Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

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

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No. 26.] SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1850 [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:--
Nicholas Breton, by the Rev. T. Corser. 409
Notes upon Cunningham's London, by E.F. Rimbault,
LL.D. 410
Notes on the Dodo, by H.E. Strickland. 410
Derivation of "Sterling" and "Penny." 411
Hanno's Periplus, by S.W. Singer. 412
Folk Lore:--Cook-eels--Divination by Bible and Key--Weather
Proverb. 412
Bibliographical Notes, by E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. 413
Pope, Petronius, and his Translators, by A. Rich, Jun. 414

QUERIES:--
When were Umbrellas introduced into England? by
E.F. Rimbault, LL.D. 414
Minor Queries:--Duke of Marlborough--"M. or N."--Song
of the Bees--William Godwin--Regimental
Badges--Mother of Thomas à Becket--Swords worn
in public--Emblem and National Motto of Ireland--Latin
Distich--Verbum Græcum--Pope Felix--"Where England's
Monarch." 415

REPLIES:--
Gray's Alcaic Ode. 416
Replies to Minor Queries:--Chapels--Beaver--Poins
and Bardolph--God tempers the Wind--Sterne's
Koran--Lollius--Bishop Ryder--Brown Study--Seven
Champions--Tempora mutantur, &c.--Vox Populi Vox
Dei--Cuckoo--Ancient Tiles--Daysman--Safeguard--Finkel--Gourders
of Rain--Urbanus Regius--Horns--_The_ or _A_ Temple--Ecclestiastical
Year--Paying through the Nose--Quem Deus--Shrew--Zenobia--Cromwell's
Estates--Vox et præterea Nihil--Law of Horses--Christ's
Hospital--Tickhill, God help me! 417

MISCELLANIES:--
MSS. of Casaubon--Latin Epigram--"Nec pluribus
impar"--Close Translation--St. Antholin's Parish
Books. 422

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 423
Books and Odd Volumes wanted. 423
Notices to Correspondents. 423

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NOTES

NICHOLAS BRETON.

Like Mr. COLLIER (No. 23. p. 364.), I have for many years felt "a peculiar interest about Nicholas Breton," and an anxious desire to learn something more of him, not only from being a sincere lover of many of his beautiful lyrical and pastoral poems, as exhibited in _England's Helicon_, _Davison's Poetical Rhapsodie_, and other numerous works of his own, and from possessing several pieces of his which are not generally known, but also from my intimate connection with the parish in which he is supposed to have lived and died. From this latter circumstance, especially, I had been most anxious to connect his name with Norton, and have frequently cast a reverential and thoughtful eye on the simple monument which has been supposed to record his name; hoping, yet not without doubts, that some evidence would still be found which would prove it to be really that of the poet. It was therefore with the utmost pleasure that I read Mr. Collier's concluding paragraph, that he is "in possession of undoubted proof that he was the Nicholas Breton whose epitaph is on the chancel-wall of the church of Norton in Northamptonshire."

It seems strange that, notwithstanding the number and variety of his writings, the length of time he was before the public, and the estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries, so little should be known concerning Breton, and the circumstances of his life be still involved in such great obscurity. In looking over his various publications, it is remarkable how little is to be gleaned in the preliminary prefixes which relate to his own personal history, and how very rarely he touches on any thing referring to himself. There is a plaintive and melancholy strain running through many of his works, and I am inclined to the opinion entertained by Sir Egerton Bridges and others, that cares, and misfortunes, and continued disappointments had brought on melancholy and despair, and that the plaintive and touching nature of his writings were occasioned by real sorrows and sufferings. This seems at variance with his being the purchaser of the manor and lordship of Norton, and in the possession and enjoyment of this world's goods. Thus in his _Auspicante Jehova Maries Exercise_, 8vo. 1597, one of the rarest of his works, in the dedication to Mary, Countess of Pembroke, speaking of his temporal condition, he remarks, "I have soncke my fortune in the worlde, hauing only the light of vertue to leade my hope unto Heauen:" and signs himself "Your La. sometime unworthy Poet, and now, and ever poore Beadman, Nich. Breton." And the "Address" after it is signed, "Your poore friend or servant N.B." I am aware that these phrases are sometimes used in a figurative sense, but am disposed to think that here they are intended for something real. And I am at a loss how to reconcile these expressions of poverty with his being the purchaser and enjoyer of such an estate. I shall wait, therefore, with considerable anxiety till it may suit the pleasure or convenience {410} of Mr. Collier to communicate to the world the proofs he has obtained of the poet's identification with the Norton monument. I would, however, further add, that so late as 1606, the Dedication to _the Praise of Vertuous Ladies_ is dated "From my Chamber in the Blacke-Fryers," and that not one of his later productions is dated from Norton, which probably would have been the case had he been resident there.

I regret that I am unable to afford Mr. Collier any information respecting the "Crossing of Proverbs," beyond the fact of the late Mr. Rodd being the purchaser of Mr. Heber's fragment, but whether on commission or not, I cannot say, nor where it now is. The same kind of proverbs are given in _Wit's Private Wealth_, 1603, and in some other of his works.

Nicholas Breton, besides being a pleasing and polished writer of lyric and pastoral poetry, appears to have been a close and attentive observer of nature and manners,--abounding in wit and humour,--and a pious and religious man. He was also a soldier, a good fisherman, and a warm admirer of Queen Elizabeth, of whom he gives a beautiful character in "_A Dialogue full of pithe and pleasure, upon the Dignitie or Indignitie of Man_," 4to., 1603, on the reverse of Sig. c. iii.

As it is sometimes desirable to know where copies of the rarer productions of a writer are to be met with, I may state, that among some five or six-and-twenty of this author's pieces, besides the _Auspicante Jehova Maries Exercise_, 8vo. 1597, already mentioned, of which I know of no other copy than my own, I possess also the only one of _A small handfull of Fragrant Flowers_, 8vo. 1575, and _A Floorish upon Fancie_, 4to. 1582, both reprinted in the Heliconia; _Marie Magdalen's Loue_, with _A Solemne Passion of the Soules Loue_, 8vo. 1595, the first part in prose, the latter in six-line stanzas, and very rare; _Fantastics: seruing for a Perpetual Prognostication_, 4to. 1626; and _Wit's Trenchmour, In a conference had betwixt a Scholler and an Angler. Written by Nich. Breton, Gentleman_, 4to. bl. lett. 1597, the only copy known and not included in Lowndes's list, which, from the style of its composition and the similarity of some of the remarks, is supposed to have been the original work from which Izaac Walton first took the idea of his _Complete Angler_.

