Chapter C: D. Lamont

Greenock.

_Dragons' Blood._--A peculiar custom exists amongst a class, with whom unfortunately the schoolmaster has not yet come very much in contact, when supposed to be deserted or slighted by a lover, of procuring dragons' blood; which being carefully wrapped in paper, is thrown on the fire, and the following lines said:

"May he no pleasure or profit see,
Till he comes back again to me."

B. J. S.

_Charm for the Ague.--_

"Cut a few hairs from the cross marked on a donkey's shoulders. Enclose
these hairs in a small bag, and wear it on your breast, next to the
skin. If you keep your purpose secret, a speedy cure will be the
result."

The foregoing charm was told to me a short time since by the agent of a large landed proprietor in a fen county. My informant gravely added, that he had known numerous instances of this charm being practised, and that in every case a cure had been effected. From my own knowledge, I can speak of another charm for the ague, in which the fen people put great faith, viz. a spider, covered with dough, and taken as a pill.

CUTHERT BEDE, B.A.

* * * * *

PSALMS FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN--HEBREW MUSIC.

The words [Hebrew: LMNTSCH BNGYNWT], at the head of Psalms iv., liv., lv., lxvii., and lxxvi., are rendered in the Septuagint and Vulgate [Greek: eis to telos], _in finem_, as if they had read [Hebrew: LANETSACH], omitting the [Hebrew: M] formative. The Syriac and Arabic versions omit this superscription altogether, from ignorance of the {243} musical sense of the words. The Chaldee reads [Chaldee: LSHBCH' `L CHNGYT'], "to be sung on the pipe." The word [Hebrew: LMNTSCH] is (from [Hebrew: NTSCH], to overcome, excel, or accomplish) a performance, and Aquila translates the entire title, [Greek: tôi nikopoiôi en psalmois melôdêma tôi Dauid]; and Jerome, _Victori in Canticis, Psalmus David_. But Symmachus, [Greek: epinikios dia psaltêriôn ôidê]; and Theodotius, [Greek: eis to nikos humnois], who must have read [Hebrew: LNTSCH]. The best reading is that of the present text, [Hebrew: LMNTSCH], which Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi render chief singer, or leader of the band (=_moderatorem chori musici_), as appropriate for a psalm to sung and played in divine service. Therefore the proper translation is, "For the leading performer upon the neginoth." The neginoth appear from the Greek translations, [Greek: dia psaltêriôn] and [Greek: en psalmois] ([Greek: psallein] = playing on strings). and from its root, [Hebrew: NGN], _to strike_, to be stringed instruments, struck by the fingers or hand.

The words [Hebrew: LMNTSCH 'L HNCHYLWT] at the head of Psalm v. (for this is the only one so superscribed) should, perhaps, be read with [Hebrew: `L] instead of [Hebrew: 'L] meaning, "For the leading performer on the nehiloth." The nehiloth appear from the root [Hebrew: CHLL], _to bore through_, and in Piel, _to play the flute_, to be the same instruments as the _ná-y_ of the Arabs, similar to the English flute, blown, not transversely as the German flute, but at the end, as the oboe. But the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotius translate [Greek: huper tês klêronomousês]: and hence the Vulgate _pro ea, quæ hereditatem consequitur_; and Jerome, _pro hereditatibus_. Suidas explains [Greek: klêronomousa] by [Greek: ekklêsia], which is the sense of the Syriac.

Psalm vi. is headed [Hebrew: BNGYNWT `L HSHMYNYT], and Psalm vi. [Hebrew: `L SHMYNYT], without the "neginoth;" and the "sheminith" is also mentioned (Chron. xv. 21.). The Chaldee and Jarchi translate "Harps of eight strings." The Septuagint, Vulgate, Aquila, and Jerome, [Greek: huper tês ogdoês], appear also to have understood an instrument of eight strings.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

"_Garble._"--MR. C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY has called attention to a growing corruption in the use of the word "eliminate," and I trust he may be able to check its progress. The word _garble_ has met with very similar usage, but the corrupt meaning is now the only one in which it is ever used, and it would be hopeless to try and restore it to its original sense.

The original sense of "to _garble_" was a good one, not a bad one; it meant a selection of the good, and a discarding of the bad parts of anything: its present meaning is exactly the reverse of this. By the statute 1 Rich. III. c. 11., it is provided that no bow-staves shall be sold "ungarbled:" that is (as Sir E. Coke explains it), until the good and sufficient be severed from the bad and insufficient. By statute 1 Jac. I. c. 19., a penalty is imposed on the sale of spices and drugs not "garbled;" and an officer called the _garbler_ of spices is authorised to enter shops, and view the spices and drugs, "and to _garble_ and make clean the same." Coke derives the word either from the French _garber_, to make fine, neat, clean; or from _cribler_, and that from _cribrare_, to sift, &c. (4 Inst. 264.)

It is easy to see how the corruption of this word has taken place; but it is not the less curious to compare the opposite meanings given to it at different times.

