Chapter C: F. P

Normanton-upon-Soar, Notts.

I am disposed to agree in opinion with E. W. I. as to this custom, not only as regards the priests, but the people also, for in most country parishes it is the signal for the baker--who usually cooks the Sunday's dinner of the humbler classes--to open his oven: and I have often heard old folks speak of it as "the pudding bell."

G. TAYLOR.

Reading.

The object is to announce that another service is to follow, either in the afternoon or evening, as the case may be. Here the tolling is, not as the congregation are leaving the church, but at one o'clock.

WM. HAZEL.

Portsmouth.

E. W. I., in his answer to this Query in Vol. ix., p. 312., refers to the custom of tolling the church bell at eight o'clock on Sunday morning, and again at nine. This custom is followed at the chapel of ease (at Maidenhead) to the parishes of Bray and Cookham.

NEWBURIENSIS.

"The pudding bell," as country folks sometimes call it (under the impression that its use is to warn those at home to get the dinner ready), is still rung in some of the old Lancashire parish churches as the congregation go out. But as in this county parish churches are scarce, and two full services quite a matter of course, W. S.'s {568} reason cannot apply here. I remember well the custom of the congregations _kneeling_ when the Lord's Prayer occurred in the lesson; it was left off in my own church about thirty years since, this custom, curtseying at the "Gloria," and some others, being considered _ignorant_, and therefore discountenanced by those who knew better.

P. P.

_Arch-priest in the Diocese of Exeter_ (Vol. ix., pp. 105. 185.).--A question has been asked: "Does a dignity or office, such as rector of Haccombe, exist in the Anglican Church?" I find something similar in the case of the vicar of Newry, who is entirely free from ecclesiastical control; he holds his appointment from the ex-officio rector (Lord Kilmony), who derives his title from the original patent granted by Edward VI. to his Irish Marshal Sir Nicholas Pagnall, who, on the dissolution of the "Monasterium Nevoracense," obtained possession of the land attached, and was farther granted:

"That he shall have all and singular, and so many and the like courts
leet, frank pledge, law days, rights, jurisdictions, liberties,
privileges, &c. &c., in as large, ample, and beneficial a manner as any
abbot, prior, convent, or other chief, head, or governor of the late
dissolved monastery heretofore seized, held or enjoyed," &c.

The seal of the ancient charter, on which is inscribed the legend, "Sigillum exemptæ jurisdictionis de virido ligno alias Newry et Mourne," is still used in the courts. A mitred abbot in his albe, sitting in his chair, supported by two yew-trees, is also engraved on it; to perpetuate (it is said) the tradition that these trees had been planted by St. Patrick in the vicinity of the convent.

N. C. ATKINSON.

85. Waterloo Road, Dublin.

_Holy-loaf Money_ (Vol. ix., pp. 150. 256.).--In Normandy and Brittany, and probably in other Roman Catholic countries, bread is blessed by the officiating priest during the performance of high mass, and handed round in baskets to the congregation by the inferior officers of the church. On inquiring into the meaning of this custom, I was told that it represented the _agapæ_ of the primitive church; and that, before the first revolution, every substantial householder in the parish was bound in turn to furnish the loaves, or a money equivalent. It is now, I believe, a voluntary gift of the more devout parishioners, or furnished out of the ordinary revenues of the church.

HONORÉ DE MAREVILLE.

Guernsey.

* * * * *

POPIANA.

(Vol. ix., p. 445.)

In MR. HARRY LEROY TEMPLE'S _Popiana_, allusion is made to Pope's _Imitation of Horace_, Second Satire, Book I., and the question is asked, In what modern editions of Pope is this Imitation to be found? It is in Warton's edition, and also in the Aldine edition published by Pickering. It appeared to me (as to Bowles, Roscoe, Mr. Cary, and others) too glaringly indecent for a popular edition of Pope. The poet never acknowledged it; he published it as "Imitated in the manner of Mr. Pope," but it is a genuine production. See note in my edition of Pope, vol. iv. p. 300.

MR. TEMPLE says,--

"Roscoe and Croly give _four_ poems on _Gulliver's Travels_. Why does
Mr. Carruthers leave out the third? His edition appears to contain
(besides many additions) all that all previous editors have admitted,
with the exception of the _third_ Gulliver poem, the sixteen additional
verses to Mrs. Blount on leaving town, the verses to Dr. Bolton, and a
fragment of eight lines (perhaps by Congreve); which last three are to
be found in Warton's edition."

The _third_ Gulliver poem was not published with the others by Pope in the _Miscellanies_. It should, however, have been inserted, as it is acknowledged by Pope in his correspondence with Swift. The omission must be set down as an editorial oversight, to be remedied in the next edition. The verses on Dr. Bolton are assuredly _not_ Pope's; they are printed in Aaron Hill's _Works_, 1753. See a copious note on this subject in "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 113. The two other omissions noticed by MR. TEMPLE (with others unnoticed by him, as the parody on the First Psalm, &c.) were dictated by the same feeling that prompted the exclusion of the _Imitation of Horace_. In several of Pope's letters, preserved at Maple Durham, are grossly indecent and profane passages, which he omitted himself in his printed correspondence, and which are wholly unfit for publication. The same oblivion should be extended to his unacknowledged poetical sins.

R. CARRUTHERS.

Inverness.

* * * * *

CATHOLIC FLORAL DIRECTORIES

(Vol. viii., p.585.): _Anthologia Borealis et Australis; Florilegium Sanctarum Aspirationum_.

Since I last wrote, I have not succeeded in unravelling the mystery which envelops these two works; but I have gotten some clue to it, for which I am indebted to the extreme courtesy and kindness of two correspondents.

