origin of wearing red coats in fox-hunting from a mandate of Henry II., who it appears made fox-hunting a royal sport, and gave to all distributors of foxes the scarlet uniform of the royal household: this also would involve another question as regards the origin of scarlet being the colour of the royal livery. Can any of your sporting or antiquarian correspondents give me any authority for the former, and any information about the latter?

W. E. W. RUMBOLD.

_Dr. Bragge._--I shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents who will give me information respecting Dr. Bragge, who flourished about the year 1756. Who was he? Where did he get his degree? Who were his chief dupes? Where did he live? He appears, from various inscriptions round an engraved portrait, to have been a great duping dealer in pictures.

E. H.

_Chauncy, or Chancy._--Any reference to works containing biographical notices of Charles Chauncy, or Chancy, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, circa 1620, will oblige

J. Y.

_Plaster Casts._--RUBY would be thankful for a good receipt for bronzing plaster casts.

"[Greek: Sikera]."--In the prophecy regarding the birth of John the Baptist (Luke i. 15.) the angel says:

[Greek: Kai oinon kai sikera ou mê piêi.]

This is in the authorised version (I quote the original 1611 edit.) rightly rendered:

"And shal drinke neither wine nor strong drinke."

Now, in the _Golden Legend_, fol. cxl. (Wynkyn de Worde's edition, London, 1516) is this account:

"For he shal be grete, and of grete meryte tofore our Lord: he shall
not drinke wyne, ne _syder_, ne thynge wherof he myght be dronken."

I need hardly remind your readers that that [Greek: sikera] was often used by the LXX translators for an intoxicating liquor, as distinguished from wine, viz. Levit. x. 9., Numbers vi. 3., &c., and in about nine places; but I do not remember "syder" as _the_ "thynge wherof he myghte be dronken." Can any of your philological friends call to mind a similar version? I do not want to be told the derivation of [Greek: sikera], for that is obvious; nor do I lack information as to the inebriating qualities of "syder," for, alas! an intimate acquaintance with Devonshire has often brought before my notice persons "dronken" with that exhilarating beverage.

RICHARD HOOPER.

St. Stephen's, Westminster.

_Dogs in Monumental Brasses._--Is there any symbolical meaning conveyed in the dogs which are so often introduced at the feet of ladies in brasses, and dogs and lions at the feet of knights? One fact is worthy of notice, that while the omission of the dog is frequent in the brasses of ladies (e.g. in that of Lady Camoys, 1424, at Trotten, Sussex, and Joan, Lady Cobham, 1320, Cobham, Kent, and several others), the lion or dog, as the case may be, of the knight is scarcely ever left out; indeed, I have only been able to find two or three instances. But again, in brasses later than 1460, the dogs and lions are seldom, if ever, found either in the brasses of knights or ladies. Can you afford me any information on these points?

B. H. ALFORD.

Tonbridge, Kent.

{127}

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Marquis of Granby._--In a late number of _Chamber's Journal_ it is stated that there are eighteen taverns in London bearing the sign of the Marquis of Granby. How did this sign become so popular and which marquis was it whose popularity gained him immortality; and when lived he?

J. M. WHARTON.

[This sign is intended as a compliment to John Manners, commonly called
Marquis of Granby, eldest son of John, third Duke of Rutland, who
appears to have been a good, bluff-brave soldier--active, generous,
careful of his men, and beloved by them. Mr. Peter Cunningham
(_Handbook_, p. 398., edit. 1850) informs us, that "Granby spent many
an happy hour at the Hercules Pillars public-house, Piccadilly, where
Squire Western put his horses up, when in pursuit of Tom Jones." He
died, much regretted, on October 19, 1770, without succeeding to the
dukedom.

"What conquests now will Britain boast,
Or where display her banners?
Alas! in GRANBY she has lost
True courage and good MANNERS."