THOMAS CORSER. Stand Rectory, April 16. 1850.

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NOTES UPON CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK FOR LONDON.

_Baldwin's Gardens._--A passage upon the east side of Gray's Inn Lane, leading into Leather Lane. Tom Brown dates some introductory verses, prefixed to Playford's _Pleasant Musical Companion_, 1698, "from Mr. Steward's, at the Hole-in-the-Wall, in _Baldwin's Gardens_." There is extant a single sheet with an engraved head, published by J. Applebee, 1707, and called,--

"The English and French Prophets mad, or bewitcht, at their
assemblies in _Baldwin's Gardens_."

A Letter of Anthony Wood's, in the writer's collection, is thus addressed:--

"For John Aubrey, Esq. To be left at Mr. Caley's house, in
_Baldwin's Gardens_, neare Gray's Inne Lane, London."

_The White Hart, Bishopsgate Street._--A tavern said to be of very ancient date. In front of the present building, the writer of the present notice observed (in 1838) the date cut in stone, 1480.

_The Nag's Head, Cheapside._--A view of this tavern is preserved in a print of the entry of Mary de Medici, when she paid a visit to her son-in-law and daughter, the unfortunate Charles I. and his queen.

_St. Paul's Alley._--

"Whereas, the yearly meeting of the name of Adam hath of late,
through the deficiency of the last stewards, been neglected,
these are to give notice to all gentlemen, and others that are
of that name, that, at William Adams', commonly called 'The
Northern Alehouse,' in _St. Paul's Alley_, in St. Paul's Church
Yard, there will be a weekly meeting, every Monday night, of our
namesakes, between the hours of 6 and 8 of the clock in the
evening, in order to choose stewards to revive our antient and
annual feast."--_Domestic Intelligence_, 1681.

_St. Paul's Churchyard._--

"In St. Paul's Church Yard were formerly many shops where music
and musical instruments were sold, for which, at this time, no
better reason can be given than that the service at that
Cathedral drew together, twice a day, all the lovers of music in
London; not to mention that the chairmen were wont to assemble
there, where they were met by their friends and acquaintance."--
_Sir John Hawkins' History of Music_, vol. v. p. 108.

_The French Change, Soho._--A place so called in the reign of Queen Anne. Gough, in a MS. note, now before us, thought it stood on the site of the present bazaar.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

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NOTES ON THE DODO.

I have to thank "Mr. S.W. SINGER" (No. 22. p. 353.) for giving some interesting replies to my "Dodo Queries" (No. 17. p. 261.). I trust that Mr. S. will be induced to pursue the inquiry further, and especially to seek for some _Portuguese_ account of the Mascarene Islands, prior to the Dutch expedition of 1598. I am now able to state that the supposed proof of the discovery of Bourbon by the Portuguese in 1545, on the authority of a stone pillar, the figure of which Leguat has copied {411} from Du Qesne, who copied it from Flacourt, turns out to be inaccurate. On referring to Flacourt's _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_, 4to., Paris, 1658, p. 344, where the original figure of this monument is given, I find that the stone was not found in Bourbon at all, but in "l'Islet des Portugais," a small island at the mouth of the river Fanshere (see Flacourt, p. 32.), near the S.E. extremity of Madagascar. From this place Flacourt removed it to the neighbouring settlement of Fort Dauphin in 1653, and engraved the arms of France on the opposite side to those of Portugal. We are therefore still without any historical record of the first discovery of Bourbon and Mauritius, though, from the unanimous consent of later compilers, we may fairly presume that the Portuguese were the discoverers.

The references which Mr. Singer has given to two works which mention the _Oiseau bleu_ of Bourbon, are very important, as the only other known authority for this extinct bird is the MS. Journal of Sieur D.B., which thus receives full confirmation. May I ask Mr. Singer whether either of these writers mentions the _Solitaire_ as inhabiting Bourbon?

The "Oiseaux appelez _Flamands_" quoted by Mr. S., are merely _Flamingos_, and are devoid of interest as regards the present question.

The history of the Dodo's head at Copenhagen, referred to by Mr. Singer, is fully recorded in the _Dodo and its Kindred_, pp. 25. 33.

The name _Dodo_ seems to have been first applied to the bird by Sir Thomas Herbert, in 1634, who adds, in his edition of 1638, "a Portuguese name it is, and has reference to her simpleness." Before that time the Dutch were in the habit of calling it _Dodars_, _Dodaers_, _Toters_, and _Dronte_. I had already made the same guesses at the etymology of these words as those which Mr. Singer has suggested, but not feeling fully satisfied with them, I put forth my Query VII. for the chance of obtaining some further elucidation.

Mr. Singer's reasonings on the improbability of Tradescant's specimen of the Dodo having been a fabrication are superfluous, seeing that the head and foot of this individual are, as is well known, still in existence, and form the subjects of six plates in the _Dodo and its Kindred_.

In regard to my Query IX. as to the local habitation of the family of _Dronte_, who bore a Dodo on their shield, it has been suggested to me by the Rev. Richard Hooper (who first drew my attention to this armorial bearing), that the family was probably foreign to Britain. It appears that there was a family named _Dodo_, in Friesland, a member of which (Augustin Dodo, deceased in 1501) was the first editor of St. Augustine's works. Mr. Hooper suggests that possibly this family may have subsequently adopted the Dodo as their arms, and that Randle Holme may, by a natural mistake, have changed the name of the family, in his _Academy of Armory_, from _Dodo_ to the synonymous word _Dronte_. Can none of your genealogical readers clear up this point?

H.E. Strickland.

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DERIVATION OF "STERLING" AND "PENNY".

