Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

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{293} NOTES AND QUERIES:

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No. 231.] SATURDAY, APRIL 1. 1854. [Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page
Kennington Common, by the Rev. W. Sparrow Simpson 295
Life and Death 296
Battle of Trafalgar and Death of Nelson 297
Heraldic Anomaly 298
FOLK LORE:--Three Maids--Mother Russel's Post--Shrove
Tuesday Custom 299
Stornello 299

MINOR NOTES:--Perspective--"That"--Corporation
Enactments--Jacobite Club--Dean Nowell's first Wife--
"Oxoniana"--An Epigram falsely ascribed to George
Herbert--Ingulph: Bohn's "Antiquarian Library" 300

QUERIES:--
Quotations wanted 301
Sir Edmund Plowden, by S. F. Streeter 301
Ancient Clock, and Odevaere's History of it, by
Octavius Morgan 302

MINOR QUERIES:--Spielberg, when built?--"Ded. Pavli"--
Mantelpiece: Mantelshelf: Mantleboard: Mantell and
Brace--Passage in Job--Provincial Glossaries--
Chadderton of Nuthurst, co. Lancaster--A marvellous
Combat of Birds--Battle of the Gnats--Sandford of
Thorpe Salvine, co. York--"Outlines of the History of
Theology"--"Mawkin"--"Plain Dealer"--Hymn attributed
to Handel--Degrees in Arts--"Goloshes:"
"Kutchin-kutchu"--Cornwalls of London--Flasks for
Wine-bottles--Froxhalmi, Prolectricus, Phytacus,
Tuleus, Candos, Gracianus, and Tounu or Tonnu 302

MINOR QUERIES WITH ANSWERS:--Postmaster at Merton
College--"Lyra Apostolica"--East Dereham Manor--
Quakers executed in North America--Inscription in
Fulham Church--Hero of the "Spanish Lady's Love"--
"Bothy"--"Children in the Wood" 304

REPLIES:--
Brydone the Tourist, by John Macray 305
"The Red Cow"--Cromwell's Carriages, &c. 306
Fox-hunting, by F. M. Middleton 307
Weather Rules, by E. MacCulloch, &c. 307
Bingham's Antiquities 308
Ancient Tenure of Lands 309

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE:--Spots on Collodion
Pictures, &c.--The Double Iodide Solution--Mounting
Photographs 310
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Books on Bells--Medal in
Honour of Chevalier St. George--Dean Swift's
Suspension--"Vanitatem observare"--Ballina Castle,
Mayo--Dorset--Judicial Rank hereditary--Tolling the
Bell on leaving Church--Archpriest in the Diocese of
Exeter--Dogs in Monumental Brasses--The Last of the
Palæologi--Long Names, &c. 310

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, &c. 313
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 314
Notices to Correspondents 314

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{295}

_LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1854._

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Notes.

KENNINGTON COMMON.

Before all traces be lost of Kennington Common, so soon to be distinguished by the euphonious epithet of _Park_, let me put a Query to some of your antiquarian readers in relation thereunto; and suffer me to make the Query a peg, whereon to hang sundry and divers little notes. And pray let no one ridicule the idea that Kennington has its antiquities; albeit that wherever you look, new buildings, new bricks and mortar, plaster and cement, will meet your eye; yet, does not the manor figure in _Domesday Book?_ Is it not dignified by the stately name of _Chenintune?_ Was it not held by Theodoric of King Edward the Confessor? And did it not, in times gone by, possess a royal residence?

Here, at a Danish marriage, died Hardi Knute in 1041. Here, Harold, son of Earl Godwin, who seized the crown after the death of the Confessor, is said to have placed it on his own head. Here, in 1231, King Henry III. held his court, and passed a solemn and a stately Christmas. And here, says Matthew Paris, was held a Parliament in the succeeding year. Hither, says good old Stow, anno 1376, came the Duke of Lancaster to escape the fury of the populace of London, on Friday, February 20, the day following that on which Wicliffe had been brought before the bishops at St. Paul's. The Duke was dining "with one John of Ipres" when the news arrived, borne by a breathless messenger, that the people sought his life. When the Duke "leapt so hastily from his oysters, that he hurt both his legges against the foarme: wine was offered to his oysters, but hee would not drinke for haste; he fledde with his fellowe Syr Henry Percy, no man following them; and entring the Thamis, neuer stinted rowing vntill they came to a house neere the manor of Kenington (besides Lambeth), where at that time the Princesse was, with the young Prince, before whom hee made his complaint." Doubtless, Lambeth Marsh was then what its name imports. Hither also came a deputation of the chiefest citizens to Richard II., June 21, 1377, "before the old King was departed," "to accept him for their true and lawfull King and Gouernor." But the royal residence was destroyed before 1607. "The last of the long succession of royal tenants who inhabited the ancient site," says a writer in the _Illustrated London News_ not long since (I have the cutting, but neglected to note the date of the paper), "was Charles I., when Prince of Wales: his lodging, a house built upon a part of the site of the old palace, is the only existing vestige, as represented in the accompanying engraving (in the _Illus. Lond. News_), unless earlier remains are to be found in the lower parts of the interior." But I believe that the identity of the site of this ancient mansion (which is situated on the western side of Lower Kennington Lane), with part of the site of the old palace, is not quite so certain as the writer appears to intimate. In 1720, however, the manor gave the title of Earl to William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, second son to George II.

