Chapter I: Part 1

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

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"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

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No. 23.] SATURDAY, APRIL 6. 1850. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page
Periplus of Hanno, by R.T. Hampson 361
Pope Vindicated 362
The Supper of the Lorde 362
Folk Lore:--Palm Sunday Wind--Curious Symbolical Custom--The Wild
Huntsman 363
On Authors and Books, No. VI, by Bolton Corney 363

QUERIES:--
Nicholas Breton's Crossing of Proverbs, by J.P. Collier 364
Sword called Curtana, by E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. 364
Is the Dombec the Domesday of Alfred? by George Munford 365
Minor Queries:--Wickliffite Versions of the Scriptures--Gloves--Law
Courts at St. Alban's--Milton Pedigree--Sapcote Motto--Scala Coeli,
&c. 366

REPLIES:--
The Arabic Numerals and Cipher 367
Replies to Minor Queries, by Sir W.C. Trevelyan 368
Derivation of "News" 369
Replies to Minor Queries:--Swot--Pokership--Vox Populi--Living Dog better
than dead Lion--Curious Monumental Brasses--Chapels--Forthlot--Loscop--
Smelling of the Lamp--Anglo-Saxon MS. of Orosius--Golden Frog--Sword
of Charles I.--John Bull--Vertue MSS.--Lines attributed to Tom Brown,
&c. 369

MISCELLANIES:--
Epigram by La Monnoye--Spur Money--Minimum de Malls--Epigram on Louis
XIV.--Macaulay's Young Levite--St. Martin's Lane--Charles Deering,
M.D. 373

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 375
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 375
Notices to Correspondents 375
Advertisements 376

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PERIPLUS OF HANNO THE CARTHAGINIAN.

I am not sufficiently Quixotic to attempt a defence of the Carthaginians on the western coast of Africa, or any where else, but I submit that the accusation brought against them by Mr. S. Bannister, formerly Attorney-General of New South Wales, is not sustained by the only record we possess of Hanno's colonising expedition. That gentleman, in his learned _Records of British Enterprise beyond Sea_, just published, says, in a note, p. xlvii.:--

"The first nomade tribe they reached was friendly, and furnished Hanno with _interpreters_. At length they discovered a nation _whose language was unknown to the interpreters_. These strangers they attempted to seize; and, upon their resistance, they took three of the women, whom they put to death, and carried their skins to Carthage" (_Geogr. Graeci Minores_, Paris, 1826, p. 115.).

Hanno obtained interpreters from a people who dwelt on the banks of a large river, called the Lixus, and supposed to be the modern St. Cyprian. Having sailed thence for several days, and touched at different places, planting a colony in one of them, he came to a mountainous country inhabited by savages, who wore skins of wild beasts, [Greek: dermata thaereia enaemmenon]. At a distance of twelve days' sail he came to some Ethiopians, who could not endure the Carthaginians, and who spoke unintelligibly even to the Lixite interpreters. These are the people whose women, Mr. Bannister says, they killed. Hanno sailed from this inhospitable coast fifteen days, and came to a gulf which he calls [Greek: Notou Kera], or South Horn.

"Here," says the Dr. Hawkesworth, of Carthage, "in the gulf,
was an island, like the former, containing a lake, and in
this another island, full of wild men; but the women were
much more numerous, _with hairy bodies_ ([Greek: daseiai tois
somasin]), whom the interpreters called [Greek: gorillas].
We pursued the men, who, flying to precipices, defended
themselves with stones, and could not be taken. Three women,
who bit and scratched their leaders, would not follow them.
Having killed them, we brought their skins to Carthage."

He does not so much as intimate that the creatures who so defended themselves with stones, or those whose bodies were covered with hair, spoke any language. Nothing but the words [Greek: anthropoi agrioi] and [Greek: gunaikes] can lead us to believe that they were human beings at all; while the description of the behaviour of the men, and the bodies of the women, is not repugnant to the supposition that they were large apes, baboons, or orang-outangs, common to this part of Africa. At all events, the voyagers do not say that they flayed a people having the faculty of speech.

It is not, however, improbable that the Carthaginians were severe taskmasters of the people whom they subdued. Such I understand those to have been who opened the British tin mines, and who, according to Diodorus Siculus, excessively overworked the wretches who toiled for them, "wasting their bodies underground, and dying, {362} many a one, through extremity of suffering, while others perished under the lashes of the overseer." (_Bibl. Hist._ l. v. c. 38.)

R.T. Hampson.

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POPE VINDICATED.

"P.C.S.S." is too great an admirer of Pope not to seek to vindicate him from one, at least, of the blunders attributed to him by Mr. D. Stevens, at p. 331. of the "Notes and Queries."

"Singed are his _brows_, the scorching _lids_ grow black."

Now, if Mr. S. will refer to Homer, he will find that the original fully justifies the use of "brows" and "lids" in the _plural_. It runs thus (_Od._ ix. v. 389.):

"[Greek: Panta de ui blephar amphi kai ophruas eusen autmae]."

"P.C.S.S." wishes that he could equally remove from Pope the charge of inaccuracy respecting the _three_ cannibal meals of Polyphemus. He fears that nothing can be alleged to impugn Mr. Stevens's perfectly just criticism.

While on the subject of Pope, "P.C.S.S." would wish to advert to a communication (No. 16. p. 246.) in which it is insinuated that Pope was probably indebted to Petronius Arbiter for the well-known passage--

"Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leather and prunella."