Your correspondent suggests (No. 24. p. 384.) an ingenious derivation for the word _Sterling_; but one which perhaps he has been too ready to adopt, inasmuch as it helped his other derivation of _peny_, from _pecunia_ or _pecus_. I quote the following from _A short Treatise touching Sheriff's Accompts_, by Sir Matthew Hale: London, 1683:

"Concerning the second, _viz._ the matter or species whereof the
current coin of this kingdom hath been made, it is gold or
silver, but not altogether pure, but with an allay of copper, at
least from the time of King H. I. and H. II., though possibly in
ancienter times the species whereof the coin was made might be
pure gold or silver; and this allay was that which gave the
denomination of Sterling to that coin, _viz._ Sterling Gold, or
Sterling Silver. Wherein there will be inquirable,

"1. Whence that denomination came?

"2. How ancient that denomination was?

"3. What was the allay that gave silver that denomination?

"For the former of these there are various conjectures, and
nothing of certainty.

"_Spelman_ supposeth it to take that denomination from the
Esterlings, who, as he supposeth, came over and reformed our
coin to that allay. Of this opinion was _Camden. A Germanis,
quos Angli_ Esterlings, _aborientali situ, vocarunt, facta est
appellatio; quos_ Johannes _Rex, ad argentum in suam puritatem
redigendam, primus evocavit; et ejus modi nummi_ Esterlingi, _in
antiquis scripturis semper reperiuntur_. Some suppose that it
might be taken up from the _Starre Judæorum_, who, being the
great brokers for money, accepted and allowed money of that
allay for current payment of their stars or obligations; others
from the impression of a starling, or an asterisk upon the coin.
_Pur ceo que le form d'un Stare, dont le diminutive est
Sterling, fuit impressit on stamp sur ceo. Auters pur ceo que le
primer de cest Standard fuit coyn en le Castle de Sterlin in_
Scotland _pur le Roy_ Edw. I. And possibly as the proper name of
the fourth part of a Peny was called a Farthing, ordinarily a
Ferling; so in truth the proper name of a Peny in those times
was called a Sterling, without any other reason of it than the
use of the times and arbitrary imposition, as other names
usually grow. For the old Act of 51 H. III., called _Compositio
Mensurarum_, tells us that _Denarius Anglice Sterlingus
dicitur_; and because this was the root of the measure,
especially of Silver Coin, therefore all our Coin of the same
allay was also called Sterling, as five Shillings Sterling, five
Pounds Sterling.

"When this name of Sterling came first in is uncertain, only we
are certain it was a denomination in use in the time of H. III.
or Ed. I. and after ages. But it was not in use at the time of
the compiling of {412} Doomsday, for if it were we should have
found it there where there is so great occasion of mention of
Firmes, Rents, and Payments. Hovended in _Rich. I fol. 377. b._
Nummus _a_ Numa, _que fuit le primer Roy que fesoit moneies en_
Rome. _Issint Sterlings, alias Esterlings, queux primes fesoient
le money de cest Standard en_ Engleterre."--_Sheriffs'
Accompts_, p. 5-9.

So much for the derivation of _Sterling_, which evidently applied originally to the metal rather than to a coin. May I be allowed to hazard a suggestion as to the origin of _peny_, its synonym? They were each equivalent to the Denarius.

"_Denarius Angliæ, qui nominatur Sterlingus, rotundus sine
tonsura, ponderabit 32 grana in medio spicæ. Sterlingus et
Denarius sont tout un. Le Shilling consistoit de 12 sterlings.
Le substance de cest denier ou sterling peny al primes fuit
vicessima pars unicæ._"--_Indentures of the Mint_, Ed. I and VI.

May we not derive it from Denarius by means of either a typographical or clerical error in the initial letter. This would at once give a new name--the very thing they were in want of--and we may very easily understand its being shortened into Penny.

G. Milford, April 15.

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HANNO'S PERIPLUS.

"Mr. Hampson" has served the cause of truth in defending Hanno and the Carthaginians from the charge of cruelty, brought against them by Mr. Attorney-General Bannister. A very slender investigation of the bearings of the narration would have prevented it. I know not how Dr. Falconer deals with it, not having his little volume at hand; but in so common a book as the _History of Maritime Discovery_, which forms part of Lardner's _Cabinet Cyclopædia_, it is stated that these _Gorillæ_ were probably some species of _ourang-outang_. Purchas says they might be the _baboons_ or _Pongos_ of those parts.

The amusing, and always interesting, Italian, Hakluyt, in the middle of the sixteenth century, gives a very good version of the [Greek: ANNONOS PERIPLOUS], with a preliminary discourse, which would also have undeceived Mr. Bannister, had he been acquainted with it, and prevented Mr. Hampson's pleasant exposure of his error.

Ramusio says, "Seeing that in the Voyage of Hanno there are many parts worthy of considerate attention, I have judged that it would be highly gratifying to the studious if I were here to write down a few extracts from certain memoranda which I formerly noted on hearing a respectable Portugese pilot, in frequent conversations with the Count Raimondo della Torre, at Venice, illustrate this Voyage of Hanno, when read to him, from his own experience." There are, of course, some erroneous notions in the information of the pilot, and in the deductions made from it by Ramusio; but the former had the sagacity to see the truth respecting this _Gorgon Island full of hairy men and women_. I will not spoil the _naïveté_ of the narration by attempting a translation; merely premising that he judged the Island to be that of Fernando Po.

"E tutta la descrittione de questo Capitano era simile a quella
per alcun Scrittore Greci, quale parlande dell' isola delle
Gorgone, dicono quella esser un isola in mezzo d'una palude. E
conciacosa che havea inteso che li poeti dicevan le Gorgone
esser femine terribili, però scrisse che le erano pelose.... Ma
a detto pilotto pareva più verisimile di pensare, che havendo
Hannone inteso ne'i libri de' poeti come Perseo era stato per
ære a questa isola, e di quivi reportata la testa di Medusa,
essendo egli ambitioso di far creder al mondo che lui vi fasse
audato per mare; e dar riputation a questo suo viaggio, di esser
penetrato fuio dove era stato Perseo; volesse portar due pelli
di Gorgone, e dedicarla nel tempio di Ginnone. Il che li fu
facil cosa da fare, conciosia cosa che IN TUTTA QUELLA COSTA SI
TRUOVINO INFINITE DI QUELLE SIMIE GRANDE, CHE FARENO PERSONE
HUMANE, DELLE BABUINE, le pelle delle quali poteva far egli
credere ad ogniuno che fussero state di femine."

