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. 50.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1850 [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS

NOTES:--Page

A Note on "Small Words". 305
Gray's Elegy, by Bolton Corney. 306
Gray's Elegy in Portuguese. 306
Further Notes on the Authorship of Henry VIII. 306
Queen Elizabeth and Sir Henry Nevill, by Lord
Braybrooke. 307
Minor Notes:--Whales--Bookbinding--Scott's
Waverley--Satyayrata. 307

QUERIES:--
The Black Rood of Scotland. 308
Minor Queries:--Trogus Pompeius--Mortuary
Stanzas--Laird of Grant--Bastille, Records of,--Orkney
under Norwegians--Swift's Works--Pride of the
Morning--Bishop Durdent and the Staffordshire Historians--Pope and
Bishop Burgess--Daniel's Irish New Testament--Ale Draper--Eugene
Aram--Latin Epigram--Couplet in Defoe--Books
wanted to refer to--Watermarks in
Writing-paper--Puzzling Epitaph--Cornish MSS.--Bilderdijk
the Poet--Egyptian MSS.--Scandinavian
Priesthood--Thomas Volusemus. 309

REPLIES:--
Curfew. 311
Engelmann's Bibliotheca Scriptorum Classicorum. 312
Crozier and Pastoral Staff, by Rev. M. Walcott. 313
Parsons, the Staffordshire Giant, by E.F. Rimbault,
L.L.D. 314
Wormwood Wine, by S.W. Singer, &c. 315
Replies to Minor Queries:--Feltham's Works--Harefinder--Fool
or a Physician--Papers of Perjury--Pilgrim's
Road--Capture of Henry VI.--Andrew
Beckett--Passage in Vida--Quem Deus--Countess
of Desmond--Confession--Cayell, Meaning of,--Lord
Kingsborough's Mexico--Aërostation--Concolinel--Andrewes's
Tortura Torti, &c. 315

MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 319
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted. 319
Notices to Correspondents. 319
Advertisements. 320

* * * * *

NOTES.

A NOTE ON "SMALL WORDS."

"And ten small words creep on in one dull line."

Most ingenious! most felicitous! but let no man despise little words, despite of the little man of Twickenham. He himself knew better, but there was no resisting the temptation of such a line as that. Small words he says, in plain prosaic criticism, are generally "stiff and languishing, but they may be beautiful to express melancholy."

The English language is a language of small words. It is, says Swift, "overstocked with monosyllables." It cuts down all its words to the shortest possible dimensions: a sort of half-Procrustes, which lops but never stretches. In one of the most magnificent passages in Holy Writ, that, namely, which describes the death of Sisera:--

"At her feet he bowed, he fell: at her feet he bowed, he fell,
he lay down: where he bowed, there he fell down dead."

There are twenty-two monosyllables to three of greater length, or rather to the same dissyllable thrice repeated; and that too in common parlance proncounced as a monosyllable. The passage in the Book of Ezekiel, which Coleride is said to have considered the most sublime in the whole Bible,--

"And He said unto me, son of man, can these bones live? And I
answered, O Lord God, though knowest,"--

contains seventeen monosyllables to three others. And in the most grand passage which commences the Gospel of St. John, from the first to the fourteenth verses, inclusive, there are polysyllables twenty-eight, monosyllables two hundred and one. This it may be said is poetry, but not verse, and therefore makes but little against the critic. Well then, out of his own mouth shall he be confuted. In the fourth epistle of his _Essay on Man_, a specimen selected purely at random from his works, and extending altogether to three hundred and ninety-eight lines, there are no less than twenty-seven (that is, a trifle more than one out of every fifteen,) made up _entirely_ of monosyllables: and over and above these, there are one hundred and fifteen which have in them only one word of greater length; and yet there are few dull creepers among the lines of Pope.

The early writers, the "pure wells of English undefiled," are full of "small words."

Hall, in one of the most exquisite of his satires, speaking of the vanity of "adding house to house, and field to field," has these most beautiful lines,--

"Fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thy store,
And he that cares for most shall find no more!"

"What harmonious monosyllables!" says Mr. Gifford; and what critic will refuse to echo his exclamation? The same writer is full of monosyllabic lines, and he is among the most energetic {306} of satirists. By the way, it is not a little curious, that in George Webster's _White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona_, almost the same thought is also clothed in two monosyllabic lines:--

"His wealth is summed, and this is all his store:
This poor men get, and great men get no more."

Was Young dull? Listen, for it is indeed a "solemn sound:"--

"The bell strikes one. We take no note of time
Save by its loss, to give it then a tongue
Was wise in man."

Was Milton tame? Hear the "lost archangel" calling upon Hell to receive its new possessor:--

"One who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in _itself_
Can make a heav'n of hell,--a hell of heav'n.
What _matter_ where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be; all but less than he
Whom _thunder_ hath made _greater_? Here at least
We shall be free; the _Almighty_ hath not built
Here for his _envy_; will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign _secure_; and in my choice
To reign is worth _ambition_, though in hell:
_Better_ to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n!"

A great conjunction of little words! Are monosyllables passionless? Listen to the widowed Constance:--

"Thou mayst, thou shalt! I will not go with thee!
I will _instruct_ my _sorrows_ to be proud;
For grief is proud, and makes his _owner_ stout;
To me, and to the state of my great grief,
Let kings _assemble_; for my grief's so great,
That no _supporter_ but the huge firm earth
Can hold it up: here I and _sorrow_ sit;
Here is my throne: bid kings come bow to it."

Six polysyllables only in eight lines!

The ingenuity of Pope's line is great, but the criticism false. We applaud it only because we have never taken the trouble to think about the matter, and take it for granted that all monosyllabic lines must "creep" like that which he puts forward as a specimen. The very frequency of monosyllables in the compositions of our language is one grand cause of that frequency passing uncommented upon by the general reader. The investigation prompted by the criticism will serve only to show its unsoundness.

K.I.P.B.T.

* * * * *

ON GRAY'S ELEGY.

If required to name the most popular English poem of the last century, I should perhaps fix on the _Elegy_ of Gray. According to Mason, it "ran through eleven editions in a very short space of time." If he means _separate_ editions, I can point out six other impressions in the life-time of the poet, besides those in miscellaneous collections viz. In _Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray_, London, 1753. Folio--1765. Folio--and in _Poems by Mr. Gray_, London, 1768. small 8o.--Glasgow 1768. 4o.--London. A new edition, 1768. small 8o. A new edition, 1770. small 8o. So much has been said of translations and imitations, that I shall confine myself to the text.

Of the _first_ separate edition I am so fortunate as to possess a copy. It is thus entitled:--

"_An elegy wrote in a country church-yard_. LONDON: printed for
R. Dodsley in Pal-mall; and sold by M. Cooper in
Pater-noster-row, 1751. Price six-pense. 4o six leaves.

"Advertisement.

"The following POEM came into my hands by accident, if the
general approbation with which this little piece has been
spread, may be call'd by so slight a term as accident. It is
this approbation which makes it unnecessary for me to make any
apology but to the author: as he cannot but feel some
satisfaction in having pleas'd so many readers already, I
flatter myself he will forgive my communicating that pleasure to
many more.

"The EDITOR."