With all respect for the ingenious author of that communication, "P.C.S.S." confesses that he is unable to discover such a similitude of expression as might warrant the notion that Pope had been a borrower from Petronius. He cannot suppose that Mr. F. could have been led away by any supposed analogy between _corium_ and _coricillum_. The latter, Mr. F. must know, is nothing more than a diminutive of a diminutive (coricillum, _not_ corcillum, from corculum); and the word is coined by Petronius to ridicule one of the affectations of Trimalchio (Nero), who was wont to indulge, to an absurd extent, in the use of such diminutives (_vide_ Burmann, _in loco_). "P.C.S.S." will now subjoin such translations of the passage in question as he has hitherto had opportunities of referring to. The first is from _The Works of Petronius Arbiter, translated by several hands_, Lond. 8vo. 4th edit. 1714. At the beginning of the translation itself there is this heading--"Made English by Mr. Wilson, of the Middle Temple, and several others." The passage in question is thus rendered:--

"Come, my friends, let us see how merry you can be! for in my
time, I have been no better than yourselves; but, by my own
industry, I am what I am. _'Tis the heart makes the man_; all
the rest is but stuff!"

In another translation, which, with Grub-Street audacity, the publisher, in his title-passage, presumes to attribute to Addison! and which appeared in 1736 (Lond. 8vo.), the passage is as follows:--

"I was once as you are: but now, thanks to my industry, I am
what I am. _It is the heart that makes the man_; all the rest
is but stuff!"

Be the translator who he may, this version, so impudently ascribed to the moral Addison, is written with much spirit and power, and with a remarkable comprehension of the author's meaning. Some of the poetical fragments at the end are, indeed, singularly well done.

Of the two French versions which "P.C.S.S." has examined, the one by Levaur (Paris, 8vo. 1726) thus translates the passage:

"Je vous prie, mes amis ... _C'est le coeur qui fait les
hommes; je compte le reste pour un fetu_."

In that of Boispreaux (Lond. 1742), it is simply rendered--

"Mon scavoir faire m'a tire du pair. _C'est le coeur qui fait
l'homme_ ..."

No attempt is made to translate the _quisquilia_.

P.C.S.S.

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"THE SUPPER OF THE LORDE."

I shall be glad to find that your correspondent "C.H." (No. 21. p. 333.) receives a satisfactory answer to his inquiry, as such a reply would also satisfy my earlier query, No. 7. p. 109. I perceive, however, from his letter, that I can give him some information on other points noticed in it, though the absence of papers now passing through the press with the Parker Society's reprint of a third volume of Tyndale, will prevent my replying with such precision as I could wish. That ancient tract on "The Supper of the Lorde, after the true meanyng of the sixte of John," &c., of which "C.H." says he possesses a copy, was reprinted at different intervals with the same date, viz., MCCCCCXXXIII, Apryll v., on its title-page. The original edition has a final colophon, stating that it was "imprinted at Nornberg, by Nielas Twonson," and is so rare, that I have not been able to discover the existence of any copy, but one recently deposited in the Bodleian. That "C.H.'s" copy is not a specimen of that first edition, is apparent from two circumstances. The first is, that he has given you a quotation from his copy as follows:--"And as for M. More, whom the verity most offendeth, and doth but mocke it," whereas the original edition has, "And as for M. Mocke," &c., and Sir Thomas More notices this mockage of his name in his reply. The next is, that his copy contains "Crowley's Epistle to the Reader," which does not appear in any edition of an earlier date than 1551. When first attached to this treatise, the epistle was anonymous, as may be seen in the Lambeth copy; but Crowley eventually {363} affixed his name to the epistle, as it appears in "C.H.'s" and in other copies. Robert Crowley was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; vicar of St. Giles, Cripplegate; a printer and publisher; but to his singular combination of titles, we cannot add that of author of the treatise in question. "C.H." has seen that he did not enter Oxford till 1534; and in his Prefatory Epistle, Crowley speaks of the author of the treatise as a person distinct from himself.

I do not wish, however, to be considered as positively affirming the treatise to be Tyndale's. Foxe, the martyrologist, edited Tyndale's works for Day, and he has only said that this treatise was "compiled, as some do gather, by M. Wm. Tyndale, because the method and phrase agree with his, and the time of writing are [sic] concurrent." On the other hand, the authorship is unhesitatingly assigned to Tyndale by Mr. C. Anderson (_Annals of the English Bible_, Sec.ix. _ad finem_), and by Mr. Geo. Offer (_Mem. of Tyndale_, p. 30.), the two most pains-taking and best informants as to his works. But still there are objections of such force, that I must confess myself rather inclined to attribute the treatise to Joy's pen, if I could but be satisfied that he was capable of writing so correctly, and of keeping so clear of vulgarity in a controversy with a popish persecutor.

H.W.

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FOLK LORE.

_Palm Sunday Wind_.--It is a common idea among many of the farmers and labourers of this immediate neighbourhood, that, from whatever quarter the wind blows for the most part on Palm Sunday, it will continue to blow from the same quarter for the most part during the ensuing summer.

Is this notion prevalent in other parts of the country, as a piece of "Folk-Lore?"

R.V.

Winchester, March 26.

_Curious Symbolical Custom_.--On Saturday last I married a couple in the parish church. An old woman, an aunt of the bridegroom, displeased at the marriage, stood at the church gate and pronounced an anathema on the married pair. She then bought a new broom, went home, swept her house, and hung the broom over the door. By this she intimated her rejection of her nephew, and forbade him to enter her house. Is this a known custom? What is its origin?

H. Morland Austen.

St. Peter's, Thanet, March 25. 1850.

_The Wild Huntsman_.--The interesting contributions of your correspondent "Seleucus," on "Folk Lore," brought to my recollection the "Wild Huntsman" of the German poet, Tieck; of whose verses on that superstitious belief, still current among the imaginative peasantry of Germany, I send you a translation, _done into English_ many years ago. The Welsh dogs of Annwn, or "couriers of the air"--the spirit-hounds who hunt the souls of the dead--are part of that popular belief existing among all nations, which delivers up the noon of night to ungracious influences, that "fade on the crowing of the cock."

"THE WILD HUNTSMAN.