One of these gentlemen informs me that the _Anthologia_ is quoted at p. 280. of Dr. Forster's work on the Atmosphere: London, 1823. My {569} second correspondent writes to say, "If you can procure the _Circle of the Seasons_, by Dr. Forster, published in 1830, you will there find very copious extracts from the books in question." Before we go any farther I would ask, _is_ Dr. Forster the author of this book? The copy I have met with in a public library is anonymous, and is thus entitled: _The Circle of the Seasons, and Perpetual Key to the Calendar and Almanac_: London, Thomas Hookham, 1828, pp. 432. 12mo. It is a valuable book, and forms a complete Catholic Floral Directory. Though the _Anthologia_ and the _Florilegium_ are lavishly quoted, no references are given save the bare names.

It is easy to see why Mr. Weale, the "compiler" of the _Catholic Florist_, declined giving the information requested. The quotations in question are all _second-hand_ from the _Circle of the Seasons_. The very preface of the _Florist_ is not original; the most valuable part of it (commencing at p. 11.) I have discovered to be a verbatim reprint from _The Truthteller_, or, rather, from Hone's _Every-Day Book_, vol. i. pp. 103. 303., where some extracts are given from the contributions to this periodical from a correspondent with the signature _Crito_. These quotations in Hone first drew my attention to _The Truthteller_, and I advertised for it, but without success. It was edited, I believe, by Thomas Andrews. I have met with the second series of this periodical, published in London in 1825, and I should be glad to get the whole of it.[1]

In Forster's _Perennial Calendar_, London, 1824, the _Anthologia_ is quoted at pp. 101. 108. 173. 211. 265. 295.: one of these passages is requoted in Hone, vol. i. p. 383. I may here remark that this work of Hone's is furnished with a _Floral Directory_.

I feel rather piqued, both on my own account and for the honour of "N. & Q.," at being baffled by two English books, and I am somewhat surprised that thirty years should have elapsed without any inquiry having been made respecting the remarkable quotations adduced by Dr. Forster. The Queries I now propose are: Who was the compiler of the _Circle of the Seasons_? Are the _Anthologia_ and the _Florilegium_ quoted in any works previous to Forster's time?

EIRIONNACH.

P.S.--Can I get a copy of the _Catholic Friend_, which is referred to in the preface of the _Catholic Florist_ as a scarce and valuable work; and also a copy of the _Catholic Instructor_: London, 1844?

March, 1854.

[Footnote 1: [_The Truthteller_ was discontinued at the end of vol. i. The first number was published Sept. 25, 1824, and the last on Sept. 17, 1825. The publisher and editor, W. A. Andrews, closes his labours with the following remarks: "Having given _The Truthteller_ a year's trial, we feel ourselves called upon, as a matter of justice to our family, to discontinue it as a newspaper. The negligence of too many of our subscribers, in not discharging their engagements to us, and the indifference of others of the Catholic body, to support the vindicator of their civil and religious principles, leave us no alternative but that of dropping it as a newspaper, or carrying it on at a loss." Only two of Crito's papers on Botany were given in _The Truthteller_, viz. in No. 15., p. 115., and No. 16., p. 123. He probably continued them in _The Catholic Friend_, also published by W. A. Andrews.

The following extract from a letter signed F., and dated Jan. 4, 1825, given in _The Truthteller_, vol. i. No. 16. p. 126., recommends the publication, among other works, of a "CATHOLIC CALENDAR. There should also be a Catholic Calendar, something like _The Perennial Calendar_, but more portable, and fuller of religious information, in which, under each saint, his or her particular virtues, intelligence, good works, or martyrdom, should be succinctly set forth, so as to form a sort of calendar of human triumphs, such as is recommended by Mr. Counsellor Basil Montagu in his Essays." In a note the writer adds, "This I believe will soon be undertaken." This letter seems to have been written by Dr. Forster.--ED.]]

Thanks to MR. PINKERTON, I am enabled to turn my surmise into certainty, and have the pleasure of clearing up a literary _hoax_, which has, it seems, passed without challenge till my note of interrogation appeared in these pages. The _Anthologia_ and the _Florilegium_ are purely imaginary titles for certain pieces in prose and verse, the production of Dr. Forster, and have no existence save in the _Circle of the Seasons_.

In the Autobiography of the eccentric Doctor--which is entitled _Recueil de ma Vie, mes Ouvrages et mes Pensées: Opuscule Philosophique_, par Thomas Ignace Marie Forster: Bruxelles, 1836--at p. 55. he enumerates the _Anthologia_ and _Florilegium_ among his "Pièces Fugitives," and ends the list in the following words:

"Encore je me confesse d'avoir écrit toutes ces essais détachés dans le
_Perennial Calendar_, auxquels j'ai attaché quelques signatures, ou
plus proprement des lettres, comme A. B. S. R. etc."

In the solitude of his garden at Hartwell he conceived the idea of making a Floral Directory, which he eventually carried out, and published under the title of the _Circle of the Seasons_. See p. 21.

MR. PINKERTON has most kindly lent me a rare and privately-printed book of Forster's, entitled _Harmonia Musarum, containing Nugæ Cantabrigenses, Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis, and Anthologia Borealis et Australis_, chiefly from a College Album, edited by Alumnus Cantabrigensis (N.B. Not published): 1843, pp. 144, 8vo.

The preface is signed T. F., and is dated "Bruges, Sept. 15, 1843." In it he says:

"The harmony of the Muses has been divided into three parts--the first
being the _Nugæ Cantab_. The {570} second contains the sacred subjects,
hymns, &c., written chiefly by a relation, and formerly collected under
the title of _Florilegium Sanctæ Aspirationis_. The third consists
merely of a small collection of Latin verses selected by some student,
with occasional notes from the rest, and called _Fragments from North
and South_: they have, many at least, been printed before."

It is impossible to give an idea of this extraordinary Olla; we have in it pieces of Porson, Gray, and Byron, &c., Cowper's _John Gilpin_, and Coleridge's _Devil's Walk_; at p. 19. we have "Spring Impromptu, found among some old papers," with the signature "N." attached, which turns out to be Gray on the "Pleasures of Vicissitude." I regret to say that this volume contains much that is coarse and offensive, which is the less excusable, and the more surprising, as coming from the author of the very beautiful and devotional pieces published in the _Circle of the Seasons_.