Kennington Common acquired an unenviable notoriety from being the place of execution for malefactors tried in this part of the county. "After the suppression of the rebellion in Scotland in 1745, many of the insurgents having been convicted of treason at Southwark, here suffered the sentence of the law" (Dugdale's _England and Wales_, p. 1015.). "Seventeen officers of the rebel army were hanged, drawn, and quartered" on this spot. (Goldsmith's _History_, continued by Morell, 4to., 1807, vol. ii. p. 165.)

"One of the last executions which took place on Kennington Common was
that of seven men; three of whom belonged to a notorious gang of
housebreakers, eighteen in number. These men kept shops, and lived in
credit: of the three who were executed, one made over a sum of 2000l.
to a friend, previous to his trial. They confessed that the profits of
their practices, for the five years past, had been upwards of 1500l. a
year to each. This was in the year 1765."--From a cutting, sent me by a
friend, from the _Sunday Times'_ "Answers to Correspondents," March 13,
1853.

Here too occurred the Chartist meeting, on the memorable 10th of April, 1848.

Now comes my Query. Was there ever a theatre on Kennington Common? In the _Biographia Dramatica_ of David Erskine Baker (edit. 1782, vol. ii. p. 239.), we are told, that the "satyrical comical allegorical farce," _The Mock Preacher,_ published in 8vo. in 1739, was "Acted to a crowded audience at Kennington Common, and many other theatres, with the humours of the mob." Was it acted in a booth, or in a permanent theatre? The words, "many other theatres," almost give one the impression that the latter is indicated.

Many more notes might be added, but I fear lest this paper should already be too local to interest general readers. Suffice it to say, that Clayton Street, close to the Common, takes its name from the Clayton family; one member of which, Sir Robert Clayton, was sometime Master of the Drapers' Company, in whose Hall a fine portrait of him is preserved. Bowling Green Street derives its name from a bowling green which existed not very many years since. And White Hart Street from a field, which was so called certainly as early as 1785. On the Common was "a bridge called Merton Bridge, which formerly was repaired by the Canons of Merton {296} Abbey, who had lands for that purpose." (Lysons' _Environs_, edit. 4to., 1792, vol. i. p. 327.)

It is due to your readers to state, that the authorities for the statements made in the former part of this paper are these: Lysons' _Environs_, ut supra, vol. i. pp. 325. 327.; Manning and Bray's _Surrey_, Lond., 1809, fol., vol. iii. pp. 484-488.; Stow, _Annales_, edit. 4to., 1601, pp. 432, 433.; and _Bibl. Top. Brit._, 4to., 1790, vol. ii. "History and Antiq. of Lambeth," p. 89.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

Kennington.

* * * * *

LIFE AND DEATH.

I have thrown together a few parallel passages for your pages, which may prove acceptable.

1. "_To die is better than to live._"

"I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which
are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet
been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the
sun."--_Eccles._ iv. 2, 3.

"Great travail is created for every man, and a heavy yoke upon the sons
of Adam, from the day that they go out of their _mother's womb_, till
the day that they return to the _mother of all things_."--_Ecclus._ xl.
1.: cf. 2 _Esdr._ vii. 12, 13.

"Never to have been born, the wise man first
Would wish; and, next, as soon as born to die."--_Anth.
Græc._(Posidippus).

In the affecting story of Cleobis and Biton, as related by Herodotus, we read,--

"The _best end of life_ happened to them, and the Deity showed in their
case that _it is better for a man to die than to live_."

[Greek: Diedexe te en toutoisi ho Theos hôs ameinon eiê anthrôpôi
tethanai mallon ê zôein.]--Herod., [Greek: KLEIÔ]. i. 32.

