Chapter I: Part 1

Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

{49}

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. 34.] SATURDAY, JUNE 22. 1850. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page
The Agapemone of the Sixteenth Century, by E. F.
Rimbault, LL.D. 49
Punishment of Death by Burning, by C. Ross and Rev.
A. Gatty 50
Folk Lore:--Death-bed Mystery--Easter Eggs--May
Marriages--"Trash" or "Skriker" 51
Notes on Milton 53
Colvil's Whigg's Supplication 53

QUERIES:--
Hubert le Soeur's Six Brass Statues by E. F. Rimbault, LL.D. 54
Bishop Jewell's Library 54
The Low Window 55
Minor Queries:--North Sides of Churchyards--Hatfield--Ulrich
von Hutten--Simon of Ghent--Boetius--Gloucestershire Gospel
Tree--Churchyards--Epitaphs--Anthony Warton--Cardinal's
Hat--Maps of London--Griffith of Penrhyn--Mariner's
Compass--Pontefract on the Thames 55

REPLIES:--
Study of Geometry in Lancashire by T. T. Wilkinson 57
Queries Answered, No. 8., by Bolton Corney 60
Meaning of Bawn 60
Replies to Minor Queries:--Births, Marriages, &c.--M. or
N.--Arabic Numerals--Comment in Apocalypsin--Robert
Deverell--Hippopotamus--Ashes to Ashes--Dr. Maginn's
Miscellanies--Living Dog better than a Dead Lion--Gaol
Chaplains--Rome, Ancient and Modern--Trianon 60

MISCELLANIES:--
Aboriginal Chambers near Tilbury--Mistake in Conybeare and
Howson's Life of St. Paul 62

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Catalogues, Sales, &c. 63
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 63
Notices to Correspondents 63
Advertisements 64

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Notes.

THE "AGAPEMONE" OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

As it is not generally known that the "Agapemone" had a prototype in the celebrated _Family of Love_, some account of this "wicked sect" may not at this moment be without interest to your readers:--

"Henry Nicholas, a Westphalian, born at Munster, but who had lived a
great while at Amsterdam, and some time likewise at Embden, was the
father of this family. He appeared upon the stage about the year 1540,
styled himself the _deified man_, boasted of great matters, and seemed
to exalt himself above the condition of a human creature. He was, as he
pretended, greater than Moses and Christ, because Moses had taught
mankind to _hope_, Christ to _believe_, but he to _love_; which last
being of more worth than both the former, he was consequently greater
than both those prophets."--See Brandt's _Hist. of the Reform, &c., in
the Low Countries_, vol. i. p. 105, ed. 1720.

According to some writers, however, the sect was not founded by Henry Nicholas, but by David George, an Anabaptist enthusiast of Delft, who died in 1556; and indeed there is some reason to believe that the _Family of Love_ grew out of the heresies of the said George, with whom Nicholas had been on friendly terms.

"'Not content,' says Fuller, speaking of Nicholas, 'to confine his
errors to his own country, over he comes into England, and in the
latter end of the reign of Edward the Sixth, joyned himself to the
Dutch congregation in London, where he seduced a number of artificers
and silly women.'"--_Church. Hist._, p. 112, ed. 1655.

On the 12th of June, 1575, according to the historian Hollinshed,

"Stood at Paule's Crosse five persons, Englishmen, of the sect termed
the Familie of Love, who there confessed themselves utterlie to detest
as well the author of that sect, H. N., as all his damnable errors and
heresies."

A curious little volume on the history and doctrines of this sect appeared in the year 1572, from the pen of John Rogers, entitled _The Displaying of an horrible Secte of grosse and wicked Heretiques, naming themselves the Family of Love, with the Lives of their Authors, and what Doctrine they teach in Corners. Imprinted at London for George Bishop._ 1579. 12mo. Christopher Vittall, a joiner of Southwark, who had been infected with the doctrine of Arius some twenty years before, and whose credit was great amongst the _Family of Love_, was at this period actively engaged in teaching their doctrines. He travelled about the country to disseminate them; and was likewise author of a little book, in reply to Roger's _Displaying_ of the sect, printed in the same year.

At the close of the year 1580 the sect was increasing so rapidly in England, that the government took active measures for its suppression, and the Queen issued a proclamation to search for the "teachers or professors of the foresaid damnable sect," and to "proceed severelie against them." {50} This proclamation may be seen in Hollinshed and in Camden's _Annals_.[1]

After the death of Queen Elizabeth--

"The Family of Love (or Lust rather)," according to Fuller, "presented
a tedious petition to King James, so that it is questionable whether
his Majesty ever graced it with his perusall, wherein they endeavoured
to cleare themselves from some misrepresentations, and by fawning
expression to insinuate themselves into his Majesty's good opinion."

After printing the petition Fuller proceeds--

"I finde not what effect this their petition produced, whether it was
slighted and the petitioners looked upon as inconsiderable, or beheld
as a few frantick folk out of their wits, which consideration alone
often melted their adversaries' anger into pity unto them. The main
design driven on in the petition is, to separate themselves from the
Puritans (as persons odious to King James), that they might not fare
the worse for their vicinity unto them; though these Familists could
not be so desirous to leave them as the others were glad to be left by
them. For if their opinions were so senseless, and the lives of these
Familists so sensuall as is reported, no _purity_ at all belonged unto
them."

The _Family of Love_, after being exposed and ridiculed both in "prose and rime," finally "gave up the ghost," and was succeeded by another "wicked sect" denominated the _Ranters_.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

[Footnote 1: It was reprinted in NOTES AND QUERIES, Vol. i. p. 17.]

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PUNISHMENT OF DEATH BY BURNING.