The _Florilegium_ and the _Anthologia_ of the _Circle_ have little in common with their namesakes in the _Harmonia_, which latter contain poems by Southwell, Byron, Gray, Hogg, Porson, Jortin, &c., but none of Forster's prose pieces, which form so large a portion of the other _Florilegium_ and _Anthologia_. Dr. Forster's life would make a very entertaining biography, and I should be glad to know more about him, whether he be yet alive, what books he printed at Bruges, &c.[2]

In concluding this matter, I beg to return my best thanks to MR. PINKERTON for the valuable information he so freely imparted to me, and the handsome manner in which he placed it at my disposal.

[Footnote 2: Dr. Forster was born in London in 1789, of an ancient Catholic family; he was himself a Protestant until the year 1835, when it appears that he became a convert to the Church of Rome: at the same time he received the additional names of Ignatius Maria. It is most probable that he is yet alive and in Belgium, where he has resided for many years. The Editor of "N. & Q." has kindly sent me a list from the Catalogue of the British Museum, of some four and thirty works by Dr. Forster. There is, however, another book by Dr. Forster not contained in the Museum list, _Onthophilos, ou Les Derniers Entretiens d'un Philosophe Catholique_ (Brussels?), 1836.]

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

_Mr. Lyte's New Instantaneous Process._--I beg to communicate to you a new process in photography, which is by far the most rapid I believe yet discovered, and combines at the same time great stability. It has been the result of a great many experiments on my part, and even now I am hardly prepared to say that it is brought to its fullest perfection; but it suffices to say that it is sufficiently rapid to give pictures of the waves of the sea in motion with perfect sharpness, and ships sailing at ten knots an hour, and puttling up and down at the same time, and all with a landscape lens. By it also, and by the same lens, we may take instantaneous portraits. The process is as follows:--After the plate, prepared with the collodion and sensitised with the nitrate bath, as I have described in one of your former Numbers, is taken from the bath, I pour over it a solution composed as follows:

1. Take--
Nitrate of silver 200 grains.
Distilled water 6 ounces.
Iodide of silver, as much as will dissolve.
Mix and filter.

2. Take--
Grape sugar or honey 8 ounces.
Water 6 ounces.
Alcohol 1 ounce.
Mix, dissolve, and filter.

And when required for use, mix equal parts of these solutions, and pour them over the plate. The plate is to be allowed to drain; and then, when placed in the frame, is ready for the camera, and is easily impressed as a deep negative by a Ross's landscape lens instantaneously. To develop, I use always the same agents as I have before specified. One or two cautions are to be observed in this process. First, the grape-sugar or honey must be quite pure, and free from any _strong_ acid re-action; and, secondly, these substances are much improved by a long exposure to the air, by which the oxidation of them is commenced, and the result made much more certain and effective. However, I find that the addition of the least possible quantity of nitric acid has the same effect; but nothing is so good as long exposure of the sugar or honey, so as to become completely candied before mixing. The sugar may as conveniently of course be mixed in the collodion as in the bath, but in that case the keeping properties are lost, as the plate is not thus kept longer moist than usual. If, however, the former process be used and well conducted, the plate when sensitised may be kept for four hours at least without injury.

The grape sugar should be made with oxalic, and the acid removed by lime as usual, and not with sulphuric acid, as is often done; as in the latter case sulpho-saccharic acid is formed, which much injures the result.

I have been trying numerous experiments in this line, and I think I have almost hit upon another and quite new and instantaneous process; but as it is only in embryo, I will not give it to you till perfect. There are of course many other substances to be yet mixed in the bath or the collodion, _e. g._ all the alkaloids, or indeed any of the deoxidating agents known, and probably with good results. I am still continuing my experiments on this head, and if I make any farther improvements I will lose no time in communicating them to you. Some negatives taken by this means were exhibited on Friday evening at the Royal Institution, and were much admired.

F. MAXWELL LYTE.

[By MR. LYTE'S kindness, who has shown us a number of the pictures
taken by this new process, we {571} are enabled to hear our testimony
to its beautiful results. We are glad to learn also, that there is a
probability that the admirers of photography may soon be enabled to
purchase specimens of the productions of this accomplished amateur, who
is about to return to the Pyrenees for the purpose of securing
photographic views of the splendid scenery and various objects of
interest which are to be found there.--ED. "N. & Q."]

_Photographs, &c. of the Crystal Palace._--All who have visited the Photographic Institution, in New Bond Street, must have admired the large photographic views of the Crystal Palace, from collodion negatives taken by MR. DELAMOTTE, who, combining the taste of the artist with the skill of the photographer, has succeeded in producing some most effective views of this new Temple of Education. At Lord Rosse's soirée on Saturday last, the closing one unfortunately of those most agreeable reunions, Mr. Williams exhibited three daguerreotypes, taken that morning, of the ceremony of opening the Crystal Palace, which, although only about three inches by five, contained some hundreds of figures. The portraits of the Queen and the brilliant cortege which surrounded her at the moment were strikingly effective.

_Soluble Cotton._--In answer to the observations of H. U. (Vol. ix., p. 548.), I should imagine that the nitrate of potash used was not thoroughly dried; and consequently, the amount of water used was in excess of that directed. The temperature should be from 120° to 130° Fahr. And thermometers of a proper construction (with the lower part of the scale to bend up from the bulb) can be obtained in abundance at from 1s. to 2s. 6d. at several of the makers in Hatton Garden or elsewhere.

GEO. SHADBOLT.