"As for all other living creatures, there is not one but, by a secret
instinct of nature, knoweth his owne good and whereto he is made
able.... Man onely knoweth nothing unlesse hee be taught. He can
neither speake nor goe, nor eat, otherwise than he is trained to it:
and, to be short, apt and good at nothing he is naturally, but to pule
and crie. And hereupon it is that some have been of this opinion, _that
better it had been, and simply best, for a man never to have been born,
or else speedily to die_."--Pliny's _Nat. Hist._ by Holland, Intr. to
b. vii.

"_Happy the mortal man_, who now at last
Has through this doleful vale of misery passed;
Who to his destined stage has carry'd on
The tedious load, and laid his burden down;
Whom the cut brass or wounded marble shows
Victor o'er Life, and all her train of woes.
_He_, _happier yet_, who, privileged by Fate
To shorter labour and a lighter weight,
Received but yesterday the gift of breath,
Order'd to-morrow to return to death.
But O! beyond description, _happiest he_
Who ne'er must roll on life's tumultuous sea;
Who with bless'd freedom, from the general doom
Exempt, must never face the teeming womb,
Nor see the sun, nor sink into the tomb!
Who breathes must suffer; and who thinks must mourn;
_And he alone is blessed who ne'er was born_."--Prior's _Solomon_, b.
iii.

The proverbs, "God takes those soonest whom He loveth best," and, "Whom the gods love die young," have been already illustrated in "N. & Q." (Vol. iii., pp. 302. 377.). "I have learned from religion, that an early death has often been the reward of piety," said the Emperor Julian on his death-bed. (See Gibbon, ch. xxiv.)

2. "_Judge none blessed before his death_."[1]

"Ante mortem ne laudes hominem," saith the son of Sirach, xi. 28.

Of this sentiment St. Chrysostom expresses his admiration, Hom. li. in. S. Eustath.; and heathen writers afford very close parallels:

[Greek: Prin d' an teleutêsê epischeein mêde kaleein kô olbion all'
eutuchea,] says Solon to Croesus (Herod., [Greek: KLEIÔ.] i. 32.): cf.
Aristot., _Eth. Nic._ ch. x., for a comment on this passage.

Sophocles, in the last few lines of the _Oedipus Tyrannus_, thus draws the moral of his fearful tragedy:

"[Greek: Hôste thnêton ont', ekeinên TÊN TELEUTAIAN idein]
[Greek: HÊMERAN episkopounta, mêden' olbizein, PRIN AN]
[Greek: TERMA TOU BIOU perasêi, mêden algeinon pathôn.]"

Elmsley, on this passage, gives the following references: Trach. I. Soph. Tereo, fr. 10.; ibid. Tyndar. fr. 1.; Agam., 937.; Androm., 100.; Troad., 509.; Heracl., 865.; Dionys. ap. Stob., ciii. p. 560.; Gesn., cv. p. 431.; Grot. To which I may add the oft-quoted lines,--

"Ultima semper
Expectanda dies, homini dicique beatus
_Ante obitum_ nemo supremaque funera debet."

In farther illustration of this passage from Ecclus., let us consider the _Death of the Righteous_.

"Let me die _the death_ of the righteous, and let my _last end_ be like his," exclaims the truth-compelled and reluctant prophet, Numb. xxiii. 10.

The royal Psalmist, after reflecting on the prosperity of the wicked in this world, adds:

"Then thought I to understand this,
But it was too hard for me,
Until I went into the sanctuary of God:
Then understood I the end of these men."--_Ps._ lxxiii.

And again:

"I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a green bay-tree;
{297}
Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not;
Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Mark the perfect man,
And behold the upright,
For _the end_ of that man is _peace_."--_Ps._ xxxvii. 35-37.: cf. the
Prayer-Book version.

The prophet Isaiah declares:

"The righteous man is taken away because of the evil;
_He shall go in peace_, he shall rest in his bed;
Even the perfect man, he that walketh in the straight path."--Ch. lvii.,
Bp. Lowth's Trans.

"Sure _the last end_
Of the good man is peace! How calm his exit!
Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground,
Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft.
Behold him! in the evening tide of life,
A life well spent, whose early care it was
His riper years should not upbraid his green:
By unperceived degrees he wears away;
Yet, like the sun, seems larger at his setting!
High in his faith and hopes, look how he reaches
After the prize in view! and, like a bird
That's hamper'd, struggles hard to get away!
Whilst the glad gates of sight are wide expanded
To let new glories in, the first fair fruits
Of the fast-coming harvest."--Blair's _Grave_.

"How blest the righteous when he dies!
When sinks the weary soul to rest!
How mildly beam the closing eyes!
How gently heaves the expiring breast!

