Chapter I: Front Matter

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. 45.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1850 [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:--
Folk Lore:--The first Mole in Cornwall--"A whistling
Wife," &c.--A Charm for Warts--Hanging out
the broom. 225
Lord Plunket and St. Agobard. 226
Notes on Cunningham's Handbook of London, By E.F.
Rimbault. 227
Notes on Coleridge's Aids to Reflection, by J.E.B.
Mayor. 228
Minor Notes:--Capture of Henry VI.--Notes from
Mentmore Register. 228

QUERIES:--
Joachim, the French Ambassador. 229
Roman Catholic Translations of the Scriptures, &c. 229
Minor Queries:--The Lost Tribes--Partrige Family--Commoner
marrying a Peeress--The Character "&"--Combs buried with
the Dead--Cave's Historia Literaria--Julin--Richardson
Family--Arabic Name of Tobacco--Pole Money--Welsh Money--A
Skeleton in every House--Whetstone of Reproof--Morganatic
Marriages--Gospel of Distaffs. 230

REPLIES:--
Poeta Anglicus. 232
Caxton's Printing-office, by J.G. Nichols. 233
The Use of Coffins, by Rev. A. Gatty. 234
Shakspeare's Use of the Word "Delighted". 234
Ventriloquism. 234
Replies to Minor Queries:--Earl of Oxford's Patent--The
Darby Ram--Rotten Row and Stockwell
Street--Hornbooks--Passages from Shakspeare--Mildew in
Books--Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury--Abbé Strickland--Etymology
of Totnes--Ædricus qui Signa fundebat--Fiz-gig--Guineas--
Numismatics--Querela Cantabrigiensis--Ben Johnson--Barclay's
"Argenis"--Hockey--Praed's Poetical Works. 235

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 239
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted. 239
Notices to Correspondents. 239
Advertisements. 240

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NOTES.

FOLK LORE.

_The First Mole in Cornwall; a Morality from the Stowe of Morwenna, in the Rocky Land._--A lonely life for the dark and silent mole! She glides along her narrow vaults, unconscious of the glad and glorious scenes of earth, and air, and sea! She was born, as it were, in a grave, and in one long living sepulchre she dwells and dies! Is not existence to her a kind of doom? Wherefore is she thus a dark, sad exile from the blessed light of day? Hearken! Here, in our own dear Cornwall, the first mole was a lady of the land! Her abode was in the far west, among the hills of Morwenna, beside the Severn sea. She was the daughter of a lordly race, the only child of her mother, and the father of the house was dead. Her name was Alice of the Lea. Fair was she and comely, tender and tall; and she stood upon the threshold of her youth. But most of all did men wonder at the glory of her large blue eyes. They were, to look upon, like the summer waters, when the sea is soft with light! They were to her mother a joy, and to the maiden herself--ah! benedicite--a pride. She trusted in the loveliness of those eyes, and in her face, and features, and form: and so it was that the damsel was wont to pass the summer's day, in the choice of rich apparel, and precious stones, and gold. Howbeit this was one of the ancient and common customs of those old departed days. Now, in the fashion of her stateliness, and in the hue and texture of her garments, there was none among the maidens of old Cornwall like Alice of the Lea. Men sought her far and nigh, but she was to them all, like a form of graven stone, careless and cold. Her soul was set upon a Granville's love, fair Sir Bevil of Stowe, the flower of the Cornish chivalry--that noble gentleman! that valorous knight! He was her star. And well might she wait upon his eyes; for he was the garland of the west--the loyal soldier of a sainted king. He was that stately Granville who lived a hero-life, and died a warrior's death!

Now there was signal made of banquet in the halls of Stowe, of wassail, and the dance. The messengers had sped, and Alice of the Lea would be there. Robes, precious and many, were unfolded from their rest, and the casket poured forth jewel and gem, that the maiden might stand before the knight victorious! It was the day--the hour--the time. Her mother sate by her wheel at the hearth. The page waited in the hall. She came down in her loveliness into the old oak room, and stood before the mirrored glass. Her robe was of woven velvet, rich, and glossy, and soft; jewels shone like stars in the midnight of her raven hair, and on her hand there gleamed, afar off, a bright and glorious ring! She {226} stood--she gazed upon her own countenance and form, and worshipped! "Now all good angels succour thee, dear Alice, and bend Sir Bevil's soul! Fain am I to see thee a wedded wife, before I die! I yearn to hold thy children on my knee! Often shall I pray to-night that the Granville heart may yield! Thy victory shall be my prayer!"

"Prayer!" was the haughty answer; "with the eyes that I see in that glass, and this vesture meet for a queen, I lack no doubting prayer!"

Saint Mary shield us! Ah words of evil soul! There was a shriek--a sob--a cry: and where was Alice of the Lea? Vanished--gone. They had heard wild tones of sudden music in the air. There was a rush--a beam of light--and she was gone, and that for ever! East sought they her, and west, in northern paths and south; but she was never more seen in the lands. Her mother wept till she had not a tear left; none sought to comfort her, for it was vain. Moons waxed and waned, and the crones by the cottage-hearth had whiled away many a shadowy night with tales of Alice of the Lea.

But, at the last, as the gardener in the Pleasance leaned one day on his spade, he saw among the roses a small round hillock of earth, such as he had never seen before, and upon it something which shone. It was her ring! It was the very jewel she had worn the day she vanished out of sight! They looked earnestly upon it, and they saw within the border (for it was wide) the tracery of certain small fine letters in the ancient Cornish tongue, which said,--

"Beryan Erde,
Oyn und Perde!"

Then came the priest of the Place of Morwenna, a gray and silent man! He had served long years at a lonely altar, a bent and solitary form. But he had been wise in the language of his youth, and he read the legend thus--

"The earth must hide
Both eyes and pride!"

Now, as he uttered these words, they stood in the Pleasance by the mound; and on a sudden there was a low faint cry! They beheld, and O wondrous and strange! there was a small dark creature, clothed in a soft velvet skin, in texture and in hue like the Lady Alice her robe; and they saw, as it went into the earth, that it moved along without eyes, in everlasting night. Then the ancient priest wept, for he called to mind all these things, and saw what they meant; and he showed them how this was the maiden, who had been visited with doom for her pride. Therefore her rich array had been changed into the skin of a creeping thing and her large proud eyes were sealed up; and she herself had become

The first mole!
Of the hillocks of Cornwall!

Ah! woe is me! and well-a-day! that damsel so stately and fair, sweet Lady Alice of the Lea, should be made for a judgement--the dark mother of the moles!

Now take ye good heed, Cornish maidens, how ye put on vain apparel, to win love. And cast down your eyes, all ye damsels of the west, and look ye meekly on the ground! Be ye good and gentle, tender and true; and when ye see your image in the glass, and begin to be lifted up with the beauty of that shadowy thing, call to mind the maiden of Morwenna, her noble eyes and comely countenance, the vesture of price and the glittering ring. Sit ye by the wheel, as of old they sate and as ye draw the lengthening wool, sing ye ever-more and say,

"Beryan Erde,
Oyn and Perde!"

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"A whistling Wife" &c.--I can supply another version of the couplet quoted in "Folk Lore" (Vol. ii., p. 164.), which has the merit of being more rhymical and mysterious. In what district it was current I know not.

"A whistling wife and a crowing hen
Will call the old gentleman out of his den."

G.L.B.