_Cameras._--At one of the earliest meetings of the Photographic Society, I suggested the use of papier maché as a material for the construction of cameras, as possessing _nearly_ all the requisite qualities; but there is one serious objection to its application to this purpose, its _brittleness_, as a smart blow is apt to snap it like a biscuit. I think, however, upon the whole, that if a peculiar kind of _Honduras_ mahogany, such as is used for coach panels, is adopted, the possessor would never desire a change. It should be as plain as a piece of deal, without the slightest beauty of grain, which is positive detriment to a camera, from the accompanying liability to warping.

GEO. SHADBOLT.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Shakspeare Portrait_ (Vol. viii., p. 438.).--J. S. Smith, in his _Nollekins and his Times_ (vol. i. p. 26.), has a passage referring to the portrait mentioned by your correspondent:

"Clarkson, the portrait painter, was originally a coach-panel and sign
painter; and he executed that most elaborate one of Shakspeare, which
formerly hung across the street at the north-east corner of Little
Russell Street, in Drury Lane. The late Mr. Thomas Grignon informed me,
that he had often heard his father say, that this sign cost _five
hundred pounds!_ In my boyish days it was for many years exposed for
sale for a very trifling sum, at a broker's shop in Lower Brook Street,
Grosvenor Square. The late Mr. Crace, of Great Queen Street, assured me
that it was in his early days a thing that country people would stand
and gaze at, and that that corner of the street was hardly passable."

Edwards, in his _Anecdotes of Painters_ (p. 117.), assigns the portrait to a different painter, Samuel Wale, R.A. His account, however, being more minute than Smith's, is worth transcribing:

"Mr. Wale painted some signs; the principal one was a whole-length of
Shakspeare, about five feet high, which was executed for, and displayed
before the door of a public-house, the north-west corner of Little
Russell Street, in Drury Lane. It was enclosed in a most sumptuous
carved gilt frame, and suspended by rich iron work; but this splendid
object of attraction did not hang long before it was taken down, in
consequence of the act of parliament which passed for paving, and also
for removing the signs and other obstructions in the streets of London.
Such was the total change of fashion, and the consequent disuse of
signs, that the above representation of our great dramatic poet was
sold for a trifle to Mason the broker, in Lower Grosvenor Street; where
it stood at his door for several years, until it was totally destroyed
by the weather and other accidents."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

"_Aches_" (Vol. ix., pp. 351. 409.).--_Aches_, as a dissyllable, may be heard any day in Shropshire: "My yead _eaches_" (my head aches) is no uncommon complaint in reply to an inquiry about health.

WM. FRASER, B.C.L.

"_Waestart_" (Vol. ix., p. 349.).--The querist, I humbly presume, is not a Yorkshireman himself; or, probably, he would have at once resolved _waestart_ into the ungrammatical but natural inquiry, "Where ist' 'art"--_ist'_ meaning _are you_, _thou_ being vulgarly used for you; the _h_ is elided in _hurt_, the _u_ in _'urt_ being pronounced as _a_, changing the vowel, as is very common among the illiterate. For instance, church is often called _ch_a_rch_ by those who live a little to the north-west; and person, where the _e_ is almost equivalent to the soft _u_ in sound, is made into _p_a_rson_!

L. J.

_Willow Bark in Ague_ (Vol. ix., p. 452.).--In the _Philosophical Transactions_ (1835?) is a memoir by the Rev. E. Stone, of Chipping Norton, of the salutary effects of the bark of the Duck Willow in agues and intermittent fevers. The author states, that being dried in an oven, and pounded, and administered in doses of one drachm every four hours in the intervals of the paroxysms, it soon reduces the distemper; and, except in very severe cases, removes it entirely. With the addition of one fifth part of Peruvian bark, it {572} becomes a specific against these disorders, and never fails to remove them. One advantage it possesses of influencing the patient beneficially immediately it is adopted, without the necessity of preparation previously. It is a safe medicine, and may be taken in water or tea.

I copy the above from an entry in an old notebook. I imagine the Duck Willow to be the Common White Willow (_Salix albæ vulgaris_) of Ray.

SHIRLEY HIBBERD.

See Pereira's _Materia Medica_: SALIX. He refers to a paper by the Rev. Mr. Stone in the _Phil. Trans._ vol. liii. p. 195., on the efficacy of the bark of the _Salix alba_ as a remedy for agues. See also A. T. Thomson's _London Dispensatory_, in which is given an account of Mr. Stone's mode of administration.

H. J.

_Lord Fairfax_ (Vol. ix., p. 380.).--I apprehend that there is nothing in the reply of A FAIRFAX KINSMAN at all calculated to shake the opinion which I expressed touching the barony of Fairfax of Cameron. The case of the earldom of Newburgh, which your correspondent does not even mention, is, I submit, of greater weight than all the "Peerages," and even than the Roll of Scottish Peers. As to the Irish case--that of the Earl of Athlone--I can but repeat my Query. Whether right or wrong, it is not binding on the British House of Lords. The cases of the King of Hanover, the Duke of Wellington, and Earl Nelson, are not in point. His Hanoverian Majesty is not an alien; and though some British subjects may be recognised as peers by foreign states, it does not follow that a foreigner can be a peer of Britain.

H. G.

_The Young Pretender_ (Vol. ix., pp. 177. 231.)--The wife of the Young Pretender was Louisa Maximiliene, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, Prince of Scholberg, who was born in 1752, and married in 1772. As a widow, she lived in Paris as the Countess of Albany, but in her drawing-room called herself Queen of Great Britain. She was alive at the time of the death of the Princess Charlotte (Nov. 1817). See Fisher's _Companion and Key to History of England_, p. 333.

O. S.

_Dobney's Bowling-green; Wildman; Sampson_, (Vol. ix., p. 375.).--Dobney's, or, more correctly, _D'Aubigney's_ Bowling-green, ceased to be a place of public amusement about the year 1810. It is now occupied by a group of houses called _Dobney's Place_, near the bottom of Penton Street. The late Mr. Upcott had a drawing of Prospect House (as the building was called), taken about 1780. A hand-bill of the year 1772 (in a volume formerly belonging to Lysons) thus describes the nature of Wildman's performance:

"_The Bees on Horseback._--Daniel Wildman rides, standing upright, one
foot on the saddle, and the other on the horse's neck, with a curious
mask of bees on his face. He also rides standing upright on the saddle,
with the bridle in his mouth, and, by firing a pistol, makes one part
of the bees march over a table, and the other part swarm in the air,
and return to their proper places again."