The history of this publication is given by Gray himself, in a letter to Walpole, dated in 1751, and needs no repetition; but I must observe, as a remarkable circumstance, that the poem was reprinted _anonymously_, in its separate form, as late as 1763.

I have collated the editions of 1751 and 1770, and find variations in stanzas 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 12, 23, 24, and 27. All the amendments, however, were adopted as early as 1753, except the correction of a grammatical peccadillo in the ninth stanza.

I make this communication in the shape of a note, as it may interest men of the world not less than certain _hermits_.

BOLTON CORNEY.

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GRAY'S ELEGY IN PORTUGUESE.

In several numbers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" mention is made of various translations into foreign languages of GRAY'S _Elegy in a Country Church-yard_. P.C.S.S. begs leave to add to the list a very elegant translation into Portuguese, by the Chevalier Antonio de Aracejo (afterwards Minister of Foreign Affairs at Lisbon and at Rio de Janeiro), to whose friendship he was indebted many years ago for a copy of it. It was privately printed at Lisbon towards the close of the last century, and was subsequently reprinted at Paris in 1802, in a work called _Traductions interlinéaires, en six Langues_, by A.M.H. Boulard.

P.C.S.S.

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FURTHER NOTES ON THE AUTHORSHIP OF SHAKSPEARE'S HENRY VIII.

The Gentleman's Magazine for the present month contains a letter from Mr. Spedding, the author of the essay which appeared in the August {307} number of that magazine on the authorship of _Henry VIII._ After expressing himself "gratified but not surprised" by the coincidence between his views and those of Mr. Hickson in "NOTES AND QUERIES" (Vol. ii., p. 198.), Mr. Spedding proceeds:

"The resemblance of the style, in some parts of the play, to
Fletcher's, was pointed out to me several years ago by Alfred
Tennyson (for I do not know why I should not mention his name);
and long before that, the general distinctions between
Shakspeare's manner and Fletcher's had been admirably explained
by Charles Lamb in his note on the _Two Noble Kinsmen_, and by
Mr. Spalding in his Essay. And in respect to this I had myself
derived additional light, more, perhaps, than I am aware of,
from Mr. Hickson himself, if he be (as I suppose he is) the S.H.
of the _Westminster Review_. But having been thus put upon the
scent and furnished with principles, I followed the inquiry out
by myself, without help or communication. That two independent
inquirers should thus have arrived at the same conclusions upon
so many particulars, must certainly be considered very singular,
except upon one supposition; viz., that the conclusions are
according to reason. Upon that supposition, nothing is more
natural; and I must confess, for my own part, that I should have
been more surprised if the coincidence had been less exact."

We will borrow one more paragraph from Mr. Spedding's communication (which is distinguished throughout by the liberality of tone of a true scholar), and we doubt not that the wish expressed at its conclusion is one in which our readers join as heartily as ourselves:--

"I hope, however, that Mr. Hickson may be induced to pursue his
own investigation further, and to develop more fully the
suggestion which he throws out as to a difference of style
discernible in the scenes which he attributes to Shakspeare. If
I understand him rightly, he sees traces in this play of the
earlier as well as the later hand of both poets. I cannot say
that I perceive any indications of this myself, nor, if it be
so, can I well make out how it should have come to pass. But I
should be glad to hear more about it."

It will be seen by the following extract from Mr. Emerson's _Representative Men_, for which we are indebted to our correspondent A.R., that the subject had attracted the attention of that distinguished writer.--

"In _Henry VIII._, I think I see plainly the cropping out of the
original rock on which his (Shakspeare's) own finer stratum was
laid. The first play was written by a superior, thoughtful man,
with a vicious ear. I can mark his lines, and know well their
cadence. See Wolsey's Soliloquy, and the following scene with
Cromwell, where, instead of the metre of Shakspeare, whose
secret is, that the thought constructs the tune, so that reading
for the sense will best bring out the rhythm; here the lines are
constructed on a given tune, and the verse has even a trace of
pulpit eloquence. But the play contains, through all its length,
unmistakeable traits of Shakspeare's hand; and some passages, as
the account of the coronation, are like autographs. What is odd,
the compliment to Queen Elizabeth is in the bad rhythm."

* * * * *

QUEEN ELIZABETH AND SIR HENRY NEVILL.

Many years ago I copied the following note from a volume of Berkshire pedigrees in the British Museum, my reference to which is unluckily lost.

"Queen Elizabeth, in her first progress at Maidenhithe Bridge,
being mett by all the Nobility, Kn'ts, and Esquires of Berks,
they kneeling on both sides of her way, shee alighted at the
bridge foot, and walked on foote through the midst, and coming
just agaynst Sir Henry Nevill of Billingbear, made a stay, and
leyd her glove on his head, saying, 'I am glad to see thee,
_Brother Henry_.' Hee, not pleased with the expression, swore
she would make the court believe hee was a bastard, at which
shee laughed, and passed on."

The masquing scene in _Henry VIII._, as described by Holinshed, perhaps furnishes a clue to the Queen's pleasantry, though Shakspeare has omitted the particular incident relating to Sir Henry Nevill. The old chronicler, after giving an account of Wolsey's banquet, and the entrance of a noble troop of strangers in masks, amongst whom he suspected that the king made one, proceeds as follows:--

"Then the Lord Chamberlain said to the Cardinal, Sir, they
confesse that among them there is such a noble personage whom,
if your Grace can appointe out 'from the rest, he is content to
disclose himself and to accept your place.' Whereupon the
Cardinal, taking good advisement among them, at the last quoth
he, 'Me seemeth the gentleman in the black beard should be even
he.' And with that he arose out of his chaire and offered the
same to the gentleman in the black beard, with his cap in his
hand. The person to whom he offered the chaire was Sir Edward
Nevill, a comelie knight, that much more resembled the king's
person in that mask than anie other. The King perceiving the
Cardinal so deceived, could not forbear laughing, and pulled
down his visor and Maister Nevill's too."

Sir Edward Nevill of Aldington, in Kent, was the second surviving son of George Nevill, Lord Abergavenny, and the father of Sir Henry Nevill above mentioned, who laid the foundation-stone and built the body and one wing of Billingbear House, which still belongs to his descendant. Sir Edward Nevill was beheaded for high treason in 1538, his likeness to Henry VIII. not saving him from the fate which befell so many of that king's unhappy favourites.

BRATHBROOKE.

Audley End.

* * * * *

MINOR NOTES.

_Whales._--Tychsen thinks the stories of whales mistaken for islands originated in the perplexities of inexperienced sailors when first venturing from {308} the Mediterranean into a sea exposed to the tides. I think Dr. Whewell mentions that in particular situations the turn of the current occurs at a sufficient interval from the time of high or low water to perplex even the most experienced sailors.

F.Q.

_Bookbinding._--While the mischief of _mildew_ on the _inside_ of books has engaged some correspondents to seek for a remedy (Vol. ii., 103. 173.), a word may be put in on behalf of the _outside_, the binding. The present material used in binding is so soft, flabby, and unsound, that it will not endure a week's service. I have seen a bound volume lately, with a name of repute attached to it; and certainly the _workmanship_ is creditable enough, but the _leather_ is just as miserable as any from the commonest workshop. The volume cannot have been bound many months, and yet even now, though in good hands, it is beginning to rub _smooth_, and to look, what best expresses it emphatically, _shabby_, contrasting most grievously with the leather of another volume, just then in use, bound some fifty or seventy years ago, and as sound and firm as a drum's head--_common_ binding too, be it observed--as the modern _cover_ is flabby and washy. Pray, sir, raise a voice against this wretched _material_, for that is the thing in fault, not the workmanship; and if more must be paid for undoctored outsides, let it be so.