A woman was strangled and burnt for coining in front of the Debtors door, Newgate, on the 10th of March, 1789. I believe this to be the last instance in which this old punishment was inflicted, at least in the metropolis. The burning part of the ceremony was abolished by the 30 Geo. III., c. 48., and death by hanging made the penalty for women in cases of high or petty treason. E. S. S. W.'s informants are wrong in supposing that the criminals were burnt whilst living. The law, indeed, prescribed it, but the practice was more humane. They were first strangled; although it sometimes happened that, through the bungling of the executioner, a criminal was actually burnt alive, as occurred in the celebrated case of Katherine Hayes, executed for the murder of her husband in 1726. The circumstances of this case are so remarkable, that, having referred to it, I am induced to recapitulate the chief of them, in the belief that they will interest your readers. Hayes, who was possessed of some little property, lodged with his wife Katherine in Tyburn, now Oxford Road. Mrs. Hayes prevailed upon two men, named Billings (who lodged in the house) and Wood, a friend of Hayes, to assist her in murdering her husband. To facilitate that object, Hayes was induced to drink the enormous quantity of seven bottles (at that time full quarts) of Mountain wine, besides other intoxicating drinks. After finishing the seventh bottle he fell on the floor, but soon after arose and threw himself on a bed. There, whilst in a state of stupefaction, he was despatched by Billings and Wood striking him on the head with a hatchet. The murderers then held council as to the best mode of concealing their crime, and it was determined that they should mutilate and dispose of the body. They cut off the head, Mrs. Hayes holding a pail to catch the blood; and she proposed that the head should be boiled until the flesh came from the skull. This advice was rejected on account of the time which the process suggested would occupy, and Billings and Wood carried the head in the pail (it was at night) to the Horseferry at Westminster, and there cast it into the Thames. On the following day the murderers separated the limbs from the body, and wrapping them, together with the trunk, in two blankets, carried them to Marylebone fields, and placed them in a pond. Hayes' head not having been carried away by the tide, as the murderers expected it would have been, was found floating at the Horseferry in the morning. The attention of the authorities was drawn to the circumstance, and the magistrates being of opinion that a murder had been committed, caused the head to be washed and the hair combed out, and then had it placed on a pole and exposed to public view in St. Margaret's churchyard, in the hope that it might lead to the discovery of the suspected crime. Great crowds of persons of all ranks flocked to St. Margaret's churchyard to see the head, and amongst the rest a young man named Bennett, who perceiving the likeness to Hayes, whom he knew, immediately went to Mrs. Hayes on the subject; but she assured him that her husband was alive and well, which satisfied him. A journeyman tailor, named Patrick, also went to see the head, and on his return told his fellow workmen that it was Hayes. These workmen, who also had known Hayes, then went to look at the head, and felt the same conviction. It happened that Billings worked at the same shop in which these men were employed in Monmouth Street, and when he came to work next morning, they told him of the circumstance. Billings, however, lulled their suspicious by declaring that he had left Mr. Hayes at home that morning. After the head had been exhibited for four days in the churchyard, the magistrates caused it to be placed in spirits, in a glass vessel, and in that state it continued to be exposed to public view. Two friends of Hayes, named Ashley and Longmore, who had seen the head without imagining that it was his, some time after called on Mrs. Hayes, on separate occasions, to inquire for her husband, whose absence began to be noticed. Ashley and Longmore were mutual {51} friends, and their suspicions being excited by the contradictory statements which Mrs. Hayes had given to them, they went to look again at the head, when a minute examination satisfied them that it had belonged to Hayes. The apprehension of the murderers was the result. On the day they were brought up for examination, the trunk and limbs of the murdered man were found. Wood and Billings confessed and pleaded guilty. Katherine Hayes put herself on her country, was tried and convicted. Wood died in prison. Billings was hanged in Marylebone fields, near the pond in which Hayes's body had been concealed. Katherine Hayes was executed at Tyburn, under circumstances of great horror; for, in consequence of the fire reaching the executioner's hands, he left his hold of the rope with which he ought to have strangled the criminal, before he had executed that part of his duty, and the result was, that Katherine Hayes was burnt alive. The wretched woman was seen, in the midst of flames, pushing the blazing faggots from her, whilst she yelled in agony. Fresh faggots were piled around her, but a considerable time elapsed before her torments ended. She suffered on the 3rd of November, 1726. This tragedy forms the subject of a comic ballad which is attributed to Swift.

C. ROSS.

The communication of E. S. S. W. (Vol. ii., p. 6.), which is as interesting as it is shocking, induces me to send you a short extract from _Harrison's Derby and Nottingham Journal, or Midland Advertiser_. The number of this journal which is dated Thursday, September 23, 1779, contains as follows:--

"On Saturday two prisoners were capitally convicted at the Old Bailey
of high treason, viz. Isabella Condon, for coining shillings in
Cold-Bath-Fields; and John Field, for coining shillings in Nag's Head
Yard, Bishopsgate Street. They will receive sentence to be drawn on a
hurdle to the place of execution; _the woman to be burnt_, and the man
to be hanged."

I presume that the sentence which the woman underwent was not executed. The barbarous fulfilment of such a law was, it may be hoped, already obsolete. The motives, however, upon which this law was grounded is worth noting:--

"In treason of every kind," says Blackstone, "the punishment of women
is the same, and different from that of men. For, _as the decency due
to the sex forbids the exposing and publicly mangling their bodies_,
their sentence (which is to the full as terrible to sensation as the
other) is to be drawn to the gallows, and there to be burned alive."
"But," says the foot-note, "by the statute 30 Geo. III. c. 48., women
convicted in all cases of treason, shall receive judgment to be drawn
to the place of execution, and there to be hanged by the neck till
dead."

The law, therefore, under which a woman could be put to death by burning, was repealed in 1790.

Blackstone elsewhere says:--

"The humanity of the English nation has authorized, by a tacit consent,
an almost general mitigation of such part of those judgments as savours
of torture and cruelty: a sledge or hurdle being usually allowed to
such traitors as are condemned to be drawn; and there being very few
instances (and those accidental or by negligence) of any persons being
embowelled or burned, till previously deprived of sensation by
strangling."