Gopelin, also, in his _Recherches sur la Géographie des Anciens_, speaking of this part of Hanno's voyage, says:

"Hanno encountered a troop of _Ourang-outangs_, which he took
for savages, because these animals walk erect, often having a
staff in their hands to support themselves, as well as for
attack or defence; and they throw stones when they are pursued.
They are the Satyrs and the Argipani with which Pliny says Atlas
was peopled. It would be useless to say more on this subject, as
it is avowed _by all the modern commentators of the Periplus_."

The relation we have is evidently only an abridgment or summary made by some Greek, studious of Carthaginian affairs, long subsequent to the time of Hanno; and judging from a passage in Pliny (I. ii. c. 67.), it appears that the ancients were acquainted with other extracts from the original, yet, though its authenticity has been doubted by Strabo and others, there seems to be little reason to question that it is a correct _outline_ of the voyage. That the Carthaginians were oppressors of the people they subjugated may be probable; yet we must not, on such slender grounds as this narration affords, presume that they would wantonly kill and flay _human beings_ to possess themselves of their skins!

S.W. Singer April 10. 1850.

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FOLK LORE.

_Cook-eels._--Forby derives this from _coquille_, in allusion to their being fashioned like an escallop, in which sense he is borne out by Cotgrave, who has "_Pain coquillé_, a fashion of an hard-crusted loafe, somewhat like our stillyard bunne." I have always taken the word to be "coquerells," from {413} the vending of such buns at the barbarous sport of "throwing at the cock" on Shrove Tuesday. The cock is still commonly called a cockerell in E. Anglia. Perhaps Mr. Wodderspoon will say whether the buns of the present day are fashioned in any particular manner, or whether any "the oldest inhabitant" has any recollection of their being differently fashioned or at all impressed. What, too, are the "_stillyard buns_" of Cotgrave? Are they tea-cakes? The apartment in which tea was formerly made was called the _still_-room.

Buriensis.

_Divination by the Bible and Key._--This superstition is very prevalent amongst the peasantry of this and adjoining parishes. When any article is suspected to have been stolen, a Bible is procured, and opened at the 1st chap. of Ruth: the stock of a street-door key is then laid on the 16th verse of the above chapter, and the key is secured in this position by a string, bound tightly round the book. The person who works the charm then places his two middle fingers under the handle of the key, and this keeps the Bible suspended. He then repeats in succession the names of the parties suspected of the theft; repeating at each name a portion of the verse on which the key is placed, commencing, "Whither thou goest, I will go," &c. When the name of the guilty is pronounced, the key turns off the fingers, the Bible falls to the ground, and the guilt of the party is determined. The belief of some the more ignorant of the lower orders in this charm is unbounded. I have seen it practiced in other counties, the key being laid over the 5th verse of the 19th chap. of Proverbs, instead of the 1st chap. of Ruth.

David Stevens. Godalming, April 11. 1850.

[In Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ (ed. Ellis). vol. iii. 188-9,
it is stated that the key is placed upon the 50th Psalm.]

_Weather Proverb._--Weather proverbs are among the most curious portions of popular literature. That foul or fair weather is betokened according as the rainbow is seen in the morning or evening, is recorded in the following German "saw," which is nearly identical with our well-known English Proverb:

Regenbogen am Morgen
Macht dem Schäfer sorgen;
Regenbogen am Abend
Ist dem Schäfer labend.

In Mr. Akerman's recently published volume called _Spring Tide_, a pleasant intermixture of fly-fishing and philology, we have a Wiltshire version of this proverb, curious for its old Saxon language and its comparatively modern allusion to a "great coat" in the third and sixth lines, which must be interpolations.

"The Rainbow in th' marnin'
Gies the Shepherd warning'
To car' his girt cwoat on his back
The Rainbow at night
Is the Shepherd's delight,
For then no girt cwoat he lack."

No one, we believe, has yet remarked the philosophy of this saying; namely that in the morning the rainbow is seen in the clouds in the west, the quarter from which we get most rain, and of course, in the evening, in the opposite quarter of the heavens.

William J. Thoms.

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

1. A pleasant Dialogue between a Soldier of Barwicke and an English Chaplain; wherein are largely handed such reasons as are brought in for maintenance of Popish traditions in our English Church. 8vo. _circa_ 1581.

This work is frequently attributed to Barnaby Rich; but from Bancroft's _Dangerous Positions_, p. 42, the author is ascertained to have been Anthony Gilby.

2. The Trumpet of Fame; or Sir Francis Drake's and Sir John Hawkin's Farewell: with an encouragement to all Sailors and Souldiers that are minded to go in this worthie enterprise, &c. 12mo. London, by T. Creede, 1595.

This poetical tract is of the greatest rarity, and was unknown to Ames, Herbert, Warton and Ritson. A MS. note, in a contemporary hand, says the author was one Henry Roberts, whose initials are appended to the work.

3. The Mastive, or Young Whelpe of the Olde Dogge. Epigrams and Satyrs, by H.P. 4to. London, by T. Creede, _circa_ 1600.

As an Epigram in this collection also appears in Henry Peacham's _Minerva Britanna_, with a slight variation, it is fair to surmise that he was the author of this very rare volume, in preference to Henry Parrott.

4. Pasquil's Jests, mixed with Mother Bunch's Merriments. Whereunto is added a dozen of Gulles. Pretty and pleasant to drive away the tediousnesse of a winter's evening. 4to. 1608.

In the _British Bibliographer_, vol i., may be seen an account of the edition of 1609, with extracts from it, and a statement that "an earlier edition is without the Gulls." The present copy (which passed through my hands some years ago), although earlier, has the Gulls.

5. Holie Historie of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's Nativitie, Life, Actes, Miracles, Doctrine, Death, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. Gathered into English Meeter, and published to withdraw all vajne wits from all unsaverie and wicked rimes and fables &c. 12mo. London, by R. Field, 1594.

