Chapter III: Part 3

_Cold Harbour._--The goldfinches which have remained among the valleys of the Brighton Downs during the winter are called, says Mr. {341} Knox, by the catchers, "harbour birds, meaning that they have sojourned or harboured, as the local expression is, here during the season." Does not this, with the fact of a place in Pembroke being called Cold Blow, added to the many places with the prefix Cold, tend to confirm the supposition that the numerous cold harbours were places of protection against the winter winds?

A.C.

With regard to Cold Harbour (supposed "Coluber," which is by no means satisfactory), it may be worth observing that Cold is a common prefix: thus there is Cold Ashton, Cold Coats, Cold or Little Higham, Cold Norton, Cold Overton, Cold Waltham, Cold St. Aldwins, --coats, --meere, --well, --stream, and several _cole_, &c. Cold peak is a hill near Kendall. The latter suggests to me a _Query_ to genealogists. Was the old baronial name of Peche, Pecche, of Norman origin as in the Battle Roll? From the fact of the Peak of Derby having been Pech-e _ante_ 1200, I think this surname must have been local, though it soon became soft, as appears from the rebus of the Lullingstone family, a peach with the letter e on it. I do not think that _k_ is formed to similar words in Domesday record.

Caldecote, a name of several places, may require explanation.

AUG. CAMB.

I beg to give you the localities of two "Cold Harbours:" one on the road from Uxbridge to Amersham, 191/2 miles from London (see Ordnance Map 7.); the other on the road from Chelmsford to Epping, 131/2 miles from the former place (see Ordnance Map No. 1. N.W.).

DISS.

There are several Cold Harbours in Sussex, in Dallington, Chiddingly, Wivelsfield, one or two in Worth, one S.W. of Bignor, one N.E. of Hurst Green, and there may be more.

In Surrey there is one in the parish of Bletchingley.

WILLIAM FIGG.

There is a farm called Cold Harbour, near St. Albans, Herts.

S.A.

After the numerous and almost tedious theories concerning Cold Harbours, particularly the "forlorn hope" of the _Coal Depots_ in London and elsewhere, permit me to suggest one of almost universal application. Respecting _here-burh_, an inland station for an army, in the same sense as a "harbour" for ships on the sea-coast, a word still sufficiently familiar and intelligible, the question seems to be settled; and the French "auberge" for an inn has been used as an illustration, though the first syllable may be doubtful. The principal difficulty appears to consist in the prefix "Cold;" for why, it may be asked, should a bleak and "cold" situation be selected as a "harbour"? The fact probably is that this spelling, however common, is a corruption for "COL.". Colerna, in Wiltshire, fortunately retains the original orthography, and in Anglo-Saxon literally signifies the habitation or settlement of a colony; though in some topographical works we are told that it was formerly written "Cold Horne," and that it derives its name from its bleak situation. This, however, is a mere coincidence; for some of these harbours are in warm sheltered situations. Sir R.C. Hoare was right when he observed, that these "harbours" were generally near some Roman road or Roman settlement. It is therefore wonderful that it should not at once occur to every one conversant with the Roman occupation of this island, that all these "COL-harbours" mark the settlements, farms, outposts, or garrisons of the Roman colonies planted here.

J.I.

Oxford.

_Cold Harbour._--Your correspondent asks whether there is a "Cold Harbour" in every county, &c. I think it probable, though it may take some time to catalogue them all. There are so many in some counties, that ten on an average for each would in all likelihood fall infinitely short of the number. The Roman colonists must have formed settlements in all directions during their long occupation of so favourite a spot as Britain. "Cold Harbour Farm" is a very frequent denomination of insulated spots cultivated from time immemorial. These are not always found in _cold_ situations. Nothing is more common than to add a final _d_, unnecessarily, to a word or syllable, particularly in compound words. Instances will occur to every reader, which it would be tedious to enumerate.

J.I.

After reading the foregoing communications on the subject of the
much-disputed etymology of COLD HARBOUR, our readers will probably
agree with us in thinking the following note, from a very distinguished
Saxon scholar, offers a most satisfactory solution of the question:--

With reference to the note of G.B.H. (Vol. i, p. 60.) as well as to the very elaborate letter in the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries" (the paper in the _Archaeologia_ I have not seen), I would humbly suggest the possibility, that the word _Cold_ or _Cole_ may originally have been the Anglo-Saxon Col, and the entire expression have designated _a cool summer residence_ by a river's side or on an eminence; such localities, in short, as are described in the "Proceedings" as bearing the name of Cold Harbour.

The denomination appears to me evidently the modern English for the A.-S. Col Hereberg. Colburn, Colebrook, Coldstream, are, no doubt, analagous denominations.

[Greek: PH.]

* * * * * {342}

ST. UNCUMBER.

(Vol. ii., p. 286.)

PWCCA, after quoting from Michael Wodde's _Dialogue or Familiar Talke_ the passage in which he says, "If a wife were weary of her husband _she offred otes at Paules_ in London to St. Uncumber," asks "who St. Uncumber was?"

St. Uncumber was one of those popular saints whose names are not to be found in any calendar, and whose histories are now only to be learned from the occasional allusions to them to be met with in our early writers,--allusions which it is most desirable should be recorded in "NOTES AND QUERIES." The following cases, in which mention is made of this saint, are therefore noted, although they do not throw much light on the history of St. Uncumber.