His popularity is shown by the frequent occurrence of his portrait as a
sign-board for public-houses, even of late years; a fact which at once
testifies in favour of his personal qualities, and indicates the low
state of our military fame during the latter half of the last century.]

_"Memorials of English Affairs," &c._--Can you inform me who was the author of a folio volume entitled--

"Memorials of the English Affairs; or an Historical Account of what
passed from the beginning of the Reign of King Charles I. to King
Charles II. his happy 'Restauration;' containing the Public
Transactions, Civil and Military, together with the Private
Consultations and Secrets of the Cabinet. London: printed for Nathanael
Conder, at the Sign of the Peacock in the Poultry, near the Church,
MDCLXXXII."

I have never seen any other copy than the one in my possession.

L. R.

[This work is by Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke. The edition of 1682,
possessed by our correspondent, was published by Arthur, Earl of
Anglesea, who took considerable liberties with the manuscript. The best
edition, containing the passages cancelled by the Earl, is that of
1732, fol. "This work," says Bishop Warburton, "that has been so much
cried up, is a meagre diary, wrote by a poor-spirited, self-interested,
and self-conceited lawyer of eminence, but full of facts." At p. 378.
(edit. 1682) occurs the following entry:--"From the council of state,
Cromwell and his son Ireton went home with Whitelocke to supper, where
they were very cheerful, and seemed extremely well-pleased; they
discoursed together till twelve o'clock at night, and told many
wonderful observations of God's providence in the affairs of the war,
and in the business of the army's coming to London, and seizing the
members of the house, in all which were miraculous passages." To this
sentence in the copy now before us, some sturdy royalist has added the
following MS. note:--"Whitelocke reports this of himself, as being well
pleased with it; and the success of their villany they accounted God's
providence!"]

_Standing when the Lord's Prayer is read._--On Sunday, January 8, the second lesson for morning service is the sixth chapter of St. Matthew, in which occurs the Lord's Prayer. When the officiating clergyman began to read the ninth verse, in which the prayer commences, the congregation at Bristol Cathedral rose, and remained _standing_ till its conclusion. Is this custom observed in other places? and (if there is to be a change of position) why do the congregation _stand_, and not _kneel_, the usual posture of prayer in the Church of England?

CERVUS.

[The custom, we believe, is observed in the majority of churches. The
reasons for standing rather than kneeling seems to be, that when the
Lord's Prayer comes in the course of the lessons it is only read
historically, as a part of a narrative, which indicates that the whole
sacred narrative should be treated, as it was anciently, with the like
reverence. The rubric says nothing about sitting; standing and kneeling
being the only postures expressly recognised. In the curious engraving
of the interior of a church, prefixed to Bishop Sparrow's _Rationale
upon the Book of Common Prayer_, 1661, there is not a seat of any kind
to be seen, pews not having become at this time a general appendage to
churches; probably a few chairs or benches were required for the aged
or infirm.. The only intimation of the sitting posture in our present
Common Prayer-Book occurs in the rubric, enjoining the people to stand
when the Gospel is read, which Wheatly tells us was first inserted in
the Scotch Common Prayer-Book. See "N. & Q.," Vol. ii., pp. 246. 347.]

_Hypocrisy, &c._--Can you inform me with whom originated the following saying: "Hypocrisy is the homage which vice renders to virtue"?

A. C. W.

[The saying originated with the Duke de la Rochefoucault, and occurs in
his _Moral Maxims_, No. 233.]

* * * * *

Replies.

"CONSILIUM NOVEM DELECTORUM CARDINALIUM," ETC.

(Vol. viii., p. 54.)