NOVUS.

_Scott's Waverley._--Some years ago, a gentleman of my acquaintance, now residing in foreign parts, told me the following story:--

"Once upon a time," the great unknown being engaged in a
shooting-match near his dwelling, it came to pass that all the
gun-wadding was spent, so that he was obliged to fetch _paper_
instead. After Sir Walter had come back, his fellow-shooter
chanced to look at the succedaneum, and was not a little
astonished to see it formed part of a tale written by his
entertainer's hand. By his friend's urgent inquiries, the Scotch
romancer was compelled to acknowledge himself the author, and to
save the well nigh destroyed manuscript of _Waverley_.

I do not know whether Sir Walter Scott was induced by _this_ incident to publish the first of his tales or not; perhaps it occurred after several of his novels had been printed. Now, if any body acquainted with the anecdote I relate should perchance hit upon my endeavour to give it an English garb, he would do me a pleasure by noting down the particulars I might have omitted or mis-stated. I never saw the fact recorded.

JANUS DOUSA.

_Satyavrata._--Mr. Kemble, _Salomon and Saturn_, p. 129., does not seem to be aware that the Satyavrata in question was one of the forgeries imposed on, and afterwards detected, by Wilford.

F.Q.

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QUERIES.

BLACK ROOD OF SCOTLAND.

Can any of your correspondents give me any information on the following points connected with "the Black Rood of Scotland?"

1. What was the history of this cross before it was taken into Scotland by St. Margaret, on the occasion of her marriage with Malcolm, king of Scotland? Did she get it in England or in Germany?

2. What was its size and make? One account describes it as made of gold, and another (_Rites of Durham_, p. 16.) as of silver.

3. Was the "Black Rood of Scotland" the same as the "Holy Cross of Holyrood House?" One account seems to make them the same: for in the _Rites of Durham_, p. 16., we read,--

"At the east end of the south aisle of the choir, was a most
fair rood, or picture of our Saviour, _in silver_, called the
_Black Rood of Scotland_, brought out of Holyrood House by King
David Bruce, and was won at the battle of Durham, with the
picture of our Lady on the one side, and St. John on the other
side, very richly wrought in silver, all three having crowns of
gold," &c. &c.

Another account, in p. 21 of the same work, seems to make them different; for, speaking of the battle of Neville's Cross (18th October, 1346), it says--

"In which said battle a _holy Cross_, which was taken out of
Holyrood House, in Scotland, by King David Bruce, was won and
taken," &c., p. 21.

And adds,--

"In which battle were slain seven earls of Scotland.... and also
lost _the said cross_, and many other most worthy and excellent
jewels ... together with the Black Rood of Scotland (so termed)
with Mary and John, made of silver, being, as it were, smoked
all over," &c., p. 22.

4. If they were the same, how is the legend concerning its discovery by the king, upon Holyrood day, when hunting in a forest near Edinburgh, to be reconciled with the fact of its being taken by St. Margaret into Scotland? If they were not the same, what was the previous history of each, and which was the cross of St. Margaret?

5. How is the account of Simeon of Durham, that the Black Rood was bequeathed to Durham Priory by St. Margaret, to be reconciled with the history of its being taken from the Scotch at the battle of Neville's Cross?

6. May there not be a connexion between the legend of the discovery of the "Holy Cross" between the horns of a wild hart (_Rites of Durham_, p. 21.), and the practice that existed of an offering of a stag annually made, on St. Cuthbert's day, in September, by the Nevilles of Raby, to the Priory of Durham? May it not have been an acknowledgement {309} that the cross won at the battle of Neville's Cross was believed to have been taken by King David from the hart in the forest of Edinburgh? In the "Lament for Robert Neville," called by Surtees "the very oldest rhyme of the North" we read--

"Wel, qwa sal thir hornes blaw
Haly rod thi day?
Nou is he dede and lies law
Was wont to blaw thaim ay."

7. Is it known what became of the "Holy Cross" or "Black Rood" at the dissolution of Durham Priory?

P.A.F.

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

_Trogus Pompeius._--In Hannay and Dietrichsen's _Almanuck for the Year_ 1849, I find the following statement under the head of "Remarkable Occurrences of the Year 1847:"--

"July 21. A portion of the history of Trogus Pompeius (the
author abridged by Justin) is discovered in the library of
Ossolinski at Berlin."

Not having noticed any contemporary account of this occurrence, I should be glad of any information respecting the nature and extent of the discovery.

E.L.N.

_Mortuary Stanzas._--Could any of your readers supply me with information respecting the practice of appending mortuary stanzas to the yearly bills of mortality, published in many parishes; whether there are any extant specimens of such stanzas besides those memorable poems of Cowper written for the parish clerk of Northampton; and whether, also, the practice is still kept up in any parts of the country?

[Greek: Philopatris].

_Laird of Grant._--In the north of England, I have repeatedly heard the _auld wife_ remark, on observing any unwonted act of extravagance, such as burning more than the ordinary number of candles, &c. &c.,--"Who is to be Laird of Grant next year?" As this saying appears to be used only in the north, I have no other medium at present than to seek a reply through the aid of your valuable little work.

SENEX.

[A similar "saw" was formerly current in the metropolis,--"What,
three candles burning! we shall be Lord Mayor next year."]

_Bastille, MS. Records of._--Are there amongst the MSS. of the British Museum any documents relating to spies, or political agents, employed by the French and English governments from 1643 to 1715, who were incarcerated in the Bastille?

M.V.

_Orkney under the Norwegians._--Torfæus (_Orcades_), under the transactions of the year 1430 (p. 182-3.), has an incidental mention of the Orkneys as among the forbidden islands, "vetitæ insulas," of which the commerce was forbidden to strangers, and confined to the mother country, as to this day it is with Denmark and her possessions of the Faroe Islands and Iceland, both mentioned in the paragraph of the historian among the islands whose commerce was restricted. It would be very desirable to know of the social state of Orkney under the government of Norway and its native Jarls of the Norwegian race, and or its connexion with Norway and Denmark; and some of your correspondents may take the trouble to point out sources of information on the subject of this Query.

W.H.F.

Kirkwall

_Swift's Works._--In Wilde's _Closing Years of Dean Swift's Life_ (2d edit. p. 78.) is mentioned an autograph letter from Sir Walter Scott to C.G. Gavelin, Esq., of Dublin, in the MS. library. T.C.D., in which he states he had nothing whatever to do with the publication or revision of the second edition of the _Works of Jonathan Swift_. This does not agree with the statement given in Mr. Lockhart's _Life of Sir Walter Scott_, 2d edit. vol. vii. p. 215. Who was the editor, and in what does the second edition differ from the first?

W.H.F.

"_Pride of the Morning_."--Why is the small rain which falls in the morning, at some seasons of the year, called "the pride of the morning?"

P.H.F.