E. S. T. T.

_Deaths in the Society of Friends, 1852-3._--In "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 488., appeared a communication on the great longevity of persons at Cleveland in Yorkshire. I send you for comparison a statement of the deaths in the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland, from the year 1852 to 1853, the accuracy of which may be depended on; from which it appears that one in three have attained from 70 to 100 years, the average being about 74½; and that thirty-seven attain from 80 to 90, and eight from 90 to 100. It would be useful to ascertain to what the longevity of the inhabitants of Cleveland may be attributed, whether to the situation where they reside, or to their social habits.

The total number of the Society was computed to be from 19,000 to 20,000, showing the deaths to be rather more than 1½ per cent. per annum. Great numbers are total abstainers from strong drink.

+----------------+---------+---------+---------+
| Ages. | Male. | Female. | Total. |
+----------------+---------+---------+---------+
| Under 1 year | 13 | 8 | 21 |
| Under 5 years | 18 | 13 | 31 |
| From 5 to 10 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| ,, 10 to 15 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| ,, 15 to 20 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| ,, 20 to 30 | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| ,, 30 to 40 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| ,, 40 to 50 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| ,, 50 to 60 | 16 | 14 | 30 |
| ,, 60 to 70 | 26 | 34 | 60 |
| ,, 70 to 80 | 20 | 46 | 66 |
| ,, 80 to 90 | 13 | 24 | 37 |
| ,, 90 to 100 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
+----------------+---------+---------+---------+
| All ages | 144 | 188 | 332 |
+----------------+---------+---------+---------+

W. C.

Plymouth.

{244}

_The Eastern Question._--The following extract from _Tatler_, No. 155., April 6, 1710, appears remarkable, considering the events of the present day:

"The chief politician of the Bench was a great assertor of paradoxes.
He told us, with a seeming concern, 'that by some news he had lately
read from Muscovy, it appeared to him there was a storm gathering in
the Black Sea, which might in time do hurt to the naval forces of this
nation.' To this he added, 'that, for his part, he could not wish to
see the Turk driven out of Europe, which he believed could not but be
prejudicial to our woollen manufacture.' He then told us, 'that he
looked upon those extraordinary revolutions which had lately happened
in those parts of the world, to have risen chiefly from two persons who
were not much talked of; and those,' says he, 'are Prince Menzicoff and
the Duchess of Mirandola.' He backed his assertions with so many broken
hints, and such a show of depth and wisdom, that we gave ourselves up
to his opinions."

F. B. RELTON.

_Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin._--It is remarkable (and yet it has not been noticed, I believe, by his biographers) that Dean Swift was suspended from his degree of B.A. in Trinity College, Dublin, for exciting disturbances within the college, and insulting the junior dean. He and another were sentenced by the Board to ask pardon publicly of the junior dean, on their knees, as having offended more atrociously than the rest. These facts afford the true solution of Swift's animosity towards the University of Dublin, and account for his determination to take the degree of M.A. at Oxford; and the solution receives confirmation from this, that the junior dean, for insulting whom he was punished, was the same Mr. Owen Lloyd (afterwards professor of divinity and Dean of Down) whom Swift has treated with so much severity in his account of Lord Wharton.

ABHBA.

_English Literature._--Some French writer (Victor Hugo, I believe) has said that English literature consists of four distinct literatures, English, American, Scottish, and Irish, each having a different character. Has this view of our literature been taken, and exhibited in all its aspects, by any English writer and if so, by whom?

J. M.

Oxford.

_Irish Legislation._--I have met with the following statement: is it to be received as true? In May, 1784, a bill, intended to limit the privilege of franking, was sent from Ireland for the royal sanction; and in it was a clause enacting that any member who, from illness or other cause, should be unable to write, might authorise some other person to frank for him, provided that on the back of the letter so franked the member gave at the same time, under his hand, a full certificate of his inability to write.

ABHBA.

_Anecdote of George IV. and the Duke of York._--The following letter was written in a boy's round hand, and sent with some China cups:

Dear Old Mother Batten,

Prepare a junket for us, as Fred. and I are coming this evening. I send
you these cups, which we have stolen from the old woman [the queen].
Don't you say anything about it.

GEORGE.

The above was found in the bottom of one of the cups, which were sold for five guineas on the death of Mr. Nichols, who married Mother Batten. The cups are now in possession of a Mr. Toby, No. 10. York Buildings, St. Sidwells, Exeter.

JULIA R. BOCKETT.

Southcote Lodge.

* * * * *

Queries.

ANONYMOUS WORKS: "POSTHUMOUS PARODIES," "ADVENTURES IN THE MOON," ETC.

A remote correspondent finds all help to fail him from bibliographers and cotemporary reviewers in giving any clue to the authorship of the works described below. But he has been conversant enough with the "N. & Q." to perceive that no Query, that he is aware, has yet been started in its pages involving a problem, for which somebody among its readers and contributors has not proved a match. Encouraged thereby, he tenders the three following titles, in the full faith that his curiosity, which is pretty strong, will not have been transmitted over the waste of waters but to good result.