The Note of your correspondent NOVUS upon this _Consilium_ ought to have been answered before; but as none of your contributors who can speak as "having authority" have undertaken to do so, I beg to offer to your readers the following statements and extracts, collected when my surprise at the assertions of NOVUS was quite fresh. {128}

The first point on which NOVUS requires correction is, the name of the pontiff to whom the _Consilium_ purports to be addressed. NOVUS says Julius III., but the date of this document is unquestionably not later than the beginning of 1538, for Sleidan tells us that editions of it were printed at Rome, at Cologne, at Strasburg, and at another place, in the course of the year 1538; and in the title it is distinctly stated to have been presented to Paul III., who was pope in that year, whilst Julius III. was not elected till 1550.

When NOVUS says that this _Consilium_ "has just been once more quoted, for the fiftieth time, perhaps, within the present generation, as a genuine document, and as proceeding from adherents of the Church of Rome," he falls short of the fact. For _every writer_ of the least mark, or likelihood, whose subject has led him that way, has quoted it: thus, _e.g._, Ranke, who in his great work on _The Popes and the Papacy_, book ii. § 2., refers to it as indicative of no dishonourable design on the part of the supreme pontiff.

Amongst the writers of the time when the _Consilium_ is said to have been drawn up, who regarded it as genuine, we may mention Luther, who, soon after it found its way into Germany, published a translation, with one of his biting caricatures prefixed; and Sturm, who prefaced his translation with a letter to the cardinals to whom it was ascribed, for which reason alone his edition was put in the "Index," no other edition being similarly honoured; and this sufficiently refutes a statement of Schelhorn, in his letter to Cardinal Quirinus, upon which much reliance has been placed by those whom NOVUS would regard as sharers of his opinion.

The appearance of the editions at Cologne and Strasburg in 1538, testifies to the speed with which the _Consilium_ reached Germany. Sleidan asserts that, when it was published there, some fancied it to be fictitious, and intended to ridicule both the Pope and the Reformation; but others, that it was a device of the Pope to gain credit for not being hostile to the correction of certain confessed abuses. In the next year, on July 16th, Aleander wrote to Cochlæus thus:

"Multa haberem scribere de Republica, sed mali custodes estis rerum
arcanarum,--Consiliis Cardinalium promulgatis, cum invectiva Sturmii,
manibus hominum teritur, antequam vel auctoribus edita, vel executioni
fuerit demandata."

Which passage might be regarded as decisive of the question of genuineness, since Aleander was one of the _Cardinales delecti_ whose names are appended to the _Consilium_.

That Le Plat should insert a copy in his _Monument. ad Hist. Concil. Trident. potius illustr. spect._, may, perhaps, be considered an unsatisfactory argument; and the same will certainly be thought of the use of it by Sarpi. But Pallavicini is a witness not obnoxious to objections which apply to them, and he says:

"It happened by Divine Providence, that this _Consilium_ was published,
since it showed what were in fact the deepest wounds in the discipline
of the Church, ascertained with great diligence, and exposed with the
utmost freedom by men of incomparable zeal and knowledge. And these
were neither falsity of dogmas, nor corruption of the Scriptures, nor
wickedness of laws, nor politic craft beneath the garb of humility, nor
impure vices, as the Lutherans asserted; but too great indulgence
towards violations and abrogations of laws, which Luther far more
licentiously abrogated," &c.--Vide book IV. ch. v., at the end.

But Ranke's note upon a casual reference to this document in book I. ch. ii. § 2. of his _History of the Papacy_, completely disposes of the question of its genuineness, and therefore of its "seriousness" (to use one of NOVUS' phrases), when taken in conjunction with what has gone before.

"_Consilium, &c._; printed more than once even at the time, and
important as pointing out the evil, so far as it lay in the
administration of discipline, precisely and without reserve. Long after
it had been printed, _the MS. remained incorporated with the MSS. of
the Curia_."