"At the dead of the night the Wild Huntsman awakes,
In the deepest recess of the dark forest's brakes;
He lists to the storm, and arises in scorn.
He summons his hounds with his far-sounding horn;
He mounts his black steed; like the lightning they fly
And sweep the hush'd forest with snort and with cry.
Loud neighs his black courser; hark his horn, how 'tis swelling!
He chases his comrades, his hounds wildly yelling.
Speed along! speed along! for the race is all ours;
Speed along! speed along! while the midnight still lours;
The spirits of darkness will chase him in scorn,
Who dreads our wild howl, and the shriek of our horn,
Thus yelling and belling they sweep on the wind,
The dread of the pious and reverent mind:
But all who roam gladly in forests, by night,
This conflict of spirits will strangely delight."

J.M.

Oxford, March 13.

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ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. VI.

In the union of scholarship, polished manners, and amiability of character, we have had few men to surpass the reverend Joseph Spence. His career was suitable to his deserts. He was fortunate in his connections, fortunate in his appointments, and fortunate in his share of fame.

His fame, however, is somewhat diminished. His _Essay on the Odyssey_, which procured him the friendship of Pope, has ceased to be in request; his _Polymetis_, once the ornament of every choice library, has been superseded by the publications of Millin and Smith; his poems are only to be met with in the collections of Dodsley and Nichols. If we now dwell with pleasure on his name, it is chiefly as a recorder of the sayings of others--it is on account of his assiduity in making _notes!_ I allude to the volume entitled _Anecdotes, observations, and characters of books and men_, which was edited by my friend Mr. Singer, with his wonted care and ability in 1820.

The _Essay on the Odyssey_ was first published anonymously in 1726-7. It was reprinted in 1737 and 1747. A copy of the latter edition, now in my possession, contains this curious note:--

"It is remarkable that of twelve passages objected to in this
critique on the English Odyssey, _two_ only are found in those
books which were translated by Pope.

"From Mr. Langton, who had his information from Mr. Spence.

"When Spence carried his preface to Gorboduc in {364} 1736 to
Pope, he asked him his opinion. Pope said 'It would do very
well; there was nothing _pert_ or _low_ in it.' Spence was
satisfied with this praise, which however, was in implied
censure on all his other writings.--He is very fond of the
familiar vulgarisms of common talk, and is the very reverse of
Dr. Johnson.

"E.M." [Edmond Malone.]

The note is not signed at length, but there can be no doubt as to its authorship, as I purchased the volume which contains it at the sale of the unreserved books of Mr. Malone in 1818.

Bolton Corney.

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QUERIES.

NICHOLAS BRETON'S "CROSSING OF PROVERBS."

Although my query respecting William Basse and his poem, "Great Britain's Sun's Set," (No. 13. p. 200), produced no positive information touching that production, it gave an opportunity to some of your correspondents to communicate valuable intelligence relating to the author and to other works by him, for which I, for one, was very much obliged. If I did not obtain exactly what I wanted, I obtained something that hereafter may be extremely useful; and that I could not, perhaps, have obtained in any other way than through the medium of your pleasant and welcome periodical.

I am now, therefore, about to put a question regarding another writer of more celebrity and ability. Among our early pamphleteers, there was certainly none more voluminous than Nicholas Breton, who began writing in 1575, and did not lay down his pen until late in the reign of James I. A list of his pieces (by no means complete, but the fullest that has been compiled) may be seen in Lowndes's _Bibl. Manual_; it includes several not by Breton, among them Sir Philip Sidney's _Ourania_, 1606, which in fact is by a person of the name Backster; and it omits the one to which my present communication refers, and regarding which I am at some loss.

In the late Mr. Heber's _Catalogue_, part iv. p. 10., I read as follows, under the name of Nicholas Breton:--

"Crossing of Proverbs. The Second Part, with certaine briefe
Questions and Answeres, by N.B., Gent. Extremely rare and very
curious, _but imperfect_. It appears to contain a portion of
the first part, and also of the second; but it appears to be
unknown."

Into whose hands this fragment devolved I know not; and that is one point I am anxious to ascertain, because I have another fragment, which consists of what is evidently the first sheet of the first part of the tract in question, with the following title-page, which I quote _totidem literis_:--

"Crossing of Proverbs. Crosse-Answeres. And Crosse-Humours. By
B.N., Gent. At London, Printed for John Wright, and are to be
solde at his Shop without Newgate, at the signe of the Bible,
1616."

It is in 8vo., as Heber's fragment appears to have been; but then the initials of the author are given as N.B., whereas in my fragment they stand B.N., a usual inversion with Nicholas Breton; the brief address "To the Reader" is also subscribed B.N.; and then begins the body of the work, thus headed: "Crosse and Pile, or, Crossing of Proverbs." It opens as follows:

"_Proverb_. The more the merrier.
_Cross_. Not so; one hand is enough in a purse.
_P._ Every man loves himselfe best.
_C._ Not so, when man is undone by suretyship.
_P._ He that runnes fastest gets most ground.
_C._ Not so, for then foote-men would have more land than their masters.
_P._ He runnes far that never turnes.
_C._ Not so, he may breake his necke in a short course.
_P._ No man can call againe yesterday.
_C._ Yes, hee may call till his heart ake, though it never come.
_P._ Had I wist was a foole.
_C._ No, he was a foole that said so."

And so it proceeds, not without humour and point, here and there borrowing from known sources, as in the following:--

"_Proverb._ The world is a long journey.
_Cros._ Not so, the sunne goes it every day.
_P._ It is a great way to the bottom of the sea.
_C._ Not so, it is but a stone's cast."

However, my object is not to give specimens of the production further than are necessary for its identification. My queries are, 1st, Who bought Mr. Heber's fragment, and where is it now to be found? 2nd, Are any of your correspondents aware of the existence of a perfect copy of the work?

I naturally take a peculiar interest about Nicholas Breton, because I have in my possession an unknown collection of amatory and pastoral poems by him, printed in quarto in 1604, in matter and measure obvious imitations of productions in "The Passionate Pilgrim," 1599, imputed to Shakespeare, and some of which are unquestionably by Richard Barnfield.