_A Charm for Warts._--In some parts of Ireland, especially towards the south, they place great faith in the following charm:--When a funeral is passing by, they rub the warts and say three times, "May these warts and this corpse pass away and never more return;" sometimes adding, "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

JARLTZBERG.

_"Hanging out the Broom"._--Besides the instance given by Mr. R.F. Johnson (Vol. i., p. 384.), perhaps some of your readers can inform me of the origin of a somewhat similar custom, applicable to all ships and vessels for sale or hire, by the broom (all old one being generally used) being attached to the mast-head: if of two masts, to the foretop-mast head.

WP.

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LORD PLUNKET AND SAINT AGOBARD.

Some of your readers may remember a speech in parliament by, as I think, Lord Plunket, in which his lordship argued with great eloquence in behalf of the Bill for the Emancipation of the Roman Catholics. Among many passages therein of equal truth and rhetorical power, there was one long afterwards much quoted, paraphrased, and praised. It was that in which he reminded the House, that those for whom he pleaded were fellow-subjects of the same race, offspring of the same Creator, alike believers in the One true God, the equal recipients of His mercies, appealing for {227} His blessings though the medium of the same faith, and looking forward for salvation to the One Intercessor, Mediator, and Sacrifice for all,--men, who, as they did, addressed the Eternal in the form of that "Universal prayer"--Our Father--the authority and the privilege of one common parentage, offered by the all in the union of the same spirit, in the conviction of the same wants, in the aspiration of the same hope. I say, I think Lord Plunket so spoke, for I write from memory dating from the period when George the Third was king. Now be this so: according to the dogmas of some critics, Lord Plunket may be convicted of an eloquent plagiary. Read the following extract from a missive by S. Agobard, to be found in the _Bibl. Vet. Patrum_, tome xiii, page 429., by Galland, addressed "Ad præfatum Imperatorem, adversus legem Gundobadi et impia certamina quæ per eam geruntur," and say whether, in spite of the separation of centuries, there does not appear a family likeness, though there were no family acquaintance between them; Saint Agobard being Bishop of Lyons in the ninth centry, and Lord Plunket Attorney-General for Ireland in the nineteenth.

The Saint is pleading against the judical ordeal:

"Illi autem profecti, prædicaverunt ubique Domino cooperante;
annuntiataque est ab eis omni creaturæ; id est, cunetis
nationibus mundi; una fides indita per Deum, una spes diffusa
per Spiritum Sanctum in cordibus credentium, una caritas nata in
omnibus, una voluntas, accensum unum desiderium, tradita una
oratio; ut omnes omnino ex diversis gentibus, diversis
conditionibus, diverso sexu, nobilitate, honestate, servitute
diversa, simul dicant uni Deo, et Patri omnium; Pater Noster qui
es, &c., sicut unum Patrem invocantes, ita unam santificationem
quærentes, unum regnum postulantes, unam adimpletionem
voluntatis ejus, sicut fit in coelo optantes; unum sibi panem
quotidianum dari precantes et omnibus dimitti debita."

To which other passages might be added, as, in fact, S. Agobard pursues the one idea until he hunts it down to the one effect of sameness and common antithesis. Should we say Lord Plunket had read these passages, and is thereby convicted of eloquent plagiary? I say, No! Lauder then equally convicted Milton of trespassing on the thoughts of others, by somewhat apposite quotations from the classics. We are, in truth, too much inclined to this. The little, who cannot raise themselves to the stature of the great, are apt to strive after a socialist level, by reducing all to one same standard--their own. Truth is common to all ages, and will obtain utterance by the truthful and the eloquent throughout all time.

S.H.

Athenæum, August 12.

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NOTES ON THE SECOND EDITION OF MR. CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK OF LONDON

14. _Long Acre._ Mr. Cunningham, upon the authority of Parton's _History of St. Giles's_, says:

"First known as the Elms, then called Seven Acres, and since
1612, from the length of a certain slip of ground, then first
used as a public pathway, as Long Acre."

The latter part of this statement is incorrect. The Seven Acres were known as _Long Acre_ as early as 1552, when they were granted to the Earl of Bedford. See _Strype_, B. vi. p. 88.

Machyn, in his _Diary_, printed by the Camden Society, p. 21., under the date A.D. 1556, has the following allusion to the _Acre_:

"The vj day of December the Abbot of Westminster went a
procession with his convent. Before him went all the Santuary
men with crosse keys upon their garments, and after went iij for
murder: on was the Lord Dacre's sone of the North, was wypyd
with a shett abowt him for kyllyng of on Master West, squyre,
dwellyng besyd ... and anodur theyff that dyd long to one of
Master Comtroller ... dyd kylle Recherd Eggylston the
Comtroller's tayller, and kylled him in the _Long Acurs_, the
bak-syd Charyng Crosse."

15. _Norfolk House, St. James's Square._ The present Norfolk House was built from a design by R. Brettingham, in 1742, by Thomas Duke of Norfolk, and finished by his brother Edward in 1762. Mr. Cunningham speaks as if the old house, in which George III. was born, was still standing.

16. _Soho Square._ Mr. Cunningham has not corrected his mistake about Mrs. Cornelys's house in this square, (see "Notes and Queries," vol. i., pp. 244, 450.). _D'Almaine's_, which Mr. Cunningham confounds with Mrs. Cornelys's, was at a former period tenanted by the Duke of Argyll; then by the Earl of Bradford; and, at a later time, by the celebrated Onslow, who held his parliamentary levees in the principal drawing-room. The ceilings of the best rooms are adorned with paintings by Rebecca and Angelica Kauffman.

Mr. Cunningham has taken some pains to destroy the _Pennant_ tradition concerning the name of this square, but he has not given us one important piece of information, i.e. that between the years 1674 and 1681, the ground was surveyed by _Gregory King_, an eminent architect of those days, who projected the square with the adjacent streets. Query, Did it not take the name of _King's_ Square from the architect? This seems very probable; more especially as the statue of Charles I. was not placed in the square until the beginning of the next century. The centre space was originally occupied by a splendid fountain, (the work of Colley Cibber's father), an estimate of the "cost and charges" of which is now before me.

Among the eminent inhabitants of this square, not noticed by Mr. Cunningham, were the following:--Lord {228} Berkely, Lord Byron, Lord Grimstone, Lord Howard, Lord Leicester, Sir Thomas Mansel, Lord Morpeth, Lord Nottingham, Lord Peterborough, Lord Pierrepoint, Lord Pigot, Dudley North, the Earl of Dartmouth, the Duchess of Cleveland, the Duchess of Wharton, &c. These names appear in the books of the parish of St. Anne, between the years of 1708 and 1772.

17. _Surrey Institution._ At one period (about 1825), this building was known as the _Blackfriars Rotundo_. Here that execrable character, Robert Taylor, who styled himself "the Devil's Chaplain," delivered his blasphemous discourses.

18. _Opera House._ Mr. Cunningham, speaking of the translation of _Arsinoe_, the first Anglo-Italian opera performed in this country, says: "The translation was made by Thomas Clayton." This is an error, for Clayton himself says, in his preface: "I was obliged to have an Italian opera translated." Clayton was the composer of the music.

19. _James's (St.) Chapel, St. James's Palace._ Mr. Cunningham says, "The service is chanted by the boys of the Chapel Royal." This ought to read, "The service is chaunted by the boys _and gentlemen_ of the Chapel Royal" The musical service of our cathedrals and collegiate establishments cannot be performed without four kinds of voices, treble, alto, tenor, and bass.