1. _Posthumous Parodies, and other Pieces_, by several of our most celebrated poets, but not before published in any former edition of their works: John Miller, London, 12mo., 1814. This contains some twenty imitations or over, of the more celebrated minor poems, all of a political cast, and breathing strongly the tone of the anti-Jacobin verse; executed for the most part, and several of them in particular, with great felicity. Among that sort of _jeux d'esprit_ they hardly take second place to _The Knife Grinder_, the mention of which reminds me to add that it is manifest enough, from half-a-dozen places in the volume, that Canning is the "magnus Apollo" of the satirist. The final piece (in which the writer drops his former vein) is written in the spirit of sad earnest, in odd contrast with the preceding _facetiæ_, and betokening, in some lines, a disappointed man. Yet, strange to tell, through all the range of British criticism of that year, there is an utter unconsciousness of its existence. Whether there be another copy on this side the Atlantic, besides the one which enables me to {245} make these few comments, your correspondent greatly doubts. One living person there is on the other side, it is believed, who could throw light on this question, if these lines should be so fortunate as to meet his eye; since he is referred to, like many others, by initials and terminals, if not in full--Mr. John Wilson Croker.

2. _Adventures in the Moon and other Worlds_: Longman & Co., sm. 8vo., 1836. Of this work, a friend of the writer (who has but partially read it as yet himself), of keen discernment, says: "It is a work of very marked character. The author is an uncommonly skilful and practical writer, a philosophical thinker, and a scholar familiar with foreign literature and wide reaches of learning. He has great ingenuity and fancy withal; so that he is at the same time exceedingly amusing, and suggestive of weighty and subtle thoughts." This, too, is neglected by all the reviews.

3. _Lights, Shadows, and Reflections of Whigs and Tories_: Lond. 12mo., 1841. This is a retrospective survey of the several administrations of George III. from 1760 (his accession) to the regency in 1811; evincing much political insight, with some spirited portraits, and indicative both of a close observation of public measures and events, and of personal connexion or intercourse with men in high place. There is a notice of this in the _London Spectator_ of 1841 (May 29th), and in the old _Monthly Review_; but neither, it is plain, had the author's secret.

HARVARDIENSIS.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, N.E.

P.S.--Two articles of recent time in the _London Quarterly Review_, the writer would fain trace to their source; "The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey," edited by the Rev. Charles Cuthbert Southey, No. 175. (1851), and "Physiognomy," No. 179. (1852), having three works as the caption of the article, Sir Charles Bell's celebrated work being one.

BLIND MACKEREL.

Can any of your numerous contributors, who may be lovers of ichthyology, inform me whether or not the mackerel is blind when it first arrives on our coasts? I believe it to be blind, and for the following reasons:--A few years ago, while beating up channel early in June, on our homeward-bound voyage from the West Indies, some of the other passengers and myself were endeavouring to kill time by fishing for mackerel, but without success.

When the pilot came on board and saw what we were about, he laughed at us, and said, "Oh, gentlemen, you will not take them with the hook, because the fish is blind." We laughed in our turn, thinking he took us for flat-fish, and wished to amuse himself at our expense. Observing this he said, "I will convince you that it is so," and brought from his boat several mackerel he had taken by net. He then pointed out a film over the eye, which he said prevented the fish seeing when it first made our coast, and explained that this film gradually disappeared, and that towards the middle of June the eye was perfectly clear, and that the fish could then take the bait.

I have watched this fish for some years past, and have invariably observed this film quite over the eye in the early part of the mackerel season, and that it gradually disappears until the eye is left quite clear. This film appears like an ill-cleared piece of calf's-foot jelly spread over the eye, but does not strike you as a natural part of the fish, but rather as something extraneous. I have also remarked that when the fish is boiled, that this patch separates, and then resembles a piece of discoloured white of egg. This film may be observed by any one who takes the trouble of looking at the eye of the mackerel.

I have looked into every book on natural history I could get hold of, and in none is the slightest notice taken of this; therefore I suppose my conclusion as to its blindness is wrong; but I do not consider this to be conclusive, as all we can learn from books is, "_Scomber_ is the mackerel genus, and is too well known to require description." I believe less is known about fish than any other animals; and should you think this question on natural history worthy a place in your "N. & Q.," I will feel obliged by your giving it insertion.

AN ODD FISH.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Original Words of old Scotch Airs._--Can any one tell me where the original words of many fine old Scotch airs are to be found? The wretched verses of Allan Ramsay, and others of the same school, are adapted to the "Yellow-haired Laddie," "Ettrick Banks," "The Bush aboon Traquair," "Mary Scott," and hundreds of others. There must exist old words to many of these airs, which at least will possess some local characteristics, and be a blessed change from the "nymphs" and "swains," the "Stephens" and "Lythias," which now pollute and degrade them. Any information on this subject will be received most thankfully. I particularly wish to recover some old words to the air of "Mary Scott." The only verse I remember is this,--

"Mary's black, and Mary's white,
Mary is the king's delight;
The king's delight, and the prince's marrow,
Mary Scott, the Flower of Yarrow."