Any new information regarding Breton and his works will be most acceptable to me. I am already in possession of undoubted proof that he was the Nicholas Breton whose epitaph is on the chancel-wall of the church of Norton, in Northamptonshire, a point Ritson seems to have questioned.

J. Payne Collier.

March 30. 1850.

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THE SWORD CALLED CURTANA.

In the wardrobe account for the year 1483, are "iij swerdes, whereof oon with a flat poynte, {365} called _curtana_, and ij other swords, all iij swords covered in a yerde di of crymysym tisshue cloth of gold."

The name of _curtana_ for many ages continued to be given to the first royal sword in England. It existed as long ago as the reign of Henry III., at whose coronation (A.D. 1236) it was carried by the Earl of Chester. We find it at the coronations of Edward II. and Richard II.; also in the time of Henry IV., Richard III., and Henry VII.; and among the royal arms of Edward VI. we read of "a swerde called _curtana_."

Can any of your readers explain the origin of the name _curtana_, a sword so famous that it carries us back to the days of ancient chivalry, when it was wielded by the Dane _Uggiero_, or by the still more famed _Orlando_.

Edward F. Rimbault.

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IS THE DOMBEC THE DOMESDAY OF ALFRED?

I beg to propose the following "Query":--Is the _Dombec_, a work referred to in the Laws of Edward the Elder, the same as what has been called the Domesday or Winchester Book of Alfred the Great? I incline to think that it is not, and shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents, learned in the Anglo-Saxon period of our history, who will give himself the trouble of resolving my doubts.

Sir Henry Spelman, in his Glossary _voce Dombec_, calls it the _Liber Judicialis_ of the Anglo-Saxons; and says it is mentioned in the first chapter of the laws of Edward the Elder, where the king directs his judges to conduct themselves in their judicial proceedings as on [Old English: thaere dom bec stand], that is, as _is enjoined in their Dome Book_.--"Quod," he continues, "an de praecedentium Regum legibus quae hodie extant, intelligendum sit: an de alio quopiam libro hactenus non prodeunte, incertum est."

But this uncertainty does not seem to have attached itself to the mind of Sir William Blackstone; for in the third section of the Introduction prefixed to his _Commentaries on the Laws of England_, he informs us that our antiquaries "tell us that in the time of Alfred, the local customs of the several provinces of the kingdom were grown so various, that he found it expedient to compile his _Dome Book_, or _Liber Judicialis_, for the general use of the whole kingdom." This book is said to have been extant so late as the reign of King Edward IV., but is now unfortunately lost. It contained, we may probably suppose, the principal maxims of the common law, the penalties for misdemeanors, and the forms of judicial proceedings. Thus much may be at least collected from that injunction to observe it, which we find in the Laws of King Edward the Elder, the son of Alfred.--"_Omnibus qui reipublicae praesunt etiam atque etiam mando, ut omnibus aequos se praebeant judices, perinde ac in judiciali libro_ (Saxonice, [Old English: dom bec]) _scriptum habetur: nec quidquid formident quin jus commune_ (Saxonice, [Old English: folcrihte]) _audactes libereque dicant._"

But notwithstanding this, it appears to me by no means conclusive, that the _Dombec_ referred to in the Laws of Edward the Elder and the _Liber Judicialis_ of Alfred are the same; on the contrary, Alfred's _Liber Judicialis_ seems to have been known not under the name of _Dombec_, but under that of the _Winchester Roll_, from the circumstance of its having been principally kept at Winchester: and Sir Henry Spelman says, the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror was sometimes called _Rotulus Wintoniae, a similitudine antiquoris_, from its resemblance to an older document preserved at Winchester. And he quotes Ingulphus Abbot of Croyland, who says, "Iste rotulus (i.e. the Domesday Book of William) vocatus est Rotulus Wintoniae, et ab Anglicis pro sua generalitate, omnia tenementa totius terrae integre continente _Domesday_ cognominatur." And the he proceeds, "Talem rotulum et multum similem; ediderat quondam Rex Alfredus, in quo totam terram Angliae per comitatus, centurias, et decurias descripserat, sicut praenotatur. Qui quidem Rotulus Wintoniae vocatus est, quia deponebatur apud Wintoniam conservandus," &c.

Here is nothing said of this work being called [Old English: dom bec]: neither does Spelman, in his enumeration of the works of Alfred, give the least intimation that any one of his collections of laws was called [Old English: dom bec].

We know, indeed, that Alfred compiled a code of laws for his subjects; but whether any part of them has been preserved, or how much of them is embodied in subsequent codes, cannot now be determined. Asser mentions that he frequently reprimanded the judges for wrong judgments; and Spelman, that he wrote "a book against unjust magistrates," but any complete body of laws, if such was ever framed by Alfred, is now lost; and that attributed to him in Wilkin's _Leges Anglo-Saxon_, is held in suspicion by most writers.

For these reasons, and considering that Sir William Blackstone's knowledge of English history was rather superficial, I incline to the belief, that the [Old English: dom bec] referred to in the laws of Edward the Elder, was some collection of laws made _prior_ to the time of Alfred: this might clearly be the case, as Sharon Turner informs us that the Saxon laws were committed to writing as early as the commencement of the 7th century.

The opinions of your learned correspondents on this disputed point may be of much interest to many of your readers, and to none more than to

George Munford.

East Winch.

* * * * *{366}

MINOR QUERIES.

