Chapter X: Y. Z

[John Pocklington was first a scholar at Sidney Sussex College, B.D. in
1621, and afterwards a Fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. He
subsequently became Rector of Yelden in Bedfordshire, Vicar of Waresley
in Huntingdonshire, prebend of Lincoln, Peterborough, and Windsor; and
was also one of the chaplains to Charles I. "On the 15th May, 1611, the
Earl of Kent, with consent of Lord Harington, wrote to Sidney College
to dispense with Mr. Pocklington's holding a small living with cure of
souls. {248} See the original letter in the college treasury, box 1 or
6." (Cole's MSS., vol. xlvi. p.207.). Among the King's Pamphlets in the
British Museum is "The Petition and Articles exhibited in Parliament
against John Pocklington, D.D., Parson of Yelden, in Bedfordshire, anno
1641." The petition "humbly sheweth, That John Pocklington, D.D.,
Rector of the parish of Yelden in the county of Bedford, Vicar of
Waresley in the county of Huntingdon, Prebend of Lincoln, Peterborough,
and Windsor, hath been a chief author and ringleader in all those
innovations which have of late flowed into the Church of England." The
Articles exhibited (too long to quote) are singularly illustrative of
the ecclesiastical usages in the reign of Charles I., and would make a
curious appendix to the REV. H. T. ELLACOMBE'S article at p. 257. of
the present Number. Having rendered himself obnoxious to the popular
faction by the publication of his _Altare Christianum_ and _Sunday no
Sabbath_, the parliament that met on Nov. 3, 1640, ordered these two
works to be burnt by the common hangman in both the Universities, and
in the city of London. He died on November 14, and was buried Nov. 16,
1642, in the churchyard of Peterborough Cathedral. On his monumental
slab is the following inscription: "John Pocklington, S.S. Theologia
Doctor, obiit Nov. 14, 1642." A copy of his will is in the British
Museum (Lansdown, 990, p. 74.). It is dated Sept. 6, 1642; and in it
bequests are made to his daughters Margaret and Elizabeth, and his sons
John and Oliver. His wife Anne was made sole executrix. He orders his
body "to be buried in Monk's churchyard, at the foot of those monks
martyrs whose monument is well known: let there be a fair stone with a
great crosse cut upon it laid on my grave." For notices of Dr.
Pocklington, see Willis's _Survey of Cathedrals_, vol. iii. p. 521.;
Walker's _Sufferings of the Clergy_, Part II. p. 95.; and Fuller's
_Church History_, book xi. cent. xvii. sect. 30-33.]

_Last Marquis of Annandale._--1. When and where did he die? 2. Any particulars regarding his history? 3. When and why was Lochwood, the family residence, abandoned? 4. How many marquisses were there, and were any of them men of any note in their day and generation?

ANNANDALE.

[The first marquis was William Johnstone, third Earl of Annandale and
Hartfell, who was advanced 4th June, 1701, to the Marquisate of
Annandale. He died at Bath, 14th January, 1721, and was succeeded by
his son James, who died 21st February, 1730. George, his half-brother,
born 29th May, 1720, was the third and last Marquis of Annandale. An
inquest from the Court of Chancery, 5th March, 1748, found this marquis
a lunatic, and incapable of governing himself and his estate, and that
he had been so from the 12th December, 1744. He died at Turnham Green
on the 29th April, 1792, in the seventy-second year of his age, and was
buried at Chiswick, 7th May following. (_Gent. Mag._, May, 1792, p.
481.) Since his decease the honours of the house of Annandale have
remained dormant, although they have been claimed by several branches
of the family. (Burke's _Extinct Peerages_.) Before the union of the
two crowns the Johnstones were frequently wardens of the west borders,
and were held in enthusiastic admiration for their exploits against the
English, the Douglasses, and other borderers. During the wars between
the two nations, they effectually suppressed the plunderers on the
borders; hence their device, a winged spur, and their motto, "Alight
thieves all," to denote their authority in commanding them to
surrender. Lochwood, the ancient seat of the Marquisses of Annandale,
was inhabited till 1724, three years after the death of the first
marquis, when it was finally abandoned by the family, and suffered
gradually to fall into decay. In _The New Statistical Account of
Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 112., we read "that the principal estate in the
parish of Moffat has descended to Mr. Hope Johnstone of Annandale, to
whom it is believed the titles also, in so far as claimed, of right
belong, and whose restoration to the dormant honours of the family
would afford universal satisfaction in this part of Scotland; because
it is the general feeling that he has a right to them, and that in his
family they would not only be supported, but graced." Some farther
particulars of the three marquisses will be found in Douglass' _Peerage
of Scotland_ (by Wood), vol. i. p. 75., and in _The Scots Compendium_,
edit. 1764, p. 151.]