20. _Bagnigge Wells._ Mr. Cunningham makes a strange mistake concerning this once popular place of amusement when he says, "first opened to the public in the year 1767." A stone, still to be seen, let into the wall over what was formerly the garden entrance, has the following inscription:

"S + T
This is Bagnigge
Hovse neare
The Pinder a
Wakefeilde
1680."

The gardens were first opened for the accommodation of persons who partook of the mineral springs; subsequently, amusements were added; and in Bickham's curious work, _The Musical Entertainer_ (circa 1738), is an engraving of Tom Hippersley mounted in the "singing rostrum," regaling the company with a song. About half a century after this date, a regular orchestra was erected, and the entertainments resembled Marylebone Gardens and Vauxhall. The old house and gardens were demolished in 1842, to make room for several new streets.

Edward F. Rimbault.

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NOTES ON COLERIDGE'S AIDS TO REFLECTION

(2nd Edition, 1831)

Introductory Aphorisms, No. xii., p. 7.:

"Tertullian had good reason for his assertation, that the
simplest Christian (if indeed a Christian) knows more than the
most accomplished irreligious philosopher."

The passage referred to is in the Apology, c. 46:

"Deum quilibet opifex Christianus et invenit et ostendit et
exinde totum, quod in Deo quæritur, re quoque assignat; licet
Plato affirmet factitatorem universitatis neque inveniri facilem
et inventum enarrari in omnes difficilem."

Note to Aphorism xxxi., p. 30.:

"To which he [Plato] may possibly have referred in his phrase
[Greek: theoparadotos sophia]."

Possibly Coleridge may have borrowed this from Berkeley's _Siris_, § 301., where [Greek: theoparadotos philosophia] is cited from "a heathen writer." The word [Greek: theoparadotos] occurs in Proclus and Marinus (see Valpy's _Stephani Thesaurus_), but not in Plato.

The motto from Seneca, prefixed to the Aphorisms on Spiritual Religion, is from the fourty-first Epistle of that writer.

The question from Tertullian in the Comment on the eight of those Aphorisms,

"Certum est quia impossibile est."--p. 199.

is from the _De Carne Christi_, cap. v.

Aphorism iv., p. 227.:

"In wonder all philosophy began."

See Plato's _Theætetus_ § 32., p. 155. Gataker on Antonin, i. 15. Plutarch _de EI Delph_. cap. 2. p. 385 B. Sympos, v. 7., p. 680 C. Aristot. _Metaph_. 1. 2. 9.

In the "Sequelæ" annexed to this Aphorism, it is said of Simonides (p. 230.), that

"_In the fortieth day_ of his mediation the sage and philosophic
poet abandoned the problem [of the nature of God] in despair."

Cicero (_de nat. Deor._ i. 22. § 60.) and Minucius Felix (_Octav._ 13.) do not specify the number of days during which Simonides deferred his answer to Hiero.

Aphorism x. On Original Sin. (note, p. 252.) [Greek: sunetois phonun], &c., from Pindar, _Olymp._ ii. 85. (152.)

Conclusion, p. 399.:

"_Evidences_ of Christianity! I am weary of this word," &c.

See the remarks on this passage in Archbishop Whately's _Logic_, Appendix III., near the end.

The quotation from Apuleius, at the end of the book (p. 403.), is from the _Metamorphos._, i. 3.

J.E.B. Mayor

Marlborough College.

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MINOR NOTES.

_Capture of Henry VI._ (Vol. ii., p. 181.).--There are several errors in this historical note. The name of the Dean of Windsor was Manning, not {229} "Manting;" "Brungerly" should be Bungerley. One of the Talbots, of Bashall Hall, could never be "High Sheriff for the West Riding," as the Ridings of Yorkshire never had distinct sheriffs; neither was he sheriff of the county. The particulars of the king's capture are thus related in the chronicle called Warksworth's _Chronicle_, which has been printed by the Camden Society:--

"Also, the same yere, kynge Henry was takene byside a howse of
religione [i.e. Whalley] in Lancashyre, by the mene of a blacke
monke of Abyngtone [Abingdon] in a wode called Cletherwode [the
wood of Clitheroe], besyde Bungerly hyppyngstones, by Thomas
Talbott, sonne and heyre to sere Edmunde Talbot of Basshalle,
and Jhon Talbott, his cosyne, of Colebry [i.e. Salebury, in
Blackburn], withe other moo; which discryvide [him] beynge at
his dynere at Wadyngton halle: and [he was] carryed to London on
horsebake, and his leges bownde to the styropes."

I have substituted the word "discryvide" for "disseyvide," as it is printed in the Camden Society's book, where the editor, Mr. Halliwell, understood the passage as meaning that the king was deceived or betrayed. I take the meaning to be that the black monk of Abingdon had descried, or discovered, the king as he was eating his dinner at Waddington Hall; whereupon the Talbots, and some other parties in the neighbourhood, formed plans for his apprehension, and arrested him on the first convenient opportunity, as he was crossing the ford across the river Ribble, formed by the hyppyngstones at Bungerley. Waddington belonged to Sir John Tempest, of Bracewell, who was the father-in-law of Thomas Talbot. Both Sir John Tempest and Sir James Harrington of Brierley, near Barnsley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each received one hundred marks reward; but the fact of Sir Thomas Talbot being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the larger reward of 100£. Further particulars respecting these and other parties concerned, will be found in the notes to Warksworth's _Chronicle_. The chief residence of the unhappy monarch during his retreat was at Bolton Hall, where his boots, his gloves, and a spoon, are still preserved, and are engraved in Whitaker's _Craven_. An interior view of the ancient hall at Bolton, which is still remaining, is engraved in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for May, 1841. Sir Ralph Pudsay, of Bolton, had married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Tunstal, who attended the king as esquire of the body.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

_Mentmore, Bucks, Notes from Register of._--Having recently had occasion to go through the entire registers of the parish of Mentmore, Bucks, I send you three extracts, not noticed by Lipscombe, the two first relating to an extinct branch of the house of Hamilton, the third illustrating the "Manners and Customs of the English" at the end of the seventeenth century.

"1732, William Hamilton, an infant son of Lord Viscount Limerick, Feb. 28."

"1741. The Honourable Charles Hamilton, son of Lord Viscount Limerick, Jan. 4."

"Memorand. A beggar woman of Slapton, whipt at Mentmoir, July 5th, 1698."

Q.D.

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QUERIES

JOHN JOKYN, OR JOACHIM, THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR.

I am very desirous to be informed in what _French_ author I can find any account of John Jokyn (Joachim?), who was ambassador to England from France during the time of Cardinal Wolsey. I have looked into the greater part of the French authors who have written historically on the reign of François I. without having found any mention of such personage--_L'Art de vérifier les Dates_, &c., without success. He is frequently spoken of by English writers, and particularly in the _Union of the Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke_, by Edward Halle, 1548, folios 135, 136, 139, 144, and 149.; at folio 144., 17th year of Hen. VIII., it is stated:--

"There came over as ambassador from France, Jhon Jokyn, now
called M. de Vaux, which, as you have heard in the last year,
was kept secret in Master Lark's house; and when he came into
England he was welcomed of the Cardinal (Wolsey), and there
between them were such communications at the suit of the said
Jhon, that a truce was concluded from the 13th of July for forty
days between England and France, both on the sea, and beyond the
sea," &c. &c.

This M. Jokyn, or Joachim, appears to have been a person of considerable influence, and it appears his purpose on this mission was to bribe Wolsey; and it seems that the Chancellor Duprat was aware of this, and was much displeased on the occasion.