_MSS. of the Wycliffite Translations of the Scriptures_.--The Add. MS. 15,521., in the British Museum, contains a copy of Lewis's edition of the _Wycliffite New Testament_, printed in 1731, with manuscript notes by Ames and Lewis, and the former has transcribed into it some _additional prologues_, prefixed to each book of the New Testament, which had not been printed by Lewis, and were taken by Ames from a MS. of the New Testament, written in 1424, and in 1731 in the possession of Thomas Granger. It would be very desirable to learn what became of this MS. subsequently. Granger died in the following year, but the MS. does not appear in the sale catalogue of his library, nor is it found in the catalogue of Ames's own library, dispersed in 1760. Any information relative to this remarkable copy of the New Testament, would be very acceptable to the Editors of the _Wycliffite Versions of the Scriptures_, who are now, after a literary labour of more than twenty years, about to bring the work to a conclusion. They would also feel much obliged by the communication of any notices of MSS. of the Wycliffite versions, _existing in private hands_, exclusive of those copies of which they already possess descriptions, existing in the libraries of the following individuals:--Mrs. Allanson of Farn, Flintshire, the Earl of Ashburnham, Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., Sir Peregrine Ackland, Bart., Sir David Dundas, H.M. Judge Advocate, Dr. Cardwell, Principal of St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, and Thomas Bannister, Esq.

F. Madden.

British Museum, March 28.

_Why are Gloves not worn before Royalty?_--Can any of your readers inform me what is the origin of the custom observed at Court, of persons in the royal presence not wearing gloves? Is it a matter of pure etiquette, or does the observance of it derive its origins from barbarous times, when chivalry was little else than barbarism in armour?

F.E.

_Law Courts at St. Albans_.--Can any of your correspondents give me the reference to a communication in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (between, I think, the years 1815 and 1836), in which a passage in Massinger, which alludes to lawyers going to St. Albans, is illustrated by an inscription in the nave of St. Alban's Abbey Church, which records that the courts were held there on account of the sweating-sickness in the reign of Elizabeth?

[Greek: Sigma.]

_Richard Haley, or Hales.--Milton Pedigree_.--I should feel obliged by any particulars respecting Richard Haley, or Hales, of Idlestreete, otherwise Ilstreyd, in com. Hertford, yeoman; my object being to ascertain the nature of some transaction he had with Milton, in July 1674, referred to in a bond which the former executed, dated the 27th of that month, for performance of the covenants contained in an indenture of even date.

Is any thing known of Richard Milton, who signs his name as the attesting witness to the releases given by two of the poet's daughters for their share of his estate? Is there any pedigree of the family of Sir Christopher Milton, the poet's brother, drawn up with sufficient apparent accuracy to exclude the probability of Richard Milton being his son? I have referred to the pedigree in the British Museum (Harl. MS. 5802. fo. 19b.), which makes no mention of the letter; but it is evidently so imperfect a notice, as to be of little authority one way or other.

J.F.M.

_Sapcote Motto_.--Over the old gatehouse of Elton, co. Hunts., built by the family of Sapcote, is their coat of arms, namely, "three dove-cotes;" and upon a scroll, surrounding the lower part of the shield, is carved a motto, evidently French, and as evidently cut by a person ignorant of that language. So far as I can decypher it, the letters appear to be

sco toot X vinic [or umic]
X poncs.

Possibly the first and last letters _s_ are only flourishes. I shall be glad of any suggestion as to its meaning.

I have not been able to find the Sapcote motto on record; and I believe the Carysfoot family, the possessors of Elton, and the Duke of Bedford, the heir in blood, to be ignorant of what this scroll is intended to represent.

Erminois.

Athenaeum Club.

_Scala Coeli_.--In a will, dated 12 Hen. VIII., the testator directs that there shall be four trentals of Saint Gregory said for his soul at London at "Scala Coeli." Can any of your readers explain what place is meant by "Scala Coeli?"

A Subscriber.

_Illustrations of Gresset's "Vert Vert," painted on Enamel, &c._--In a Paris edition of Gresset's Works (Janet et Cotelle, 1823), in the preface is the following passage.--

"Vert-vert fut bientot dans toutes les mains. Le suffrage de
la multitude se joignit a celui des connoisseurs; la mode, qui
est aussi en possession de donner son suffrage, s'empressa de
parer les ajustemens d'invention recente, du nom de l'illustre
perroquet; _les vases d'ornement, les vases usuels_ qui
sortoient des fabriques francoises, retracoient presque tous
quelques episodes du petit poeme. Un artist dont le nom est
venu jusqu'a nous, Raux, en _peignit sur email les sujets
les plus marquants_; et tandis qu'on faisoit passer dans une
version latine les vers elegants du poete jesuite, M. Bertin,
ministre d'etat, le gratifioit d'un magnifique _cabaret_ de
Sevres, dont toutes les pieces reproduisoient les aventures
de son heros, ce qui fit dire a Gresset, _qu'on le traduisoit
aussi en porcelaine de Sevres_." {367}

The _Query_ I wish to make is, Have any of these illustrations or designs from Gresset's poem of Vert-vert, painted on enamel china, or earthenware of any sort, of French or any other manufacture, come to light of late years? or more lately still, among the articles that have been dispersed among various buyers of almost all nations, in the sales within these few weeks effected at Paris?

Robert Snow.

_Urbanus Regius_.--A friend of mine, a delightful old lady, fresh, genial, and inquisitive, has in her possession an old volume, a family heir-loom, which is not the less dear to her for being somewhat dingy and dilapidated, and touching which she would gladly receive such information as your correspondents can supply.

It is made up of three apparently distinct treatises; the first (of which several leaves are wanting) on the twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed. The second is "The ryght foundation, and pryncypall common places of the hole godly Scripture," &c., by Doctor Urbanus Regius. Prefixed is an epistle to Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury (evidently Cranmer), to whom "Hys dayly oratoure, Gwalter Lynne (the writer of the epistle), wyssheth lyfe euerlastynge." Between this second treatise and the third, and apparently belonging to the latter, is a title-page with the following inscription:

"Imprinted for Gwalter Lynne, dwelling upon Somers Kaye, by
Byllinges gate. In the yeare of oure Lorde. MDXLVIII. And they
by [_sic_] to be solde at Poules church yarde at the north
doore, In the signe of the By-bell, By Richard Jugge."

This last treatise is in smaller type than the others, and has no general designation: it contains chapters on various subjects, e.g. "The Signification of Baptism," &c.

Query 1. Is this volume well known? 2. Who were Urbanus Regius and Walter Lynne?

G.P.