"So fades the summer cloud away;
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er;
So gently shuts the eye of day;
So dies a wave upon the shore.

"Life's duty done, as sinks the clay,
Light from its load the spirit flies;
While heaven and earth combine to say,
'How blest the righteous when he dies!'"--_Mrs. Barbauld._

"An eve
Beautiful as the good man's quiet _end_,
When all of earthly now is passed away,
And heaven is in his face."--_Love's Trial._

"He sets
As sets the Morning Star, which goes not down
Behind the darken'd West, nor hides obscured
Among the tempests of the sky, but melts away
Into the light of heaven."

"As sweetly as a child,
Whom neither thought disturbs nor care encumbers,
Tired with long play, at close of summer's day
Lies down and slumbers."

A holy life is the only preparation to a happy death, says Bishop Taylor. And we have seen how much importance even heathen minds attached to _peace at the last_. Truly, as Kettlewell said while expiring, "There is no _life_ like a happy _death_."

"Consider," says that excellent writer, Norris of Bemerton, "that _this_ life is wholly in order to _another_, and that _time_ is that sole opportunity that God has given us for transacting the great business of _eternity_: that our work is great, and our day of working short; much of which also is lost and rendered useless through the cloudiness and darkness of the morning, and the thick vapours and unwholesome fogs of the evening; the ignorance and inadvertency of youth, and the disease and infirmities of old age: that our portion of time is not only _short_ as to its duration, but also _uncertain_ in the possession: that the loss of it is irreparable to the loser, and profitable to nobody else: that it shall be severely accounted for at the great judgment, and lamented in a sad eternity."--"Of the Care and Improvement of Time," _Miscel._, 6th edit., p. 118.

EIRIONNACH.

[Footnote 1: Cf. Sir Thos. Browne's _Christian Morals_, sect. ix.]

* * * * *

BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR AND DEATH OF NELSON.

The following unpublished letter, as a historical document, is worth preserving in the pages of "N. & Q." It relates to the important national events of the battle of Trafalgar and death of Nelson. The writer was, at the time, a signal midshipman in the service, and only about thirteen years of age. He was a native of Glasgow, and died many years since, much respected.

H.M.S. Defence,
At anchor off Cadiz, 28 Oct. 1805.

My dear Betty [the writer's sister],

I have now the pleasure of writing you, after a noble victory over the
French and Spanish fleets, on the 21st October, off Cape Spartel. We
have taken, burnt and sunk, gone on shore, &c., twenty-one sail of the
line. The names I will let [you] know after. On the 19[th] our frigates
made the signal; the Combined Fleets were coming out; so as we were
stationed between the frigate and our fleet, we repeated ditto to Lord
Nelson. It being calm we could not make much way, but in the course of
the night we got a strong breeze, and next morning our frigate made the
signal for them, being all at sea. So on the afternoon of the 20[th] we
saw them to leeward; but it was blowing fresh and very hazy, so Lord
Nelson made our signal for a captain; so our captain went on board, and
Lord Nelson told Captain Hope he expected he would keep sight of them
all night. So on the morning of the 21st we observed them to leeward
about two miles, so we made the signal to Lord Nelson how many the
bearings, and everything; so brave Nelson bore down immediately; and at
twelve o'clock Lord Nelson broke the south^d line, and brave Admiral
Collin[g]wood the north; and at two o'clock we were all in action. We
were the last station'd ship; so when we went down we had two Frenchmen
and one Spaniard on us at one time. We engag'd them forty-six minutes,
when the "Achille" and "Polyphemus" came up to our assistance. The
Spaniard ran away; we gave him chase, and fought him {298} one hour and
forty-six minutes, when he struck, and we boarded him, and have him
safe at anchor, as we have not had a good wind. I am sorry to say poor
Lord Nelson was wounded the second broadside. He went down and got his
wounds dress'd, and he was wound'd a second time, and he just lived to
hear of the victory. The ship we took, her name is the "San Ildifonzo,"
eighty-two guns, and a very fine ship, new. I don't think we will save
more than twelve sail of them: but we have sunk, burnt, drove on shore,
twenty-one sail of the line in all; and if we had not had a gale of
wind next day we would have taken every one of them. We were riding
close in shore with two anchors a-head, three cables on each bower, and
all our sails were shot to pieces, ditto our rudder and stern, and
mainmast, and everything; but, thank good, I am here safe, though there
was more shot at my quarters than any other part of the ship. We are
now at anchor, but expect to go to Gibraltar every day. I hope in good
you are all in health: I was never better in all my life. My comp^{ts}
to all friends [&c. ...] and my dear father and mother.