Ames and Herbert say this book was written by _Henry_ Holland; but the author's name {414} was Robert Holland. It is not mentioned by Warton.

6. News from the Stars; or, Erra Pater's Ghost, by Meriton Latroon. 12mo. 1673.

"Richard Head, a broken bookseller, and the author of the _English Rogue_, writ this. He turned Papist, and in his voyage to Spain was drowned."--_MS. note in a contemporary hand._

Edward F. Rimbault.

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POPE, PETRONIUS, AND HIS TRANSLATORS.

The vindication of Pope from the charge of borrowing his well-known sentiment--"_Worth_ makes a man," &c.--from Petronius, is not so completely made out by "P.C.S.S." as it might be; for surely there is a sufficient similitude of idea, if not of expression, between the couplet of Pope and the sentence of Petronius, as given in all four of the translations cited by him (No. 23. p. 362.)--"The _heart_ makes the man," &c.--to warrant a notion that the one was suggested by the other. But the surmise of plagiarism originates in a misconception of the terms employed by the Latin author--_virtus_, _frugalitas_, and more especially _corcillum_,--which have been misunderstood by every one of these translators. _Virtus_ is applied to mental as well as bodily superiority (_Cic. Fin._ v. 13.).--The sense in which _frugalitas_ is employed by Petronius may be collected from a preceding passage in the same chapter, where Trimalchio calls his pet _puerum frugalissimum_--a very _clever_ lad--as he explains the epithet by adding that "he can read at sight, repeat from memory, cast up accounts, and turn a penny to his own profit." _Corcillum_ is a diminutive of _corculum_ (like _oscillum_, from _osculum_), itself a diminutive of _cor_, which word, though commonly put for "the heart," is also used by the best authors, Lucretius, Horace, Terence, &c, in the same sense as our _wit_, _wisdom_, _intellect_. The entire passage, if correctly translated, might then be expressed as follows:

"The time has been, my friends, when I myself was no better off
than you are; but I gained my present position solely by my own
talents (_virtute_). Wit (_corcillum_) makes the man--(or,
literally, It is wisdom that makes men of us)--everything else
is worthless lumber. I buy in the cheapest and sell in the
dearest market. But, as I said before, my own shrewdness
(_frugalitas_) made my fortune. I came from Asia no taller than
that lamp stand; and used to measure my height against it day by
day, and grease my muzzle (_rostrum_) with oil from the lamp to
make a beard come."

Then follow some additional examples of the youth's sagacity, not adapted for translation, but equally instances of worldly wisdom. Thus every one of the actions which Trimalchio enumerated as the causes of his prosperity are emanations from the _head_, not the _heart_; the results of a crafty intellect, not of moral feeling; so that the sentiment he professes, instead of being similar to, is exactly the reverse of that expressed by Pope.

This explanation seems so satisfactory that we might be well contented to rest here. But some MSS. have the reading _coricillum_ instead of _corcillum_. If that be received as the genuine one, and some editors prefer it, the interpretation above given will only be slightly modified, but not destroyed, by the introduction of another image, the essential point remaining the same. The insertion of a vowel, _i_, precludes all connection with _cor_ and its diminutives, but suggests a derivation from [Greek: korukos], dim. [Greek: korukion], a leathern sack or bag, which, when well stuffed, the Greeks used to suspend in the gymnasium, like the pendulum of a clock (as may be seem on a fictile vase), to buffet to and fro with blows of the fist. The stuffed bag will represent the human head on the end of its trunk; and the word may have been a slang one of the day, or coined by the Asiatic Trimalchio, whose general language is filled with provincial patois. The translation would then be, in the familiar style of the original,--"The _noddle_ makes the man," &c.

Anthony Rich, Jun.

* * * * *

QUERIES.

WHEN WERE UMBRELLAS INTRODUCED INTO ENGLAND?

Thomas Coryat, in his _Crudities_, vol. i. p. 134., gives us a curious notice of the early use of the umbrella in Italy. Speaking of fans, he says:

"These fans are of a mean price, for a man may buy one of the
fairest of them for so much money as countervaileth one English
groat. Also many of them (the Italians) do carry other fine
things of a far greater price, that will cost at the least a
ducat, which they commonly call in the Italian tongue
_umbrellaes_, that is, things that minister shadow unto them for
shelter against the scorching heat of the sun. These are made of
leather, something answerable to the form of a little canopy,
and hooped in the inside with diverse little wooden hoops that
extend the _umbrella_ in a pretty large compass. They are used
especially by horsemen, who carry them in their hands when they
ride, fastening the end of the handle upon one of their thighs:
and they impart so long a shadow unto them, that it keepeth the
heat of the sun from the upper parts of their bodies."

Lt.-Col. (afterwards Gen.) Wolfe, writing from Paris, in the year 1752, says:

"The people here use umbrellas in hot weather to defend them
from the sun, and something of the same kind to secure them from
snow and rain. I wonder a practice so useful is not introduced
in England, (where there are such frequent showers,) and
especially in the country, where they can be expanded without
any inconveniency." {415}

Query, what is the date of the first introduction of the _umbrella_ into England?

Edward F. Rimbault

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

_Duke of Marlborough._--The Annual Register for the year 1758 (pp. 121-127.) contains an account of the circumstances connected with the trial of one Barnard, son of a surveyor in Abingdon Buildings, Westminster, on a charge of sending letters to the Duke of Marlborough, threatening his life by means "too fatal to be eluded by the power of physic," unless his grace "procured him a genteel support for his life." The incidents are truly remarkable, pointing most suspiciously toward Barnard; but he escaped. Can any of your readers refer me to where I can find any further account or elucidation of this affair?

Buriensis.

"_M. or N._"--Of what words are "M. or N." the initials? Vide the answers to be given in the Church Catechism, and some of the occasional offices in he liturgy.

J.C.

[It has been suggested that "M. or N." originated in a
misreading of "NOM," a contraction for "_nomen_." This is
certainly an ingenious explanation, though not a satisfactory
one.]

_Song of the Bees._--Who was the author of the lines under this title beginning,

"We watch for the light of the moon to break
and colour the grey eastern sky
With its blended hues of saffron and lake," &c.

