Chapter D: V. S

Shooter's Hill, May 18.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Lord John Townshend's Poetical Works_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.)--were never, I believe, collected, nor indeed distinctly known, though they well deserve to be. He told me himself that he wrote "Jekyl," in what is called _The Rolliad_; and he mentioned some other of his contributions; but I did not _make a note_, and regret that I can say no more. Mr. Rogers or Lord Lansdowne might.

C.

_When Easter ends._--Mr. H. Edwards, in this day's number (No. 31., p. 9.), asks when Easter ends. I fancy this question is in some degree answered by remarking, that it, together with other festivals of the Church, viz. The Nativity, &c., are celebrated for eight days, which is the octave. The reason, says Wheatley, of its

"Being fixed to eight days, is taken from the practice of the
Jews, who, by God's appointment, observed the greater festivals,
some of them for seven days, and one, the Feast of Tabernacles,
for eight days. And therefore the Primitive Christians
lengthened out their higher feast to eight days."

If this be true, Easter will end on the conclusion of the Sunday after Easter day; but whether our present Parliament is sufficiently Catholic to admit this, in the interpretation of the Act, is questionable.

In the Spanish Church Easter continues till the feast of Whitsuntide is past; and during this period all fasts are forbidden.

The Romish Church has ten high festivals having octaves.

I trust this slight sketch may in some way help Mr. Edwards to a conclusion.

R. J. S.

_When does Easter end?_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.).--In the case stated, at 12 o'clock on the night of Easter Sunday.

C.

_Holdsworth and Fuller._--In A. B. R.'s communication (Vol. i., p. 484.) some symptoms of inaccuracy must be noted before a satisfactory reply can be given to his Query.

1. He has erred in adopting the spelling of Holdsworth's name (viz. {44} Holsworth) which appears in the title-page of _The Valley of Vision_. 2. This work is very incorrectly styled "the sermon," inasmuch as it consists of twenty-one sermons. 3. My copy bears date 1661, not 1651. 4. If Holdsworth's hand was "legible only to himself," we may sincerely commiserate the misfortune of his nephew, Dr. Richard Pearson, who had to prepare for the press 737 folio pages of his _Prælectiones Theologicæ_, &c.: Lond. 1661. 5. There is not the smallest reason for thinking it "probable" that Dean Holdsworth "preached other men's sermons." Respecting our great Caroline divines it would seldom have been right to say--

"Quos (Harpyiarum more)
Convectare juvat prædas, et vivere rapto."

Now, as to what Dr. Holdsworth really wrote, and with regard to that for which he is not responsible, it is to be observed, that he was so averse to the publication of any of his works, that he printed but a single sermon (on Psalm cxliv. 15.), and that not until he had been three times urged to the task by his royal master King Charles I. The pagination of this discourse is quite distinct from that of the twenty unauthentic sermons which follow it in the quarto volume, and which commence at signature B. These are thus described by Dr. Pearson, _ad Lectorem_: "Cæteræ quæ prostant Anglicè venales, à prædone illo stenographico tam laceræ et elumbes, tam miserè deformatæ sunt, ut parum aut nihil agnoscas genii et spiritûs Holdsworthiani."

R. G.

_Gookin_ (Vol. i., pp. 385, 473, 492.).--Vincent Gookin was nominated by Cromwell one of the six representatives of Ireland in the Barebones Parliament; and he was returned for Bandon and Kinsale (which together sent one member) in each of the three subsequent Cromwellian Parliaments.

Lord Orrery, writing to the Duke of Ormond, June 15, 1666, speaks of Captain Robert Gooking, as one of the chief persons in the west of Cork county, and describes him as rich and having good brains, loyal, and ready to fight against French or Irish, as every thing he has depends on his new title. (Orrery's _State Letters_, ii. p. 13. Dublin edition.) A little further on (p. 43.), Lord Orrery names the same Robert Gooking as recommended by the chief gentlemen in the west of Cork to be captain of a troop of horse in the militia.

CH.