I am
Your affectionate brother,
(Signed) CHARLES REID.

You must excuse this letter, as half our hands are on board our prize,
and have had no time. I have been two days writing this; five minutes
one time and ten minutes another time, and so on. We are just getting
under way for Gibraltar.

Now for the French and Spanish ships taken, burnt, run on shore, &c.
&c.:

Bucentaure, 80, taken. French.
Santiss' Trinidada, 130, sunk. Spanish.
Santa, taken, but afterwards got into Cadiz.
Rayo, 110, sunk. French.
Bahama, 74, taken. French.
Argonauta, 80, sunk and burnt.
Neptuna, 90, on shore.
San Ildifonzo, 80, taken by the Defence.
Algazeras, 74, on shore; Swiftsure, 74, Gib.; Berwick, 74, Gib. All
English ships taken by the French last war.
Intrepid, 74, burnt.
Aigle, 80, on shore.
Tonguer, 80, on shore [MS. uncertain].
De ..., 74, Gibraltar [ditto].
Argonauta, 74, Gib.
Redoubtable, 74, sunk.
Achell, 74, burnt.
Manareo, 74, on shore.
San Augustino, 74, Gibraltar.

There is not one English ship lost, but a number lost their masts.
(Signed) C. R.

The writer had a brother, Andrew Reid, who bore a commission in the ships of Captain Parry in the first Arctic expedition.

G. N.

* * * * *

HERALDIC ANOMALY.

I beg to call the attention of the heraldic readers of "N. & Q." to a singular custom of displaying their coats of arms, peculiar to the Knights of St. John, of the venerable Language of England.

It is well known that the members of this valiant brotherhood, throughout Europe, bear their paternal shield alone, surmounted, as the badge of their profession, with the particular device of the order, that is, On a chief, gules, a cross argent. The English knights, with their paternal coat, bore also, party-per-pale, that of their mothers, with the chief of the order over both, a strange heraldic anomaly!

I have somewhere read, but where, for lack of a "note," I cannot recollect, that in making their proofs of nobility previous to their admission into the order, unlike the other Languages, the cavalier of England gave in only the names of their father and mother, but at the same time it was requisite that these two names should be able to prove a nobility of two hundred years each.

Perhaps the custom of bearing the paternal shield impaled with the maternal sprung from these proofs.

In the British Museum, Harl. MSS. 1386., may be seen three examples of this custom, in a paper entitled, _A Note of certain Knights of Rhodes_, "in prioratû Sancti Johannis Jerusalem."

1. Sir Thomas Docwra, Grand Prior of England, A.D. 1504, a knight not more renowned as a valiant man-at-arms, "preux et hardi," than as a skilful diplomatist; and who, on the death of Fabricio Caretto, A.D. 1520-1, was thought worthy to be put in competition for the Grand Mastership with the celebrated Villiers de L'Isle Adam, and, as Vertot tells us, only lost that dignity by a very trifling majority. His paternal coat--Sable, a cheveron engrailed argent, between three plates, on each a pale, gules--is impaled with that of his mother, Alice, daughter of Thomas Green, of Gressingham, in Yorkshire; Argent, a bugle-horn sable, stringed gules, between three griffins' heads, erased, of the second; over all, the chief of the order.

2. Sir Lancelot Docwra, near kinsman to Sir Thomas, and son of Robert Docwra, of Docwra-Hall, in Cumberland. His arms are impaled with--Or, a cross flory sable--the coat armour of his mother, Jane, daughter of Sir John Lamplugh, of Lamplugh, in the same county; one "of a race," as Denton says, "of valorous gentlemen, successively for their worthiness knighted in the field, all, or most part of them." The chief of the order also surmounts his shield.

3. The third is the shield of Sir John Randon; Gules, a bend checquy or and azure, impaling Argent, a frette, and on a chief, gules, three escallops of the field; over all, the chief of the order. {299}

If any readers of "N. & Q." could furnish me with more examples, I should be much obliged.

JOHN O' THE FORD.

Malta.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_Three Maids._--There is a spot on the road from Winchester to Andover called the "Three Maids." They are I believe nameless. Tradition says that they poisoned their father, and were for that crime buried alive up to their necks. Travellers passing by were ordered not to feed them; but one compassionate horseman as he rode along threw the core of an apple to one, on which she subsisted for three days. Wonderful is it to state that three groups of firs sprung up miraculously from the graves of the three maids. Thus their memories have been perpetuated. The peasantry of Winchester and its neighbourhood for the most part accredit the story, and I see no reason for disbelieving the first part of it myself. Does any one know of a like punishment being awarded in olden times, when the tender mercies of the law were cruel and arbitrary?