_Bishop Durdent and the Staffordshire Historians._--It is stated by Sampson Erdeswich, Esq., in his _Survey of Staffordshire_, p. 164, 12mo. 1717, that--

"Not far from Tame, Roger Durdent held Fisherwicke of the
bishop, 24 Ed. I. And 4 Ed. II. Nicholas Durdent was lord of it,
which I suppose was procured to some of his ancestors of the
same name by their kinsman Walter Durdent, Bishop of Litchfield,
in Henry II.'s time."

but no authority is given for this statement.

In Shaw's _History of Staffordshire_, p. 365., fol., 1798, it is further recorded that--

"Walter Durdent, in the beginning of Henry II., appears to have
granted it (Fisherwicke) to some of his relations, for we find
William Durdent of Fisherwicke temp. Henry II.; and in the 40th
of Hen. III. Roger Durdent occurs, who held Fisherwicke of the
bishop, 24 Ed. I. In the 4 Ed. II. Nicholas Durdent was lord of
it."

Shaw refers to Erdeswick, and to the _Annals of Burton Abbey_, p. 364.

In Dr. Harwood's edition of Erdeswick, 8vo., 1844, the same statements are repeated, but no authority is adduced. Could any of your correspondents obligingly furnish me with the original {310} sources of information to which Erdeswick had access, and also with any biographical notices of Bishop Durdent besides those which are recorded in Godwin and Shaw? The bishop had the privilege of coining money. (See Shaw's _Staffordshire_, pp. 233. 265.) Are any of his coins known to numismatists?

F.R.R.

_Pope and Bishop Burgess._--To what passage in Pope's writings does the conclusion of the following extract refer?[1]

"Digammaticæ doctrinæ idem accidit. In his _Popius_ eam in
ludibrium vertit, &c. Sed eximius Poeta neque in veteribus suæ
ipsius linguæ, nedum Græcæ monumentis versatus, tantum scilicet
de antiqua illa litera vidit, quantum _de Shakespearii_
SAGITTARIO."

W.W.

[Footnote 1: 3d ed. of Dawes's _Mis. Critic_, p. xviii, note x.]

_Daniel's Irish New Testament._--F.G.X. will be much obliged for information on the following points:--

1. Which is the most correct edition, as to printing and orthography, of Daniel's Irish New Testament?

2. Does the edition now on sale by the Bible Society bear the character for incorrectness as to these points, which, judged by itself, it appears to deserve, or is it really, though "bad, the best?"

3. F.G.X. is far advanced with an Irish Testament Concordance. Can any one possessed of the requisite information give him hope of the acceptableness of such a publication? He should expect it to be chiefly useful to clerical Irish students in acquiring a knowledge of words and construction; but the lists of Irish Bibles disposed of of late years would lead to the supposition of its being desirable also as pointing out the place of passages to the native reader.

4. Does the Cambridge University Library contain a copy of the first edition of Daniel's translation?

_Ale Draper--Eugene Aram._--In Hargrove's well-known history of Eugene Aram, the hero of Bulwer's still better known novel, one of the guilty associates of the Knaresborough murderer is designated as an "Ale Draper." As this epithet never presented itself in my reading, and as I am not aware that _draper_ properly admits of any other definition than that given by Johnson, "one who deals in cloth," may I ask whether the word was ever in "good use" in the above sense?

My main purpose in writing, is to propound the foregoing Query; but while I have the pen in hand permit me to ask,--

1. Whether it be possible to read the celebrated "defence," so called, which was delivered by Aram on his trial at York, without concurring with the jury in their verdict, and with the judge in his sentence? In short, without a strong feeling that the prisoner would not have been hanged, but for that over-ingenious, and obviously evasive, address, in which the plain averment of "not guilty" does not occur.

2. Has not the literary character, especially the philological attainments, of this noted malefactor been vastly over-rated? And

3. Ought not the "memoirs" of "this great man" by Mr. Scatcherd to be ranked among the most remarkable attempts ever made, and surely made

"--in vain,
To wash the murderer from blood-guilty stain?"

D.

Rotherfield

_Latin Epigram._--Can any of your correspondents inform me who was the author of the following epigram:--

IN MEMORIAM G.B.M.D.

"Te tandem tuus Oreus habet, quo civibus Orei
Gratius haud unquam misit Apollo caput;
Quippe tuo jussu terras liquere, putantque
Tartara se jussu linquere posse tuo."

The person alluded to was Sir W. Browne, M.D., the founder of the Browne medals in the University of Cambridge. Some old fellow of King's College may be able to inform me.

The medals were first given about the year 1780, and in the first year, I presume, out of respect to the memory of the donor, no subject was given for Epigrams. It has occurred to me, that perhaps some wag on that occasion sent the lines as a quiz.

W.S.

Richmond, Surrey

_Couplet in De Foe_--

"Restraint from ill is freedom to the wise,
And good men wicked liberties despise."

This couplet is at the end of the second letter in De Foe's _Great Law of Subordination_, p. 42. Is it his own? If not, where did he get it?

N.B.

_Books wanted to refer to_.--

"Hollard's Travels (1715), by a French Protestant Minister,
afterwards suppressed by the author."

"Thomas Bonnell, Mayor of Norwich, Life of."

"Canterbury, Letters and Memoirs on the Excommunication of two
Heretics, 1698."

"The Book of Seventy-seven French Protestant Ministers,
presented to Will'm III."

If any of your readers can refer me to the above works I shall be glad. They may be in the British Museum, although I have searched there in vain for them.

J.S.B.

_Water-marks in Writing-paper._--Can any of your correspondents indicate any guide to the dating of {311} paper by the water-mark. I think I have read of some work on that subject, but have no precise recollection about it. I have now before me several undated MSS. written on paper of which it would be very desirable to fix the exact date. They evidently belonged to Pope, Swift, and Lady M.W. Montague, as they contain their autographs. They are all of that size called _Pro Patria_, and two of them have as water-mark a figure of Britannia with a lion brandishing a sword within a paling, and the motto _Pro Patria_ over the sword. Of one of these the opposite page has the initials GR, and the other has IX; but the paper has been cut off in the middle of the water-mark and only exhibits half the figure IV. Another sheet has the royal arms (1. England and Scotland impaled, 2. France, 3. Ireland, 4. the white horse of Hanover,) within the garter, and surmounted by the crown, and on the opposite page GR. within a crowned wreath. There is no doubt that they were all manufactured between 1715 and 1740; but is there any means of arriving at a more precise date?

C.

_Puzzling Epitaph._--The following curious epitaph was found in a foreign cathedral:--

EPITAPHIUM.

"O quid tuæ
be est biæ;
ra ra ra
es et in
ram ram ram
ii."

The following is plainly the solution of the last four lines:--

_ra, ra, ra_, is thrice _ra_, i.e. _ter-ra=terra_.
_ram, ram, ram_, is thrice _ram_, i.e. _ter-ram=terram_.
_ii_ is _i_ twice, _i.e. i-bis=ibis_.

Thus the last four lines are,--

"Terra es et in terram ibis."

Can any one furnish a solution of the two first lines?

J. BDN.

[We would suggest that the first two lines are to be read "O
_super_ be, quid _super_ est, tuæ _super_ biæ," and the
epitaph will then be--

"O superbe quid superest tuæ superbiæ
Terra es, et in terram ibis."--ED.]

_MSS. of Cornish Language._--Are there any ancient MSS. of the Cornish language, or are there any works remaining in that language, besides the _Calvary_ and _Christmas Carol_ published by the late Davies Gilbert?