This corroborates the conclusion of E. S. S. W., that the woman he describes was strangled at the stake to which her neck was bound.

I wish to suggest to any of your legal or other well-informed correspondents, who will have the kindness to take a little trouble for the benefit of your general readers, that an instructive and interesting communication might be made by noting down the periods at which the various more revolting punishments under the English law were repealed, or fell into disuse. For instance, when torture, such as the rack, was last applied; when embowelling alive and quartering ceased to be practised; and whose was the last head that fell under the axe's bloody stroke. A word also on the use of the pillory, ducking-stool, stocks, &c. would interest. Any illustrations of the modification of our penal code would throw valuable light on the philosophy and improvement of the national character. And I believe it would appear that the Reformation gradually swept away the black horrors of the torture-room; that the butchery of the headsman's block ceased at the close of the civil contest which settled the line of regal succession; and that hanging, which is the proper death of the cur, is now reserved for those only who place themselves out of the pale of humanity by striking at human life.

ALFRED GATTY.

Ecclesfield.

E. S. S. W. (Vol. ii., p. 6.) will find a case of burning in _Dodsley's Annual Register_, 1769, p. 117.: a Susannah Lott was burned for the murder of her husband at Canterbury, Benjamin Buss, her paramour, being hanged about fifteen minutes before she was burned.

T. S. N.

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FOLK LORE.

_Death-bed Mystery._--In conversation with an aged widow,--as devout and sensible as she is unlettered,--I yesterday learned a death-bed mystery which appeared new to me, and which (if not more commonly known than I take it to be) you may perhaps think worthy of a place in "NOTES AND QUERIES," to serve as a minor satellite to some more luminous communication, in reply to B. H. at Vol. i., p. 315. My informant's "_religio_" (as she appears to have derived it by tradition from her mother, and as confirmed by her own experience in the case of a father, a {52} husband, several children, and others), is to the effect that a considerable interval _invariably_ elapses between the first semblance of death, and what she considers to be the departure of the soul.

About five minutes after the time when death, to all outward appearance, has taken place, "the last breath," as she describes, may be seen to issue with a vapour, or "steam," out of the mouth of the departed.

The statement reminds me of Webster's argument, in his _Display of supposed Witchcraft_, chap. xvi., where, writing of the bleeding of corpses in presence of their murderers, he observes:

"If we physically consider the union of the soul with the body by the
mediation of the spirit, then we cannot rationally conceive that the
soul doth utterly forsake that union, until by putrefaction, tending to
an absolute mutation, it is forced to bid farewell to its beloved
tabernacle; for its not operating _ad extra_ to our senses, doth not
necessarily infer its total absence. And it may be, that there is more
in that of _Abel's blood crying unto the Lord from the ground_, in a
physical sense than is commonly conceived," &c.

Sir Kenelm Digby (I think I remember) has also made some curious remarks on this subject, in his observations on the _Religio Medici_ of Sir T. Brown.

J. SANSOM.

_Easter Eggs._-The custom of dyeing eggs at Easter (alluded to, Vol. i., pp. 244. and 397.) prevails in different parts of Cumberland, and is observed in this city probably more specially than in any other part of England. On Easter Monday and Tuesday the inhabitants assemble in certain adjacent meadows, the children all provided with stores of hard-boiled eggs, coloured or ornamented in various ways,--some being dyed an even colour with logwood, cochineal, &c.; others stained (often in a rather elegant manner) by being boiled in shreds of parti-coloured ribbons; and others, again, covered with gilding. These they tumble about upon the grass until they break, when they finish off by eating them. These they call _pace_-eggs, being no doubt a corruption for _pasche_.

This custom is mentioned by Brande as existing among the modern Greeks; but I believe it will be found more or less in almost all parts of Christendom.

I observed when in Syria during Easter quantities of eggs similarly dyed; but it did not occur to me at the time to inquire whether the practice was connected with the season, and whether it was not confined to the native Christians.

Information upon this point, and also upon the general origin of this ancient custom, would be interesting.

A SUBSCRIBER.

Carlisle, June 3. 1850.

_May Marriages_ (Vol. i., p. 467.).--This superstition is one of those which have descended to Christianity from Pagan observances, and which the people have adopted without knowing the cause, or being able to assign a reason. Carmelli tells us that it still prevailed in Italy in 1750.[2] It was evidently of long standing in Ovid's time as it had passed then into a proverb among the people; nearly two centuries afterwards Plutarch (_Quæst. Rom._ 86.) puts the question: [Greek: Dia ti toi Maiou mênos ouk agontai gunaikas], which he makes a vain endeavour to answer satisfactorily. He assigns three reasons: _first_, because May being between April and June, and April being consecrated to Venus, and June to Juno, those deities held propitious to marriage were not to be slighted. The Greeks were not less observant of fitting seasons and the propitiation of the [Greek: gamêlioi theoi]. _Secondly_, on account of the great expiatory celebration of the _Lemuria_, when women abstained from the bath and the careful cosmetic decoration of their persons so necessary as a prelude to marriage rites. _Thirdly_, as some say, because May was the month of old men, _Majus a Majoribus_, and therefore June, being thought to be the month of the young, _Junius a Junioribus_, was to be preferred. The Romans, however, held other seasons and days unpropitious to matrimony, as the days in February when the Parentalia were celebrated, &c. _June_ was the favourite month; but no marriage was celebrated without an augury being first consulted and its auspices proved favourable (_Val. Max._ lib. ii. c. 1.). It would be well if some such superstitions observance among us could serve as a check to ill-advised and ill-timed marriages; and I would certainly advise all prudent females to continue to think that

"The girls are all stark naught that wed in May."

S. W. SINGER.

Mickleham, June 12.