_Mother Russel's Post._--Whilst I am on the subject of folk lore I may as well add, that on the road to Kings Sombourn, of educational renown, there is a spot where four roads meet. Report says that a certain Mother Russel, who committed suicide, was buried there. A little girl in this village was afraid to pass the spot at night on account of the ghosts, which are supposed to haunt it in the hours of darkness. The rightful name of the place is "Mother Russel's Post."

EUSTACE W. JACOB.

Crawley.

_Shrove Tuesday Custom_ (Vol. ix., p. 65.).--The Shrove Tuesday custom mentioned by MR. ELLIOTT as existing at Leicester, and an account of which he quotes from Hone's _Year-Book_, has been abolished within the last few years. There is, I believe, still a curious custom on that day at Ludlow, the origin and meaning of which has never, so far as I am aware, been discovered and stated.

"The corporation," I quote from a history of the town, "provide a rope,
three inches in thickness, and in length thirty-six yards, which is
given out at one of the windows of the Market House as the clock
strikes four, when a large body of the inhabitants, divided into two
parties, commence an arduous struggle, and as soon as either party
gains the victory by pulling the rope beyond the prescribed limits, the
pulling ceases, &c.

* * * * *

"Without doubt this singular custom is symbolical of some remarkable
event, and a remnant of that ancient language of visible signs, which,
says a celebrated writer, 'imperfectly supplies the want of letters to
perpetuate the remembrance of public or private transactions.' The sign
in this instance has survived the remembrance of the occurrence it was
designed to represent, and remains a profound mystery. It has been
insinuated that the real occasion of this custom is known to the
corporation, but that, for some reason or other, they are tenacious of
the secret."

The local historian then mentions an "obscure tradition," but as it is not in agreement with my own opinion, I omit it.

S. P. Q.

* * * * *

STORNELLO.

Verses, the rhymes of which return after the fashion of those printed in "N. & Q." (Vol. vi., p. 603., and Vol. vii., p. 174.), are commonly current among the peasants of Tuscany, and in many instances form the materials of their popular songs. It is probable that this description of rhyme originated in the "bel paese la dove 'l si suona." They usually turn on a combination of _three_ words, as in those quoted in Vol vii. of "N. & Q." And the name _stornello_, as will be readily perceived, is derived from _tornare_, to return. I send you a specimen of one of them, which has a certain degree of historical interest attached to it, from its connexion with the movement of 1848. It was difficult to walk through the streets of Florence in those days without hearing it carolled forth by more than one Florentine Tyrtæus. _Now_, I need hardly say, "we never mention it--its name is never heard." The patriot-flag was a _tricolor_ of white, red, and green, a nosegay of which colours a youth has brought to his mistress. She sings as follows:

"E gli dirò che il verde, il rosso, il bianco
Gli stanno ben con una spada al fianco.
E gli dirò che il bianco, il verde, il rosso,
Vuol dir che Italia il duro giogo ha scosso.
E gli dirò che il rosso, il bianco, il verde
E un terno che si giuoca e non si perde."

Of which the following rough version may serve to give a sufficiently-accurate idea of the meaning, for the benefit of your "country gentlemen" readers:

"And I'll tell him the green, and the red, and the white
Would look well by his side as a sword-knot so bright.
And I'll tell him the white, and the green, and the red
Mean, our country has flung the vile yoke from her head.
And I'll tell him the red, and the white, and the green
Is the prize that we play for, a prize that we'll win."

"Un terno che si giuoca" is a phrase which refers to the system of the public lotteries, {300} established (so much to their shame) by the Italian governments; and a page of explanation of that system would be needful, to make any literal translation of it intelligible to an English reader.

In conclusion I may say, in reply to the Query of HENRY H. BREEN, that the Popes alluded to in the epigram cited by him as above referred to (Vol. vi., p. 603.), seem evidently to have been Julius II. (Rovere), Leo X. (Medici), Clement VII. (Medici), and Paul III. (Farnese). And the epigram in question says no more than the truth, in asserting that they all four occasioned infinite mischief to France.