Were it not that the assertion of NOVUS is so roundly made, and in a form that is sure to adhere in the memories of readers sufficiently interested in the subject to notice his communication, it would have been enough to quote from one of the works he refers to, as containing copies of the _Consilium_, to expose _the origin of his error_; and this, now that I have shown it to be an error, I crave your permission to do. This, then, is what Brown says in his _Appendix ad Fascicul. Rer. Expetend. et Fugiend._ (commonly cited as _Fascicul. vol. ii._), ed. 1690, pp. 230, 231.:

"Sæpius excusum est Consilium sequens, cum alibi, tum hic Londini, A.D.
1609, ex bibliothecâ Wilh. Crashavii, qui in Epistolâ dedicatoriâ ad
Rev^{mum} D. Tobiam Matthæum Archiep. Eboracen. citat quædam è
Commentariis Espencæi in Tit. cap. i. ad hoc Consilium ab omni fraudis
et fictionis suspicione liberandum; _quasi præsensisset Crashavius fore
aliquando ut pro re, omnino ficta et falsa censeretur_; cum id in
novissimis Conciliorum editionibus desiderari, et astute suppressum
esse viderat, ut est in admonitione suâ ad Lectorem. Sed longe aliter
res habebit; _suo enim de sorex prodidit indicio; et Cochlæus ipse (qui
nesciit pro nobis mentiri, quantumvis in causâ suâ parum probus
aliquando), hujusce Consilii fidem ab omni labe improbitatis vindicavit
et asseruit_ in historiâ suâ de Actis et Scriptis Lutheri, ad annum
1539, fol. 312. &c. editionis Colonien. 1568. editum est præterea, hoc
idem Consilium, Parisiis, publicâ authoritate, una cum Guliel. Durandi
tractatu de modo Generalis Concilii celebrandi; Libello Clamengii de
corrupto Ecclesiæ statu; Libello Cardinalis de Alliaco, de emendatione
{129} Ecclesiæ; et Gentiani Herveti oratione de reparandâ Ecclesiasticâ
disciplinâ (quæ omnia, excepto primo, huic appendici inserentur), A.D.
1671. In hac nostrâ editione sequimur virum doctissimum et pium
Hermannum Conringium; adhibitis multis aliis exemplaribus, quæ omniâ
simul in hoc uno leges. _Vin' autem, Lector, aliquid penitius de hoc
Corsilio rescire?_ adisis [_sic_] _P. Paulum Vergerium_ (invisum aliis
sed charum nobis nomen), illiusque annotationes, in Catalogum
hæreticorum consule, fol. 251. tomi primi illius operum Tubingæ editi,
A.D. 1563, in 4to., et siquid noveris de reliquorum tomorum editione,
nos Anglos fac, quæso, certiores. [It would seem that the need of your
"N. & Q." was felt long before any one thought of supplying it.] Audi
vero, interea, vel lege, Hermannum Conringium."

And this is what that "learned and godly" man says:

"Libellus ipse Cardinalis Capuani [Nicholas Schomberg], ut creditur,
cura ad amicum in Germaniam missus, mox anno 1539, et populari nostrâ
et suâ est linguâ per Lutherum et Sturmium editus. _Eundem post
vulgavit_, cum acri ad _Papam Paulum IV. (qui olim fuerat auctorum)_
præfatione, _Petrus Paulus Vergerius_, postquam Protestantium partibus
accessisset."

I will not add to the length of this Note by any farther quotations; but I am bound to say that if those I have given do not satisfy NOVUS, he may expect to be overwhelmed by confirmations of them.

B. D. WOODWARD.

Bungay, Suffolk.

* * * * *

JOHN BUNYAN.

(Vol. ix., p. 104.)

A highly respected correspondent, DR. S. R. MAITLAND, has seen an advertisement in the _Mercurius Reformatus_ of June 11, 1690, announcing the intention of Bunyan's widow to publish ten manuscripts which her husband had left prepared for the press, together with some of his printed treatises which had become scarce. He inquires whether such a publication took place. In reply I beg leave to state that they were published in a small folio, containing "ten [and two fragments] of his excellent manuscripts, and ten of his choice books formerly printed." The volume bears the title of "The Works of that eminent Servant of Christ Mr. John Bunyan, late Minister of the Gospel and Pastor of the Congregation at Bedford. The first volume. London, by Wm. Marshall, 1692." It has the portrait by Sturt, and an impression from the original curious copper-plate inscribed, "A Mapp, showing the order and causes of Salvation and Damnation." In addition to the _Mercurius_, John Dunton and others noticed, in terms of warm approval, the intended publication, which became extensively patronised, but has now become very scarce.