Sampson, Price, Johnson, and Coningham were celebrated equestrian performers towards the close of the last century. Astley was the pupil of Sampson, and his successor in agility. Bromley, in his _Catalogue of Engraved Portraits_, mentions a folio engraving of Sampson, without date or engraver's name. It is hardly likely that any life of him was published.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Palæologus_ (Vol. ix., p. 312.).--Your readers will find, in Oldmixon's _West Indies_, a later notice of the strange descent and fortunes of this once illustrious family. From Cornwall they appear to have settled in Barbadoes, where it is very possible that with mutilated name the family may yet be found among the "poor whites" (many among them of ancient lineage) of that island.

B.

_Children by one Mother._--In Vol. ix., p. 186., I. R. R., in reply to a Query in Vol. v., p. 126.--"If there be any well-authenticated instance of a woman having had more than twenty-five children?"--sends an account of a case, which he "firmly believes" to be authenticated, of a farmer's wife who had thirty. I now send you a much better authenticated case of _polyprogenitiveness_, which utterly throws the farmer's wife into the shade.

In Palazzo Frescobaldi, in this city, the ancient residence of the old Florentine family of that name, there is, among many other family portraits, one full-length picture of a tall and good-looking lady with this inscription beneath it: "Dianora Salviati, moglie di Bartolomeo Frescobaldi, fece cinquantadue figli, mai meno che tre per parto" (Dianora Salviati, wife of Bartolomeo Frescobaldi, gave birth to fifty-two sons, and never had less than three at a birth). The case is referred to by Gio. Schenchio, in his work _Del Parto_, at p. 144.

The Essex lady, as well as I should suppose all other ladies whatsoever, must hide their diminished heads in presence of this noble dame of Florence.

T. A. T.

Florence.

_Robert Brown the Separatist_ (Vol. ix., p. 494.).--MR. CORNER will probably find an answer to his question in the _History of Stamford_, by W. Harrod (1785), and in Blore's _History of the County of Rutland_, 1813, fol.; Bawden's _Survey_, 1809, 4to.; Wright's _History of Rutlandshire_, 1687 and 1714. The last descendant of Robert Brown died on Sept. 17, 1839, æt. sixty-nine, widow of George, third Earl of Pomfret; and as she had no issue, her house and estate at Toltrop {573} (_i. e._ Tolthorp), in Rutlandshire, about two miles from Stamford in Lincolnshire, probably passed to his heir and brother Thomas William, the fourth earl.

At the time of her marriage, her servants (as was believed by orders from their mistress) _persevered_ in chiming the only _two_ bells of the parish church, to the hazard and annoyance of the vicar's wife, just confined of her first child in a room hardly a stone's throw from it. His pupils were so indignant, that they drove away the offenders and took the clappers out of the bells: and the son of a near neighbour, then a member of St. John's College, Cambridge (Thos. Foster, A.B., 1792), made it the subject of a mock-heroic poem of some merit, called the _Brunoniad_ (London, 1790, printed by Kearsley). So few copies were printed, that the queen and princesses could not procure one; and a lady employed at Court requested a young friend of hers, resident at Stamford, to make a transcript of it for their use. This your present note-writer can aver, as the transcriber was a sister of

ANAT.

_Hero of the "Spanish Lady's Love"_ (Vol. ix., p. 305.).--Concerning the origin of this interesting old ballad, the following communication appeared in _The Times_ of May 1, 1846. It is dated from Coldrey, Hants, and signed Charles Lee:

"The hero of this beautiful ballad was my ancestor, Sir John Bolle of
Thorpe Hall, Lincolnshire, of most ancient and loyal family, and father
of that Colonel Bolle who fell in Alton Church, whilst fighting against
the rebels in December, 1643. Of the truth of this I am prepared to
give the curious in these matters the most abundant evidence, but the
space which the subject would occupy would necessarily exclude it from
your columns.

"The writer of the paper in the _Edinburgh_ says:--'Had the necklace
been still extant, the preference would have been due to Littlecot.'
The necklace is still extant, in the possession of a member of my
family, and in the house whence I write. In Illingworth's
_Topographical Account of Scampton, with Anecdotes of the Family of
Bolles_, it is stated: 'The portrait of Sir John, drawn in 1596, at the
age of thirty-six years, having on the gold chain given him by the
Spanish Lady, &c., is still in the possession of his descendant, Capt.
Birch.'

"That portrait is now in the possession of Capt. Birch's successor,
Thomas Bosvile Bosvile, Esq., of Ravensfield Park, Yorkshire, my
brother, and may be seen by any one. I will only add another extract
from Illingworth's _Scampton_:--'On Sir John Bolle's departure from
Cadiz, the Spanish Lady sent as presents to his wife, a profusion of
jewels and other valuables, amongst which was her portrait drawn in
green; plate, money, and other treasure. Some articles are still in
possession of the family; though her picture was unfortunately, and by
accident, disposed of about half a century since. This portrait being
drawn in green, gave occasion to her being called, in the neighbourhood
of Thorpe Hall, the Green Lady; where, to this day, there is a
traditionary superstition among the vulgar, that Thorpe Hall was
haunted by the Green Lady, who used nightly to take her seat in a
particular tree near the mansion.' In Illingworth there is a long and
full account of the Spanish Lady, and the ballad is given at length."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Niagara_ (Vol. vii., pp. 50. 137.).--Let me add one other authority of comparatively recent date on Goldsmith's side of the _vexata quæstio_, about the pronunciation of this name:

"And we'd take verses out to Demerara,
To New South Wales, and up to Niagara."
Proëme to _The Monks and the Giants_, by
William and Robert Whistlecraft, _i. e._
John Hookham Frere.