AMICUS. Aug 3, 1850.

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SCRIPTURES, ROMAN CATHOLIC TRANSLATIONS OF, LUTHER'S FAMILIARITY WITH.

The replies I have gained to previous Queries encourage me to trouble you with the following:--

1. Has the Roman Catholic Church ever published a translation of the Scriptures, or any part of them, into the vernacular _Irish_? Have their missionaries in _China_ ever translated anything beyond the Epistles and Gospels of the Missal? Or, is there any Roman Catholic translation into any of the vernacular languages of _India_? Or, are there any versions in any of the American dialects by Roman Catholic authors, besides those mentioned by Le Long in his _Bibliotheca Sacra_. And is there any continuation of his work up to {230} the present day? I am acquainted with Bishop Marsh's volume, but he seems ill-informed and speaks vaguely about Roman Catholic versions.

2. What is the authority for the familiar story of a bill being brought into parliament for the suppression of all vernacular translations in Richard II.'s reign, and of its being stoutly opposed by John of Gaunt? "What, are we the dregs of the earth not to hear the Scriptures in our own tongue?" Usher mentions the circumstance (_Historia Dogmatica_, &c.), and it is borrowed from him by Fox. But I am so ignorant as not to know the original and cotemporary authority.

3. Your learned correspondent, DR. MAITLAND, in his _Dark Ages_, snubs D'Aubigné most unmercifully for repeating an old story about Luther's stumbling upon a Bible, and pooh-pooh's D'Aubigné's authority, Mathesius, as no better than a goose. May I ask whether it is possible to discover the probable foundation of such a story, and whether Luther has left us in his writings any account of his early familiarity with Scripture, that would bear upon the alleged incident, and show how much of it may be true?

C.F.S.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES

_The Lost Tribes._--A list of all the theories and publications respecting the ten tribes commonly called the Lost tribes, or any communication concerning them, will much oblige.

JARLTZBERG.

_Partrige Family._--Can any of your readers inform me where I can see the grant mentioned in the following _note_ taken from Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. iii. p. 542: "I find a grant to the Lady Jane Partrige for life, of the manor of Kenne in Devon, of the yearly value of 57l. 12s. 0-3/4d., but this not before April, 1553." Can any of your readers tell me how to obtain access to a private act 1st Mary, Sessio secunda. cap. 9., anno 1553, intituled, "An Act for the Restitution in Blood of the Heirs of Sir Miles Partrige, Knight"? Strype calls it an act for the restitution of the daughters of Sir Miles Partrige, and I think he must be right, as I have primâ facie proof that Sir Miles left no son. Were the debates on the acts of parliament recorded in those days, and if so, how can they be seen?

J. PARTRIGE.

Birmingham.

_Commoner marrying a Peeress._--Formerly, when a commoner married a peeress in her own right, he assumed her title and dignity. The right was, I believe, disputed during the reign of Henry VIII., in the case of the claimant of the barony of Talbois, when it was decided that no man could take his wife's titles unless he had issue male by her, but, if there were such issue, he became, as in cases of landed property, "tenant by curtesy" of her dignities. Can any of your correspondents inform me whether any subsequent decision has deprived of this right a commoner marrying a peeress and having issue male by her?

L.R.N.

_The Character "&."_--What is the correct name of the character "&?" I have heard it called _ample-se-and_, _ampuzzánd_, _empuzád_, _ampássy_, and _apples-and_,--all evident corruptions of one and the same word. What is that word?

M.A. LOWER.

_Combs buried with the Dead._--When the corpse of St. Cuthbert was disinterred in the cathedral of Durham, there was found upon his breast a plain simple Saxon _comb_. A similar relique has been also discovered in other sepulchres of the same sanctuary.

Can any of your learned contributors inform me (for I am totally ignorant) the origin and intent of this strange accompaniment of the burial of the ancient dead. The comb of St. Cuthbert is, I believe, carefully preserved by the Dean and Chapter of Durham.

R.S. HAWKER.

Morwenstow, Cornwall.

_Cave's Historia Literaria._--My present Queries arise out of a Note which I took of a passage in Adam Clarke's _Bibliography_, under the article "W. Cave" (vol. ii. p. 161.).

1. Has not the bibliographer assigned a wrong date to the publication of Cave's _Historia Literaria_, viz. 1740, instead of 1688-1698?

2. Will some of your readers do me the favour of mentioning the successive editions of the _Historia Literaria_, together with the year and the place of appearance of each of them?

According to the _Biographia Britannica_ (ed. 2., "Cave, W."), this learned work came out in the year above stated, and there were two impressions printed at Geneva in 1705 and 1720 respectively.

R.K.J.

_Julin._--Will DR. BELL, who adverts to the tradition of the doomed city, _Julin_, in your last number (Vol. ii. p. 178.), oblige me by a "Note" of the story as it is told by Adam of Bremen, whose work I am not within reach of? I have long wanted to trace this legend.

V.

Belgravia, Aug. 17. 1850.

_Richardson Family._--Can of your correspondents inform me who "Mr. John Richardson, of the Market Place, Leeds," was? he was living 1681 to 1700 and after, and he made entries of the births of eleven children on the leaves of an old book, and also an entry of the death of his wife, named Lydea, who died 20th December, 1700. These entries are now in possession of one of his daughters' descendants, who is desirous to know {231} of what family Mr. Richardson was, who he married, and what was his profession or business.

T.N.I.

Wakefield.

_Tobacco--its Arabic Name._--One of your correspondents, A.C.M. (Vol. ii., p. 155.), wishes to know what is the Arabic word for _tobacco_ used in Sale's _Koran_, ed. 8vo. p. 169. Perhaps, if he will refer to the chapter and verse, or even specify _which_ is the 8vo. edition which he quotes, some of your correspondents may be able to answer his Query.

M.D.

_Pole Money._--Some time ago I made a copy of

"A particular of all the names of the several persons within the
Lordship of Marston Montgomery (in Derbyshire), and of their
estates, according to the acts of parliament, for payment of
_pole money_ assessed by William Hall, constable, and others."

This was some time between 1660 and 1681. And also of a like

"Particular of names of the several persons within the same
lordship under the sum of _5l._, to _pole for_ according to the
acts of parliament."

Can any of your correspondents inform me to what tax the above lists applied, and what were the acts of parliament under which this tax (or pole-money) was payable.

T.N.I.

Wakefield.

_Welsh Money._--I have never seen in any work on coins the slightest allusion to the money of the native princes of Wales before the subjugation of their country by Edward I. Is any such in existence? and, if not, how is its disappearance to be accounted for? I read that Athelstan imposed on the Welsh an annual tribute _in money_, which was paid for many years. Query, In what sort of coin?

J.C. Witton.

_A skeleton in every House._--Can you or any of your correspondents explain the origin of that most significant saying "There is a skeleton in every house?" Does it originate in some ghastly legend?

Mors.

[Our correspondent is right in his conjecture. The saying is
derived from an Italian story, which is translated in the
_Italian Tales of Humour, Gallantry, and Romance_, published
some few years ago, with illustrations by Cruikshank.]

_Whetstone of Reproof._--Can any of your readers inform me who was the author of the book with the following title?

