Chapter C: Forbes

Temple.

_Extracts from the Registers of the Bishops of Lincoln._--In searching through the registers of the bishops of Lincoln, the following curious entries met my eye:

"_Smoke-farthings._--Commissio domini episcopi ad levandum le Smoke
farthinges, alias dict. Lincoln farthinges a nostris Archidiaconatus
nostri Leycestriæ: subditis ad utilitatem nostræ matricis ecclesiæ
Cath. Linc. sponsæ nostræ convertend., dicti Smoke farthinges
conceduntur ad constructionem campanili ecclesiæ prebendalis Sanctæ
Margaretæ Leycestr. 1444."

The above entry occurs at fo. 48. of the register of William Alnewick, Bishop of Lincoln.

"A^o 1450. _Testamentum domini Thomæ Cumberworth, militis._--In the
name of Gode and to his loveyng, Amen. I, Thomas Cumbyrworth, knyght,
the xv day of Feberer, the yere of oure Lord m^lcccc and L. in clere
mynde and hele of body, blyssed be Gode, ordan my last wyll on this
wyse folowyng. Furst, I gyff my sawle to God, my Lorde and my
Redemptur, and my wrechid body to be beryd in a chiffe w^towte any
kyste in the northyle of the parych kirke of Someretby be my wyfe, and
I wyll my body ly still, my mowth opyn, untild xxiiij owrys, and after
laid on bere w[t]towtyn any thyng y^ropon to coverit bot a sheit and a
blak cloth, w^t a white crose of cloth of golde, but I wyl my kyste be
made and stande by, and at my bereall giff it to hym that fillis my
grave; also I gif my blissid Lord God for my mortuary there I am bered
my best hors."

This entry occurs at fo. 43. of the register of Marmaduke Lumley, Bishop of Lincoln.

Z.

_Marston and Erasmus._--I am not aware the following similarity of idea, between a passage in Marston's _Antonio and Mellida_ and one in Erasmus' _Colloquies_, has ever been pointed out:

" . . . . As having clasp'd a rose
Within my palm, the rose being ta'en away,
My hand retains a little breath of sweet.
So may man's trunk, his spirit slipp'd away,
Hold still a faint perfume of his sweet guest."
_Antonio and Mellida_, Act IV. Sc. 1. From
the reprint in the _Ancient British Drama_.

"Anima quæ moderatur utrunque corpus animantis, improprie dicitur anima
cum revera sint tenues quædam animæ reliquiæ, non aliter quam odor
rosarum manet in manu, etiam rosa submota."--_Erasmi Colloq._, Leyden
edit. 1703, vol. i. p. 694.

H. F. S.

Cambridge.

_Puzzle for the Heralds._--Some years ago Sir John Newport, Bart., and who was married, and Sir Simon Newport, who had received the honour of knighthood, and was also married, lived in or {514} near the city of Waterford; and I have heard that owing to the frequent mistakes arising from the two ladies being called each "Lady Newport," a case was sent to Dublin for the opinion of the Ulster King of arms. It is said he himself was puzzled; Sir Simon's lady was not "Lady Newport," for Sir John's lady had a prior and higher claim; she was not "Lady Simon," for her husband was not Lord Simon; but he ultimately decided that the lady was to be called "Lady Sir Simon," and she was never afterwards known by any other title.

Y. S. M.

* * * * *

Queries.

SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.

As recumbent effigies are in vogue, there are some points connected herewith worthy of discussion at the present time in your pages. The ultra-admirers of the mediæval monuments will not allow the slightest deviation from what they regard as the prescriptive model--a figure with the head straight, and the hands raised in prayer. One of their arguments is, that the ancient effigy is alive, while the modern modifications are in a state of death, and consequently repulsive to the feelings of the spectator. In my opinion, however, the vitality of the old ones is very questionable. Let us reflect upon their probable origin. In former times the bodies of ecclesiastics and other personages were laid in state, exposed to public view, and even carried into the churches in that condition: a custom still prevalent abroad. It is reasonable to conjecture that the monuments intended to perpetuate this scene in stone, imitating the form of the deceased, with the canopy and bier, and adorned with armorial bearings and other appropriate devices. Images of wax were frequently substituted for the corpse, some of which (among them Queen Elizabeth's) are still preserved in Westminster Abbey; but the practice was kept up even down to the time of the great Duke of Marlborough. It is recorded in history, that during the progress of the body of our Henry V. from France, a figure of the king, composed of boiled leather, was placed upon the coffin. York Cathedral contains a beautiful example of a complete monument of this description in the Early English style, which degenerated by degrees into the four-post bed, with its affectionate couple, of the Elizabethan period. It is obviously a fair deduction, from these circumstances, that the sepulchral effigies are "hearsed in death."

From Mr. Ruskin's _Stones of Venice_, it appears that the figures on the Venetian tombs of the Middle Ages are manifestly dead; and such, it may be inferred, is the impression conveyed to his highly cultivated mind by the contemplation of those in our own country.