J.A. GILES.

_Bilderdijk the Poet._--Banished from his native country, disowned by his own countrymen, the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk pitched his tent for a while on the hospitable soil of Old England. Prince William V. residing in 1795 at Hampton Court, he resolved to stay there; but, possessing no income at all, and, like the sage of antiquity, having saved nothing from the shipwreck but his genius, he shifted his dwelling-place to London, where he gave lessons in drawing, languages, and various, even medical, sciences. He was married in England to Katharine Wilhelmina Schweickhardt, on the 18th of May, 1797. His residence in the birthplace of "NOTES AND QUERIES" makes me ask, if there be still persons living, who remember him as teacher, friend, or poet? A presentation-copy of Mrs. Bilderdijk's translation of _Rodrick, the Last of the Goths_, was offered to Southey, accompanied by a Latin letter from her spouse. The poet-laureate visiting Leyden in the summer of 1825, Bilderdijk would not suffer him to remain lodged in the inn, where an injury to his leg urged him to favour the landlord with a protracted stay. Southey was transported accordingly to the Dutch poet's house; and did not leave it before he was cured, several weeks having elapsed in the meanwhile. Mention of this fact is made in a poem the British bard addresses to Cuninghame. I do not know whether it is alluded to in Southey's _Life_.

Bilderdijk's foot was crushed accidentally, in the sixth year of his age, by one of his play-fellows; and thus he, who, by his natural disposition seemed to be destined to a military career, was obliged to enlist in the _militia togata_. He fought the good fight in verse. It is remarkable that Byron and Sir Walter Scott, his cotemporaries, were also lame or limping.

JANUS DOUSA.

_Egyptian MSS._--What is the age of the oldest MS. found in Egypt? Are there any earlier than the age of Alexander?

J.A. GILES.

_Scandinavian Priesthood._--Will one of your correspondents do me the favour to let me know the best authority I can refer to for information as to the priesthood of the Scandinavians; the mode of their election, the rank from which they were generally chosen, whether they were allowed to marry, &c.?

MAX BRANDESON.

_Thomas Volusemus (or Wilson?)._--Is anything known of Thomas Volusemus (Wilson?) who edited the works of his father-in-law, Patrick Adamson, titular Archbishop of St. Andrew's, which were published in London A.D. 1619?

H.A.E.

* * * * *

REPLIES.

CURFEW.

We have received the following Replies to NABOC'S inquiry (Vol. ii., p. 103.) as to where the custom of ringing the curfew still remains.

_Bingley in Yorkshire._--In the town of Bingley, {312} in Yorkshire, the custom of ringing the curfew existed in the year 1824. It may have been discontinued since that year, but I do not know that it has.

It is also the custom at Blackburn, in Lancashire; and it was, if it is not now, at Bakewell in Derbyshire.

H.J.

_Bromyard, Herefordshire._--The curfew is still rung at Bromyard, Herefordshire, at nine P.M., from the 5th of November, until Christmas Day; and the bell is afterwards tolled the number of the day of the month. Why it is merely confined to within the above days, I could never ascertain.

G.F.C.

_Waltham-on-the-Wolds._--The curfew is still rung at Waltham-on-the-Wolds, Leicestershire, at five A.M., eight P.M. in summer, and at six A.M., seven P.M. in winter; the bell also tolling the day of the month.

R.J.S.

_Oxfordshire._--I see that NABOC's inquiry about the curfew is answered at p. 175. by a reference to the _Journal of the British Archæological Association_. The list there is probably complete: but lest it should omit any, I may as well mention, from my own knowledge, Woodstock, Oxon, where it rings from eight to half-past eight in the evening, from October to March; Bampton and Witney, Oxon, and Stow, in Gloucester; at some of which places it is also rung at four in the morning.

C.

_Chertsey, Surrey._--In the town of Chertsey in Surrey, the curfew is regularly tolled for a certain time at eight every evening, but only through the winter months. There is also a curious, if not an uncommon, custom kept up with regard to it. After the conclusion of the curfew, and a pause of half a minute, the day of the month is tolled out: one stroke for the 1st, two for the 2nd, and so on.

H.C. DE ST. CROIX.

_Penrith._--The curfew bell continues to be rung at Penrith, in Cumberland, at eight o'clock in the evening, and is the signal for closing shops, &c.

_Newcastle-upon-Tyne._--The curfew is still rung by all the churches of Newcastle-upon-Tyne at eight in the evening; and its original use may be said to be preserved to a considerable extent, for the greater bulk of the shops make it a signal for closing.

G. BOUCHIER RICHARDSON.

_Morpeth._--The curfew bell is still rung at eight P.M. at Morpeth in Northumberland.

E.H.A.

_Exeter._--The curfew is rung in Exeter Cathedral at eight P.M.

The present practice is to toll the bell thirty strokes, and after a short interval to toll eight more; the latter, I presume, denoting the hour.

G.T.

_Winchester._--Curfew is still rung at Winchester.

AN OLD COMMONER PREFECT.

_Over, near Winsford, Cheshire._--The custom of ringing the curfew is still kept up at Over, near Winsford, Cheshire; and the parish church, St. Chads, is nightly visited for that purpose at eight o'clock. This bell is the signal amongst the farmers in the neighbourhood for "looking up" their cattle in the winter evenings; and was, before the establishment of a public clock in the tower of the Weaver Church at Winsford, considered the standard time by which to regulate their movements.

A READER.

[We are indebted to the courtesy of the Editor of the _Liverpool
Albion_ for this Reply, which was originally communicated to
that paper.]

_The Curfew_, of which some inquiries have appeared in the "NOTES AND QUERIES," is generally rung in the north of England. But then it is also common in the south of Scotland. I have heard it in Kelso, and other towns in Roxburghshire. The latter circumstance would appear to prove that it cannot have originated with the Norman conqueror, to whom it is attributed.

W.

* * * * *

ENGELMANNS BIBLIOTHECA SCRIPTORUM CLASSICORUM. (Vol. ii., p. 296.)

The shortest reply to MR. DE MORGAN'S complaint against a foreign bookseller would be, that _Engelmann himself_ printed for any of the purchasers of a large number of his Catalogues the titles to which MR. DE MORGAN objects so much.

Will you allow me to add one or two remarks occasioned by MR. DE MORGAN'S strictures?

1. Engelmann is not, strictly speaking, a bookseller, and his catalogues are not booksellers' catalogues in the sense in which that term is generally received here. He is a publisher and compiler (and an admirable one) of general classified catalogues for the use of the trade and of students, without any reference to his stock, or, in many instances, to the possibility of easily acquiring copies of the books enumerated: and although he _might_ execute an order from his catalogues, getting orders is _not_ the end for which _he_ publishes them.

2. Some foreign houses in London, as well as in other countries, bought a large number of his Catalogues, not as a _book_ but as a _catalogue_, to be supplied to their customers at the bare cost, or, where it appears advisable, to be delivered gratis to purchasers of a certain amount.

3. It appears to me pardonable if, under these circumstances, a notice is inserted on the title, that orders may be directed to the house which has purchased a number, and supplies them without any immediate profit; and I may add that I do {313} not believe any of the houses concerned would object to a notice being taken of such a proceeding in your paper.