"_Brozier_" (Vol. i., p. 485.), "_Sock_," "_Tick._"--I well remember the phrase, "brozier my dame," signifying to "eat her out of house and home." I had forgotten that a boy at Eton was "brozier," when he had spent all his pocket-money. As a supplemental note, however, to Lord Braybrooke's remarks upon this latter signification, I would remind old Etonians of a request that would sometimes slip out from one in a "broziered" state, viz. that a schoolfellow would _sock_ him, _i.e._ treat him to _sock_ at the pastrycook's; and this favour was not unfrequently granted _on tick, i.e._ on credit with the purveyor of sweets.

In reply to your noble correspondent's Query, I beg to say that Halliwell, in his _Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words_, both spells and defines thus: "Brosier. A bankrupt. _Chesh._" Mr. H. says no more; but this seems to decide that the word does not exclusively belong to Eton. I could have fancied that on such classic ground it might possibly have sprung from ~brôskô~, fut. ~-sô~, _to devour_.

Is _sock_ only a corruption of _suck_, indicating a lollipop origin? or what is its real etymological root?

Richardson most satisfactorily says, that to "go on _tick_" is to give a note or _ticket_ instead of payment.

ALFRED GATTY.

Ecclesfield, May 27. 1850.

This Eton phrase, the meaning of which is very correctly explained LORD BRAYBROOKE (Vol. i., p. 485.), appears to be connected with the Cheshire provincialism, which is thus interpreted in Wilbraham's _Cheshire Glossary_:--

"'Brosier, _s._ a bankrupt.' It is often used by boys at play,
when one of them has nothing further to stake."

The noun _brosier_, as Mr. Wilbraham indicates, seems to be derived from the old word _brose_, or, as we now say, _bruise_. A _brosier_ would therefore mean a broken-down man, and therefore a bankrupt. The verb _to brosier_, as used at Eton, would easily be formed from the substantive. In the mediæval Latin, _ruptura_ and _ruptus_ were used to signify _bankruptcy_ and a _bankrupt_. See Duncange, _Gloss._ in vv.

ETONIENSIS.

The word _brozier_, or (as I always heard it pronounced) _brosier_, does not, or did not exclusively belong to Eton. It was current at Hackney School, an establishment formerly on the site of the present Infant Orphan Asylum, and had the precise meaning attributed to it by Lord Braybrooke. It was used both as a verb and as a substantive, but of its origin and etymology I am ignorant. The last master of Hackney School was the Rev. Dr. Heathcote, who died, I believe, about 1820. The schoolhouse was a very large and a very old building. May I take this opportunity of asking if anything is known of its history? There was a tradition prevalent among the boys, that it had been an hospital in the time of the Plague.

I recollect there was another singular word current at Hackney, viz. "buckhorse," for a smart box on the ear. {45}

C. M.

[Buckhorse was a celebrated bruiser, whose name has been
preserved in this designation of a blow, in the same way as that
of his successor "Belcher" has been in that of the peculiar
style of silk handkerchief which he always wore.]

_Symbols of Four Evangelists._--Among the several replies to JARTZBERG'S Query (Vol. i., p. 385.), I do not observe any notice of Sir T. Brown's account of the symbols of the four Evangelists. I will therefore copy part of a note I have on the subject, though see it is unfortunately without any other reference than the _name_ of the author.

After giving _Jonathan's_ opinion of the four principal or legionary standards among the Israelites, Sir T. Brown adds:

"But Abenegra and others, besides the colours of the field, do
set down other charges,--in Reuben's, the form of a man or
mandrake,--in that of Judah, a lion,--in Ephraim's, an ox; in
Dan's, the figure of an eagle. And thus, indeed, the four
figures in the banners of the principal squadrons of Israel are
answerable unto the Church in the vision of Ezekiel, every one
carrying the form of all these.... And conformable hereunto, the
pictures of the Evangelists (whose Gospels are the Christian
banners) are set forth with the addition of a man or angel, an
ox, a lion, and an eagle. And these symbolically represent the
office of angels and ministers of God's will, in whom is
required, understanding as in a man, courage and vivacity as in
a lion, service and ministerial officiousness as in the ox,
expedition or celerity of execution as in the eagle."

J. SANSOM.

_Catacombs and Bone-houses_ (Vol. i. p. 171.).--Part I. of a _History of the Hundred of Rowell_ by Paul Cypher (published by J. Ginns, Rowell,) has recently fallen in my way, and as I understand the writer is a medical gentleman residing in the village (or town), I condense from the account of the "Bone Caverns," p. 39-42., such particulars as may answer the Query of Rev. A. Gatty.