To the lovers of Bunyan it is peculiarly interesting, being accompanied by a tract called "The Struggler," written by one of his affectionate and intimate friends, the Rev. C. Doe, containing a list of Bunyan's works, with the time when each of them was published, some personal characteristic anecdotes, and thirty reasons why all decided Christians should read and circulate these invaluable treatises. A copy presented to me by my worthy friend the late Mr. Creasy of Sleaford, which is in remarkably fine condition, has on the title to the Index a printed dedication to Sir John Hartop of Newington, the patron and friend of Dr. Watts. This volume was to have been followed by a second, to complete Bunyan's works, but difficulties arose as to the copyright of the more popular pieces, which prevented its publication. The original prospectus is preserved in the British Museum, which, with "The Struggler" and a new index to the whole of these truly excellent treatises, is reprinted in my edition of Bunyan's whole works for the first time collected and published, with his Life, in three volumes imperial 8vo., illustrated with fac-similes of all the old woodcuts and many elegant steel plates.

GEORGE OFFOR.

Hackney.

* * * * *

THE ASTEROIDS, ETC.

(Vol. ix., p. 36.)

It is certainly an uncomfortable idea to suppose that the asteroids are the fragments of a former world, perhaps accompanied with satellites which have been scattered either by internal convulsion or external violence. By looking into the constitution and powers contained within our own earth, we know that the means are not wanting to rend us asunder under the combined effects of volcanic action, intense heat, and water, meeting deep within the substance of the earth under great pressure.

However, there is much to be said against the theory of Olbers, notwithstanding its plausibility. The distance between the internal asteroid Flora, and the external one Hygeia, exceeds ninety millions of miles; or nearly the distance between the earth and the sun. The force which could shatter a world into fragments, and drive them asunder to such an extent, must indeed be tremendous.

Mr. Hind has drawn attention to the singular fact, that the asteroids "appear to separate the planets of small mass from the greater bodies of the system, the planets which rotate on their axes in about the same time as our earth from those which are whirled round in less than half that time, though of ten times the diameter of the earth and," he continues, "it may yet be found that these small bodies, so far from being portions {130} of the wreck of a planet, were created in their present state for some wise purpose, which the progress of astronomy in future ages may eventually unfold."

One thing I think is certain, that no disruption of a world belonging to our system could take place without producing some perceptible effect upon every other member of the system. The single centre of attraction being suddenly diffused and spread abroad into many smaller ones, at variable distances, must produce a sudden sway and alteration of position in all the other planets, and to a certain extent, derange their respective economies. From this some striking changes would necessarily arise, such as in the length of their respective periods of revolution, the amount of light and heat, and other physical conditions. Certain geological phenomena should be found to confirm such a change, if these suppositions be true.

As far as the theological part of the question is concerned, it is, I should think, opposed to Olbers' theory. Human intellect can scarcely conceive the necessity for the utter breaking up of a globe, even for the most grievous amount of sin. A more merciful dispensation was granted to our earth in the deluge; and the Power which removed all but eight lives from the earth could have equally removed the eight also, without destroying the integrity of the globe. It is as easy, and far more reasonable I think, to suppose, that the same Power which gave to Saturn a satellite nearly equal in size to Mars, should throw a cluster of minute planetoids into the space which, according to Bodes' empirical law, should have been devoted to one planet of larger dimensions.