4. The error in omitting the words "from 1700" on the title-page, is one to which MR. DE MORGAN'S notice first directed my attention, classics printed before that date not being commonly in demand among foreign booksellers.

5. The practice of compiling catalogues for general use, with the names of the purchasers of any number of copies of the catalogue inserted on the title or wrapper, is very common in Germany.

Hinrichs of Leipsic issues--

1. A Six-monthly Alphabetical Catalogue, with a systematic index;

2. A Quarterly Catalogue, systematically arranged, with an alphabetical index;

Vandenhoeck of Gottigen issues _half-yearly_--

1. A Bibliotheca Medico-Chirurgica et Pharmaceuto-Chemica;

2. A Bibliotheca Theologica, for Protestant theology;

3. A Bibliotheca Classica et Philologica;

4. A Bibliotheca Juridica;

and Engelmann, from time to time, numerous general catalogues;--

all of which are not only supplied to London houses, with English titles, but may be had all over Germany, with the firms of different booksellers inserted as publishers of the catalogue.

Will you make use of the above in any way in which you may think it of advantage to your readers?

ANOTHER FOREIGN BOOKSELLER.

* * * * *

CROZIER AND PASTORAL STAFF.

(Vol. ii., p. 248.)

A correspondent inquires what was the difference between a crozier and a pastoral staff. The crozier (_Crocia_, Mediæval Latin), Fr. _Crosse_, Ital. _Rocco Pastorale_, German. _Bischofstab_, is the ornamental staff used by archbishops and legates, and derives its name from the cross which surmounts it. A crozier behind a pall is borne on the primatial arms of Canterbury. The use of the crozier can only be traced back to the 12th century. _Cavendish_ mentions "two great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his archbishoprick and the other for his legatry, always before" Cardinal Wolsey. The fact did not escape Master _Roy_, who sings thus:--

"Before him rydeth two Prestes stronge,
And they beare two Crosses right longe,
Gapinge in every man's face."

_Hall_ says that he removed from Whitehall "with one cross." In the Eastern Church patriarchs only have a crozier; a patriarch has two transverse bars upon his crozier, the Pope carries three.

The pastoral staff was the ensign of bishops. Honorius describes it as in the form of a shepherd's crook, made of wood or bone, united by a ball of gold or crystal, the lower part of the staff being pointed.

"In Evangelio Dominus Apostolis præcepit, ut in prædcatione
nihil præter virgam tollerent. Et quià Episcopi pastores gregis
Dominici sunt, ideò baculum in custodiâ præferunt: per baculum,
quo infirmi sustentatur, auctoritas doctrinæ designatur; per
virgam, quà improbi emendantur, potestas regiminis figuratur.
Baculum ergò Pontifices portant, ut infirmos in Fide per
doctrinam erigant. Virgam bajulant, ut per potestatem inquietos
corrigant: quæ virga vel baculus est recurvus, ut aberrantes à
grege docendo ad poenitetiam trabat; in extremo est acutus, ut
rebelles excommunicando retrudat; hæreticos, velut lupos, ab
ovili Christi potestativè exterreat."--_In Gemmâ Animæ_, lib. i.
cap. 218, 219., _apud Hitterpium_.

In its primitive form it appears to have been a staff shaped like a T, and used to lean upon. It was gradually lengthened, and in some cases was finished at the top like a mace. The pastoral staff is mentioned in the _Life of S. Cæsarius of Arles_. Gough says that the pastoral staff found in the coffin of Grostete, Bp. of Lincoln, who died in 1254, was made of red wood ending in a rudely shaped ram's horn. It was inscribed:

"Per baculi formam
Prælati discite normam."

In the first prayer-book of the Reformed English Church, 2 Edward VI., at the time of the holy communion the bishop is directed to have "_his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne by his chaplain_." It was used in solemn benedictions; and so lately as at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. The second book of King Edward VI., published A.D. 1552, being revived in that reign, the use of the staff was discontinued, as we find by the consecration service of Archbishop Parker.

"Postq' hæc dixissent, ad reliqua Communionis solemnia permit
Cicestren. nullu. Archie'po tradens Pastorale
baculum."--_Bramhall_, vol. iii. p. 205., Part i. Disc. 5. App.,
Oxon. 1844.

A crozier was borne at the funerals of Brian Duppa, of Winton, A.D. 1662; Juxon of London, 1663; Frewen of York, 1664; Wren of Ely, 1667; Cosin of Dunelm, 1671; Trelawney of Winton, 1721; Lindsay of Armagh, 1724. It is engraven on the monuments of Goodrich of Ely, 1552; Magrath of Cashel, 1622; Hacket of Lichfield, 1670; Creggleton of Wells, Lamplugh of York, 1691; Sheldon, 1677; Hoadley of Winton, and Porteus of London. Their croziers (made of gilt metal) were suspended over the tombs of Morley, 1684, and Mews, 1706. The bishop's staff had its crook bent outwards to signify that his jurisdiction extended over his diocese; that of the abbot inwards, as his authority was limited to his house. The crozier of Matthew Wren was of silver {314} with the head gilt. When Bp. Fox's tomb was opened at Winchester some few years since, his staff of oak was found in perfect preservation. A staff of wood painted in azure and gilt, hangs over Trelawney's tomb in Pelynt Church, Cornwall. The superb staff of the pious and munificent founder of the two St. Marie Winton Colleges is still preserved at Oxford, as is also that of the illustrious Wykehamist, Bp. Fox, to whose devotion we owe Corpus Christi College in that university. One of the earliest tombs bearing a staff incised, is that of Abbot Vitalis, who died in 1082, and may be seen in the south cloister of St. Peter's Abbey in Westminster. There were croziered as well as mitred abbots: for instance, the superior of the Benedictine abbey at Bourges had a right to the crozier, but not to the mitre. The Abbot of Westminster was croziered and mitred. I intended to write a reply, but have enabled with a note.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

7. College Street, Westminster

J.Z.P. will find a fully satisfactory answer to his Query, in regard to the real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff, on referring to the article headed "Crozier," in the _Glossary of Architecture_. It is there stated, that "the crozier of an archbishop is surmounted by a cross; but it was only at a comparatively late time, about the 12th century, that the archbishop laid aside the pastoral staff, to assume the cross as an appropriate portion of his personal insignia." From which it may be inferred, that the only existent real difference between the crozier and the pastoral staff is, that the former is surmounted by a cross, and the latter is as it was before the 12th century, viz., surmounted by "a head curled round something in the manner of a shepherd's crook;" and the difference in regard to their use, that the crozier pertains to the archbishops, and the pastoral staff to the bishops.

R.W. ELLIOT

Cheltenham, Sept. 16. 1850.

* * * * *

PARSONS, THE STAFFORDSHIRE GIANT.

(Vol. ii., p. 135.)

Harwood's note in Erdeswick's _Staffordshire_, quoted by your correspondent C.H.B., is incorrect, inasmuch as the writer has confused the biographies of two distinct "giants"--WALTER PARSONS, porter to King James I., and WILLIAM EVANS, who filled the same office in the succeeding reign.