"The Whetstone of Reproofe, or a Reproving Censvre of the
misintitled Safe Way: declaring it by Discourie of the Authors
fraudulent Proceeding, and captious Cauilling, to be a miere
By-way, drawing pore Trauellers out of the royalle and common
Streete, and leading them deceitfully into a Path of Perdition.
With a Postscript of Advertisements, especially touching the
Homilie and Epistles attributed to Alfric: and a compendious
Retortiue Discussion of the misapplyed By-way. Avthor T.T.
Sacristan and Catholike Romanist.--Catvapoli, apud viduam Marci
Wyonis. Anno MDCXXXII." Sm. 8vo. pp. xvi. 570. 198.

It is an answer to Sir Humphrey Lynd's _Via Tuta_ and _Via Devia_. In Wood's _Ath. Oxon._, edit. Bliss, fol. ii. col. 602, two answers to the _Via Tuta_ are mentioned; but this is not noticed. From the author stating in the preface, "I confesse, Sir Humfrey, I am Tom Teltruth, who cannot flatter or dissemble," I suppose the initials T.T. to be fictitious.

John I. Dredge.

_Morganatic Marriages.--Morganatique._--What is the derivation of this word, and what its _actual signification_?

In the _Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française_ (ed. 4to., 1835), the word does not appear. In Boister's _Dictionnaire Universel_ (Bruxelles, 1835) it is thus given:--

"Morganatique, _adj. 2 g._, nocturne, mystérieux, entrainée par
séduction; (mariage) mariage secret des princes d'Allemagne avec
une personne d'un rang inférieur."

And the same definition is given by Landais (Paris, 4to., 1842), but this does not give the derivation or literal signification of the word "_morganatic_." It is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_; but in Smart's _Dictionary Epitomized_ (Longman and Co., 1840) it is thus given:--

"Morganatic, _a._, applied to the marriage in which a gift in
the morning is to stand in lieu of dowry, or of all right of
inheritance, that might otherwise fall to the issue."

This, however, is inconsistent with the definition of _nocturne_, _mystérieux_, for the gift in lieu of dowry would have nothing of mystery in it.

Will some of your correspondents afford, if they can, any reasonable explanation which justifies the application of the word to inferior or left-handed marriages?

G.

[Will our correspondent accept the following as a satisfactory
reply?]

_Morganatic Marriage_ (Vol. ii, p. 72.).--The fairy Morgana was married to a mortal. Is not this a sufficient explanation of the term morganatic being applied to marriages where the parties are of unequal rank?

S.S.

_Gospel of Distaffs._--Can any reader say where a copy of the _Gospel of Distaffs_ may be accessible? It was printed by Wynkyn de Worde, and Sir E. Brydges, who describes it, says a complete copy was in Mr. Heber's library. A few leaves are found in Bagford's Collection, Harleian MS. 5919., which only raises the desire to see the whole. Dibdin's _Ames' Typography_, vol. ii. p. 232., has an account of it.

W. Bell.

* * * * * {232}

REPLIES.

POETA ANGLICUS.

Every proof or disproof of statements continually made with regard to the extravagant titles assumed, or complacently received, by the bishops of Rome being both interesting and important, the inquiry of J.B. (Vol. ii., p. 167.) is well deserving of a reply. Speaking of a passage cited by Joannes Andreæ, in his gloss on the preface to the Clementines, he asks, "who is the Anglicus Poeta?" and "what is the name of his poem," in which it is said to the pope, "Nec Deus es nec homo, quasi neuter es inter utrumque?"

"Poetria nova" was the name assigned to the hexameter poem commencing, "Papa stupor mundi," inscribed, about the year 1200, to the reigning Pope, Innocent III., by Galfridus de Vino salvo. Of this work several manuscript copies are to be met with in England. I will refer only to two in the Bodleian, Laud. 850. 83.: Ken. Digb. 1665. 64. Polycarp Leyser (_Hist. Poem. medii Ævi_) published it in 1721; and Mabillon has set forth another performance by the same writer in elegiac verse (_Vet. Analect._ pp. 369-76., Paris, 1723). In the latter case the author's name is not given, and accordingly he is entered merely as "Poeta vetus" in Mr. Dowling's _Notitia Scriptorum SS. Pat._, sc. p. 279., Oxon., 1839. Your correspondent may compare with Andreæ's extract these lines, and those which follow them, p. 374.:

"Papa brevis vox est, sed virtus nominis hujus
Perlustrat quiequid arcus uterque tenet."

Galfridus evidently derived his surname from his treatise on vines and wine; and he has been singularly unfortunate in the epithet, for I have never seen VIN-SAUF correctly printed. It varies from "de Nine salvo" to "_Mestisauf_." Pits and Oudin call him "Vinesalf" and Fabricius and Mansi change him into "Vine fauf."

The question now remains, Are the Roman Pontiffs and their Church answerable for the toleration of such language? Uncertainty may on this occasion be removed by our recollection of the fact, that a "Censura" upon the glosses of the papal canon law, by Manriq, Master of the Sacred Palace, was issued by the command of Pope Pius V. in 1572. It was reprinted by Pappus, Argent. 1599, 12mo., and 1609, 8vo., and it contains an order for the expurgation of the words before quoted, together with the summary in the margin, "Papa nec Deus est nec homo," which appears in every old edition; for instance, in that of Paris, 1532, sig. aa. iij. So far the matter looks well, and the prospect is not hopeless. These glosses, however, were revised by another master of the Apostolic Palace, Sixtus Fabri, and were edited, under the sanction of Pope Gregory XIII., in the year 1580; and from this authentic impression the impious panegyric has not been withdrawn. The marginal abridgment has, in compliance with Manriq's direction, been exterminated; and this additional note has been appended as a palliative:--

"Hæc verba sano modo sunt accipienda: prolata enim sunt ad
ostendendum amplissimam esse Romani Pontificis
potestatem."--Col. 4. ed. Paris, 1585.

R.G.

_Poeta Anglicus_ (Vol ii., p. 167).--I cannot answer J.B.'s Queries; but I have fallen upon a _cross scent_, which perchance may lead to their discovery.

1. Ioannes Pitseus, _de Scriptor. ad ann._ 1250, (_Relat. Histor. de Rebus Anglicis_, ed. Par. 1619, p. 322.), gives the following account "de Michaele Blaunpaino:"--

"Michael Blaunpainus, vulgo _Magister_ cognominatus, natione
Anglus, patria Cornubiensis, ... missus Oxonium, deinde
Parisios, ... præ cæteris se dedidit elegantiæ linguæ Latinæ,
fuitque inter præcipuos sui temporis _poetus_ per Angliam
potissimum et Galliam numeratus. Hunc subinde citat Textor in
Cornucopia sub nomine Michaelis _Anglici_.... In lucem emisit:
Historiarum Normanniæ, librum unum: Contra Henricum Abrincensem
versu. librum unum. Archipoeta vide, quod non sit. (_MS. in
Bibliotheca Lunleiana._) Epistolarum et carminum, librum unum.
Claruit anno Messiæ 1250, sub Henrici tertii regno."

2. Valerius Andreas, however, gives a somewhat different account of _Michael Anglicus_. In his _Biblioth. Belg._ ed. 8vo. Lovan, 1623, p. 609., he says:

"Michael Anglicus, Bellimontensis, Hanno, I. V. Professor et
_Poeta_, scripsit:

Eclogarum, libros iv., ad Episc. Parisien.
Eclogarum, libb. ii., ad Lud. Villerium.
De mutatione studiorum, lib. i.
Elegiam deprecatoriam.

Et alia, quæ Paris. sunt typis edita. Hujus eruditionem et
Poemata Bapt. Mantuanus et Joannes Ravisius Testor epigrammate
commendarunt: hic etiam in Epithetis suis _Anglici_ auctoritatem
non semel adducit."