[Footnote 2: Storia di Vari Costumi, t. ii. p. 221.]

_"Trash" or "Skriker."_--Many hundreds of persons there are in these districts who place implicit credence in the reality of the appearance of a death sign, locally termed _trash_ or _skriker_. It has the appearance of a large black dog, with long shaggy hair, and, as the natives express it, "eyes as big as saucers." The first name is given to it form the peculiar noise made by its feet when passing along, resembling that of a heavy shoe in a miry road. The second appellation is in allusion to the sound of its voice when _heard_ by those parties who are unable to _see_ the appearance itself. According to the statements of parties who have seen the _trash_ frequently, it makes its appearance to some member of that family from which death will shortly select his victim; and, at other times, to some very intimate acquaintance. Should any one be so courageous as to follow the appearance, it usually makes its retreat with its eyes _fronting_ {53} the pursuer, and either sinks into the earth with a _strange noise_, or is lost upon the slightest momentary inattention. Many have attempted to strike it with any weapon they had at hand; but although the appearance stood its ground, no _material_ substance could ever be detected. It may be added that "trash" does not confine itself to churchyards, though frequently seen in such localities.

T. T. W.

Burnley.

* * * * *

NOTES ON MILTON.

(Continued from Vol. i., p. 387.)

_L'Allegro._

On l. 6. (D.):--

"Where triumphant Darkness hovers
With a sable wing, that covers
Brooding Horror."
_Crashaw_, Psalm xxiii.

On l. 11. (G.) Drayton has this expression in his _Heroical Epistles_:--

"Find me out one so young, _so fair, so free_."
_King John to Matilda._

and afterwards,--

"Leave that accursed cell;
There let black Night and Melancholy dwell."

On l. 24. (G.) Most probably from a couplet in Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_:--

"And ever and anon she thinks upon the man,
That was so fine, so fair, _so blith, so debonaire_."
P. 3. Sc. 2. p. 603. ed. 1621. 4to.

And in Randolph's _Aristippus_,--

"A bowle of wine is wondrous boone chere
To make one _blith, buxome, and deboneere_."
P. 13. ed. 1630. 4to.

On l. 27. (G.):--

"_Manes._ Didst thou not find I did _quip_ thee?
"_Psyllus._ No, verily; why, what's a _quip_?
"_Manes._ We great girders call it a short saying of a sharp wit, with a
bitter sense in a sweet word."
_Alexander and Campaspe, Old Plays_,
vol. ii. p. 113. ed. 1780.

"Then for your Lordship's _Quippes_ and quick jestes,
Why Gesta Romanorum were nothing to them."
_Sir Gyles Goosecappe_, a Com., Sig. G. 2. 4to. 1606.

_Crank_ is used in a different sense by Drayton:--

"Like Chanticleare he crowed _crank_,
And piped full merily."
Vol. iv. p. 1402. ed. 1753.

On l. 31. (M.):--

"There dainty Joys laugh at white-headed Caring."
_Fletcher's Purple Island_, C. vi. St. 35.

On l. 42. (G.):--

"The cheerful lark, mounting from early bed,
With sweet salutes awakes the drowsy Light;
The earth shee left, and up to Heaven is fled:
There chants her Maker's praises out of sight."
_Purple Island_, C. ix. St. 2.

"From heaven high to chase the cheareless darke,
With mery note her lowd salutes the morning larke."
_Faery Queene_, B. i. c. 11.

On l. 45. (G.):--

"The chearful birds, chirping him sweet good-morrow,
With nature's music do beguile his sorrow."
_Sylvester's Du Bartas._

On l. 67. (G.) See note already inserted in "NOTES AND QUERIES," p. 316.

On l. 75. (G.):--

"In May the meads are not so _pied with flowers_."
_Sylvester's Du Bartas._

On l. 78. (G.) So in _Comus_:--

"And casts a gleam over the _tufted grove_."
v. 225.

On l. 80. (G.):--

"Loadstar of Love and Loadstone of all hearts."
_Drummond._

On l. 117. (Anon.) See extracts from the _Diary of a Lover of Literature_. To me this line seems to allude to the imagination in sleep:--

"Such sights as youthful poets dream."

On l. 121. (G.):--

"Yet served I, gentles, seeing _store_
_Of dainty girls_ beside."
_Albion's England_, p. 218. 4to. 1602.

On l. 125. (G.):--

"_In saffron robes_ and all his solemn rites,
Thrice sacred _Hymen_."
_Sylvester's Du Bartas._

and in Spanish Tragedy:--

"The two first the nuptial torches bore,
As brightly burning as the mid-day's sun:
But after them doth _Hymen_ hie as fast,
Clothed in sable and a _saffron robe_."

On l. 187. (G.):--

"Marrying their sweet tunes to the angels' lays."
_Sylvester's Du Bartas._

On l. 144. (D.):--

"Those precious mysteries that dwell
In Music's ravished soul."
_Crashaw's Music's Duet._

J. F. M.

* * * * *

COLVIL'S WHIGG'S SUPPLICATION.

Heber possessed a curious MS. volume entitled _A Poetical Miscellany, selected from the Works of the Men of Genius of the XVIIth Century_. In Part XI. of the _Bibliotheca Heberiana_ it is thus described:--

"The first part of this volume was obviously collected by a Scotchman,
and it includes pieces by Ben Jonson, Wither, Dr. Donne, &c. It must
have been made in the latter part of the reign of Charles I. The second
portion of the volume is a later production; a humourous poem, called a
_Whig's Supplication_, by {54} S. C., in which there is a remarkable
notice of Cleveland, Donne, and 'Bass Divine.' The latter name somebody
has ignorantly altered, not knowing, probably, who 'Bass Divine' was.
The poem is in imitation of Hudibras, both in style and metre."