"In the most elaborate examples," says this observant writer, "the
canopy is surmounted by a statue, generally small, representing the
dead person in the full strength and pride of life, while the recumbent
figure shows him as he lay in death. And at this point the perfect type
of the Gothic tomb is reached."

Describing one at Verona, of the fourteenth century, he observes:

"The principal aim of the monument is to direct the thoughts to his
image as he lies in death, and to the expression of his hope of
resurrection."

And towards the conclusion of his review of their development he writes:

"This statue in the meantime has been gradually coming back to life
through a curious series of transitions. The Vendramin monument is one
of the last which shows, or pretends to show, the recumbent figure laid
in death. A few years later this idea became disagreeable to polite
minds; and lo! the figures which before had been laid at rest upon the
tomb pillow, raised themselves on their elbows, and began to look
around them. The soul of the sixteenth century dared not contemplate
its body in death."

Flaxman, in his remarks on the monuments of Aylmer de Valence and Edmund Crouchback in Westminster Abbey, admires

"The solemn repose of the principal figure, representing the deceased
in his last prayer for mercy to the throne of grace, the delicacy of
thought in the group of angels bearing the soul, and the tender
sentiment of concern variously expressed in the relations ranged in
order round the basement."

As, however, a canopy on the former exhibits a living figure of the departed on horseback, such as Mr. Ruskin notices in Italy, and as the angels are said to bear the soul, the knight must certainly have breathed his last. The raised hands are no refutation of the argument, since there are grounds for the assertion that those of the dead bodies laid in state were sometimes tied together to retain them in the suitable position. A few exceptional instances, no doubt, occur of variations in the attitude irreconcileable with death, and equally inconsistent with a reclining posture. It must also be admitted that in brasses and incised slabs (which may be regarded in many respects as parallel memorials), the eyes are almost invariably unclosed; yet the fact, neither in this case nor in that of the carved marble, does not by any means certify that the individuals are alive.

Since then there is so much reason for the supposition that the generality of our ancestors are sculptured in the sleep of death, the recumbent figure of a Christian clasping the Bible, and slightly turning his head, just passed away into another state of existence (not into purgatory, {515} but into a happier world), cannot surely be now deemed unsuitable to a Gothic church.

C. T.

* * * * *

QUERIES ON SOUTH'S SERMONS.

I should be glad to know the authority for the following statement in South's sermon, _Against long Extempore Prayers_, vol. i. p. 251., Tegg's edition, 1843:

"These two things are certain, and I do particularly recommend them to
your observation: One, that this way of praying by the Spirit, as they
call it, was begun, and first brought into use here in England, in
Queen Elizabeth's days, by a Popish priest and Dominican friar, one
Faithful Commin by name. Who, counterfeiting himself a Protestant, and
a zealot of the highest form, set up this new spiritual way of praying,
with a design to bring the people first to a contempt, and from thence
to an utter hatred and disuse of our Common Prayer; which he still
reviled as only a translation of the mass, thereby to distract men's
minds, and to divide our Church. And this he did with such success,
that we have lived to see the effects of his labours in the utter
subversion of Church and State; which hellish negociation, when this
malicious hypocrite came to Rome to give the Pope an account of, he
received of him, as so notable a service well deserved, besides a
thousand thanks, two thousand ducats for his pains."

Also, who was W. W., the author of "a virulent and insulting pamphlet, entitled, _A Letter to a Member of Parliament_, printed in the year 1697, and as like the author himself, W. W., as malice can make it," referred to in a note by South at the end of his sermon on _The Recompence of the Reward_, vol. ii. p. 152. Is this pamphlet still in existence?

W. H. GUNNER.

Winchester.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Norwich, Kirkpatrick Collection of MSS. for the History of._--Mr. Simon Wilkin, in the preface to the _Repertorium_, contained in his fourth volume of his valuable edition of the works of Sir Thomas Browne, p. 4., having spoken of the large collections for the History of Norwich made by Mr. John Kirkpatrick, who died in 1728, and gave the said collections by will to the mayor, sheriffs, citizens, and commonalty of the city of Norwich, in order that "some citizen hereafter, being a skilful antiquary, may, from the same, have an opportunity of completing and publishing the said history," &c., goes on to say, "the MSS. referred to were some years ago in the possession of the corporation, but we fear the original intention of the donor has been lost sight of, and that these valuable MSS. are for ever lost to the lover of local antiquities." This was printed in 1835. But the subject ought not to be permitted to drop and rest there. Up to that date, can it be ascertained that the papers remained in the keeping of the Corporation? Are they still in their hands, though inaccessible? Can any information be obtained as to the _when_ and the _how_ they passed out of their possession? Or, above all, can any clue be found to their subsequent history and present resting-place? It may be suggested to any patriotic citizen and antiquary of the fair city of Norwich, that, inasmuch as the Corporation, by the terms of the will, are only _trustees_ for the property, the Court of Chancery might be moved to assist in the recovery thereof.