Whilst addressing you on astronomical subjects, I would beg leave to offer a few remarks upon Saturn, which I have not observed in any work on astronomy which I have yet consulted. This planet, with its satellites, appear to exhibit a close resemblance to the solar system, just as if it were a model of it.

Besides his rings, Saturn is attended by eight satellites, so far as is at present known. The names of the satellites in their order from the body of the planet, are 1. Mimas, 2. Euceladus, 3. Tethys, 4. Dione, 5. Rhea, 6. Titan, 7. Hyperion, 8. Japetus. If we place them in a list in their order, and overagainst each place the names of the planets in their order from the sun, certain parallelisms will appear:

1. Mimas 1. Mercury.
2. Euceladus 2. Venus.
3. Tethys 3. Earth.
4. Dione 4. Mars.
5. Rhea 5. Asteroids.
6. Titan 6. Jupiter.
7. Hyperion 7. Saturn.
8. Japetus 8. Uranus.

The relative magnitudes and relative positions of these bodies correspond in many points, I believe, so far as is at present known. Titan, like Jupiter, is the largest of his system; being but little less in size than the primary planet Mars. The next in magnitude is Japetus. Rhea is supposed to be of considerable size. The four inner ones are smaller than the others. Sir William Herschell considered that Tethys was larger than Euceladus, and Euceladus larger than Mimas. Dione and Hyperion have not yet been well estimated. These dimensions, if correct, correspond in many points with those of the planets. The first three satellites revolve in orbits of less diameter than that of our moon. The orbit of Dione, the fourth satellite, is almost precisely at the same distance from its primary as the moon is from the earth. As if to carry out the parallelism to the utmost, the zodiacal light of the sun has often been compared to the ring of Saturn.

One remark it would appear arises out of these observations, viz. that the laws of attraction and gravitation seem to require, for the proper regulation of the whole system, that where a number of bodies of various sizes revolve round one common centre, the larger body should revolve at a certain relative distance from that centre. Thus Titan, like a huge pendulum, seems to sway and maintain the regularity of the minor system, just as Jupiter may be imagined to do in the great one.

I must not intrude too far on your valuable space, but there remain some interesting points for discussion in the Saturnian system.

JOHN WILLIAM HARRRIS.

Exon.

* * * * *

CAPS AT CAMBRIDGE.

(Vol. ix., p. 27.)

The extract from an unpublished MS. given by A REGENT M.A. OF CAMBRIDGE refers to the year 1620, as will appear from the following passages in Anthony à Wood's _Hist. and Antiq. of Univ. of Oxford_.

"1614.--In the latter end of the last and beginning of this year, a
spirit of sedition (as I may so call it) possessed certain of the
Regent Masters against the Vicechanc. and Doctors. The chief and only
matter that excited them to it was their sitting like boys,
bare-headed, in the Convocation-House, at the usual assemblies there,
which was not, as 'twas thought, so fit, that the Professors of the
Faculty of Arts (on which the University was founded) should, all
things considered, do it. The most forward person among them, named
Henry Wightwicke, of Gloucester Hall, having had some intimation of a
statute which enabled them to be covered with their caps, and
discovering also something in the large west window of St. Mary's
Church, where pictures of Regents and non-Regents were sitting covered
in assemblies before the Chancellor, clapt {131} on his cap, and spared
not to excite his brethren to vindicate that custom, now in a manner
forgotten; and, having got over one of the Regents to be more zealous
in the matter than himself, procured the hands of most, if not all, of
them to be set to a petition (in order to be sent to the Chancellor of
the University), for the effecting and bringing about the matter. But
the Vicechancellor, Dr. Singleton, having had timely notice of the
design, sends a full relation of the matter to the Chancellor;
whereupon answer was returned, that he should deal therein as he should
think fit. Wightwicke, therefore, being called into question for
endeavouring to subvert the honour and government of the University,
whereby he ran himself into perjury (he having before taken an oath to
keep and maintain the rites, customs, and privileges of the
University), was banished, and his party, who had proved false to him,
severely checkt by the Chancellor.