BALLIOLENSIS.

_Hymn attributed to Handel_ (Vol. ix., p. 303.).--I do not understand whether MR. STORER'S Query refers to the _words_ or _music_ of this hymn. If to the former, it is most assuredly not Handel's. It is strange that the church does not possess one _genuine_ psalm or hymn tune of this mighty master, although he certainly composed several. The popular melody called _Hanover_, usually attributed to Handel, was printed in the _Supplement to the New Version of Psalms_ (a collection of tunes) in 1703. Handel did not arrive in England till 1710. It is improbable, from many circumstances, that he composed this grand melody. It was probably the work of Dr. Croft.

D'Almaine, the eminent music-seller of Soho Square, published some years back--

"Three Hymns, the Words by the late Rev. Charles Wesley, A.M., of
Christ Church College, Oxon; and set to music by George Frederick
Handel, faithfully transcribed from his autography in the Library of
the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, by Samuel Wesley, and now very
respectfully presented to the Wesleyan Society at large."

Among my musical autographs is one which, as it relates to the foregoing publication, I transcribe:

"The late comedian Rich, who was the most celebrated harlequin of his
time, was also the proprietor of Covent Garden Theatre, during the
period that Handel conducted his oratorios at that house. He married a
person who became a serious character, after having formerly been a
very contrary one; and who requested Handel to set to music the _Three
Hymns_ which I transcribed in the Fitzwilliam Library from the
autography, and published them in consequence.

S. WESLEY.
Monday, March 30, 1829."

The first lines of the hymns are as follows: 1. Sinners, obey the Gospel Word. 2. O Love divine, how sweet thou art! 3. Rejoice! the Lord is King.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

{574}

_Marquis of Granby_ (Vol. ix., pp. 127. 360.).--In a critique which appeared in the _Quarterly Review_ for January or April, 1838, on Dickens's earlier works, it is stated that Sumpter, a discharged soldier of the royal regiment of Horse Guards, opened a public-house at Hounslow, having as its sign "The Marquis of Granby," which was the first occasion of the marquis's name appearing on the sign-board of a public-house. This note appeared in reference to the public-house kept at Dorking by Mrs. Weller, the "second wentur" of Tony Weller, father of the immortal Samivel, of that ilk.

John, Marquis of Granby, was colonel of the royal regiment of Horse Guards from May 13, 1758, to his decease, which occurred Oct. 19, 1770, and was justly considered the soldier's friend. (See Captain Packer's _History of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards_, p. 95.) Mr. Dickens, in his description of the sign-board at Dorking, has arrayed the marquis in the uniform, not of the regiment, but of a general officer: he states,--

"On the opposite side of the road was a sign-board representing the
head and shoulders of a gentleman with an apoplectic countenance, in a
red coat, with deep blue facings, and a touch of the same over his
three-cornered hat for a sky. Over that, again, were a pair of flags,
and beneath the last button of his coat were a couple of cannon; and
the whole formed an expressive and undoubted likeness of the Marquis of
Granby of glorious memory."

Witty, I admit, but that "touch of the same" (blue _facings_?) for a sky is ambiguous. _Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio._

The uniform of the royal regiment of Horse Guards, from 1758 to 1770, consisted of a dark blue coatee, with red facings, red breeches, jacked boots, and three-cornered hats bound with gold lace.

G. L. S.

_Convocation and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel_ (Vol. viii., p. 100.).--The Archdeacon of Stafford, in his last visitation charge, at Stafford, May 23, 1854, said of Convocation:

"He was not aware that the two venerable societies, The Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and The Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, owed their existence to it."

Atterbury, writing to Bishop Trelawny, March 15, 1700-1, says:

"We appointed another committee, for considering the methods of
Propagating the Christian Religion in Foreign Parts, who sat the first
time this afternoon in the Chapter House of St. Paul's"--Atterbury's
_Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 88.

Though the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts does not owe, strictly speaking, its _existence_ to Convocation, yet it certainly is indebted to it, both for the general outline of its operations, and also for its name.

WM. FRASER, B.C.L.

_Cassie_ (Vol. ix., p. 396.).--With regard to W. T. M. about _cassie_, he will find an approximation to that word as used for _causeway_, in the old editions of Ludlow's _Memoirs_, and others, where causeway is always spelt _causey_.

A. (1)

_"Three cats sat," &c._ (Vol. ix., p.173.).--I am delighted to say that a long course of laborious research among the antiquities of nurserydom have enabled me to supply JULIA R. BOCKETT (I dare not venture on any prefix to the name, for fear of doing grievous wrong in my ignorance of the lady's civil status) with the missing canto the poem her ancient friend is so desirous of completing. It will be seen to convey a charming lesson of amiable sociality--admirably adapted _d'ailleurs_ to the pages of a work which seeks to encourage "intercommunications." It runs thus:

"Said one little cat,
To the other little cat,
If you don't speak, I must;
I must.
If you don't speak, I must."

JULIA R. BOCKETT will doubtless feel with me, that though the antithesis requires that the "I" should be strongly emphasised in the first case, the sentiment expressed imperatively demands an intense force to be given to the "must" in the second repetition.

T. A. T.

Florence.

P. S.--By-the-bye, talking of cats, there is a story current, that a certain archbishop, who sits neither at Canterbury nor York, having once, in unbending mood, demanded of one of his clergy if he could decline "cat," corrected the reverend catechumen, when, having arrived at the vocative case, he gave it, "Vocative, O cat!" and declared such declension to be wrong, and that the vocative of "cat" was "_puss_." Of course, it will be henceforth considered so in the diocese presided over by the prelate in question, as the gender of "carrosse" was changed throughout _la belle France_, by a blunder of the _grand monarque_. But surely the archbishop was as palpably wrong as the king was. At least, if he was not, we have only the alternative of considering Shakspeare to have blundered. For, have we not Stefano's address to poor Caliban:

"Open your mouth; here is that which will give language to you, _cat_."

