Chapter M: Oxford

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With regard to the symbols of the four Evangelists, "JARLZBERG" may consult a Sermon by Boys on the portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistle for Trinity-Sunday. (_Works_, p. 355. Lond. 1622.)

R.G.

[To these Replies we will only add a reference to Mrs.
Jameson's interesting and beautiful volume on _Sacred and
Legendary Art_, vol. i. p. 98., _et seq._, and the following
Latin quatrain:--

"Quatuor haec Dominum signant animalia Christum,
Est _Homo_ nascendo, _Vitulus_que sacer moriendo,
Et _Leo_ surgendo, coelos _Aquila_ que petendo;
Nec minus hos scribas animalia et ipsa figurant."]

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COMPLEXION.

_Complexion_ is usually (and I think universally) employed to express the _tint of the skin_; and the hair and eyes are spoken of separately when the occasion demands a specific reference to them. "NEMO" (No. 22. p. 352.), moreover, seems to confound the terms "white" and "fair," between the meanings of which there is considerable difference. A white skin is not fair, nor a fair skin white. There is no close approach of one to the other; and indeed we never see a white complexion, except the chalked faces in a Christmas of Easter Pantomime, or in front of Richardson's booth at Greenwich or Charlton Fair. A contemplation of these would tell us what the "human face divine" would become, were we any of us truly _white-skinned_.

The skin diverges in tint from the white, in one direction towards the yellow, and in another towards the red or pink; whilst sometimes we witness a seeming tinge of blue,--characteristic of asphyxia, cholera, or some other disease. We often see a mixture of red and yellow (the yellow predominating) in persons subject to bilious complaints; and not unfrequently a mixture of all three, forming what the painters call a "neutral tint," and which is more commonly called "an olive complexion."

The negro skin is black; that is, it does not separate the sun's light into the elementary colours. When, by the admixture of the coloured races with the negro, we find coloured skins, they _always_ tend to the yellow, as in the various mulatto shades of the West Indies, and especially in the Southern States of America; and the same is true of the "half-castes" of British India, though with a distinct darkness or blackness, which the descendant of the negro does not generally show.

Though I have, in accordance with the usual language of philosophers, spoken of _blue_ as an element in the colour of the skin, I have some doubt whether it be a "true blue" or not. It is quite as likely to arise from a partial participation in the quality of the negro skin--that of absorbing a large portion of the light without any analysis whatever. This may be called _darkness_.

However, to return to the Query: the term _pale_ is applied to the yellow-tinted skin; _fair_, to the red or pink; _brown_, to the mixture of red and yellow, with either blue or such darkness as above described; _sallow_, to yellow and darkness; and the only close approach to _whiteness_ that we ever see, is in the sick room of the long-suffering fair complexion. In death, this changes to a "blackish grey," a mixture of white and darkness.

The _pale_ complexion indicates a thick, hard, dry skin; the _fair_, a thin and soft one; and all the shades of dark skin render a large amount of ablution essential to health, comfort, or agreeableness to others. If any of your readers should feel curious about the characters of the wearers of these several skins, they must inquire of Lavater and his disciples.

D.V.S.

Home, April 1. 1850.

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BALLAD OF DICK AND THE DEVIL.

Looking over some of your back numbers, I find (No. 11. p. 172.) an inquiry concerning a ballad with this title. I have never met with it in print, but remember some lines picked up in nursery days from an old nurse who was a native of "the dales." These I think have probably formed a part of this composition. The woman's name was curiously enough Martha Kendal; and, in all probability, her forebears had migrated from that place into Yorkshire:--

"Robin a devil he sware a vow.
He swore by the _sticks_[2] in hell--
By the _yelding_ that crackles to mak the _low_[3],
That warms his _namsack_[4] weel.

"He _leaped_ on his beast, and he rode with heaste,
To _mak_ his black oath good;
'Twas the Lord's Day, and the folk did pray
And the priest in _can_cel stood.

"The door was wide, and in does he ride,
In his clanking _gear_ so gay;
A long keen brand he held in his hand,
Our Dickon for to slay.

"But Dickon goodhap he was not there,
And Robin he rode in vain,
And the men got up that were kneeling in prayer,
To take him by might and main.

"Rob swung his sword, his steed he spurred,
He plunged right through the thr_a_ng.
But the stout smith Jock, with his old mother's _crutch_[5],
He gave him a _woundy_ bang.

"So hard he smote the iron pot,
It came down plume and all;
Then with bare head away Robin sped,
And himself was _fit_ to fall.

"Robin a devil he _way'd_[6] him home,
And if for his foes he seek,
I think that again he will not come
To _late_[7] them in Kendal kirk."[8]

Y.A.C.

[2] The unlettered bard has probably confused "styx" with the
kindling, "yelding," of hell-fire.

[3] Flame.

[4] I have often wondered what namsac (so pronounced) could
be, but since I have seen the story as told by "H.J.M." it is
evidently "namesake."

[5] Probably crook in the original, to rhyme with Jock.

[6] "I way'd me" is yet used in parts of Yorkshire for "I went."

[7] "To late" is "to seek;" from _lateo_, as if by a confusion
of hiding and seeking.]

[8] "Kirk" is not a very good rhyme to "seek;" perhaps it should
be "search" and "church".]

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REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Cavell_.--In the time of Charles I., a large tract of land lying south-eastward of Doncaster, called Hatfield Chace, was undertaken to be drained and made fit for tillage and pasture by one Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a celebrated Flemish engineer of that day, and his partners, or "participants," in the scheme, all or most of them Dutchmen. The lands drained were said to be "_cavelled and allotted_" to so and so, and the pieces of land were called "_cavells_." They were "scottled," or made subject to a tax or assessment for drainage purposes. Two eminent topographical writers of the present day are inclined to be of opinion that this word _cavell_ is connected with the Saxon _gafol_, gavel-tributum--money paid--which we have in _gavel-kind_ and _gavelage_. One of them, however, suggests that the word _may_ be only a term used in Holland as applicable to land, and then introduced by the Dutch at the time of the drainage in question. I shall be obliged if any of your readers can inform me if the word "cavell" is so used in Holland, or elsewhere, either as denoting any particular quantity of land, or land laid under any tax, or _tributum_, or otherwise.

J.

[Our correspondent will find, on referring to Kilian's
_Dictionarium Teutonico-Latino-Gallicum_, that the word
_Kavel_ is used for sors, "sors in divisione bonorum:" and
among other definitions of the verb _Kavelen_, "sorte dividere
terram," which corresponds exactly with his _cavelled and
allotted_.]

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_Gootet_ (No. 25. p. 397.).--Is not this word a corruption of _good-tide_, i.e. holiday or festival? In Halliwell's _Archaeological Dictionary_ I find,--

"Good-day, a holiday; Staff.

"Gooddit, shrovetide; North. Shrove Tuesday is called Goodies
Tuesday.

"Good-time, a festival; Jonson."

C.W.G.

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_Salt ad Montem_ (No. 24. p. 384.) _as meaning Money_.--_Salt_ is an old metaphor for money, cash, pay; derived, says Arbuthnot, from _salt's_ being part of the pay of the Roman soldiers; hence _salarium, salary_, and the levying contributions at _Salt_ Hill. Your Querist will find several explanations of the Eton Montem in the _Gentleman's Magazine_; and a special account of the ceremony, its origin and circumstances, in Lyson's _Mag. Brit._ i. 557.