It is somewhat singular that the writer of this notice never suspected that the _author_ of the second part, and the _collector_ of the first part of the volume, was Samuel Colvil, whose celebrated poem, _The Whigg's Supplication, or the Scotch Hudibras_, went through so many editions, from 1667 to 1796. This "mock poem", as the author terms it, turns upon the insurrection of the Covenanters in Scotland in the reign of Charles the Second. An interesting notice of it, and other imitations of Hudibras, will be found in the _Retrospective Review_, vol. iii. pp. 317-335.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

Queries.

HUBERT LE SOEUR'S SIX BRASS STATUES.

In a curious MS. Diary of the early part of the seventeenth century, lately come into my possession, I find the following entry concerning the sculptor, Hubert le Soeur:--

"March 7. 1628. Had an interview with y^e famous and justly renowned
artiste H. le Sueur, who, being late come to this countrie, I had never
seene before. He showed me several famous statues in brasse."

This is probably the earliest notice of the celebrated pupil of John of Bologna after his settlement in England. Dallaway, in his _Anecdotes of the Arts in England_ (p. 395.), after stating that Hubert le Soeur arrived here about the year 1630, says,--

"If he was associated with Pierre Tacca, who finished the horse in the
equestrian statue of Henry IV. in 1610, left incomplete on the death of
his master, John of Bologna, two years preceding, he must have been far
advanced in life. Three only of his works in bronze are now known with
certainty to exist: the equestrian statue of Charles I. [at Charing
Cross], a bust of the same monarch with a casque in the Roman style
[now at Stourhead], and a statue in armour of William Herbert, Earl of
Pembroke, Lord High Chamberlain and Chancellor of Oxford. The last was
given to the University by T., Earl of Pembroke, about the time of the
restoration."

The "several famous statues in brasse" alluded to by the writer of the Diary above quoted, were probably those which afterwards ornamented the gardens of St. James's Palace. Peacham, in his _Complete Gentleman_ (2nd edit., 4to. 1634), having spoken of the collection of statues at Arundell House, says:--

"King Charles also, ever since his coming to the Crown, hath amply
testified a royal liking of ancient Statues, by causing a whole army of
foreign Emperors, Captains, and Senators, all at once to land on his
coasts, to come and do him homage and attend him in his Palaces of
Saint James and Somerset House. A great part of these belonged to the
great Duke of Mantua; and some of the old Greek marble bases, columns,
and altars were brought from the ruins of Apollo's temple at Delos, by
that noble and absolutely complete gentleman, Sir Kenelm Digby, Kn^t.
In the garden of St. James, there are also _half a dozen brass
statues_, rare ones, cast by Hubert le Sueur, his Majesty's servant,
now dwelling in St. Bartholomew's, London; the most industrious and
excellent statuary, in all materials, that ever this country enjoyed.
The best of them is the Gladiator, moulded from that in Cardinal
Borghesi's Villa, by the procurement and industry of ingenious Master
Gage. And at this present, the said Master Sueur hath divers other
admirable moulds to cast in brass for his Majesty, and among the rest,
that famous Diana of Ephesus. But the great Horse with his Majesty upon
it, twice as great as the life, and now well nigh finished, will
compare with that of the New Bridge at Paris, or those others at
Florence and Madrid, though made by Sueur, his master John de Bologna,
that rare workman, who not long since lived at Florence."

The bronze statue of the Gladiator originally stood (according to Ned Ward's _London Spy_) in the Parade facing the Horse Guards. Dodsley (_Environs_, iii. 741.) says it was removed by Queen Anne to Hampton Court, and from thence, by George the Fourth, to the private grounds of Windsor Castle, where it now is. Query, What has become of the other five "famous statues in brass?"

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

BISHOP JEWELL'S LIBRARY.

What became of Bishop Jewell's library? Cassan mentions (_Lives of Bishops of Salisbury_, vol. ii. p. 55.) that

"He had collected an excellent library of books of all sorts, not
excepting the most impertinent of the Popish authors, and here it was
that he spent the greatest and the best part of his time," &c.

Bishop Jewell died Sept. 22. 1571.

In the Account Books of Magdalen College, Oxford, I find the following items:--

"A. D. 1572. Solut. D^{no} Præsidi equitanti Sarisbur. pro libris per
billam, iij^{li} xvi^s.

"Solut. pro libris D^{ni}, episcopi Sar., c^{li}.

"A. D. 1574. Solut per Dom. Præsidem pro libris M^{ri} Jewell,
xx^{li}."

Whether these books were a portion only, or the whole of the library of Bishop Jewell, I am unable to discover; nor am I aware at present whether Bishop Jewell's autograph is in any of the books of Magdalen College Library. The president was Lawrence Humphrey, author of a Life of Jewell.

MAGDALENENSIS.

{55}

* * * * *

THE LOW WINDOW.

The low windows in the chancel of so many of our ancient churches have proved a fruitful source of discussion among archæologists, and numerous theories have been advanced respecting their use. Perhaps the words of the chameleon in the fable might be addressed to many who have attempted to account for their existence, "You all are right and all are wrong"--right in your supposition that they were thus used; but wrong in maintaining that this was the exclusive purpose. Some example, in fact, may be adduced irreconcileable with any particular conjecture, and sufficient to overturn every theory which may be set up. One object assigned is, the distribution of alms; and it is surely reasonable to imagine that money collected at the offertory should have been given to paupers from the chancel through this convenient aperture. The following passage from the _Ecclesiologist_, quoted in page 441. of "NOTES AND QUERIES," has induced me to bring this subject forward:--

"In them (churchyards) prayers are not now commonly poured forth to
God, nor are doles distributed to his poor."

Now it must be admitted that relief could scarcely be given to a crowd of importunate claimants without the interposition of some barrier; and where could a more appropriate place be found than the low window? Can any of your readers, therefore, oblige me with some information upon these points? Where were the alms bestowed, if not here? An almonry is described in some recent works as "a building near the church." What authority is there for such an assertion, and do any examples of such structures remain? What evidence is there that this business was transacted in the churchyard, in the porch, or in any particular part of the edifice?