I have always understood them to be Dr. Aikin's, but latterly that has been contradicted.

Buriensis.

_William Godwin._--Can any of your correspondents tell me where I can find an account of the leading events of the life of William Godwin, author of _Caleb Williams, St. Leon, Mandeville_ &c., or any reference to his last hours? His sentiments, political and religious, are said to have been _peculiar_.

N. Woodbridge, April 15.

_Regimental Badges._--When were the regimental badges granted to the first nine infantry corps of the line, and under what circumstances were they so granted?

J.C. London, April 15. 1850.

_Mother of Thomas à Becket._--The well-known romantic legend of the origin of this lady has been introduced into the _Pictorial History of England_, on the authority of "Brompton in X. Scriptores." And on the same page (552. vol. i.) is a pictorial representation of the "Baptism of the Mother of Becket, from the Royal MS. 2 B. vii."

Now, Lord Campbell, in his _Lives of the Chancellors_, repudiates the story in toto; but without assigning any other reason for doing so, than an inference from the silence of Becket himself and his secretary, Fitzstephen, on the point.

Can any of the learned gentlemen, whose distinguished names adorn your valuable pages, direct an humble student to the fountain of truth, for the settlement of this _verata questio_?

W. Franks Mathews. Kidderminster, April 7. 1850.

_Swords worn in public._--Can any of your correspondents say when swords ceased to be worn as an article of ordinary dress, and whether the practice was abolished by act of parliament, or that they gradually went out of fashion.

J.D.A. April 17. 1850.

_Emblem and National Motto of Ireland._--How long has the _harp_ been the emblem, and _Erin-go-bragh_ the national motto of Ireland? To this I give another query,--What is the national motto of England?

E.M.B.

_Latin Distich and Translation._--Who were the authors of the following Latin Distich, and its English translation?

"Mittitur in disco mihi piscis ab archiepisco--
--Po non ponatur, quia potus non mihi datur."
"I had sent me a fish in a great dish by the archbish--
--Hop is not here, for he gave me no beer."

E.M.B.

_Verbum Græcum._--Who was the author of

"Like the _verbum Græcum_
Spermagoraiolekitholukanopolides,
Words that should only be said upon holidays,
When one has nothing else to do."

The _verbum Græcum_ itself is in Aristophanes' _Lysistrata_, 457.

E.M.B.

_Pope Felix._--Who is "Pope Felix," mentioned in Ælfric's _Homily on the Birthday of St. Gregory_? Ælfric, in speaking of the ancestors of St. Gregory, states that "_Felix_ se eawfaesta _papa_ waes his fifta faeder,"--"Felix the pious pope was his fifth father," (i.e. great grandfather's grandfather).

E.M.B. April 15. 1850.

"_Where England's Monarch," and "I'd preach as though._"--Will any of your subscribers have the kindness to inform me who was the author of the lines

"Where England's monarch all uncovered sat
And Bradshaw bullied in a broad-brimm'd hat."

And also of these, quoted by Henry Martyn as "well-known:"

"I'd preach as though I ne'er should preach again,
I'd preach as dying unto dying men."

H.G. Milford, April 15. 1850. {416}

_Latin Epigram._--I should be much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me who was the author and what is the date of the following epigram. The peculiarity of it, your readers will observe, consists in the fact, that while read directly it contains a strong compliment; yet it is capable of being read backwards, still forming the same description of verse, but conveying a perfect reverse of the compliment:--

"Laus tua, non tua fraus; virtus non copia rerum,
Scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium,
Pauperibus tua das; nunquam stat janua clausa;
Fundere res quæris, nec tua multiplicas.
Conditio tua sit stabilis! non tempore parvo
Vivere te faciat hic Deus omnipotens."

When reversed, it reads thus:--

"Omnipotens Deus hic faciat te vivere parvo
Tempore! Non stabilis sit tua conditio.
Multiplicas tua, nec quæris res fundere; clausa
Janua stat, nunquam das tua pauperibus.
Eximium decus hoc fecit te scandere rerum
Copia, non virtus; fraus tua, non tua laus."

Any additional information would much oblige.

O. April 15. 1850.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

GRAY'S ALCAIC ODE.

Circumstances enable me to give a reply, which I believe will be found correct, to the inquiry of "C.B." in p. 382. of your 24th Number, "Whether Gray's celebrated Latin Ode is actually to be found entered at the Grande Chartreuse?" The fact is, that the French Revolution--that whirlwind which swept from the earth all that came within its reach and seemed elevated enough to offer opposition--spared not the poor monks of the Chartreuse. A rabble from Grenoble and other places, attacked the monastery; burnt, plundered, or destroyed their books, papers, and property, and dispersed the inmates; while the buildings were left standing, not from motives of respect, but because they would have been troublesome and laborious to pull down, and were not sufficiently combustible to burn.

In travelling on the Continent with a friend, during the summer of 1817, we made a pilgrimage to the Grande Chartreuse, reaching it from the side of the Echelles. It was an interesting moment; for at that very time the scattered remains of the society had collected together, and were just come again to take possession of and reinhabit their old abode. And being their _jour de spaciment_, the whole society was before us, as they returned from their little pilgrimage up the mountain, where they had been visiting St. Bruno's chapel and spring; and it was impossible not to think with respect of the self-devotion of these men, who, after having for many years partaken (in a greater or less degree) of the habits and comforts of a civilised life, had thus voluntarily withdrawn themselves once more to their stern yet beautiful solitude (truly, as Gray calls it, a _locus severus_), there to practise the severities of their order, without, it may be supposed, any possessions or means, except what they were themselves enabled to throw into a common stock; for nearly the whole of their property had been seized by the government during the Revolution, and was still held by it.