"At length Wightwicke's friends, laying open to him the danger that he
would run himself into, if he should not seek restauration and submit,
did, after his peevish and rash humour had been much courted to it, put
up a petition (subscribed in his behalf by the Bishop of London and Sir
John Bennett) to the Chancellor of the University for his restauration,
which being with much ado granted, but with this condition, that he
make an humble recantation in the Convocation, sent to his
Vicechancellor what should be done in the matter, and among other
things thus:--'For the manner of his submission and recognition which
he is to make, I will not take upon me to direct, but leave yt wholy
unto your wisdomes, as well for manner as for the matter; only thus
much generally I will intimate unto you, that the affront and offence
committed by Whittwicke in the Congregation House by his late insolent
carriage there was very great and notorious, and that offence
afterwards seconded and redoubled by another as ill or worse than the
former, in his seditious practizing and procuring a multitude of
handes, thereby thinking to justifie and maintain his former errors,
and his proud and insolent disobedience and contempt. I hold yt
therefore very requisite that his submission and recognition, both of
the one fault and of the other, should be as publique and as humble as
possibly with conveniencye may bee. Which being thus openly done, as I
hope yt will bee a good example to others, to deter them from
committing the like offence hereafter, so I do also wishe this his
punishment may be only _ad correctionem et non ad destructionem_."

"This being the effect of the Chancellor's mind, Wightwicke was
summoned to appear to make his submission in the next Convocation,
which being held 25 June this year, he placed himself in the middle of
St. Mary's chancel, and spoke with an audible voice as followeth:

"'Ornatissime Domine Procancellarie, vosque Domini Doctores
pientissimi, quotquot me vel banniendum vel bannitionem meam ratam esse
voluistis ut vobis omnibus et singulis innotescat discupio: me Henricum
Whitwicke pileum coram Domino Vicecancellario Thoma Singleton capiti
haud ita pridem imposuisse, quod nemini Magistrorum in Congregatione
vel Convocatione [in presentia Domini Vicecancellarii aut Doctoris
alicujus] licere fateor. Scitote quæso prætereà, me supradictum
Henricum à sententia Domini Vicecancellarii ad venerabilem Domum
Congregationis provocasse, quod nec licitum nec honestum esse in causa
perturbationis pacis facilè concedo. Scitote denique me solum, manus
Academicorum egregiè merentium Theologia Baccalaureorum et in Artibus
Magistrorum in hac corona astantium Collegiatim et Aulatim cursitando
rescripto apponendas curasse, in quibus omnibus Præfectis [summe]
displicuisse, in pacem almæ hujus Academiæ et in dignissimum nostrum
Procancellarium deliquisse, parum nolenti animo confiteor, et
sanctitates vestras humillimè imploro, ut quæ vel temerè et inconsultò,
vel volenter et scienter feci, ea, ut deceat homines, condonentur.

'HENRICUS WIGHTWICKE.'

Which submission or recognition being ended, he was restored to his
former state, and so forthwith reassumed his place. But this person,
who as lately beneficed at Kingerbury in Lincolnshire, could never be
convinced, when he became Master of Pembroke College, forty-six years
after this time, that he made any submission at all, but carried the
business on and effected it against all the University; as to his young
acquaintance that came often to visit him and he them (for he delighted
in boyish company), he would, after a pedantical way, boast, supposing
perhaps that, having been so many years before acted, no person could
remember it; but record will rise up and justify matters when names and
families are quite extirpated and forgotten among men. Pray see more of
this cap-business in the year 1620."