Although these mysterious openings are probably, with one or two exceptions in Normandy, peculiar to this country, it is desirable to ascertain where the poor on the Continent usually receive such charitable donations. In an interior of a Flemish cathedral, by an artist of the sixteenth century, a man is represented in the act of delivering bread to a number of eager beggars, from a sort of pew; showing, at least, as above remarked, that some such protection was requisite.

There is another Query connected with this subject, which I beg to submit. Some ancient frescoes were lately discovered in the chapel of Eton College, with a compartment containing (according to a letter in the _Ecclesiologist_) a bishop administering the Holy Communion to a converted Jew, through a low window. Can any one, from recollection or the inspection of drawings, (for the original has disappeared,) assure me that he does not hold in his hand a piece of money, or a portion of bread, for the supply of his bodily wants?

T.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_North Sides of Churchyards unconsecrated._--In the West of England I have found an opinion to prevail in rural parishes, that the north side of our churchyards was left unconsecrated very commonly, in order that the youth of the village might have the use of it as a playground. And, in one parish, some few years ago, I had occasion to interrupt the game of football in a churchyard on the "revel" Sunday, and again on another festival. I also found some reluctance in the people to have their friends buried north of the church.

Is there any ground for believing that our churchyards were ever thus consecrated on the south side of the church to the exclusion of the north?

J. SANSOM.

_Hatfield--Consecration of Chapel there._--Le Neve, in his _Lives of Protestant Bishops_ (ii. 144.), states, that Richard Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, went to Hatfield, 6th May, 1615, to consecrate the chapel in the house there lately built by Robert, Earl of Salisbury. I have applied to the Registrar of Lincoln diocese, in which Hatfield was (until recently) locally situated, for a copy of the notarial act of consecration; but it appears that the register of Bishop Neile was taken away or destroyed in the Great Rebellion, and that, consequently, no record of his episcopality now exists at Lincoln.

Le Neve says he had the most part of his account of Bishop Neile from Thomas Baker, B.D. of St. John's College, Cambridge, who had it from a grandson of the Bishop's. He quotes also Featley's MS. Collections.

Can any of your readers inform me whether Bishop Neile's episcopal register for Lincoln is in existence, or whether any transcript of it is known? or if any evidence, confirmatory of Le Neve's statement of the fact and date of the consecration of the chapel of Hatfield, is known to exist?

WILLIAM H. COPE.

P.S. I have examined Dr. Matthew Hutton's transcripts of the Lincoln registers, in the Harleian MSS., but they do not come down to within a century of Bishop Neile's episcopate.

_Ulrich von Hutten_ (Vol. i., p. 336.).--In one of the _Quarterly Reviews_ is an account of Ulrich von Hutten and the _Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum_. Will S. W. S., or any one who takes interest in Ulrich, tell me where it is? A meagre article in the _Retrospective Review_, vol. v. p. 56., mentions only one edition of the _Epstolæ_, Francfurti ad Mainum, 1643. Is there any recent edition with notes? Mine, Lond. 1710, is without, and remarkable only for its dedication to Isaac Bickerstaffe, Esq., and the curious mistake which Isaac made when he acknowledged it in _The Tatler_, of supposing the letters genuine. Is it known to what {56} scholar we are indebted for so neat an edition of a book then so little known in England, and so little in accordance with English taste at that time?

H. B. C.

University Club, May 29.

_Simon of Ghent._--Can any of your correspondents give me any information concerning Simon, Bishop of Salisbury in 1297-1315, further than what is said of him in _Godwini de Præsulibus Angliæ_, and in Wanley's Catalogue, where he is mentioned as the author of _Regulæ Sanctimonialium Ordinis Sti Jacobi_? Why is he called "Gandavensis," or "De Gandavo," seeing that he is said to have been born in London?

J. MORTON.

_Boetius' Consolations of Philosophy._--Alfred the Great translated this work into Anglo-Saxon; Chaucer, Queen Elizabeth, and Lord Preston into English.

_Has Queen Elizabeth's work_ (which she executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne) _been printed?_ Richard Viscount Preston's appeared first, I believe, in 1712, in 12mo. _How often has it been reprinted?_ What other English translations have been made, and what are the latest?

JARTZBERG.

_Gloucestershire Gospel Tree._--Mary Roberts, in her _Ruins and Old Trees associated with Historical Events_, gives a very pretty account of a certain _Gospel Tree_. Can any kind correspondent inform me where in Gloucestershire it is situated? Although a native of the county, I never heard of it.

W. H. B.

_Churchyards--Epitaphs._--Up to the time of the Norman Conquest, churchyards appear to have been considered almost as sacred as churches; but soon after that period, though regarded as places of sanctuary, they were often used for profane purposes. I recollect reading of fairs and rustic sports being held in them as early as John's reign, but unfortunately I have not been an observer of your motto, and know not now where to refer for such instances. I shall therefore feel obliged to any of your readers who will specify a few instances of the profanation of churchyards at different periods, or refer me to works where such may be found. Churchyards appear to have been used in special cases for sepulture from the year 750, but not commonly so used till the end of the fourteenth century. Are there any instances of sepulchral monuments, between the above dates, now existing in churchyards?

Stone crosses, evidently of Saxon or very early Roman structure, are found in churchyards, but I am not aware of any sepulchral monuments detached from the church of the same date. I shall be glad of any notices of early monuments or remarkable epitaphs in churchyards. When did churchyards cease to be places of sanctuary? What is the exact meaning of the word "yard?" and was not "God's acre" applied to Christian cemeteries before sepulture was admitted in churches or churchyards?

W. H. K.

Drayton Beauchamp, June 10.