The number of skeletons, as is asserted by those who have taken the trouble to calculate, is 30,000. The vault in which they are deposited is a long cryptiform structure, with a low groined roof, and the bones are carefully packed in alternate strata of skulls, arms, legs, and so forth. They seem to have been discovered by a gravedigger about 150 years since. Nothing is known with certainty respecting the date of this vast collection. Some conjecture that the remains here deposited are the consequence of a sanguinary battle in very early times, and profess to discover peculiarities in the osseous structure, showing a large proportion of the deceased to have been natives of a distant land; that all were in the prime of life; and that most of the skulls are fractured, as though with deadly weapons. Others, again, say they are the remains of the slain at Naseby.

"I have examined carefully and at leisure the crania, and can
discover none but the mesobreginate skulls common to these
islands.... I have discovered more than one skull, in which the
alveolar sockets were entirely absorbed,--an effect of age
rarely produced under eighty years, I should imagine. And as to
the marks of injury visible on some, they will be attributed, I
think, by the impartial observer, rather to the spade and foot
of the sexton, than the battle-axe and stout arm of the ancient
Briton."

As to the supposition that these relics were brought from Naseby, it is sufficient to observe that the number of the slain in that engagement did not exceed one thousand.

"That most of these bodies were lying in the earth for a number
of years is proved, I think, by these several circumstances:
First, a careful examination of the interior of many of the
skulls, shows that roots have vegetated within them, the dry
fibres of which I have often observed; next, the teeth are
nearly all absent, and it is notoriously one of the first
effects of inhumation upon the osseous system, by which the
teeth are loosened; and lastly, we have two sources from which
bodies may have been exhumed and reinterred beneath the mother
church; and those are the Chapel of the Virgin and that moiety
of the original graveyard, which has evidently at some long
distant time, been taken from the church."

Human bones have been dug up in front of Jesus Hospital, to the south-east of the church-yard. At the eastern extremity of the cavern is a rude sketch apparently intended to represent the Resurrection.

ARUN.

_Tace Latin for a Candle_ (Vol. i., p. 385).--I am not aware of "Tace is Latin for a candle" in any earlier book than Swift's _Polite Conversation_; but it must have been threadbare in his time, or he would not have inserted it in that great collection of platitudes:--

"_Lord Smart._ Well, but after all, Tom, can you tell me what is
Latin for a goose?

"_Neverout._ O, my Lord, I know that; why, Brandy is Latin for a
goose, and _Tace_ is Latin for a candle."

H. B. C.

_Members for Durham--why none prior to_ 1673-4 (Vol. ii., p. 8.).--Because Durham was an episcopal palatine, which had jurisdictions, and even, in olden times, a Parliament of its own. Several bills were brought in between 1562 and 1673, to give M.P.'s to both county and city; but an act was only passed in the latter year. The first writ was moved, it is said, in 1675; but the first return is dated in Whitworth, 1679. (Oldfield's _Parl. Hist._, iii. 425.)

C.

"_A Frog he would_," _&c._--I am in my sixth decade, and pretty far on in it too; and I can recollect this jingle as long as I can recollect anything. It formed several stanzas (five or six at least), and had {46} its own tune. There was something peculiarly attractive and humorous to the unformed ear and mind in the ballad, (for as a ballad it was sung,) as I was wont to hear it. I can therefore personally vouch for its antiquity being half a century. But, beyond this, I must add, that my early days being spent in a remote provincial village (high up the Severn), and the ballad, as I shall call it, being _universally known_, I cannot help inferring that it is of considerable antiquity. Anything of then recent date could hardly be both generally known and universally popular in such a district and amongst such a people. Whether it had a local origin there or not, it would be difficult to say but I never heard it spoken of as having any special application to local persons or affairs. Of course there are only two ways of accounting for its popularity,--either its application, or its jingle of words and tune. If I may venture a "guess," it would be, that it had originally a political application, in some period when all men's minds were turned to some one great politico-religious question; and this, not unlikely, the period of the Cavaliers and Roundheads. We know how rife this kind of warfare was in that great struggle. Or again, it might be as old as the Reformation itself, and have a reference to Henry the Eighth and Anna Boleyn.