Our conversation was almost wholly with two of the fathers (they use the prefix _Dom_), whose names I forget, and have mislaid my memorandum of them. One of these had been in England, when driven out; and was there protected by the Weld family in Dorsetshire, of whom he spoke in terms of sincere gratitude and respect. The other told us that he was a native of Chambery, and had done no more than cross the mountains to get home. On asking him for Gray's Ode, he shook his head, saying, the Revolution had robbed them of that, and every thing else; but repeated the first line of it, so that there was no mistake as to the object of my inquiry. From what occurred afterwards, it appears, however, to be questionable whether he knew more than the first line; for I was informed that later English travellers had been attempting, from a laudable desire of diffusing information, to write out the whole in the present Album of the Chartreuse, by contributing a line or stanza, as their recollection served; but that, after all, this pic-nic composition was not exactly what Gray wrote. Of course, had our friend the Dom known how to supply the deficiencies, he would have done it.

There is a translation of the Ode by James Hay Beattie, son of the professor and poet, printed amongst his poems, which is much less known than its merits deserve. And I would beg to suggest to such of your readers as may in the course of their travels visit this monastery, that books (need I say _proper_ ones?) would be a most acceptable present to the library; also, that there is a regular Album kept, in which those who, in this age of "talent" and "intelligence," consider themselves able to write better lines than Gray's, are at liberty to do so if they please.

A very happy conjecture appeared in the _European Magazine_ some time between 1804 and 1808, as to the conclusion of the stanzas to Mr. Beattie. The corner of the paper on which they had been written as torn off; and Mr. Mason supplies what is deficient in the following manner, the words added by him being printed in Italics:--

"Enough for me, if to some feeling breast
My lines a secret sympathy _impart_;
And as their pleasing influence _flows confest_,
A sign of soft reflection _heave the heart_." {417}

This, it will be seen, is prosaic enough; but the correspondent of the _E. Mag._ supposes the lines to have ended differently; and that the poet, in some peculiar fit of modesty, tore off the name. His version is this:--

"Enough for me, if to some feeling breast,
My lines a secret sympathy _convey_;
And as their pleasing influence _is imprest_,
A sigh of soft reflection _heave for Gray_."

One word upon another poet, Byron _v_. Tacitus, in p. 390. of your 24th Number. There can be no doubt that the noble writer had this passage of Tacitus in his mind, when he committed the couplet in question to paper; but, in all probability, he considered it so well known as not to need acknowledgment. Others have alluded to it in the same way. The late Rev. W. Crowe, B.C.L., of New College, Oxford, and public orator of that University, in some lines recited by his son at the installation of Lord Grenville, has the following:--

"And when he bids the din of war to cease,
He calls the silent desolation--peace."

I wonder where Lord Byron stole stanzas 1, 2, 3, 4, of the second canto of _The Bride of Abydos_; to say nothing of some more splendid passages in the first and second cantos of _Childe Harold_?

W. (1.)

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Chapels._--Perhaps the following remarks will be of service to "Mr. GATTY" in the solution of his Queries touching the word _Chapel_ (No. 21.).

Spelman (_Glossary, sub voce_) endeavours to convince us that _capella_ is the same as _capsella_, the diminutive of _capsa_; thus making _chapel_, in the first instance, "a small repository" (_sc._ of relics). Richardson is also in favour of this etymon, notwithstanding its harshness and insipidity. I think the common derivation (from _capella_, diminutive of _capa_) very much preferable to any other, both on the score of philology and of history. Ducange has quoted several passages, all tending to evince that _capella_ (explained by the Teutonic _voccus_) was specially applied to the famous vestment of St. Martin, comprising his cloak and hood (not merely his _hat_, as some writers mention). The name was then metonymically transferred to the repository in which that relic was preserved, and afterwards, by a natural expansion, became the ordinary designation of the smaller sanctuaries. This derivation is distinctly affirmed by Walafred Strabo about 842, and by a monk of St. Gall, placed by Basnage about 884. The earliest instance where the word _capella_ is used for the vestment of St. Martin appears to be in a "Placitum" of Theodoric, King of France, who ascended the throne A.D. 672--"in oratorio nostro super capella Domini Martini ... hæc dibiret conjurare." In a second "Placitum," also quoted by Ducange, of Childebert, King of France (_circa_ 695), the word _capella_ seems to mean a _sacred building_--"in oratorio suo seu capella Sancti Marthini." And in a charter of Charles the Simple, _circ._ 900, the term unquestionably occurs in this latter signification, disconnected from St. Martin. Other illustrations may be seen in Ducange, who has bestowed especial industry on the words _capa_ and _capella_.

With respect to the _legal_ definition of the modern _chapel_, I may mention that, in stat. 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29. s. 10., it signifies, according to Mr. Stephens (_Eccl. Statutes_, p. 1357.), "a chapel where the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England are performed, and does not include the chapels of Dissenters." In stat. 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 30., we read, notwithstanding, of "any _chapel_ for the religious worship of persons dissenting from the United Church of England and Ireland."

C.H. St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.

_Chapels_ (No. 20. p. 333., and No. 23. p. 371.).--The opinion of the "BARRISTER" that this term had come into use as a designation of dissenting places of worship from no "idea of either assistance or opposition to the Church of England," but only as a supposed means of security to the property, is probably correct. Yet it is likely different reasons may have had weight in different places.

However, he is mistaken in "believing that we must date the adoption of that term from about" forty years ago. I am seventy-six years old, and I can bear testimony, that from my infancy it was the term universally employed in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, and, I think probable, in the more northern counties. In common speech, it was used as the word of discrimination from the Methodist places of worship, which bore the name of _Meeting-houses_, or, more generally, _Meetings_. But within the period (forty years) assigned by your learned correspondent, I think that I have observed the habit to have extensively obtained of applying the term _Chapels_ to the latter class of places.

I have abundant evidence of the general use of the term for dissenting buildings, back to the seventeenth century. From my early life, I remember the current opinion to have been that _Chapel_ was the word in use north of the Trent, and _Meeting-house_ in Nottingham and southwards.

An eminent antiquary, the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., could cast a full light upon this subject.

J.P.S. Homerton, April 15.

_Beaver_ (No. 21. p. 338.).--The earliest form of this word is _fiber_, which is used to signify the animal, the _Castor_, by Varro and Pliny. The fabulous story of the self-emasculation by which the beaver eludes pursuit, is thus introduced by Silius, in illustrating the flight of Hasdrubal:-- {418}

"Fluminei veluti deprensus gurgitis undis,
Avulsâ parte inguinibus caussaque pericli,
Enatat intento prædæ _fibor_ avius hoste."