_Anthony Warton._--Who was Anthony Warton, minister of the word at Breamore, in Hampshire, and author of _Refinement of Zion_, London, 1657? Another Anthony Warton was matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, 2nd Nov., 1665, at sixteen, as son of Francis Warton, of Breamore, Hants, plebeian. He remained clerk till 1671; chaplain from 1671 to 1674; instituted vicar of Godalming, Surrey, in 1682; obiit 15th March, 1714-15. He was father of Thomas Warton, Demy and Fellow of Magdalen College, vicar of Basingstoke, Hants, and of Cobham, Surrey, Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford, 1718-28; who was father of the more celebrated Thomas Warton, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and of Joseph Warton, Head Master of Winchester School.

Manning says (_History of Surrey_, vol. i. p. 648.) that Anthony Warton, vicar of Breamore, Hants, was younger brother of Michael Warton, Esq., of Beverley, but originally of Warton Hall in Lancashire. Both Wood and Manning seem to have confounded the first Anthony with the clerk, &c. of Magdalen. Was the former brother of Francis?

MAGDALENENSIS.

_Cardinal's Hat._--O'Halloran mentions the cardinal's hat--"birede"--"biretrum"--as the hat anciently worn by the Irish doctors. What is its history?

J. SANSOM.

_Maps of London._--I should be grateful to any of your correspondents who could inform me whether there are any maps of London before that of Aggas? what they are? and where they are to be found? The date of Aggas's map is supposed to be about 1560, and must have been after 1548, as the site of Essex House in the Strand is there called "Paget Place." There is a MS. map by Anthony Van Den Wyngerde in the Sutherland Collection in the Bodleian, the date of which would be about 1559.

EDWARD FOSS.

_Griffith of Penrhyn._--Can any of your correspondents refer me to a good pedigree of GRIFFITH OF PENRHYN AND CARNARVON?

WILLIAM D'OYLY BAYLEY.

Coatham, near Redcar.

_The Mariner's Compass._--What is the origin of the _fleur-de-lis_ with which the northern radius of the compass-card is always ornamented?

NAUTILUS.

_Pontefract on the Thames._--Permit me to ask, through the medium of your useful publication, where Pontefract _on the Thames_ was situate in {57} the fourteenth century? Several documents of Edw. II. are dated from Shene (Richmond); in 1318, one from Mortelak; in 1322, one from Istelworth; and several are dated _Pountfrcyt_, or _Pontem fractum super Thamis_. (See Rymer's _Foedera_). It is very clear that this Pountfrcyt on the Thames must have been at no great distance from Shene, Mortlake, and Isleworth, also upon the Thames; and this is further corroborated by the dates following, from the places alluded to, so closely.

<pointing hand> N.

June 14. 1850.

* * * * *

Replies.

ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE STUDY OF GEOMETRY IN LANCASHIRE.

The extensive study of geometry in Lancashire and the northern counties generally is a fact which has forced itself upon the attention of several observers; but none of these have attempted to assign any reasons for so singular an occurrence. Indeed, the origin and progress of the study of any particular branch of science, notwithstanding their attractive features, have but rarely engaged the attention of those best qualified for the undertaking. Fully satisfied with pursuing their ordinary courses of investigation, they have scarcely ever stopped to inquire _who_ first started the subject of their contemplations; nor have they evinced much more assiduity to ascertain the _how_, the _when_, or in _what_ favoured locality he had his existence: and hence the innumerable misappropriations of particular discoveries, the unconscious traversing of already exhausted fields of research, and many of the bickerings which have taken place amongst the rival claimants for the honour of priority.

Mr. Halliwell's _Letters on the Progress of Science_ sufficiently show that the study of geometry was almost a nonentity in England previously to the commencement of the eighteenth century. Before this period Dr. Dee, the celebrated author of the preliminary discourse to Billingsley's _Euclid_, had indeed resided at Manchester (1595), but his residence here could effect little in flavour of geometry, seeing, as is observed by a writer in the _Penny Cyclopædia_--

"The character of the lectures on Euclid was in those days extremely
different from that of our own time ... the propositions of Euclid
being then taken as so many pegs to hang a speech upon."

Similar remarks evidently apply to Horrocks and Crabtree (1641); for although _both_ were natives of Lancashire, and the latter a resident in the vicinity of Manchester, their early death would prevent the exertion of any considerable influence; nor does it appear that they ever paid any attention to the study of the ancient geometry. Richard Towneley, Esq., of Towneley (1671), is known to have been an ardent cultivator of science, but his residence was principally in London. It may, however, be mentioned to his honour, _that he was the first to discover what is usually known as "Marriotte's Law"_ for the expansion of gases. At a later period (1728-1763), the name of "John Hampson, of Leigh, in Lancashire," appears as a correspondent to the _Lady's Diary_; but since he mostly confined his speculations to subjects relating to the Diophantine Analysis, he cannot be considered as the originator of the revival in that branch of study now under consideration. Such being the case, we are led to conclude that the "Oldham Mathematical Society" was really the great promoter of the study of the ancient geometry in Lancashire; for during the latter half of the last century, and almost up to the present date, it has numbered amongst its members several of the most distinguished geometers of modern times. A cursory glance at some of the mathematical periodicals of that date will readily furnish the names of Ainsworth, whose elegant productions in pure geometry adorn the pages of the _Gentleman's_ and _Burrow's Diaries_; Taylor, the distinguished tutor of Wolfenden; Fletcher, whose investigations in the _Gentleman's Diary_ and the _Mathematical Companion_ entitle him to the highest praise; Wolfenden, acknowledged by all as one of the most profound mathematicians of the last century; Hilton, afterwards the talented editor of that "work of rare merit" the _Liverpool Student_; and last, though not least, the distinguished Butterworth, whose elegant and extensive correspondence occupies so conspicuous a place in the _Student_, the _Mathematical Repository_, the _Companion_, the _Enquirer_, the _Leeds Correspondent_, and the _York Courant_. Besides these, we find the names of Mabbot, Wood, Holt (Mancuniensis), Clarke (Salfordoniiensis), as then resident at Manchester and in constant communication with, if not actually members of the society; nor can it be doubted from the evidence of existing documents that the predilection for the study of the ancient geometry evinced by various members of this Lancashire School, exercised considerable influence upon the minds of such distinguished proficients as Cunliffe, Campbell, Lowry, Whitley, and Swale.