"1620.--In the beginning of Michaelmas Term following, the
cap-business, mentioned an. 1614, was renewed again: for some
disrelishment of the former transactions remaining behind, the Regent
Masters met together several times for the effecting their designs. At
length, after much ado, they drew up a petition subscribed by
fifty-three of the senior Masters for this year, and presented it to
one whom they knew would not be violent against them, as Dr. Singleton
was before. The beginning of it runs thus:

"'Reverendissimo Viro Domino Doctori Prideaux ornatissimo hujus
Academiæ Vicecan. digniss, &c.

"'Multa jamjudum sunt (reverendissime Vicecancellarie) quæ ab
antiquis hujus Academiæ institutis salubriter profecta, mala tandem
consuetudo, et in pejus potens aut abrogavit penitus aut pessime
corrupit, &c.'

"Among those that subscribed to it were these following, that
afterwards became persons of note, viz, Gilbert Sheldon, Alexand. Gill,
jun., and Anthony Farndon, of Trinity Coll.; Pet. Heylin of Magd. Coll.
[Robert Newlin of C. C. C., &c.]. The chief solicitor of the business
was Rous Clopton of Corpus Ch. Coll., a restless, busy person, and one
afterwards as much noted for his infamy as any of the former for their
learning or place. This petition, I say, being presented to Dr.
Prideaux the Vicechancellor, and he considering well their several
reasons for their sitting covered (one of which was that they were
Judges in Congregations and Convocations), sent it to the Chancellor to
have his consent, who also, after he had considered of it, wrote a
letter to the Vicechancellor, to {132} be communicated to the
Convocation: the chief contents of which are these:

"'After my very harty commendations, I doe take this manner of
proceeding by the Regent Masters (for their sitting covered at
Congregations and Convocations) in soe good part, that although I
might well take some time to advise before I give answer,
especially when I consider how long that custom hath continued, how
much it hath been questioned, and that upon a long debate it hath
been withstood by so grave and wise a Counsellor of State as your
late Chancellor, my immediate predecessor; yet, when I weigh their
undoubted right, their discreet and orderly proceedings to seek it,
not to take it, the chief, if not the only, cause why it was
formerly denied; the good congruity this doth beare, not with
Cambridge alone (though that were motive enough), but all other
places, it being no where seen that those that are admitted Judges
are required to sit bare-headed; I cannot choose but commend and
thus farre yield to theire request as to referre it to the
Convocation House. I hope no man can have cause to think that I
have not the power to continew this custom as well as some others
of my predecessors, if I had a mind to strive; nor that I seek
after their applause in yielding them that now, which hath been so
long kept from them, but the respect I have to their due, to the
decency of the place, and honour of the University, which I cannot
conceive to bee anyway diminished, but rather increased, by their
sitting covered, are the only reasons that have moved me, and
carried me to so quick a resolution, wherewith you may acquaint the
Convocation House with this also, that what they shall conclude I
shall willingly agree to. And soe I doe very hartely take leave,
and rest

Your assured loving friend,
PEMBROOKE.
Baynard's Castle,
this 4 of December, 1620.'

Which letter being publickly read in a Convocation held 20 Dec., it was
then agreed upon by the consent of all there present, that all Masters
of what condition soever might put on their caps in Congregations and
Convocations, yet with these conditions: That in the said assemblies
the said Masters should use only square caps, and not sit bare, or
without cap. And if any were found faulty in these matters, or that
they should bring their hats in the said Assemblies, they should not
only lose their suffrages for that time, but be punished as the
Vicechancellor should think fit. Lastly, it was decreed, under the said
conditions and no otherwise, that in the next Congregation in the
beginning of Hilary Term, and so for ever after, all Masters, of what
condition soever, whether Regents or not Regents, should, in
Congregations and Convocations, put on and use square caps.

"All that shall be said more of this matter is, that the loss of using
caps arose from the negligence of the Masters, who, to avoid the pains
of bringing their caps with them, would sit bare-headed; which being
used by some, was at length followed by all, and so at length became a
custom."

It would seem, from Lord Pembroke's letter, that the right of the senate of this university to wear their caps had not been questioned.