March 16. 1850.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

THE ARABIC NUMERALS AND CIPHER.

I might, with a little more consideration, have referred "E.V." to several other authorities which he will do well to consult.

9. Wallis's _Algebra_, p. 9. and p. 153. of the additions.

10. _Phil. Trans._, Nos. 439. and 475.

11. Montucla, _Histoire des Mathematiques_, tom. i. chap. 2.

12. Baillie, _Histoire de l'Astronomie_.

13. Delambre[1], _Hist. de l'Astr. du moyen age_.

14. Hutton's _Tracts_ (8vo. ed. 1812.), vol. ii. (subject "History of Algebra")

15. Huet, _Demonstratio Evangelica_.

16. Dr. John Taylor's Translation of the _Lilawati_. (Bombay, 1816.)

17. Strachey's Translation of the _Bija Ganita_[2].

18. Colebrooke's _Algebra of the Hindus_.

Would it not be worth while to give a _facsimile_ of the "Tabel for all manere of merchauntes," in the "Notes and Queries"? It is not only a curiosity, but an important element (and unique as far as is known) in the philosophic history of our arithmetic. It was, no doubt, an actual instrument in constant use in the merchant's office, as much so as an almanac, interest-tables, a "cambist" and a copying-press, are now.

As regards the cipher, the difficulty only commenced with _writing numbers_ in the new symbology. With persons accustomed to the use of this instrument, there is no doubt that the mode of obviating the difficulty of "keeping the place," would suggest itself at once. In this instrument an empty hole (without its peg) _signified_ "none of this denomination." What then more simple than to make the outline of the empty hole which occupied the "local position" of any denomination, when none of that precise denomination occurred in the number itself? Under this view the process at least becomes simple and natural; and as the early merchants contributed so largely to the improvement of our arithmetical processes, such a conclusion is wholly divested of improbability on any other ground. The circle would then naturally become, as it certainly has practically become, the most appropriate symbol of _nothingness_.

As regards the term _cipher_ or _zero_ (which are so obviously the same as to need no remark), it is admitted on all hands to be derived from one or other of the Semitic languages, the Hebrew or the Arabic. It is customery with the mathematical historians to refer it to the Arabic, they being in general more conversant with it than with the Hebrew. The Arabic being a smaller hand than the Hebrew, a dot was used instead of the circle for marking the "place" at which the hiatus of any "denomination" occurred. If we obtained our cipher from this, it would be made hollow (a mere _ceinture_, girdle, or ring) to save the trouble of making a dot sufficiently large to correspond in magnitude with our other numerals as we write them. Either is alike possible--probability must be sought, for either over the other, from a slightly different source.

The root-words in Hebrew and in Arabic are precisely the same (_ts-ph-r_), though in the two {368} languages, and at different ages of the same language, they might have been vowelised differently. In some shape or other, this name is used in all countries that have derived their arithmetic from mediaeval Italy, or from the Saracens. It is with some _cipher_, with others _chiffre_, and with all _zero_. The word is certainly no more Italian than it is French or English. Be it remembered, too, that _ezor_ (quoted at p. 268.), as a _girdle_, is radically the same word, somewhat mutilated. The cardinal meaning of the word (denuded of the conventional accretions of signification, which peculiar applications of it adds to the cardinal meaning) appears to be _emptiness_, _hollowness_, _nothingness_. It may be further remarked, that in the fine Chartres MS. of Boetius, described by Chasles, the 0 is called _sipos_:--the same name, he remarks, that Graves found in use in the East. The modern Turks call the 0, _tsifra_.

It is curious enough that in all languages, the term _ciphering_ is popularly used to denote all arithmetical operations whatever. Our schoolboys do their "ciphering," and write carefully in their "ciphering-books." This all seems to point to the art of dispensing with the use of the abacus or counting table.

T.S.D.

Shooter's Hill, March 5.

[1] The best account, because the most consistent and intelligible, of the Greek arithmetic, is that by Delambre, affixed to Peyraud's edition of Archimedes.

[2] At a period of leisure I may be tempted to send you a few extracts, somewhat curious, from some of the papers of Mr. Strachey in my possession.

_Arabic Numerals_.--I had replied to "E.V." (No. 15. p. 230.), when I saw by your "Notice to Correspondents," that the question was answered. I therefore waited the publication of the replies, which I find do not embrace any one of the points to which I would call the attention of "E.V."--Diophantus of Alexandria, who flourished about 150 years after Christ, and who wrote thirteen books of algebra or arithmetic in the Greek language, is generally supposed to be the oldest writer on the subject that has come down to our time; but it was not from him that we received the knowledge of algebra in Europe. It appears certain that the first knowledge of this science in England was from Italy or Spain, after the Moors settled in the latter country; and the Arabians and Persians appear to have derived their arithmetical method of computing by ten characters from the Indians: who, in their turn, have most probably borrowed from the Chinese, and improved on their method by the adoption of a zero, which was one of the most important improvements effected by the Hindoos. In China, the words ancient and modern are almost synonymous; their usages and customs being so unchangeable, as appears by their instrument of computation, the _swanpan_, which is still used in all their calculations. The Oriental scholar will find much curious and interesting information connected with this subject in the Sanscrit _Vija Ganita_ and _Lilivati_ of Bhaskara Acharya: the former was translated into Persian at Agra, or Delhi, in 1634, and the latter by Fyzee in 1587; but there are also English translations, all of which are in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. The _Khalasah-ul-Hisah_ is another work of repute in India. Mr. Strachey wrote and printed in India, for the _Asiatic Researches_, a valuable paper, which contains most conclusive evidence of the Indian (if not Chinese) origin of our numerals. See also _Astronomie Indienne_, of M. Bailly; 2d vol. _Asiatic Researches_, "On the Astronomical Computations of the Hindoos," by Saml. Davis; "Two Dissertations on Indian Astronomy and Trigonometry," by Professor Playfair, in the 2d and 4th vols. of the _Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions_. And many others might be referred to; but all tending to prove that our numbers came originally from China and India, through Persia, Arabia, Africa, Spain, and Italy, by gradual and successive changes in form, several of them still retaining a close resemblance to the ancient and modern Sanscrit, Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Hindoo numerals.