"The frog he would a-wooing go,
Whether his mother would let him or no,"

would not inaptly represent the "wide-mouthed waddling frog" Henry--"mother church,"--and the "gleesome Anna" would be the "merry mouse in the mill." It may be worth the while of gentlemen conversant with the ballad literature and political squibs of both the periods here indicated, to notice any traces in other squibs and ballads of the same imagery that is employed in this. It would also be desirable, if possible, to get a complete copy of these verses. My own memory can only supply a part, or rather disjointed parts: but I think it probable that it may be easily obtained by persons resident in the counties bordering on North Wales, especially in Shropshire or Herefordshire, and perhaps in Cheshire or Staffordshire.

I should not have thought of troubling you with my own reminiscences as an answer to an antiquarian question, but for the fact that even these go further back than any information that has been sent you.

T. S. D.

Shooter's Hill, June 7.

_Cavell_ (Vol. i., p. 473.).--To cast cavells, _i.e._ to cast lots, is in constant every-day use in Northumberland. The Teutonic derivation given is correct.

W.

_To endeavour Ourselves--The Homilies._--Perhaps your correspondents G. P. (Vol. i., p 125.), and C. I. R. (Vol. i., p. 285) may, from the following passages, conclude that "ourselves", is the object of the verb "endeavour."

"He did this to this intent, 'that the whole clergy, in the mean
space, might apply themselves to prayer, not doubting but that
all his loving subjects would occupy themselves to God's honour,
and so endeavour themselves that they may be more ready,'" &c.
&c.--Heylin, _Hist. of the Reform. from an Act passed in Edward
VI.'s Reign_, 1548.

"Let us endeavour ourselves, both inwardly in our hearts, and
also outwardly with our bodies, diligently to exercise this
godly exercise of fasting."--_Homily on Fasting_ (end).

"Only show yourselves thankful in your lives, determine with
yourselves to refuse and avoid all such things in your
conversation as should offend his eyes of mercy. Endeavour
yourselves that way to rise up again, which way ye fell into the
well or pit of sin."--_Hom. on the Resur._ (near the end).

"From henceforth let us endeavour ourselves to walk in a new
life."--_Hom. of Repentance_, Pt. 2. (end).

There are many other similar passages in the "Homilies". I have also noticed the following Latimer's Sermons:--

"The devil, with no less diligence, endeavoureth himself to let
and stop our prayers."--Vol. i. p. 829. Parker Soc. edit.

"Every patron, when he doth not diligently endeavor himself to
place a good and godly man in his benefice, shall make answer
before God."--Vol. ii. p. 28.

"Let them endeavour themselves." [I have forgotten the reference
in this case, but it is in vol. i.]

"How much, then, should we endeavour ourselves to make ready
towards this day, when it shall not be a money matter, but a
soul matter." (ii. p. 62)

As I am engaged on a work on the "Homilies," I should feel very grateful for any allusions to them in writers between 1600 and 1650, and for any notices of their being read in churches during that period. Can any of your readers inform me where the fullest account may be found of the state of preaching in England prior to the Reformation?

THOMAS COX.

Preston, May 25. 1850.

_Three Dukes_ (Vol. ii., p. 9.).--The verses themselves called them "three _bastard_ dukes;" but the only bastard duke I can find at that time was the Duke of Monmouth; all the other creations of the king's bastards were subsequent to that date. And even if, by poetical licence or courtly anticipation, they could be called _dukes_, they were all too young to have any share in such a fray. I must further observe, that _Evelyn's Diary_ is silent as to any such events, though he is, about that time, justly indignant at the immoralities of the Court. The "park" referred to, but not named in the verses, is the {47} disreputable place called "Whetstone Park," near Holborn.

C.

_Christabel_ (Vol. i., p. 262.).--After a long hunt among Manx and Highland superstitions, I have just found that the passage I was in search of belongs to "the Debateable Land."

"'Reverend father,' replied Magdalen, 'hast thou never heard
that there are spirits powerful to rend the walls of a castle
asunder when once admitted, which yet _cannot enter the house
unless they are invited, nay, dragged over the threshold_? Twice
hath Roland Groeme been thus drawn into the household of Avenel
by those who now hold the title. Let them look to the
issue.'"--_The Abbot_, chap. 15., ad fin., _and note_.