And again, does not Lysander, somewhat ungallantly, thus apostrophise Hermia:

"Hang off, thou _cat_, thou burr!"

Moreover, will not the pages of our nursery literature furnish on the other hand abundance of {575} instances _passim_ of _puss_ used in every one of the oblique cases, as well as in the nominative?

_Tailless Cats_ (Vol. ix., pp. 10. 111.).--It may be interesting to your correspondent SHIRLEY HIBBERD to know, that the Burmese breed of cats is, like that of the Isle of Man, tailless; or, if not exactly without tails, the tails they have are so short as to be called so merely by the extremest courtesy. This is the only respect, however, in which they differ from other cats.

S. B.

Lucknow.

_Francklyn Household Book_ (Vol. ix., p. 422.).--

_Bay-salt to stop the barrels._--Before heading down a cask of salted
meat, the vacant spaces are filled up with salt.

_Giggs and scourge-sticks._--Whip-tops, and whips for spinning them.

_Jumballs._--A kind of gingerbread.

JOHN P. STILWELL.

Dorking.

_"Violet-crowned" Athens_ (Vol. ix., p. 496.).--I have always understood that the adoption of the _violet_ as the heraldic flower of old Athens involved, as heraldry so often does, a pun. As you well know, the Greek for violet is [Greek: Ion], and thence its adoption as the symbolical flower of the chief city in Europe of the _Ion_ian race.

CANTAB.

_Smith of Nevis and St. Kitt's_ (Vol. ix., p. 222.).--I find by some curious letters from an old lady, by birth a Miss Williams of Antigua, and widow of the son of the Lieut.-Governor of Nevis, now in the possession of a friend of mine connected with the West Indies, that the arms of that family were--Gules, on a chevron between three bezants or, three cross crosslets sable. And the crest, from a ducal coronet or, an Indian goat's head argent.

This may facilitate the search of your correspondent for the affiliation of that family to the United Kingdom.

B.

_Hydropathy_ (Vol. ix., p. 395.).--"John Smith, C.M." (_i. e._ clock-maker), of the parish of St. Augustin, London, was the author of several pamphlets. He published in the year 1723 a treatise in recommendation of the medicinal use of water as "a universal remedy," as well by drinking as by applying it externally to the body. In the British Museum there is a French translation of it, which appeared in Paris, A.D. 1725. This is a proof of the notoriety which the treatise obtained. The tenth edition, dated "Edinburgh, 1740," contains additions communicated by Mr. Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S., and others. In the year 1695 he published a short treatise entitled _A designed End to the Socinian Controversy; or, a rational and plain Discourse to prove, that no other Person but the Father of Christ is God Most High_. This attracted the notice of the civil power, and by order of parliament it was burnt, and the author prosecuted. (See Wallace's _Anti-Trinitarian Biography_, vol. iii. p. 398., London, 1850.)

N. W. S.

_Leslie and Dr. Middleton_ (Vol. ix., p. 324.).--

"Middleton was one of the men who sought for twenty years some
historical facts that might conform to Leslie's four conditions, and
yet evade Leslie's logic."--_Blackwood's Magazine_, July, 1842, p. 5.

J. O. B.

_Lord Brougham and Horne Tooke_ (Vol. ix., p. 398.).--I have not Lord Brougham's book before me, but I have no doubt but that Q. has missed the meaning of his lordship. The reference would probably be to Horne Tooke's anticipation of the strange immoral reveries of Emerson and others, that _truth_ is entirely subjective; because the word bears etymological relation to "to trow," to think, or believe: and so _truth_ has no objective existence, but is merely what a man troweth. If that be an argument, Lord Brougham would say then the law of libel would be unjust, merely because "libel" means primarily a little book; he might have added that, according to Horne Tooke and Mr. Emerson, if a man had been killed by falling against a post at Charing Cross, a jury might deny the fact of the violent death, because "post" means a place for depositing letters, and he had not been near St. Martin's-le-grand. The remark of Lord Brougham is not as to a fact, but is a _reductio ad absurdum_.

W. DENTON.

It is suggested to Q. (Bloomsbury), that Lord Brougham meant not to say that Horne Tooke _had ever held_ or _maintained_ this strange doctrine, "that the law of libel was unjust and absurd, because libel means a little book," but that he _would_ have done so, or might have done so consistently with his etymological theory, namely, that the _present_ sense of words is to be sought in their primitive signification: _e.g._, in the _Diversions of Purley_, vol. ii. p. 403., Horne Tooke says,--

"_True_, as we now write it, or _trew_, as it was formerly written,
means simply and merely that which is _trowed_; and, instead of its
being a rare commodity upon earth, except only in words, there is
nothing but truth in the world."

If we ought _now_ to use the word truth only in this sense, then, _pari ratione_, we ought to mean only a little book when we use the word libel.

J. O. B.

Thorpe.

_Irish Rhymes_ (Vol. viii., p. 250.).--A. B. C. asks, "Will any one say it was through ignorance {576} that he (Swift) did not sound the _g_ in dressing?" Now I cannot tell whether or not I shall raise a nest of hornets about my ears, but my private impression is that in doing so Swift meant to be "more _English_ and less nice." I think it invariably strikes an Irishman as one of the most remarkable peculiarities of the English people, the almost constant omission of that letter from every word ending (I should have said, if I was an Englishman, "endin'") with it. The fair sex, I fear I must add, are, of the two, rather more decided in clippin' (_g_) the Queen's English.

Y. S. M.

_Cabbages_ (Vol. ix., p. 424.).--I was aware of the passage in Evelyn's _Acetaria_, and am anxious to know whether there is any confirmation of that statement. Is there any other information extant as to the first introduction of cabbages into England?