_Punica_, IV. 485-8, where see Ruperti.

The scholiast on Juvenal, xii. 34., has the low Latin _vebrus_. (See Forcellini, Lex. in _Fiber_ et _Castor_, Ducange in _Bever_, and Adelung in _Biber_.) Derivations of the word _bebrus_ occur in all the languages of Europe, both Romanic and Teutonic; and denote the Castor. _Beaver_, in the sense of a _hat_ or _cap_, is a secondary application, derived from the material of which the hat or cap was made.

W.

_Poins and Bardolph_ (No. 24. p. 385.)--Mr. Collier (Life prefixed to the edit. of _Shakspeare_, p. 139.) was the first to notice that Bardolph, Fluellen, and Awdrey, were names of persons living at Stratford in the lifetime of the poet; and Mr. Halliwell (_Life of Shakspeare_, pp. 126-7) has carried the subject still further, and shown that the names of ten characters in the plays are also found in the early records of that town. Poins was, I believe, a common Welsh name.

S.

_God tempers the Wind_ (No. 22. p. 357.)--Le Roux de Liney, _Livre des Proverbes Français_ (Paris, 1842), tom. i. p. 11., cites the following proverbs--

"Dieu mesure le froid à la brebis tondue,
ou,
Dieu donne le froid selon la robbe,"

from Henri Estienne, _Prémices_, &c., p. 47., a collection of proverbs published in 1594. He also quotes from Gabriel Meurier, _Trésor des Sentences_, of the sixteenth century:--

"Dieu aide les mal vestus."

SIWEL. April 5. 1850.

_Sterne's Koran_ (No. 14. p. 216.)--An inquiry respecting this work appeared in the _Gent. Mag._, vol. lxvii. pt. ii. p. 565.; and at p. 755. we are told by a writer under the signature of "Normanus," that in _his_ edition of Sterne, printed at Dublin, 1775, 5 vols. 12mo., the Koran was placed at the end, the editor honestly confessing that it was _not_ the production of Sterne, but of Mr. Richard Griffith (son of Mrs. Griffith, the _Novellettist_), then a gentleman of large fortune seated at Millecent, co. Kildare, and married to a daughter of the late Ld. C.B. Burgh.

I possess a copy of an indifferent edition of Sterne's works, in point of paper and type, "Printed for J. Mozley, Gainsbrough, 1795. 8 vols. 12mo." The Koran is in the sixth vol., termed "The Posthumous Works of L. Sterne," dedicated to the Earl of Charlemont by the editor, who, in his address to the reader, professes to have received the MS. from the hands of the author some time before his untimely death.

This I hope will answer the Query of "E.L.N.:" and at the same time I wish to express my regret, that we do not possess a really good and complete edition of Sterne's Works, with a Life and literary history of them, incorporating the amusing illustrations by Dr. Ferriar.

F.R.A. April 12. 1850.

_Lollius._--In answer to "J.M.B." (No. 19. p. 303.) as to who was the Lollius spoken of by Chaucer, I send you the following. _Lollius_ was the real or fictitious name of the author or translator of many of our Gothic prose romances. D'Israeli, in his admirable _Amenities of Literature_, vol. i. p. 141., says:--

"In some colophons of the prose romances the names of real
persons are assigned as the writers; but the same romance is
equally ascribed to different persons, and works are given as
translations which in fact are originals. Amid this prevailing
confusion, and these contradictory statements, we must agree
with the editor of Warton, that we cannot with any confidence
name the author of any of these prose romances. Ritson has aptly
treated these pseudonymous translators as 'men of straw.' We may
say of them all, as the antiquary Douce, in the agony of his
baffled researches after one of their favourite authorities, a
Will o' the Wisp named LOLLIUS, exclaimed, somewhat
gravely,--'Of Lollius it will become every one to speak with
diffidence.'"

Perhaps this "scrap" of information may lead to something more extensive.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Henry Ryder, Bishop of Killaloe_ (No. 24. p. 383).--Henry Ryder, D.D., a native of Paris, and Bishop of Killaloe, after whose paternity "W.D.R." inquires, was advanced to that see by patent dated June 5. 1693 (not 1692), and consecrated on the Sunday following in the church of Dunboyne, in the co. Meath. See Archdeacon Cotton's _Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ_, vol. i. p. 404., who gives an account of his family.

W.(I.)

_Brown Study_ (No. 22. p. 352.).--Surely a corruption of brow-study, brow being derived from to old German, _braun_, in its compound form _ang-braun_, an eyebrow. (Vide Wachter, _Gloss. Germ._)

HENNES

_Seven Champions of Christendom._--Who was the author of _The Seven Champions of Christendom_?

R.F. JOHNSON.

[_The Seven Champions of Christendom_, which Ritson describes as
"containing all the lies of Christendom in one lie," was written
by the well-known Richard Johnson. Our correspondent will find
many curious particulars of his various works in the
Introduction which Mr. Chappell has prefixed to one of them,
viz. _The Crown Garland of Golden Roses_, edited by him from the
edition of 1612 for the Percy Society.] {419}

"_Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis_."--"E.V." (p. 215.) is referred to Cicero _De Officiis_, lib. i. cap. 10., and Ovid, _Met_. lib. xv. 165. et seqq.

"_Vox Præterea nihil_."--"C.W.G." (p. 247.) is also referred to Ovid, _Met_. lib. iii. 397., and Lactantius, lib. iii. Fab. v. These are the nearest approximations I know.

A.W.

_Vox Populi Vox Dei._--The words "Populi vox, vox Dei," stand as No. 97. among the "Aphorismi Politici ex Ph. Cominoeo," in a small volume in my possession, entitled,--

"Aphorismi Politici et Militares, etc. par Lambertum Danæum
collecti. Lugduni Batavorum. CID IDC XXX IX."

There is no reference given to book or chapter; and, judging from the manner in which the aphorisms of Thucydides and Tacitus (which I have been able to examine) are quoted, I fear it may be found that the words in question are rather a condensation of some paragraph by Des Comines that the _ipsissima verba_ that he employed.

C. FORBES. Temple.