Henry Wilkinson.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

I send you a few Notes on Queries scattered through some of the later numbers of your very valuable publication:

_Anonymous Ravennas_.--In the library of the Royal Geographical Society, I believe there is a copy of an 8vo. edition of that cosmography.

_Selago_.--This plant, I should think it probable, is the _Lycopodium clavatum_ of modern botanists; the seeds of which, when ripe, and when the plant is struck, rise like smoke ("fumum" of Pliny), and may have been supposed, from their remarkable inflammability when dashed into a flame, igniting with a sudden flash, to have possessed wonderful virtues. The species known as _Lycopodium selago_ is rare in comparison to the other.

_Portugal_.--In the library of the Geographical Society are some of the more recent works published in Lisbon on the topography of that country, but they are generally very meagre and unsatisfactory. In a periodical published in Lisbon in numbers, on the plan of the _Penny Magazine_, there is a good deal of information, with engravings, regarding many places of interest in Portugal. I think it is called _The Album_, but I am sorry I have not at present the power of sending you more correct particulars concerning it. It is in 4to.

Portugal is a country that is so little travelled in either by natives or foreigners, that information regarding places in the interior is not easily obtained; and facilities for travelling, as well as accommodation for travellers, is of a very limited description.

_Sir Roger de Coverley_.--In one of your early numbers was a query on this subject, which I do not think has been yet answered. I have a MS. {369} account of the family of Calverley, of Calverley, in Yorkshire, an autograph of Ralph Thoresby in the year 1717, in which occurs the following passage:--

"_Roger_, so named from the Archbishop" (of York), "was
a person of renowned hospitality, since, at this day, the
obsolete known tune of _Roger a Calverley_ is referred to
him, who, according to the custom of those times, kept his
_minstrells_, from that their office named _harpers_, which
became a family and possessed lands till late years in and
about _Calverley_, called to this day _Harpersroids_ and
_Harper's Spring_.... He was a knight, and lived in the time
of K. Richard 1st. His seal, appended to one of his charters,
is large, with a chevalier on horseback."

W. CALVERLEY TREVELYAN.

* * * * *

DERIVATIONS OF "NEWS."

It is not declared with what motive "Mr. GUTCH" (No. 17. p. 270.) has laid before the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" the alleged derivation of N.E.W.S.

It must therefore be supposed, that his object was to have its justness and probability commented upon; and it is quite time that they should be so, since the derivation in question has of late become quite a favourite authoritative dictum with etymology compilers. Thus it may be found, in the very words and form adopted by your correspondent, in Haydn's _Dictionary of Dates_, and in other authorities of equal weight.

This sort of initial-letter derivation was probably brought into fashion in England by the alleged origin of "Cabal," or, perhaps, by the many guesses at the much disputed word "AEra." I shall take the liberty of quoting a few sentences with reference to such etymologies, _as a class_, which I find in an unpublished manuscript upon a kindred subject.

"Besides, such a splitting up of a word of significant and
perfect meaning in itself is always a bad and suspicious mode
of derivation.

"It is generally an after-thought, suggested by some
fortuitous or fancied coincidence, that appropriateness of
which is by no means a sufficient proof of probability.

"Of this there can scarcely be a better example than the
English word 'news,' which, notwithstanding the felicity of
its supposed derivation from the four cardinal points, must,
nevertheless, so long as the corresponding words 'nova,'
'nouvelles,' &c. exist, be consigned to its more sober and
common-place origin in the adjective '_new_.'"

To this it must be added that the ancient orthography of the word _newes_, completely upsets the derivation Mr. Gutch has brought before your readers. Hone quotes from "one Burton, printed in 1614: 'if any one read now-a-days, it is a play-book, or _a pamphlet_ of _newes_."

I had been in two minds whether or not to send this communication, when the scale is completely turned by the apropos occurrence of a corroboration of this latter objection in "NOTES AND QUERIES" of this day. Mr. Rimbault mentions (at p. 277.), "a rare black letter volume entitled _Newes from Scotland_, 1591."

Here is one more proof of the usefulness of your publication, that I am thus enabled to strengthen the illustration of a totally different subject by the incidental authority of a fellow correspondent.

A.E.B.

Leeds, March, 1850.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Swot_ is, as the querist supposes, a military cant term, and a sufficiently vulgar one too. It originated at the great slang-manufactory for the army, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. You may depend upon the following account of it, which I had many years ago from the late Thomas Leybourne, F.R.S., Senior Professor of Mathematics in that college.

One of the Professors, Dr. William Wallace, in addition to his being a Scotchman, had a bald head, and an exceedingly "broad Scotch" accent, besides a not very delicate discrimination in the choice of his English terms relating to social life. It happened on one hot summer's day, nearly half a century ago, that he had been teaching a class, and had worked himself into a considerable effusion from the skin. He took out his handkerchief, rubbed his head and forehead violently, and exclaimed in his Perthshire dialect,--"_It maks one swot_." This was a God-send to the "gentlemen cadets," wishing to achieve a notoriety as wits and slangsters; and mathematics generally ever after became _swot_, and mathematicians _swots_. I have often heard it said:--"I never could do _swot_ well, Sir;" and "these dull fellows, the _swots_, can talk of nothing but triangles and equations."

I should have thought that the _sheer disgustingness_ of the idea would have shut the word out of the vocabularies of English _gentlemen_. It remains nevertheless a standard term in the vocabulary of an English soldier. It is well, at all events, that future ages should know its etymology.

T.S.D.