T. A. T.

Florence, March, 1854.

_Corbet._--Can any of your readers furnish information relative to the Scottish family of Corbet, one member of whom emigrated to America, about the year 1705, from the neighbourhood of Dumfries?

CORBIE.

Philadelphia.

_Initials in Glass Quarries._--In St. Clement's Church, Norwich, are some diamond-shaped panes of glass, or _quarries_, containing initial letters, &c.

1. The letters I. V. beneath a mitre. (Glass probably about A.D. 1600.) Do these belong to any Bishop of Norwich?

2. A. A. 3. A. I. Glass and style probably give 1500-1550 for the date.

At St. Neots' parish church, Huntingdonshire, the initials W. and M. interlaced, G., and C., occur on several quarries.

At Puttenham, Hertfordshire, is a broken quarry bearing a shield, charged with a ship in full sail; on a chief, the arms of King's Coll. Cambridge. The living belongs to that college, I believe.

Can any of your correspondents assist in assigning these initials and arms to their respective owners? The date of the glass in the two last-named cases is probably the end of the seventeenth century.

G. R. YORK.

_Church Service: Preliminary Texts._--Among the texts with which the Church of England Service commences, is one with two references; the former of these is the correct index to the words, the latter points to a kindred text. At Jer. x. 24. we find the passage; then why is Ps. vi. 1. added, no parallel text being indicated to any of the other ten? Has this always so stood?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

_The Spinning-machine of the Ancients._--Can any of your readers give a satisfactory explanation of the difficult passage which occurs at the end of Catullus' _Epithalamium_, containing the description of the spinning-wheel of the Fates? As this has been such a perplexing subject hitherto to commentators, a solution of the terms there employed, {516} illustrated by a plan of the machine, would doubtless be a boon to many who have unsuccessfully tried to understand it.

[Greek: Philomathês.]

_View of Dumfries._--I have a modern lithographed view of the town of Dumfries, said to have been taken from an old engraving in some printed book. It represents a small chapel (the Crystal Chapel) on a height in the foreground, and the walls of the town and the old church behind. I have in vain sought for the original, and have almost come to the conclusion that the drawing is a forgery. Can any of your readers who have access to the Bodleian, inform me whether anything of the kind is to be found in Gough's _Topographical Collections_, which are there deposited?

BALIVUS.

Edinburgh.

"_To pass the pikes._"--What is the origin of this phrase?

G. TAYLOR.

_May-day Custom._--Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of a singular custom which prevails in Huntingdonshire on May 1, viz. that of suspending from a rope, which is hung across the road in every village, a doll with pieces of gay-coloured silk and ribbon, and no matter what, attached to it; candlesticks and snuffers, spoons and forks, being parts of those I saw the other day in Summersham, St. Ives, and several other places.

HENRIETTA M. COLE.

3. Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park.

_Maydenburi._--The seal with which I close my letter was purchased some years ago on the west coast of Wales. It is engraved on brass; the upper part being much beaten down, as if struck with a hammer when used, but the face is perfect. The legend is, "S. IONIS. DE MAYDENBVRI:" but being engraved in the usual direction, it reads on the impression from right to left. The "s." may be read either as "sanctus" or "sigillum." The figure is that of St. Christopher, bearing Christ across a running stream.

I have not been able to discover the locality of Maydenburi, and therefore my questions to such of your readers as are more skilled in mediæval lore than myself, are, Where is this place situated, and what was its previous destination, monastic or otherwise? and who was the original proprietor of the seal?

H. E. S.

Tewkesbury.

_Richard Fitz-Alan, ninth Earl of Arundel._--Can any one tell me why Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, who married Eleanora, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, relict of Henry Lord Beaumont, received the _sobriquet_ of "Richard with the Copped Hat?"

H. M.

_French Refugees._--During the time of the French Revolution, 1789-1800, many families emigrated to England, and received shelter and support at an hospital then situate in Spital Fields. I should feel obliged for any information relating to the books or registers of that hospital wherein would be found the names of the emigrants, and also whether there is any publication relating to them.

J. F. F.

Dublin.

"_Dilamgabendi._"--What is the precise meaning of the word _Dilamgabendi_; is it of ancient British origin, or to what language does it belong?

A TRAVELLER.

_Mr. Plumley._--In the _Literary Intelligencer_ for March, 1822, No. 131., in an article entitled "Extremes Meet," it is said:

"Mr. Plumley concludes one of his tragedies with a dying speech and an
execution. And gives an appendix of references to the passages of
Scripture quoted in his plays."

Who was Mr. Plumley, and what did he write? I cannot find any book to which the above passage can refer in the British Museum.

C. L.

_Designation of Works under Review._--I shall be much indebted to the Editor of "N. & Q.," or to any of his correspondents, if he or they will inform me of the designation under which the works, whose names stand at the head of a review, should be technically referred to by the reviewer.