T. A. T.

Florence.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Perspective._--There is a very common error in drawing walls, the plane of which is parallel to the plane of the picture. An instance of it occurs in the façade of Sennacherib's Palace, Layard's 2nd book on Nineveh, frontispiece. All the horizontal lines in the plane of the picture are drawn parallel. The fact is, that every line above or below the line of the horizon, though _really_ parallel to it, _apparently_ approaches it, as it is produced to the right or left. The reason is obvious. One point in the wall, viz. that on which you let fall a perpendicular from your eye, is nearest to your eye. The perpendicular height of the wall, as drawn through this point, must therefore appear greater than as drawn through any other point more to the right or left. The lines which are really parallel do therefore apparently converge on some point more or less distant, according to the distance of the wall from your eye. Every drawing in which this principle is not considered must, I think, appear out of perspective.

G. T. HOARE.

Tandridge.

"_That._"--I lately met with the following grammatical puzzle among some old papers. I forget from what book I copied it many years ago. Perhaps it may be new to some of your readers.

"I'll prove the word that I have made my theme,
Is that that may be _doubled_ without blame,
And that that that thus _trebled_ I may use,
And that that that that critics may abuse,
May be correct.--Farther, the Dons to bother,
_Five_ thats may closely follow one another--
For, be it known that we may safely write
Or say that that that that that man writ was right;
Nay, e'en that that that that that that has followed
Through _six_ repeats, the grammar's rule has hallowed,
And that that that (that _that_ that that began),
Repeated _seven_ times is right! Deny't who can."

McC.

_Corporation Enactments._--In the town books of the Corporation of Youghal, co. Cork, among other singular enactments of that body are two which will now be regarded as curiosities. In the years 1680 and 1703, a cook and a barber received their freedom, on condition that they would respectively dress the mayor's feasts, and shave the Corporation, gratis!

ABHBA.

_Jacobite Club._--The adherents of the Stuarts are now nearly extinct; but I recollect a few years ago an old gentleman, in London, who was then upwards of eighty years of age, and who was a stanch Jacobite. I have heard him say that, "when he was a young man, his father belonged to a society in Aldersgate Street, called the 'Mourning Bush;' and this Bush was to be always in mourning until the Stuarts were restored." A member of this Society having been met in mourning when one of the reigning family had died, was asked by one of the members how it so happened? His reply was, that he was "not mourning for the dead, but for the living." The old gentleman was father of the Mercers' Company, and his brother of the Stationers' Company: they were bachelors, and citizens of the old school, hospitable, liberal, and charitable. An instance occurred, that the latter had a presentation to Christ's Hospital: he was applied to on behalf of a person who had a large family; but the father not being a freeman, he could not present it to the son. He immediately bought the freedom for the father, and gave the son the presentation! This is a rare act.

The brothers have long gone to receive the reward of their goodness, and lie buried in the cemetery attached to Mercers' Hall, Cheapside.

JAMES REED.

Sunderland.

_Dean Nowell's first Wife._--Churton, in his _Life of Alexander Nowell_, dean of St. Paul's, p. 368., is at a loss to know the name of the dean's first wife. He says:

"Of his first wife nothing farther is known but that he was married,
either to her or to his second wife, in or before the year 1561. His
surviving wife, Eliz. Nowell, had been twice married before, and had
children by both her former husbands. Laurence Ball appears to have
been her first husband, and Thomas Blount her second."

The pedigree of Bowyer, in the _Visitation of Sussex_, in 1633-4, gives the name of the dean's first wife:

"Thomas = Jane, da. and heir of = Alexander Nowell,
Bowyer Robert Merry, son dean of St. Paul's.
of London. of Thomas Merry 2nd husband."
of Hatfield.

Y. S.

"_Oxoniana._"--To your list of desirable reprints, I beg to add the very amusing work under this title, and originally published in four small {301} volumes about fifty years since, and now become scarce. Additions and corrections would add to the value and interest of a work which preserves many curious traits of past times and of Oxford Dons.

ALPHA.

_An Epigram falsely ascribed to George Herbert._--The recent editors of George Herbert have printed as his, among his Latin poems, the last two lines of the 76th epigram of Martial's eighth book:

"Vero verius ergo quid sit, audi:
Verum, Gallice, non libenter audis."

J. E. B. MAYOR.

_Ingulph: Bohn's "Antiquarian Library."_--Will you kindly allow me to avail myself of your columns to correct an error in my translation of "Ingulph," in Bohn's _Antiquarian Library_? In the note to page 2, the Abbey of _Bardney,_ in Lincolnshire, is confounded with _Partney,_ which was one of its cells. The mistake was not observed till, unfortunately, the sheet had been printed; and it was accidentally omitted among the _errata_. My authority had, I rather think, been misled by Camden.

HENRY T. RILEY.

31. St. Peter's Square, Hammersmith.

* * * * *

Queries.