C. H.

_Sir William "Usher," not "Upton"_ (Vol. viii., p. 328.), was appointed Clerk of the Council in Ireland, March 22, 1593. He was knighted by Sir George Carey, Law Deputy, on St. James' Day, 1603; and died in 16--, having married Isabella Loftus, eldest daughter of Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin. Of what family was he?

Y. S. M.

"_Buckle_" (Vol. viii., pp. 127. 304. 526.).--An awkward person, working incautiously with a saw, will probably, to use a carpenter's phrase, _buckle_ it; that is, give it a bend or twist which will injure its working.

Y. S. M.

_Cornwall Family_ (Vol. ix., p. 304.).--John Cornwall, Esq., a director of the Bank of England, 1769, bore the arms and crest of the ancient family of that name of Burford, in Shropshire, of which he was a member. A full account of this distinguished family is now preparing under their sanction.

E. D.

_John of Gaunt_ (Vol. ix., p. 432.).--Perhaps the best method of explaining to Y. S. M. the unmistakeable nose of the descendants of John of Gaunt, will be to refer him to the complete series of portraits at Badminton, concluding with the late Duke of Beaufort. He will then comprehend what is difficult to describe in the physiognomy of

"That mighty line, whose sires of old
Sprang from Britain's royal blood;
All its sons were wise and bold,
All its daughters fair and good!"

E. D.

_"Wellesley" or "Wesley"_ (Vol. viii., pp. 173. 255.).--Your readers will find, in Lynch's _Feudal Dignities_, the name spelt _Wellesley_ in Ireland, so long ago as the year 1230, and continued so for several centuries at least subsequent to that date. The Public Records also bear evidence of the high position and great influence of the Wellesleys, not _Wesleys_, for a lengthened period in Irish history.

Y. S. M.

_Mantel-piece_ (Vol. ix., pp. 302. 385.).--In old farm-houses, where the broad, open fireplace and hearth still exist, a small curtain, or rather valance, is often suspended from below the mantle-shelf, the object apparently being the exclusion of draughts and smoke. May not the use of this sort of _mantel_ have caused the part of the fireplace from which it hangs to be called the mantel-piece?

EDGAR MACCULLOCH.

Guernsey.

"MANTEL, _n. s._ (_mantel_, old French, or rather the German word
_mantel_, 'Germanis _mantel_ non pallium modo significat, sed etiam id
omne quod aliud circumdat: hinc murus arcis, atque structura quæ focum
invertit, _mantel_ ipsis dicitur.' V. Ducange in v. Mantum). Work
raised before a chimney to conceal it, whence the name, which
originally signifies a cloak."--Todd's _Johnson_.

Richardson gives the two following quotations from Wotton:

From them (Italians) we may better learn, both how to raise fair
_mantles_ within the rooms, and how to disguise gracefully the shafts
of chimneys abroad (as they use) in sundry forms."--_Reliquiæ
Wottonianæ_, p. 37.

"The Italians apply it (plastick) to the _mantling_ of chimneys with
great figures, a cheap piece of magnificence."--Id. p. 63.

ZEUS.

_"Perturbabantur," &c._ (Vol. ix., p. 452.).--When I first learned to scan verses, somewhere about thirty years ago, the lines produced by your correspondent P. were in every child's mouth, with this story attached to them. It was said that Oxford had received from Cambridge the first line of the distich, with a challenge to produce a corresponding line consisting of two words only. To this challenge Oxford replied by sending back the second line, pointing out, at the same time, the false quantity in the word "Constantin[)o]politani."

J. SANSOM.

The story connected with these lines current at Cambridge in my time was, that the University of Oxford challenged the sister university to match the first line; to which challenge the second line was promptly returned from Cambridge by way of reply. At Oxford, I believe, the story is reversed, as neither university is willing to own to the false quantity in "Constantin[)o]politani."

J. EASTWOOD, M.A.

The classic legend attached to these two lines (and there are only two in the legend) is that the Oxonians sent a challenge to the Cantabs to make {577} a binomial pentameter corresponding to "Perturbabantur Constantinopolitani." The Cantabs immediately returned the challenge by sending "Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus." Perhaps it is worthy of remark, though not evident except to a Greek scholar, that the first line contains at least _one_ false quantity, for "Constantinopol[)i]tani" must have the antepenultima long, as being derived from [Greek: politês]. The lengthening of the fourth syllable may perhaps have been considered as a compensation, though rather a _præ-posterous_ one.

CHARLES DE LA PRYME.

I remember to have heard that the history of these two lines is as follows:--The head of one of our public schools having a talent for composing extraordinary verses, sent the first line, "Perturbabantur Constantinopolitani," to a friend of his, who was at the time the captain of another public school, asking him at the same time whether he could compose anything like it. The answer returned was the second line, "Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus,"--a line, in my opinion, much superior to the former, as well for other reasons as that it is free from any false quantity; while, as any Greek scholar will at once find out, the antepenultimate syllable of "Constantinopolitani" must be long, being derived from the Greek word [Greek: politês].

I never heard of any more lines of the same description.

P. A. H.

I have always understood that once upon a time the Eton boys, or those of some other public school, sent the hexameter verse, "Perturbabantur Constantinopolitani," to the Winchester boys, challenging them to produce a pentameter verse consisting of only two words, and making sense. The Winchester boys added, "Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus."

WICCAMICUS.

_Edition of "Othello"_ (Vol. ix., p. 375.).--The work inquired for, with the astrological (the editor would have called them hieroglyphic) notes, forms part of the third volume of the lunatic production of Mr. Robert Deverell, which I described in "N. & Q.," Vol. ii., p. 61., entitled _Discoveries in Hieroglyphics and other Antiquities_, 6 vols. 8vo., Lond. 1813.

J. F. M.

In case it would be of any use to M. A., Mr. Cole, the late lessee of the Theatre Royal, Dublin, is now reader of plays (I think) to Mr. Kean at the Princesses Theatre; at all events he is connected with that establishment.