3. Franciscus Sweertius (_Athenæ Belgricoe_, ed. Antv. 1628, p. 565.) gives a similar account to this of Valerius Andreas.

4. And the account given by Christopher Hendreich Brandebargca, (ed. Berolini, 1699, p. 193.) is substantially the same; viz.,

"Anglicus Michael cognomine, sed natione Gallus, patria
Belmontensis, utriusque juris Professor, scripsit Eclogarum,
lib. iv. ad Episc." &c ... "Et diversorum carminum libros
aliquot, quæ omnia Parisiis impressa sunt. Claruit autem A.C.
1500."

5. Moreri takes notice of this apparent confusion made between two different writers, who lived two centuries and a half apart. Speaking of the later {233} of the two, he says (_Dictionnaire Historique_, Paris, 1759, tom. i. par. ii. p. 87.):--

"_Anglicus_ (Michel), natif de Beaumont dans le Hainaut, qui
vivoit dans le XVI. siècle, étoit poëte et professeur en droit.
Nous avons divers ouvrages de sa façon, des églogues, un traité
_de mutatione studiorum_, &c. (Valer. Andreas, _Bibl. Belg._)
Quelques auteurs l'ont confondu avec Michel Blaumpain. (Voyez
Blaumpain.)" #/

Of the earlier Anglicus, Moreri says (ubi sup., tom. ii. par. i. p. 506.):

"Blaumpain (Michel) surnommé _Magister_, Anglois de nation, et
_Poëte_, qui vivoit vers l'an 1250. Il est nommé par quelques-un
_Michel Anglicus_. Mais il y a plus d'apparence que c'étoient
deux auteurs différens; dont l'un composa une histoire de
Normandie, et un traité contre Henri d'Avranches; et l'autre
laissa quelques pièces de poësies;--Eclogarum, libri iv., ad
Episcopum Parisiensem; Eclogarum, libri ii., ad Ludovicum
Villerium, De mutatione studioram, Elogia deprecatoria, &c.
Baptiste Mantuan parle de Michel Anglicus, qui étoit de Beaumont
dans l'Hainault. (Pitseus, _De Script. Angl._ p. 322.; Valerius
Andreas in _Bibl_, p. 670.)"

Perhaps some of your readers may have access to a copy of the _Paris impression_ of Michael Anglicus, mentioned by Andreas, Sweertius, and Hendreich. J.B. will not need to be reminded of these words of Innocent III., in his first serm. de consecr. Pont. Max., in which he claimed, as St. Peter's successor, to be

"Inter Deum et hominem medius constitutus; citra Deum, sed ultra
hominem; minor Deo, sed major homine: qui de omnibus judicat, et
a nemine judicatur."--_Innocentii tertii Op._, ed. Colon. 1575,
tom. i., p. 189.

Did the claim _originate_ with Pope Innocent?

J. Sansom.

* * * * *

CAXTON'S PRINTING-OFFICE.

I must protest against the manner in which Arun (Vol. ii., p. 187.) has proceeded with the discussion of Caxton's printing at Westminster. Though writing anonymously himself, he has not hesitated to charge me by name with a desire to impeach the accuracy of Mr. C. Knight's _Life of Caxton_, of which, and of other works of the same series, he then volunteers as the champion, as if they, or any one of them, were the object of a general attack. This is especially unfair, as I made the slightest possible allusion to Mr. Knight's work, and may confess I have as yet seen no more of it than the passage quoted by ARUN himself. Any such admixture of personal imputations is decidedly to be deprecated, as being likely to militate against the sober investigation of truth which has hitherto characterised the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES." ARUN also chooses to say that the only question which is material, is, Who was Caxton's patron? i.e. who was the Abbot of Westminster at the time,--who may not, after all, have actively interfered in the matter. This question remains in some doubt; but it was not the question with which DR. RIMBAULT commenced the discussion. The object of that gentleman's inquiry (Vol. ii., p. 99.) was, the particular spot where Caxton's press was fixed. From a misapprehension of the passage in Stow, a current opinion has obtained that the first English press was erected within the abbey-church, and in the chapel of St. Anne; and Dr. Dibdin conjectured that the chapel of St. Anne stood on the site of Henry VII.'s chapel. The correction of this vulgar error is, I submit, by no means immaterial; especially at a time when a great effort is made to propagate it by the publication of a print, representing "William Caxton examining the first proof sheet from his printing-press in Westminster Abbey;" the engraving of which is to be "of the size of the favourite print of Bolton Abbey:" where the draftsman has deliberately represented the printers at work within the consecrated walls of the church itself! When a less careless reader than Dr. Dibdin consults the passage of Stow, he finds that the chapel of St. Anne stood in the opposite direction from the church to the site of Henry VII.'s chapel, i.e. within the court of the Almonry; and that Caxton's press was also set up in the Almonry, though not (so far as appears, or is probable) within that chapel. The second question is, When did Caxton first set up his press in this place? And the third, the answer to which depends on the preceding, is, Who was the abbot who gave him admission? Now it is true, as ARUN remarks, that the introduction of Abbot Islip's name is traced up to Stow in the year 1603: and, as Mr. Knight has observed, "the careful historian of London here committed one error," because John Islip did not become Abbot of Westminster until 1500. The entire passage of Stow has been quoted by DR. RIMBAULT in "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. ii., p. 99.; it states that in the Almonry--

"Islip, abbot of Westminster, erected the first press of
book-printing that ever was in England, about the year 1471."

Now, it appears that the various authors of repute, who have given the point their consideration, as the editor of Dugdale's _Monasticon_ (Sir Henry Ellis), and Mr. Cunningham in his _Handbook_, affirm that it is John Esteney who became abbot in 1474 or 1475, and not Thomas Milling, who was abbot in 1471, whose name should be substituted for that of Islip. In that case, Stowe committed two errors instead of one; he was wrong in his date as well as his name. It is to this point that I directed my remarks, which are printed in Vol. ii., p. 142. We have hitherto no evidence that Caxton {234} printed at Westminster before the year 1477, six years later than mentioned by Stow.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

* * * * *

THE USE OF COFFINS.

The Query of H.E. (Vol. i., p. 321.) seems to infer that the use of coffins may be only a modern custom. In book xxiii., chapters i. and ii., of Bingham's _Antiquities of the Christian Church_, H.E. will find ample proof of the very early use of coffins. During the first three centuries of the Church, one great distinction betwixt Heathens and Christians was, that the former burned their dead, and placed the bones and ashes in urns; whilst the latter always buried the corpse, either in a coffin or, embalmed, in a catacomb; so that it might be restored at the last day from its original dust. There have frequently been dug out of the barrows which contain Roman urns, ancient British stone coffins. Bede mentions that the Saxons buried their dead in wood. Coffins both of lead and iron were constructed at a very early period. When the royal vaults at St. Denis were desecrated, during the first French revolution, coffins were exposed that had lain there for ages.

Notwithstanding all this, it appears to be the case that, both in the Norman and English periods, the common people of this country were often wrapped in a sere-cloth after death, and so placed, coffinless, in the earth. The illuminations in the old missals represent this. And it is not impossible that the extract from the "Table of Dutyes," on which H.E. founds his inquiry, may refer to a lingering continuance of this rude custom. Indeed, a statute passed in 1678, ordering that all dead bodies shall be interred in woollen and no other material, is so worded as to give the idea that there might be interments without coffins. The statute forbids that any person be put in, wrapt, or wound up, or buried in any shirt, shift, sheet, or shroud, unless made of sheep's wool only; or in any coffin lined or faced with any material but sheep's wool; as if the person might be buried either in a garment, or in a coffin, so long as the former was made of, or the latter lined with, wool.