_Heralds' College._--Richard III. incorporated the College of Arms in 1483, and that body consisted of three kings of arms, six heralds, and four pursuivants. Can you inform me of the names of these _first_ members of that Heraldic body?

ESCUTCHEON.

---- Vicarage.

[Mark Noble, in his _History of the College of Arms_, p. 57., remarks,
"There is nothing more difficult than to obtain a true and authentic
series of the heralds, previous to the foundation of the College of
Arms, or, to speak more properly, the incorporation of that body. Mr.
Lant, Mr. Anstis, Mr. Edmondson, and other gentlemen, who had the best
opportunities, and whose industry was equal to their advantage, have
not been able to accomplish it; and from that time, especially in
Richard's reign, it is not practicable. Some idea may be formed of the
heraldic body at the commencement of this reign, by observing the names
of those who attended the funeral of Edward IV. Sandford and other
writers mention Garter, Clarenceux, Norroy, March, and Ireland, _kings_
at arms; Chester, Leicester, Gloucester, and Buckingham, _heralds_; and
Rouge-Croix, Rose-Blanch, Calais, Guisnes, and Harrington,
_pursuivants_."]

_Teddy the Tiler._--Who was Teddy the Tiler?

W. P. E.

[This is a fire-and-water farce, taken from the French by G. Herbert
Rodwell, Esq., ending with one element and beginning with the other.
Mr. Power's performance of Teddy, as many of our readers will remember,
kept the audience in one broad grin from beginning to end. It will be
found in Cumberland's _British Theatre_, vol. xxv., with remarks,
biographical and critical.]

{249}

_Duchess of Mazarin's Monument._--I read yesterday, in an interesting French work, that the beautiful Hortense Mancini, a niece of Mazarin, and sister to Mary Mancini, the early love of Louis XIV., after various peregrinations, died at Chelsea, in England, on July 2, 1699. Although not an important question, I think I may venture to ask whether any monument or memorial of this remarkable beauty exists at Chelsea, or in its neighbourhood?

W. ROBSON.

[Neither Faulkner nor Lysons notices any monumental memorial to the
Duchess of Mazarin, whose finances after the death of Charles II. (who
allowed her a pension of 4,000l. per annum) were very slender, so much
so that, according to Lysons, it was usual for the nobility and others,
who dined at her house, to leave money under the plates to pay for
their entertainment. She appears to have been in arrear for the parish
rates during the whole time of her residence at Chelsea.]

_Halcyon Days._--What is the derivation of "halcyon days?"

W. P. E.

[The halcyon, or king's fisher, a bird said to breed in the sea, and
that there is always a calm during her incubation; hence the adjective
figuratively signifies placid, quiet, still, peaceful: as Dryden
says,--

"Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be,
As halcyons brooding on a winter's sea."

"The halcyon," says Willsford, in his _Nature's Secrets_, p. 134., "at
the time of breeding, which is about fourteen days before the winter
solstice, foreshews a quiet and tranquil time, as it is observed about
the coast of Sicily, from whence the proverb is transported, the
halcyon days."]

* * * * *

Replies.

DOGS IN MONUMENTAL BRASSES.

(Vol. ix., p. 126.)

I may refer MR. B. H. ALFORD to the Oxford _Manual of Monumental Brasses_, p. 56., for an answer to his Query:

"Knights have no peculiar devices besides their arms, unless we are to
consider the lions and dogs beneath their feet as emblematical of the
virtues of courage, generosity, and fidelity, indispensable to their
profession. One or two dogs are often at the feet of the lady. They are
probably intended for some favourite animal, as the name is
occasionally inscribed," &c.

Neither dog nor lion occurs at the feet of the following knights represented on brasses prior to 1460:

"c. 1450. Sir John Peryent, Jun., Digswell, Herts. (engd. Boutell.)

1455. John Daundelyon, Esq., Margate. (ditto.)

c. 1360. William de Aldeburgh, Aldborough, Yorkshire. (engd. _Manual_.)

c. 1380. Sir Edward Cerue, Draycot Cerue, Wiltshire. (engd. Boutell.)

1413. c. 1420. John Cressy, Esq., Dodford, Northants. (ditto.)

1445. Thomas de St. Quintin, Esq., Harpham, Yorkshire. (ditto.)"

Whilst a dog is seen in the following:

"1462. Sir Thomas Grene, Green's Norton, Northants. (ditto.)