Hence it would seem that _many_, and by no means improbable, reasons may be assigned for "the very remarkable circumstance of the geometrical analysis of the ancients having been cultivated with eminent success in the northern counties of England, and particularly in Lancashire." Mr. Harvey, at the York meeting of the British Association in 1831, eloquently announced "that when Playfair, in one of his admirable papers in the _Edinburgh Review_, expressed a fear that the increasing taste for analytical science would at length drive the {58} ancient geometry from its favoured retreat in the British Isles; the Professor seemed not to be aware that there existed a devoted band of men in the north, resolutely bound to the pure and ancient forms of geometry, who in the midst of the tumult of steam engines, cultivated it with unyielding ardour, preserving the sacred fire under circumstances which would seem from their nature most calculated to extinguish it." Mr. Harvey, however, admitted his inability clearly to trace the "true cause of this remarkable phenomenon," but at the same time suggested that "a taste for pure geometry, something like that for entomology among the weavers of Spitalfields, may have been transmitted from father to son; but who was the distinguished individual _first_ to create it, in the peculiar race of men here adverted to, seems not to be known." However, as "the two great restorers of ancient geometry, Matthew Stewart and Robert Simson, it may be observed, lived in Scotland," he asks the important questions:--"Did their proximity encourage the growth of this spirit? Or were their writings cultivated by some teacher of a village school, who communicated by a method, which genius of a transcendental order knows so well how to employ, a taste for these sublime inquiries, so that at length they gradually worked their way to the anvil and the loom?"

An attentive consideration of these questions in all their bearings has produced in the mind of the writer a full conviction that we must look to other sources for the revival of the study of the ancient geometry than either the writings of Stewart or Simson. It has been well observed by the most eminent geometer of our own times, Professor Davies--whose signature of PEN-AND-INK (Vol. ii., p. 8.) affords but a flimsy disguise for his well-known _propria persona_--that "it was a great mistake for these authors to have written their principal works in the Latin language, as it has done more than anything else to prevent their study among the only geometers of the eighteenth century who were competent to understand and value them;" and it is no less singular than true, as the same writer elsewhere observes, "that whilst Dr. Stewart's writings were of a kind calculated to render them peculiarly attractive to the non-academic school of English geometers, they remain to this day less generally known than the writings of any geometer of these kingdoms." The same remarks, in a slightly qualified form, may be applied to most of the writings of Simson; for although his edition of Euclid is now the almost universally adopted text-book of geometry in England, at the time of its first appearance in 1756 it did not differ so much from existing translations as to attract particular attention by the novelty of its contents. Moreover, at this time the impulse had already been given and was silently exerting its influence upon a class of students of whose existence Dr. Simson appears to have been completely ignorant. In one of his letters to Nourse (_Phil. Mag._, Sept. 1848, p. 204.) he regrets that "the taste for the ancient geometry, or indeed any geometry, seems to be quite worn out;" but had he instituted an examination of those contemporary periodicals either wholly or partially devoted to mathematics, he would have been furnished with ample reasons for entertaining a different opinion.

We have every reason to believe that the publication of Newton's _Principia_ had a powerful effect in diffusing a semi-geometrical taste amongst the academical class of students in this country, and it is equally certain that this diffusion became much more general, when Motte, in 1729, published his translation of that admirable work. The nature of the contents of the _Principia_, however, precluded the possibility of its being adapted to form the taste of novices in the study of geometry; it served rather to exhibit the _ne plus ultra_ of the science, and produced its effect by inducing the student to master the rudimentary treatises thoroughly, in order to qualify himself for understanding its demonstrations, rather than by providing a series of models for his imitation. A powerful inducement to the study of pure geometry was therefore created by the publication of Motte's translation: ordinary students had here a desirable object to obtain by its careful cultivation, which hitherto had not existed, and hence when Professor Simpson, of Woolwich, published his _Algebra_ and the _Elements of Geometry_ in 1745 and 1747, a select reading public had been formed which hailed these excellent works as valuable accessions to the then scanty means of study. Nor must the labours of Simpson's talented associates, Rollinson and Turner, be forgotten when sketching the progress of this revival. The pages of the _Ladies' Diary_, the _Mathematician_, and the _Mathematical Exercises_, of which these gentlemen were severally editors and contributors, soon began to exhibit a goodly array of geometrical exercises, whilst their lists of correspondents evince a gradual increase in numbers and ability. The publication of Stewart's _General Theorems_ and Simson's edition of _Euclid_, in 1746 and 1756, probably to some extent assisted the movement; but the most active elements at work were undoubtedly the mathematical periodicals of the time, aided by such powerful auxiliaries as Simpson's _Select Exercises_ (1752) and his other treatises previously mentioned. It may further be observed that up to this period the mere English reader had few, if any means of obtaining access to the elegant remains of the ancient geometers. Dr. Halley had indeed given his restoration of Apollonius's _De Sectione Rationis_ and _Sectione Spatii_ in 1706. Dr. Simson had also issued his edition of the _Locis Planis_ in 1749; but unfortunately the very language in which these valuable works were written, precluded the possibility of {59} these unlettered students being able to derive any material advantages from their publication: and hence arises another weighty reason why Simpson's writings were so eagerly studied, seeing they contained the leading propositions of some of the most interesting researches of the Alexandrian School.