_Pokership_, (_ante_, pp. 185. 218. 269. 282. 323, 324.)--I am sorry to see that no progress has yet been made towards a satisfactory explanation of this office. I was in hopes that something better than mere conjecture would have been supplied from the peculiar facilities of "T.R.F." "W.H.C." (p. 323.) has done little more than refer to the same instruments as had been already adverted to by me in p. 269., with the new reading {370} of _poulterer_ for poker! With repect to "T.R.F.'s" conjecture, I should be more ready to accept it if he could produce a single example of the word _pawker_, in the sense of a hog-warden. The quotation from the Pipe-roll of John is founded on a mistake. The entry occurs in other previous rolls, and is there clearly explained to refer to the _porter of Hereford Castle_. Thus, in Pipe 2 Hen. II. and 3 Hen. II. we have, under Hereford,

"In liberatione portarii castelli ... 30s. 5d."

In Pipe 1 Ric. I. we have,

"In liberatione constituta portarii de Hereford, 30s. 5d."

Again, in Pipe 3 Joh.

"In liberatione constituta portario de Hereford, 30s. 5d."

A similar entry is to be found in other rolls, as well printed as inedited. I could indulge some other criticisms on the communication of your correspondent in Spring Gardens, but I prefer encouraging him to make further inquiries, and to produce from the records in his custody some more satisfactory solution of the difficulty. In the meantime, let me refer to a Survey of Wrigmore Castle in the Lansdowne Collection, No. 40. fo. 82. The surveyor there reports, that the paling, rails, &c. of the park are much decayed in many and sundry places, and he estimates the repairs, with allowance of timber from the wood there, "by good surveye and oversight of the _poker_ and other officers of the said parke," at 4l. The date of the survey is 13 May, 1584.

Comparing this notice of the office with the receiver's accounts tempore Hen. VII. and Hen. VIII. (_ante_, p. 269.), in which the officer is called "pocarius omnium boscorum," I cannot doubt that his duty, or at least one of his duties, was that of woodward, and that, as such, he assigned timber for repair of the premises. How he came by his local title and style of poker is a mystery on which we have all hitherto failed to throw any light.

E.S.

_Vox Populi Vox Dei_,--about the origin of which saying "QUAESITOR" asks (No. 21. p. 321.),--were the words chosen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Mepham, as his text for the sermon which he preached when Edward III. was called to the throne, from which the nation had pulled down his father, Edward II. This we learn from Walsingham, who says:

"Archiepiscopus vero Cantuariae praesenti consensit electioni,
ut omnes praelati et archiepiscopus quidem assumpto themate,
_Vox populi Vox Dei_, sermonem fecit populo, exhortans
omnes ut apud regem regum intercederent pro electo."--Tho.
Walsingham, _Hist. Angl._ ed. Camden, p. 126.

DANIEL ROCK.

_A living Dog better than a dead Lion_.--I no not know whether your correspondent (No. 22. p. 352.) ever goes to church; but if he is not prevented by rain next St. Swithin's day, he will learn who was the author of this proverb. It will be a good thing, if your work should sometimes lead your readers to search the Scriptures, and give them credit for wisdom that has flowed from them so long, and far, and wide, that its source is forgotten; but this is not the place for a sermon, and I now only add, "here endeth the first lesson" from

ECCLESIASTES.

["J.E.," "D.D.," and other correspondents, have also replied
to this Query by references to Eccl. ix. 4.]

_Curious Monumental Brass_ (No. 16. p. 247.)--If "RAHERE" will turn to Mr. Boutell's _Monumental Brasses and Slabs_, p. 148., he will there find a description as well as an engraving of what, from his account, I doubt not he will discover to be the identical fragment to which he refers. A foot legend, and what remains of a border inscription, is added to it. In the above work, pp. 147 to 155, and in the Oxford Architectural Society's _Manual for the Study of Brasses_, p. 15., "RAHERE" will find an account and references to numerous examples of palimpsest brasses, to which class the one in question belongs.

I presume that "RAHERE" is a young brass-rubber, or the fact of a plate being engraved on both sides would have presented no difficulty to him.

ARUN.

[We have received several other replies to this Query,
referring to Mr. Boutell's _Monumental Brasses_: one from
"W."; another from "A CORNISHMAN," who says,--

"The brass in question, when I saw it last, had been
removed from the Rectory and placed in the tomb of Abbot
Wheathampstead, in company with the famous one of Thomas
Delamere, another Abbot of St. Albans."

Another from "E.V.," who states,--

"Other examples are found at St. Margaret's, Rochester (where
the cause of the second engraving is found to be an error in
costume in the first), St. Martins at Plain, Norwich, Hedgerly
Church, Bucks, and Burwell Church, Cambridgeshire. Of this
last, an engraving and description, by Mr. A.W. Franks,
is given in the fourteenth part of the Publications of the
Cambridge Antiquarian Society."

One from "WILLIAM SPARROW SIMPSON," who says,--

"It is also described in the Oxford Architectural Society's
_Manual of Mon. Brasses_, No. 6. pp. 6, 7. other examples of
which occur at Rochester, Kent, and at Cobham, Surrey. A small
plate of brass, in the possession of a friend, has on one side
a group of children, and on the reverse the uplifted hands of
an earlier figure."

And lastly, one from "A.P.H." (to which we cannot do ample
justice, as we do not keep an engraver), from which we extract
the following passages:--

"A friend of mine has a shield in his possession, taken from
a slab, and which has been enamelled. It is of late date
and rudely executed. On the back is {371} seen the hands and
breast of a small female figure, very nearly a century earlier
in date. I can also remember an inscription in Cuxton Church,
Kent, which was loose, and had another inscription on the back
in the same manner.

"I am very much impressed with the idea that the destroyed
brasses never had been used at all; but had been engraved,
and then, from circumstances that of course we cannot hope to
fathom, thrown on one side till the metal might be used for
some other purpose. This, I think, is a more probable, as well
as a more charitable explanation than the one usually given of
the so-called palimpsest brasses."]

_Chapels_ (No. 20. p. 333.).--As to the origin of the name, will you allow me to refer Mr. Gatty to Ducange's _Glossary_, where he will find much that is to his purpose.