The best account of these two "worthies" is that found in Fuller, and which I extract from the original edition now before me:--

WALTER PARSONS, born in this county [Staffordshire], was first
apprenticed to a smith, when he grew so tall in stature, that a
hole was made for him in the ground to stand therein up to the
knees, so to make him adequate with his fellow-workmen. He
afterwards was porter to King _James_; seeing as gates generally
are higher than the rest of the building, so it was sightly that
the porter should be taller than other persons. He was
proportionable in all parts, and had strength equal to height,
valour to his strength, temper to his valour, so that he
disdained to do an injury to any single person. He would make
nothing to take two of the tallest _yeomen_ of the _guard_ (like
the _Gizard_ and _Liver_) under his arms at once, and order them
as he pleased.

"Yet were his parents (for aught I do understand to the
contrary) but of an ordinary stature, whereat none will wonder
who have read what _St. Augustine_ (_De Civitate Dei_, lib. xv.
cap. 23.) reports of a woman which came to _Rome_ (a little
before the sacking thereof by the _Goths_), of so giant-like a
height, that she was far above all who saw her, though infinite
troopes came to behold the spectacle. And yet he addeth, _Et hoc
erat maximæ admirationis, quod ambo parentes ejus, &c_. This
made men most admire, that both her parents were but of ordinary
stature. This _Parsons_ is produced for proof, that all ages
afford some of extraordinary height, and that there is no
general decay of mankind in their _dimensions_, which, if there
were, we had ere this time shrunk to be lower than _Pigmyes_,
not to instance in a lesse proportion. This _Parsons_ died Anno
Dom. 1620."--Fuller's _History of the Worthies of England_, 1662
(_Staffordshire_), p. 48.

"WILLIAM EVANS was born in this county [Monmouthshire], and may
justly be accounted the _Giant_ of our age for his stature,
being, full two yards and a half in height. He was porter to
King _Charles I._, succeeding, _Walter Persons_ [sic] in his
place, and exceeding him two inches in height, but far beneath
him in an equal proportion of body; for he was not onely what
the _Latines_ call _compernis_, knocking his knees together, and
going out squalling with his feet, but also haulted a little;
yet made a shift to dance in an antimask at court, where he drew
little Jeffrey, the dwarf, out of his pocket, first to the
wonder, then to the laughter, of the beholders. He dyed _Anno
Dom_. 1630." _Ibid. (Monmouthshire)_, p. 54.

From these extracts it will be seen that the Christian name of Parsons was _Walter_, not William, as stated by Harwood. _William_ was the Christian name of Evans, Parsons' successor. The bas-relief mentioned by the same writer represents William Evans and Jeffrey Hudson, his diminutive fellow-servant. It is over the entrance of _Bull-head Court_, Newgate Street; not "a bagnio-court," which is nonsense. On the stone these words are cut: "The King's Porter, and the Dwarf," with the date 1660. This bas-relief is engraved in Pennant.

There is a picture of Queen Elizabeth's giant porter at Hampton Court but I am not aware that any portrait of Parsons is preserved in the Royal Collections.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * * {315}

EISELL AND WORMWOOD WINE.

(Vol. ii., p. 249.)

If Pepys' friends actually did _drink up_ the two quarts of _wormwood wine_ which he gave them, it must, as LORD BRAYBROOKE suggests, have been rendered more palatable than the _propoma_ which was in use in Shakspeare's time. I have been furnished by a distinguished friend with the following, among other Notes, corroborative of my explanation of _eisell_:

"I have found no better recipe for making wormwood wine than
that given by old Langham in his _Garden of Health_; and as he
directs its use to be confined to 'Streine out a _little_
spoonful, and drinke it with a draught of ale or wine,' I think
it must have been so atrociously unpalatable, that to _drink it
up_, as Hamlet challenged Laertes to do, would have been as
strong an argumentum ad stomachum as to digest a crocodile, even
when appetised by a slice of the loaf."

It is evident, therefore, that but small doses of this nauseously bitter medicament were taken at once, and to take a large draught, _to drink up_ a quantity, "would be an extreme pass of amorous demonstration sufficient, one would think, to have satisfied even Hamlet." Our ancestors seem to have been partial to medicated wines; and it is most probable that the wormwood wine Pepys gave his friends had only a slight infusion of the bitter principle; for we can hardly conceive that such "pottle draughts" as two quarts could be taken as a treat, of such a nostrum as the _Absinthites_, or wormwood wine, mentioned by Stuckius, or that prescribed by the worthy Langham.

S.W. SINGER.

Mickleham, Sept. 30. 1850.

_Eisell_ (Vol. ii., p. 242.).--The attempt of your very learned correspondent, MR. SINGER, to show that "eisell" was _wormwood_, is, I fear, more ingenious than satisfactory. It is quite true that wormwood wine and beer were ordinary beverages, as wormwood bitters are now; but Hamlet would have done little in challenging Laertes to a draught of wormwood. As to "eisell," we have the following account of it in the "Via Recta ad Vitam longam, or a Plaine Philosophical Discourse of the Nature, Faculties, and Effects of all such Things as by way of Nourishments, and Dieteticale Observations make for the Preservation of Health, &c. &c. By Jo. Venner, Doctor of Physicke at Bathe in the Spring and Fall, and at other Times in the Burrough of North-Petherton, neere to the Ancient Haven Towne of Bridgewater in Somersetshire. London, 1620."

"Eisell, or the vinegar which is made of cyder, is also a good
sauce, it is of a very penetrating nature and is like to
verjuice in operation, but it is not so astringent, nor
altogether so cold," p. 97.

J.R.N.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Feltham's Works_ (Vol. ii., p. 133.).--In addition to the works enumerated by E.N.W., Feltham wrote _A Discourse upon Ecclesiastes_ ii. 11.; _A Discourse upon St. Luke_ xiv. 20.; and _A Form of Prayer composed for the Family of the Right Honourable the Countess of Thomond_. These two lists, I believe, comprise the whole of his writings. The meaning of the passage in his _Remarks on the Low Countries_, appears to be this, that a person "courtly or gentle" would receive as little kindness from the inhabitants, and show as great a contrast to their boorishness, as the handsome and docile merlin (which is the smallest of the falcon tribe, anciently denominated "noble"), among a crowd of noisy, cunning, thievish crows; neither remarkable for their beauty nor their politeness. The words "after Michaelmas" are used because "the merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October." _Bewick's British Birds_, vol. i. p. 43.

T.H. KERSLEY.

King William's College, Isle of Man.

_Harefinder_ (Vol. ii., p. 216.).--The following lines from Drayton's _Polyolbion_, Song 23., sufficiently illustrates this term:--

"The man whose vacant mind prepares him to the sport
The _Finder_ sendeth out, to seeke out nimble _Wat_,--
Which crosseth in the field, each furlong every flat,
Till he this pretty beast upon the form hath found:
Then viewing for the course which is the fairest ground,
The greyhounds forth are brought, for coursing then in case,
And, choycely in the slip, one leading forth a brace;
The Finder puts her up, and gives her coursers' law,"
&c.

In the margin, at the second line, are the words, _The Harefinder_. What other instances are there of _Wat_, as a name of the hare? It does not occur in the very curious list in the _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, i. 133.

K.

_Fool or a Physician--Rising and Setting Sun_ (Vol. i., p. 157.).--The inquiry of your correspondent C. FORBES, respecting the authorship of the two well-known sayings on these subjects, seems to have received no reply. He thinks that we owe them both to that "imperial Macchiavel, Tiberius." He is right with respect to the one, and wrong with regard to the other. The saying, "that a man after thirty must be either a fool or a physician," had, as it appears, its origin from Tiberius; but the observation that "more worship the rising than the setting sun," is to be attributed to Pompey.

