Chapter C: Forbes. {279}

"_Modum promissionis_."--Will any of your readers help to interpret the following expression in a mediæval author:--

"(Ut vulgò loquitur) modum promissionis ostendit?"

I have reason to think that _modum promissionis_ means "a provisional arrangement:" but by whom, and in what common parlance, was this expression used?

C.W.B.

_Roman Catholic Theology._--Is there any work containing a list of Roman Catholic theological works published in the English language from the year 1558 to 1700?

M.Y.A.H.

_Wife of Edward the Outlaw._--Can any of your correspondents inform me who was the wife of Edward the Outlaw, and consequently mother of Margaret of Scotland, and ancestress of the kings of England?

The account adopted by most historians is that Canute, in 1017, sent the two sons of Edmund Ironside to the king of Denmark, whence they were transferred to Solomon, king of Hungary, who gave his sister to the eldest; and, on his death without issue, married the second Edward to Agatha, daughter of the Emperor Henry II. (or, in some accounts, Henry III., or even, in Grafton's _Chronicles_, called Henry IV.), and sister to his own queen.

That Edward the Outlaw returned to England in 1057, having had five children, of whom three survived: Edgar; Margaret, who in 1067 married King Malcolm of Scotland, and another daughter.

Now this account is manifestly incorrect. The Emperor Henry II. died childless: when on his death-bed he restored his wife to her parents, declaring that both he and she had kept their vows of chastity.

Solomon did not ascend the throne of Hungary until 1063, in which year he had also married Sophia, daughter of the Emperor Henry III.; but this monarch (who was born in October, 1017, married his first wife in 1036, who died, leaving one child, in 1038 and his second wife in November 1043) could not be the grandfather of the five children of Edward the Outlaw, born prior to 1057.

The _Saxon Chronicle_ says, that Edward married Agatha the emperor's cousin.

E.H.Y.

_Conde's "Arabs in Spain"_.--In Professor de Vericour's _Historical Analysis of Christian Civilisation_, just published, it is stated (p. 499.) that Conde's _Arabs in Spain_ has been translated into English. I have never met with a translation, and fancy that the Professor has made a mistake. Can any of your correspondents decide? I know that a year or two ago, Messrs. Whittaker announced that a translation would form part of their _Popular Library_; but for some reason (probably insufficient support) it never appeared. Query, Might not Mr. Bohn with advantage include this work in his _Standard Library_?

IOTA.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

CAVE'S HISTORIA LITERARIA.

I do not know whether the notices respecting Cave's _Historia Literaria_ (Vol. ii., pp. 230. 255.) hold out any prospect of a new edition. It is much to be desired; and as it may be done at some time or other, you will perhaps allow me to make a Note of a circumstance which accidentally came to my knowledge, and should be known to any future editor. It is simply this: in the second volume of the Oxford edition of 1740, after the three dissertations, &c., there are fifteen pages, with a fresh pagination of their own, entitled, "Notæ MSS. et Accessiones _Anonymi_ ad Cavei Historiam Literariam, Codicis Margini adscriptæ, in Bibliotheca Lambethana. Manus est plane Reverendiss. _Thomæ Tenison_, Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi." Not to occupy more of your valuable space than is necessary, I will merely observe that the "Anonymus" was not Archbishop Tenison, but Henry Wharton. There can be no doubt in the mind of any person acquainted with the handwriting of the parties; and to those to whom such a notice is likely to be of any use at all, it is unnecessary to say that the difference is important. I need scarcely add, that if ever a new edition is undertaken, Wharton's books and papers, and other things in the Lambeth collection of MSS., should be examined.

S.R. MAITLAND.

_Cave's Historia Literaria_ (Vol ii., p. 230.).--

1. London, 1688-1698, 2 vols. folio. This was the first edition. A curious letter from Cave to Abp. Tenison respecting the assistance which H. Wharton furnished to this work is printed in Chalmers' _Biog. Dict._, vol. xxxi. p. 343.

2. Geneva, 1693, folio.

3. ------, 1694, folio.

4. ------, 1705, folio.

5. Coloniæ Allobrogum, 1720, folio.

6. Oxon. 1740-43, 2 vols. folio. Dr. Waterland rendered important aid in bringing out this edition, which Bp. Marsh pronounces "the best." It seems from some letters of Waterland's to John Loveday, Esq. (works by Van Mildert, 1843, vol. vi. p. 423-436.), that Chapman, a petty canon of Windsor, was the editor.

7. Basil, 1741-5, 2 vols. folio. This is said to be an exact reprint from the Oxford edition.

Watt and Dr. Clarke mention an edition, 1749, 2 vols. folio; but I cannot trace any copy of such edition.

JOHN I. DREDGE.