1510. John Leventhorpe, Esq., St. Helen's, Bishopsgate. (_Manual._)

1471. Wife of Thomas Colte, Esq., Roydon, Essex.

c. 1480. Brass at Grendon, Northants.

c. 1485. Brass, Latton, Essex.

1501. Robert Baynard, Esq., Laycock, Wilts."

These examples are described or engraved in the works of the Rev. C. Boutell, or in the Oxford _Manual_, and I have little doubt that my own collection of rubbings (if I had leisure to examine it) would supply other examples under both of these sections.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

It is usually asserted that the dog appears at the feet of the lady in monumental brasses as a symbol of fidelity; while the lion accompanies her lord as the emblem of strength and courage. These distinctions, however, do not appear to have been much attended to. The dog, in most cases a greyhound, very frequently appears at the feet of a knight or civilian, as on the brasses of the Earl of Warwick, 1401, Sir John Falstolf at Oulton, 1445, Sir John Leventhorpe at Sawbridgeworth, 1433, Sir Reginald de Cobham at Lingfield, 1403, Richard Purdaunce, Mayor of Norwich, 1436, and Peter Halle, Esquire, at Herne, Kent, 1420. Sir John Botiler, at St. Bride's, Glamorganshire, 1285, has a dragon; and on the brass of Alan Fleming, at Newark, 1361, appears a lion with a human face seizing a smaller lion. On a very late brass of Sir Edward Warner, at Little Plumstead, Norfolk, 1565, appears a greyhound, a full century after the date assigned by B. H. ALFORD for the cessation of these symbolical figures.

Sometimes the lady has two little dogs, as Lady Bagot, at Baginton, Warwickshire, 1407; and in one instance, that of Lady Peryent, at Digswell, Herts, 1415, there is a hedgehog, the meaning of which is sufficiently obvious. B. H. ALFORD, in noticing the omission of the dog in the brass of Lady Camoys at Trotton, 1424, has not mentioned a singular substitute which is found for it, namely, the figure of a boy or young man, standing by the lady's right foot: but what this means I cannot attempt to determine; perhaps her only son.

It may be interesting to add that some brasses of ecclesiastics exhibit strange figures, not easy to interpret, if meant as symbolical. The brass at {250} Oulton, of the priest ---- de Bacon, 1310, has a lion; that of the Abbot Delamere, at St. Albans, 1375, two dragons; that of a priest at North Mimms, about 1360, a stag; and, still more extraordinary, that of Laurence Seymour, a priest, at Higham Ferrers, 1337, two dogs contending for a bone.

F. C. H.

* * * * *

SNEEZING.

(Vol. viii., pp. 366. 624.; Vol. ix., p. 63.)

I can add another item of the folk lore to those already quoted. One of the salutations, by which a sneezer is greeted amongst the lower class of Romans at the present day, is _Figli maschi_, "May you have male children!"

The best essay on _sneezing_, that I am acquainted with, is to be found in Strada's _Prolusions_, book iii. Prol. 4., in which he replies at some length, and not unamusingly, to the Query, "Why are sneezers saluted?" It seems to have arisen out of an occurrence which had recently taken place at Rome, that a certain _Pistor Suburranus_, after having sneezed twenty-three times consecutively, had expired at the twenty-fourth sneeze: and his object is to prove that Sigonius was mistaken in supposing that the custom of saluting a sneezer had only dated from the days of Gregory the Great, when many had died of the plague in the act of sneezing. In opposition to this notion, he adduces passages from Apuleius and Petronius Arbiter, besides those from Ammianus, Athenæus, Aristotle, and Homer, already quoted in your pages by MR. F. J. SCOTT. He then proceeds to give five causes from which the custom may have sprung, and classifies them as religious, medical, facetious, poetical, and augural.

Under the first head, he argues that the salutation given to sneezers is not a mere expression of good wishes, but a kind of veneration: "for," says he, "we rise to a person sneezing, and humbly uncover our heads, and deal reverently with him." In proof of this position, he tells us that in Ethiopia, when the emperor sneezed, the salutations of his adoring gentlemen of the privy chamber were so loudly uttered as to be heard and re-echoed by the whole of his court; and thence repeated in the streets, so that the whole city was in simultaneous commotion.

The other heads are then pursued with considerable learning, and some humour; and, under the last, he refers us to St. Augustin, _De Doctr. Christ._ ii. 20., as recording that--

"When the ancients were getting up in the morning, if they chanced to
sneeze whilst putting on their shoes, they immediately went back to bed
again, in order that they might get up more auspiciously, and escape
the misfortunes which were likely to occur on that day."

One almost wishes that people now-a-days would sometimes consent to follow their example, when they have "got out of bed the wrong way."