Tacitus says of Tiberius, that he was "solitus eludere medicorum artes, atque eos qui post tricesimum ætatis annum ad internoscenda corpori {316} suo utilia vel noxia alieni consilia indigerent." _Annal_. vi. 46. Suetonius says: "Valetudine prosperrimâ usus est,--quamvis a tricesimo ætatis anno arbitratu eam suo rexerit, sine adjumento consiliove medicorum." _Tib._ c. 68. And Plutarch, in his precepts _de Valetudine tuendâ_, c. 49., says--

[Greek: "Aekousa Tiberion pote Kaisara eipein, hos anaer huper
hexaekonta [sic vulgò, sed bene corrigit Lipsius ad Tac. loc.
cit. triakonta] gegonos etae, kai proteinon iatro cheira,
katagelastos estin."]

These passages sufficiently indicate the origin of the saying; but who first gave it the pointed form in which we now have it, by coupling _fool_ with _physician_, I am not able to tell.

The authority for giving the other saying to Pompey, is Plutarch, who says that when Pompey, after his return from Africa, applied to the senate for the honour of a triumph, he was opposed by Sylla, to whom he observed, [Greek: "Oti ton aelion anatellonta pleiones ae duomenon proskunousin,"] that more worship the rising than the setting sun--intimating that his own power was increasing, and that of Sylla verging to its fall. (_Vit. Pomp_. c. 22.)

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Sept. 7.

_Papers of Perjury_ (Vol. ii., p. 182.).--In the absence of a "graphic account," it may interest your correspondent S.R. to be referred to the two following instances of "perjurers wearing papers denoting their crime." In _Machyn's Diary_, edited by the accomplished antiquary, John Gough Nichols, Esq., and published by the Camden Society, at p. 104. occurs the following:--

"A.D. 1556, April 28th.... The sam day was sett on the pelere in
Chepe iij. [men; two] was for the preuerment of wyllfull
perjure, the iij. was for wyllfull perjure, with _paper sett
over their hedes_."

In the same works at p. 250., we have also this additional illustration:

"A.D. 1560--I. The xij. day of Feybruary xj. men of the North was
of a quest; because they gayff a wrong evyde [nee, and] thay
ware paper _a-pon their hedes_ for perjure."

J. GOODWIN.

Birmingham.

_Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury._--Being acquainted with the road to which your correspondent S.H. (Vol. ii., p. 237.) alludes, he will, perhaps, allow me to say, that in the neighbourhood of Kemsing a tradition is current, that a certain line of road, which may be traced from Otford to Wrotham, was the pilgrims' road from _Winchester_ to Canterbury. How far this may be correct I know not.

I have not been able to discover any road in the neighbourhood of this city which goes by the name of the _pilgrims'_ road.

If any of your correspondents would furnish any particulars respecting this road, I shall feel much obliged.

R.V.

Winchester.

_Capture of Henry VI._ (Vol. ii., p. 228.).--In his correction of your correspondent, CLERICUS CRAVENSIS, MR. NICHOLS states:--

"Both Sir John Tempest and Sir James Harrington of Brierley,
near Barnesley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each
received 100 marks reward; but the fact of Sir Thomas Talbot
being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the
larger reward of 100l."

In this statement appears entirely to have been overlooked the grant of lands made by King Edward IV. to Sir James Harrington--

"For his services in taking prisoner, and withholding as such in
diligence and valour, his enemy Henry, lately called King Henry
VI."

This grant, which was confirmed in Parliament, embraced the castle, manor, and domain of Thurland; a park, called Fayzet Whayte Park, with lands, &c. in six townships in the county of Lancaster; lands at Burton in Lonsdale, co. York; and Holme, in Kendal, co. Westmoreland, the forfeited lands of Sir Richard Tunstell, and other "rebels." So considerable a recognition of the services of Sir James Harrington would seem to demand something more than the second-rate position given to them by your correspondent. The order to give Sir James Harrington possession of the lands under his grant will be found in Rymer. The grant itself is printed in the _Nugæ Antiquæ_, by Henry Harrington, 1775 (vol. ii. p. 121.), and will, I believe, be found in Baines' _Lancashire_. Mr. Henry Harrington observes that the lands were afterwards lost to his family by the misfortune of Sir James and his brother being on the wrong side at Bosworth Field; after which they were both attainted for serving Richard III. and Edward IV., "and commanding the party which seized Henry VI. and conducted him to the Tower."

H.K.S.C.

Brixton.

_Andrew Becket_ (Vol. ii., p. 266.), about whom A.W. HAMMOND inquires, when I knew him, about twelve years ago, was a strange whimsical old gentleman, full of "odd crotchets," and abounding in theatrical anecdote and the "gossip of the green-room." But as to his ever having been "a _profound_ commentator on the dramatic works of Shakspeare," I must beg leave to express my doubts. At one period he filled the post of sublibrarian to the Prince Regent; and that he was "ardently devoted to the pursuits of literature" cannot be a question.

His published works, as far as I can learn, are as follows:-- {317}

1. A Trip to Holland, 1801.

2. Socrates, a dramatic poem, 8vo. 1806.

3. Lucianus Redivivus, or Dialogues concerning Men, Manners, and
Opinions, 8vo. 1812.

4. Shakspeare's Himself, or the Language of the Poet asserted;
being a full but dispassionate Examin of the Readings and
Interpretations of the several Editors, 2 vols. 8vo. 1815.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Passage in Vida_ (Vol. i., p. 384.).--Your correspondent A.W. asks for some light on the lines of Vida, _Christiad_, i. 67.:

"Quin age, te incolumi potius....
...
Perficias quodcumque tibi nunc instat agendum."

He cannot construe "te incolumi." No wonder. Will not all be set right by reading, "Quin age, et incolumi," &c.?

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Sept. 7.

"_Quem Deus vult perdere_" (Vol. i., p. 347., &c.).--To the illustrations of the saying "_Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat_," which have been given, may be added the following from the _Fragments of Constantinus Manasses_ (edited with _Nicet. Eugen_., by Boissonade. Paris, 1819), book viii. line 40.:--

[Greek: "Ho gar theos aptomenos anthropou dianoias
Haenika to dusdaimoni kirnaesi penthous poma,
Ouden pollakis sugchorei bouleusasthai sumpheron."]

J.E.B. MAYOR.

Marlborough College.

_Countess of Desmond_ (Vol. ii., pp. 153. 186.).--R. is referred to Smith's _History of Cork_, and _European Magazine_, vol. viii., for particulars respecting the Countess of Desmond. They show her picture at Knowle House, Kent, or Penshurst (I forget which); and tell the story of the fall from the cherry (or plum) tree, adding that she cut three sets of teeth!

WEDSECNARF.

_Confession_ (Vol. ii., p. 296.).--The name asked for by U.J.B. of the Catholic priest, who, sooner than break the seal of confession, suffered death, is John of Nepomuc, Canon of Prague. By order of the Emperor Wenceslas, he was thrown off a bridge into the Muldaw, because he would not tell that profligate prince the confession of his religious empress. This holy man is honoured as St. John Nepomucen on the 16th of May, in the kalendar of Saints.