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SIR GAMMER VANS.

In reply to C.'s inquiry (Vol. ii., p. 89.) as to a comic story about one _Sir Gammer Vans_, I have pleasure in communicating what little information I have on the subject. Some years ago, when I was quite a boy, the story was told me by an Irish clergyman, since deceased. He spoke of it as an old Irish tradition, but did not give his authority for saying so. The story, as he gave it, contained no allusion to an "aunt" or "mother." I do not know whether it will be worthy of publication: but here it is, and you can make what use of it you like:--

"Last Sunday morning at six o'clock in the evening, as I was
sailing over the tops of the mountains in my little boat, I met
two men on horseback riding on one mare: so I asked them 'Could
they tell me whether the little old woman was dead yet, who was
hanged last Saturday week for drowning herself in a shower of
feathers?' They said they could not positively inform me, but if
I went to Sir Gammar Vans he could tell me all about it. 'But
how am I to know the house?' said I. 'Ho, 'tis easy enough,'
said they, 'for it's a brick house, built entirely of flints,
standing alone by itself in the middle of sixty or seventy
others just like it.' 'Oh, nothing in the world is easier,' said
I. 'Nothing _can_ be easier,' said they: so I went on my way.
Now this Sir G. Vans was a giant, and bottlemaker. And as all
giants, who _are_ bottlemakers, usually pop out of a little
thumb bottle from behind the door, so did Sir G. Vans. 'How d'ye
do?' says he. 'Very well, thank you,' says I. 'Have some
breakfast with me?' 'With all my heart,' says I. So he gave me a
slice of beer, and a cup of cold veal; and there was a little
dog under the table that picked up all the crumbs. 'Hang him,'
says I. 'No, don't hang him,' says he; 'for he killed a hare
yesterday. And if you don't believe me, I'll show you the hare
alive in a basket.' So he took me into his garden to show me the
curiosities. In one corner there was a fox hatching eagle's
eggs; in another there was an iron apple tree, entirely covered
with pears and lead; in the third there was the hare which the
dog killed yesterday alive in the basket; and in the fourth
there were twenty-four _hipper switches_ threshing tobacco, and
at the sight of me they threshed so hard that they drove the
plug through the wall, and through a little dog that was passing
by on the other side. I, hearing the dog howl, jumped over the
wall; and turned it as neatly inside out as possible, when it
ran away as if it had not an hour to live. Then he took me into
the park to show me his deer: and I remembered that I had a
warrant in my pocket to shoot venison for his majesty's dinner.
So I set fire to my bow, poised my arrow, and shot amongst them.
I broke seventeen ribs on one side, and twenty-one and a half on
the other: but my arrow passed clean through without ever
touching it, and the worst was I lost my arrow; however, I found
it again in the hollow of a tree. I felt it: it felt clammy. I
smelt it; it smelt honey. 'Oh, ho!' said I, 'here's a bee's
nest,' when out sprung a covey of partridges. I shot at them;
some say I killed eighteen, but I am sure I killed thirty-six,
besides a dead salmon which was flying over the bridge, of which
I made the best apple pie I ever tasted."

Such is the story: I can answer for its general accuracy. I am quite at sea as to the meaning and orthography of "hipper switches,"--having heard, not seen, the story.

S.G.

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

* * * * *

THE COLLAR OF SS.

(Vol. ii., pp. 89. 194. 248.)

The Collar of SS. "is to this day a mystery to the most learned and indefatigable antiquaries," according to Mr. Planché, in his valuable little work on _The History of British Costume_: what has appeared in "NOTES AND QUERIES" certainly has not cleared away the obscurity. ARMIGER tells us (Vol. ii., p. 195.): "As to the derivation of the name of the collar from _Soverayne_; from St. Simplicius; from the martyrs of Soissons (viz. St. Crespin and St. Crespinian, upon whose anniversary the battle of Agincourt was fought); from the Countess of Salisbury; from the word _Souvenez_; and, lastly, from Seneschallus or Steward, (which latter is MR. NICHOLS' notion)--they may be regarded as mere monkish (?) or heraldic gossip." If the monastic writers had spoken anything on the matter, a doubt never would have existed: but none of them has even hinted at it. Never having seen the articles in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, I do not know MR. NICHOLS' reasons for supposing "Seneschallus or Steward" could have furnished an origin of the SS.; but I am at loss to think of any grounds upon which such a guess could rest. From the searches I have made upon this question, it seems to me that these SS. are taken as a short way of expressing the "SANCTUS, SANCTUS, SANCTUS" of the Salisbury liturgy and ritual. I hope soon to be able to lay before the public the documents out of which I draw this opinion, in a note to the third and forthcoming volume of _The Church of our Fathers_.