I think the "buryall without a coffin," quoted by H.E., must have referred to the interment of the poorest class. Their friends, being unable to provide a coffin, conformed to an old rude custom, which had not entirely ceased.

Alfred Gatty

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF THE WORD "DELIGHTED".

If the passage from _Measure for Measure_, which has been the subject of much controversy in your recent numbers, be read in its natural sense--there is surely nothing unintelligible in the word "delighted" as there used.

The object of the poet was to show how instinctively the mind shudders at the change produced by death--both on body and soul; and how repulsive it must be to an active and sentient being.

He therefore places in frightful contrast the condition of _each_ before and after that awful change. The BODY, _now_ endowed with "sensible warm motion," to become in death "a kneaded clod," to "lie in cold obstruction, and to rot." The SPIRIT, _now_ "delighted" (all full of delight), to become in death utterly powerless, an unconscious--passive thing--"imprisoned in the viewless winds, and blown with restless violence round about the pendant world," how intolerable the thought, and how repulsive the contrast! It is _not_ in its state _after death_, but _during life_, that the poet represents the spirit to be a "delighted one." If we fall into the error of supposing him to refer to the _former_ period, we are compelled to alter our text, in order to make the passage intelligible, or invent some new meaning to the word "delighted," and, at the same time, we deprive the passage of the strong antithesis in which all its spirit and force consists. It is this strong antithesis, this painfully marked contrast between the two states of _each, body_ and _spirit_, which displays the power and skill of the poet in handling the subject. Without it, the passage loses half its meaning.

MR. HICKSON will not, I hope, accuse one who is no critic for presuming to offer this suggestion. I tender it with diffidence, being conscious that, although a passionate admirer of the great bard, I am all unlearned in the art of criticism, "a plain unlettered man," and therefore simply take what is set before me in its natural sense, as well as I may, without searching for recondite interpretations. On this account, I feel doubly the necessity of apologising for interfering with the labours of so learned and able a commentator as MR. HICKSON has shown himself to be.

L.B.L.

* * * * *

VENTRILOQUISM

(Vol. ii., p. 88.)

Plutarch (tom. ii., p. 397.D.) has these words:

[Greek: "Ou gar esti theou hae gaerus oude ho phthoggos, oude he
lexis, oude to metron, alla taes yunaikos: ekeinos de monas tas
phantasias paristaesi, kau phos en tae psuchae poiei pros to
mellon."]

If that be the passage referred to be Rollin, nothing is said there about ventriloquism. The Scholiast on Aristoph. (_Plut._ 39.) tells us how the Pythian received the _afflatus_, but says nothing about her _speaking_ from her belly: He only has

[Greek: "Ta taes manteias hae mallon manias ephtheggeto
hraemata."]

In another place of Plutarch (tom. ii., p. 414. E.) we have [Greek: eggastrimuthoi] and [Greek: puthones] used as synonymous words to express persons into whose bodies the god might be supposed to enter, "using their {235} bodies and voices as instruments." The only word in that passage which appears to hint at what we call ventriloquism is [Greek: hupophtheggesthai].

I have very little doubt that amongst the various tricks of ancient divination ventriloquism found a place; but I cannot give that direct evidence which MR. SANSOM asks for. I think it very likely that "_the wizards that peep and mutter_" (Isa. viii. 19.) were of this class; but it is not clear that the [Hebrew: 'obot]--the [Greek eggastrimuthoi] of the LXX.--were so. The English version has "them that have familiar spirits." The Hebrew word signifies _bottles_; and this may mean no more than that the spirit of divination was contained in the person's body as in a bottle, "using his body and his voice as instruments," as in the place of Plutarch quoted above. We have something like this, Acts, xix. 15., where "the evil spirit answered," no doubt in the voice of the demoniac, "Jesus I know," &c. Michaelis (Suppl., p. 39.) gives a different meaning and etymology to [Hebrew: 'obot]. He derives it from the Arabic, which signifies (1) _rediit_, (2) _occidit_ sol, (3) _noctu venit_ or _noctu aliquid fecit_. The first and third of these meanings will make it applicable to the [Greek: nekromanteia] (of which the witch of Endor was a practitioner), which was carried on at night. See Hor. _Sat._ I. ix.

I do not think that the damsel mentioned Acts, xvi. 16. was a ventriloquist. The use of the word [Greek: ekraze] in the next verse, would lead us to infer that she spoke in a loud voice _with her mouth open_; whereas the [Greek: eggastrimuthoi] are defined by Galen (_Glossar. Hippocr._) as [Greek: oi kekleismenou tou stomatos phthengomenoi].

Consult Vitringa and Rosenmüller on Isa. viii. 19., Wolf and Kuinoel on Acts, xvi. 16., Biscoe on the Acts, ch. viii. §2; where references will be found to many works which will satisfy Mr. SANSOM better than this meagre note.

[Hebrew: B]

_Ventriloquism_ (Vol. ii., p. 88.).--In reply to Query 1, I wish to call Mr. SANSOM'S attention to _Plutarch de Oraculorum defectu_ (Lipsiæ, 1777, vol. vii. p. 632.), and to Webster's _Displaying of supposed Witchcraft_ (chaps. vi. and viii.). Queries 2 and 3. Besides the extraordinary work of Webster, he may consult the elaborate dissertations of Allatius on these subjects, in the eighth volume of _Critici Sacri_. Query 4. On the use of the term [Greek: eggastrimuthos] by the sacred writers, _Ravanelli Biblioth. S._, and by classical authors, _Foesii Oeconomia Hippocratis_; and for synonymous "divinorum ministrorum nomina," _Pollucis Onomasticon_.

T.J.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Earl of Oxford's Patent_ (Vol. ii., p. 194.).--M.'s quotation from the _Weekly Oracle_ relates to Harley's having been stabbed at the council-table by the Sieur de Guiscard, a French Papist, brought up for examination 8th March, 1711. The escape of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was the subject of an address from both Houses to the Queen; and upon his being sufficiently recovered to resume his seat, the Speaker delivered to him the unanimous congratulations of the House of Commons. Harley was shortly after created Earl of Oxford, by patent bearing date 24th May, 1711, which recites, _inter alia_,--

"Since, therefore, the two Houses of Parliament have declared
that the fidelity and affection he has expressed in our service
have exposed him to the hatred of wicked men, _and the desperate
rage of a villanous parricide_, since they have congratulated
his escape from such imminent dangers, and put us in mind that
he might not be preserved in vain, we willingly comply with
their desires, and grant him who comes so honourably recommended
by the votes of our Parliament, a place among our peer," &c.
&c.--Collin's _Peerage_, vol. iv. p. 260. edit. 1789.

Guiscard died in Newgate of the wounds which he received in the scuffle when he was secured.

BRAYBROOKE.

[O.P.Q., who has kindly replied to M.'s inquiry, has appended to
his answer the following Query:--"Is Smollett justified in using
the words _assassin_ and _assassinate_, as applied to cases of
intended homicide, when death did not ensue?"]

_The Darby Ram_ (Vol. ii., p. 71.).--There is a whimsical little volume, which, as it relates mainly to local matters, may not have come under the notice of many of your readers, to which I would refer your querist H.W.