QUOTATIONS WANTED.

"Quid levius calamo? Pulvis. Quid pulvere? Ventus.
Quid vento? Meretrix. Quid meretrice? Nihil."

"What is lighter than a feather?
Dust. The wind more light than either.
What is lighter than the wind?
Airy, fickle, womankind.
What than womankind is lighter?
Nothing, nothing--but the writer."

X. Y.

"The knights are dust,
Their good swords are rust,
Their souls are with the saint, we trust."

C. M. O'CAOIMH.

"Circles are prized, not that abound
In greatness, but the exactly round.
Thus men are honoured, who excel,
Not in high state, but doing well."

G. C. H.

"Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks to rivers, rivers run to seas."

S.

"The clanging trumpet sounds to arms,
And calls me forth to battle:
Our banners float 'midst war's alarms,
The signal cannons rattle."

T. W.

"Of whose omniscient and all-spreading love,
Aught to implore were impotence of mind."

Q.

"He no longer shall dwell
Upon that dirty ball,
But to heaven shall come,
And make punch for us all."

A SEPTUAGENARIAN.

"Sometimes, indeed, an acre's breadth half green,
And half strewed o'er with rubbish, may be seen.
When lo! a board, with quadrilateral grace,
Stands stiff in the phenomenon of space,
Proposing still the neighbourhood's increase,
By, 'Ground to let upon a building lease.'"

H. W.

"Then what remains, but well our parts to chuse,
And keep good humour whatsoe'er we lose."

F. W. J.

"Bachelors of every station,
Listen to my true relation."

Also a ballad describing the visit of a countryman and his wife to Oxford. Both of Berkshire origin.

L.

"A fellow feeling makes us wond'rous kind."

W. V.

"Sir John once said a good thing."

[Greek: Xanthos].

* * * * *

SIR EDMUND PLOWDEN.

In your publication (Vol. iv., p. 319.), one of your correspondents has given some interesting particulars relative to Sir Edmund Plowden, New Albion, &c., and expresses the hope that Americans will hereafter do justice to the memory of one really deserving their respect. I am desirous of doing something to vindicate his memory and claims; and to this end should be greatly obliged if your correspondent would favour me with some additional facts. To get at these, I will put some of them in the interrogative form.

When and where was Sir Edmund born?

What is the evidence that he was in America from 1620 to 1630? If so, where (in what localities), and what capacity?

He says that his sister married a son of Secretary Lake, _then_ in office; but Lake was turned out several years before 1630, and Lord Baltimore took his place, I think. Nor was Wentworth made Earl of Strafford till after the time of the petition.

He is said to have served five years in Ireland: in what capacity?

Who were Viscount Musherry, Lord Monson, Sir Thomas Denby, (Claiborne I know of), Capt. Balls; besides Sir John Laurence, Sir Bowyer {302} Worstley, Barrett, &c.? Where did these parties "die, in America," in 1634?

Is the _Latin_ original of the character in existence? There is an omission in the bounds given in the paper referred to: can I get an extract from the original entry of limits?

Did the charter ever pass the _Great Seal_?

Would it be valid, if only passed under the private seal?

Can the date of the grant to Danby be ascertained?

Are there any memoranda of Plowden's six years' residence as Governor of New Albion (I have some of his residence in Virginia)?

Can I get more definite facts about the misconduct of Francis?

The license for alienation, &c. is stated to have been obtained 15th of Charles, 1646; but the 15th of Charles was 1640. When did he arrive to attend to his property, and when was he imprisoned in the Fleet?

Who was Beauchamp Plantagenet, the author of the tract on _New Albion_, published in 1648?

Who were Robert Evelin, Captain Young, and Master Miles, mentioned in that tract?

Can you give me any additional facts, _dates_ especially, of events and births, deaths, &c.?

I know not into whose hands these Queries will come; but I can say that, if they are answered, the cause of historic truth and justice will be served; and I shall have the aid I want towards correcting the misrepresentations and errors that have been accumulating for years on this point.

S. F. STREETER, Sec. Md. Hist. Soc.

Baltimore Md., March 2, 1854.

P. S.--I should like to inquire, through your publication, if any one can give me the family of Mr. Claiborne; and any facts in his history not stated in our works?

* * * * *

ANCIENT CLOCK, AND ODEVAERE'S HISTORY OF IT.

As a portion of the history of the magnificent clock, which came into my possession last year, is connected with Holland, I think it probable that I may, through the means of "N. & Q." and the _Navorscher_, be able to obtain the information respecting it which I desire. I shall therefore be very much obliged if you will give this communication a place.