It is entitled,--

"Gimcrackiana, or Fugitive Pieces on Manchester Men and Manners
ten years ago. Manchester, 1833." cr. 8vo.

It is anonymous, but I believe truly ascribed to a clever young bookseller of the name of J.S. Gregson, since dead.

At page 185. he gives twelve stanzas of this ballad, as the most perfect copy from the oral chronicle of his greatgrandmother.

In _The Ballad Book_ (Edinb. 1827, 12mo.), there is another entitled "The Ram of Diram," of a similar kind, but consisting of only six verses and chorus. And the _Dublin Penny Journal_, vol. i., p. 283., contains a prose story, entitled "Darby and the Ram," of the same veracious nature.

F.R.A.

_Rotten Row and Stockwell Street._--R.R., of Glasgow, inquires the etymology of these names (Vol. i., p. 441.). The etymology of the first word possesses some interest, perhaps, at the present time, owing to the name of the site of the intended Exhibition from all Nations in Hyde Park. I sent to the publishers of _Glasgow Delineated_, {236} which was printed at the University press in 1826, a contradiction of the usual origin of the name adopted in that city, showing the impossibility of the expression bearing any reference to the dissoluteness or immorality of the former residents, and also contradicting its having any thing to do with "rats," or "rattons," _Scotticè_; although, in 1458, the "Vicus Rattonum" is the term actually used in the Archbishop of Glasgow's chartulary. My observations, which were published in a note, concluded as follows:

"The name, however, may be also traced to a very remote and
classic origin, although we are not aware that it has hitherto
been condescended on. In ancient Rome was what was called the
Ratumena Porta, 'a nomine ejus appellata (says Gessner in his
Latin _Thesaurus_) qui ludiero certamine quadrigis victor
juvenis Veiis consternatis equis excussus Romæ periit, qui equi
feruntur non ante constitisse quam pervenirent in Capitolium.'
The same story is related by Pliny, from whom and other authors,
it appears that the word Ratumena was then as proverbially
applied to jockies as Jehu in our own days. From the
circumstance of the Rotten Row Port (of Glasgow) having stood at
the west end of this street, and the Stable Green Port near the
east end, which also led to the Archbishop's castle, it is
probably not only that it was the street through which
processions would generally proceed, but that the port alluded
to, and after it the street in question, were dignified by the
more learned of our ancestors with the Roman name of which, or
of the Latin Rota, the present appears a very natural
corruption."

I may here refer to Facciolati's _Dictionary, voce_ "Ratumena Porta," as well as Gessner's.

As to _Stockwell_, also a common name, it is obviously indicative of the particular kind of well at the street, by which the water was lifted not by a wheel, nor by a pump, nor a pulley, but by a beam poised on or formed by a large _stock_, or _block of wood_.

Lambda.

_Hornbooks_ (Vol. ii., p. 167.).--Mr. Timbs will find an account of hornbooks, with a woodcut of one of the time of Queen Elizabeth, in Mr. Halliwell's _Notices of Fugitive Tracts_, printed by the Percy Society, 1849. Your readers would confer a favour on Mr. Timbs and myself by the communication of any additional information.

R.

_Passages from Shakspeare_ (Vol. ii., p. 135.).--

_Ang._ We are all frail.

_Isab._ Else let my brother die,
If not a feodary, but only he
Owe, and succeed thy weakness.

_Ang._ Nay, women are frail too.

_Measure for Measure_, Act. ii. Sc. 4.

I should paraphrase Isabella's remarks thus:--

"If it be otherwise, if we are not all frail as thou sayest,
then let my brother die, unless he be but in the same case as
others; if he alone possess and follow thee in that particular
frailty to which thou has half confessed."

A feodary, I should observe, was an officer of the Court of Wards, who was joined with the escheator and did not act singly; I conceive therefore that Shakspeare by this expression indicates an associate; one in the same plight as others; negatively, one who does not stand alone. In _Cymbeline_, Act iii. Sc. 2., we read:

"Senseless bauble,
Art thou a _feodary_ for this act, and lookst
So virgin-like without?"

where feodary clearly means confederate, associate. According to some, the word signifies one who holds land by the same tenure as the rest of mankind; whilst Mr. Knight, in a note on _Henry IV_. Part i. Act i. endeavors to show that it includes both the companion and the feudal vassal.

"To owe" is frequently used by Shakspeare in the sense of to possess, to own, as in Act i. Sc. 5. where Lucio says:

"But when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as freely theirs
As they themselves would _owe_ them."

So also in the following instances:--

"The slaughter of the prince that _ow'd_ that crown."

_Richard III._, Act. iv. Sc. 4.

"What art thou, that keepst me out from the house I
_owe_?"

_Comedy of Errors_, Act iii. Sc. 1.

"Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst _owe_."

_Sonnet_ lxx.

Further examples will be found in _A Lover's Complaint_, the last line but two; _Pericles_, Act v. Sc. 1.; _Twelfth Night_, Act. i Sc. 5., _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act i. Sc. 2.; _King John_, Act ii. Sc. 1.; _King Lear_, Act i. Sc. 4.

As the passage is allowed to be obscure, this attempt to explain its meaning is submitted with great deference to the opinions of your readers.

Arun.

_Mildew in Books_ (Vol. ii., p. 103.).--In answer to B. I mention that the following facts connected with mildew in books have been elicited.

The mildew referred to is that which shows itself in the form of roundish or irregular brown spots.

It is usually most abundant in those parts which are most exposed to the air.

In making a microscopic examination of the spots, I ascertained that there was no new structure present; but in manipulating I found that these spots absorbed water more rapidly than the rest of the paper.

On applying litmus, these spots were found to have a powerful acid reaction.

On submitting the matter to a chemical friend, he ascertained that the acid in question was the sulphuric, or oil of vitriol. Experiments were then made with a dilute solution of this acid on {237} clean paper, and spots were produced similar to those of mildew.

The acid does not naturally exist in paper, and its presence can only be accounted for by supposing that the paper has been bleached by the fumes of sulphur. This produces sulphurous acid, which, by the influence of atmospheric air and moisture, is slowly converted into sulphuric, and then produces the mildew. As this may be shown to be an absolute _charring_ of the fibres of which the paper is composed, it is to be feared that it cannot be cured. After the process has once commenced, it can only be checked by the utmost attention to dryness, moisture being indispensable to its extension, and vice versâ.

I do not know whether these facts are generally known, but they would seem to be very important to paper-makers.

T.I.

_Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury_ (Vol. ii., p. 199.).--Your correspondent PHILO-CHAUCER, I presume, desires to know the old route to Canterbury. I should imagine that at the time of Chaucer a great part of the country was uncultivated and uninclosed, and a horse-track in parts of the route was probably the nearest approximation to a road. At the present day, crossing the London road at Wrotham, and skirting the base of the chalk hills, there is a narrow lane which I have heard _called_ "the Pilgrims' road," and this, I suppose, is in fact the old Canterbury road; though how near to London or Canterbury it has a distinct existence, and to what extent it may have been absorbed in other roads, I am not able to say. The title of "Pilgrims' road" I take to be a piece of modern antiquarianism. In the immediate vicinity of this portion there are some druidical remains: some at Addington, and a portion of a small circle tolerably distinct in a field and lane between, I think, Trottescliffe and Ryarsh. In the absence of better information, you may perhaps make use of this.

S.H.

_Abbé Strickland_ (Vol. ii, p. 198.), of whom I.W.H. asks for information, is mentioned by _Cox_, in his _Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole_, t. i. p. 442., and t. iii. p. 174.