The first is from Harsenet's _Discoverie, &c._, p.l34.:

"And the commending himselfe to the tuition of S. Uncumber, or els our blessed Lady."

The second is from Bale's _Interlude concerning the Three Laws of Nature, Moses, and Christ_:

"If ye cannot slepe, but slumber,
Geve _Otes_ unto Saynt Uncumber,
And Beanes in a certen number
Unto Saynt Blase and Saynt Blythe."

I will take an early opportunity of noting some similar allusions to Sir John Shorne, St. Withold, &c.

WILLIAM J. THOMS.

* * * * *

HANDFASTING.

(Vol. ii., p. 282.)

JARLTZBRG, in noticing this custom, says that the Jews seem to have had a similar one, which perhaps they borrowed from the neighbouring nations; at least the connexion formed by the prophet Hosea (chap. iii., v. 2.) bears strong resemblance to _Handfasting_. The 3rd verse in Hosea, as well as the 2nd, should I think be referred to. They are both as follows:

"So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer
of barley, and an half homer of barley: and I said unto her, Thou shalt
abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt
not be for another man; so will I also be for thee."

Now by consulting our most learned commentators upon the meaning which they put upon these two verses in connexion with each other, I cannot think that the analogy of JARLTZBERG will be found correct. In allusion to verse 2, "so I bought her," &c., Bishop Horsley says:

"This was not a payment in the shape of a dowry; for the woman was his
property, if he thought fit to claim her, _by virtue of the marriage
already had_; but it was a present supply of her necessary wants, by
which he acknowledged her as his wife, and engaged to furnish her with
alimony, not ample indeed, but suitable to the recluse life which he
prescribed to her."

And in allusion, in verse 3., to the words "Thou shall abide for me many days," Dr. Pocock thus explains the context:

"That is, thou shalt stay sequestered, and as in a state of widowhood,
till the time come that I shall be fully reconciled to thee, and shall
see fit again to receive thee to the privileges of a wife."

Both commentators are here evidently alluding to what occurs after a marriage has actually taken place. Handfasting takes place before a marriage is consummated.

A chapter upon marriage contracts and ceremonies would form an important and amusing piece of history. I have not Picart's _Religious Ceremonies_ at hand, but if I mistake not he refers to many. In Marco Polo's _Travels_, I find the following singular, and to a Christian mind disgusting, custom. It is related in section l9.:--

"These twenty days journey ended, having passed over the province of
Thibet, we met with cities and many villages, in which, through the
blindness of idolatry, a wicked custom is used; for no man there
marrieth a wife that is a virgin; whereupon, when travellers and
strangers, coming from other places, pass through this country and
pitch their pavilions, the women of that place having marriageable
daughters, bring them unto strangers, desiring them to take them and
enjoy their company as long as they remain there. Thus the handsomest
are chosen, and the rest return home sorrowful, and when they depart,
they are not suffered to carry any away with them, but faithfully
restore them to their parents. The maiden also requireth some toy or
small present of him who hath deflowered her, which she may show as an
argument and proof of her condition; and she that hath been loved and
abused of most men, and shall have many such favours and toys to show
to her wooers, is accounted more noble, and may on that account be
advantageously married; and when she would appear most honourably
dressed, she hangs all her lovers' favours about her neck, and the more
acceptable she was to many, so much the more honour she receives from
her countrymen. But when they are once married, they are no more
suffered to converse with strange men, and men of this country are very
cautious never to offend one another in this matter."

J.M.G.

Worcester, Oct. 1850.

The curious subject brought forward by J.M.G. under this title, and enlarged upon by JARLTZBERG (Vol. ii., p. 282.), leads me to trouble you with this in addition. Elizabeth Mure, according to the _History and Descent of the House of Rowallane_ by Sir William Mure, was made choyce of, for her excellent beautie and rare virtues, by King Robert II., to be Queen of Scotland; and if their union may be considered to illustrate in any way the singular custom of _Handfasting_, it will be seen {343} from the following extract that they were also married by a priest:--

"Mr. Johne Lermonth, chapline to Alexander Archbishop of St. Andrews,
hath left upon record in a deduction of the descent of the House of
Rowallane collected by him at the command of the said Archbishop (whose
interest in the familie is to be spoken of heirafter), that Robert,
Great Stewart of Scotland, having taken away the said Elizabeth Mure,
drew to Sir Adam her father ane instrument that he should take her to
his lawful wife, (which myself hath seen saith the collector), as also
ane testimonie written in latine by Roger Mc Adame, priest of our Ladie
Marie's chapel (in Kyle), that the said Roger maried Robert and
Elizabeth forsds. But yrafter durring the great troubles in the reign
of King David Bruce, to whom the Earl of Rosse continued long a great
enemie, at perswasion of some of the great ones of the time, the Bishop
of Glasgow, William Rae by name, gave way that the sd marriage should
be abrogate by transaction, which both the chief instrument, the Lord
Duglasse, the Bishope, and in all likelihood the Great Stewart himself,
repented ever hereafter. The Lord Yester Snawdoune, named Gifford, got
to wife the sd Elizabeth, and the Earl of Rosse's daughter was maried
to the Great Stewart, which Lord Yester and Eupheme, daughter to the
Earle of Rosse, departing near to one time, the Great Stewart, being
then king, openly acknowledged the first mariage, and invited home
Elizabeth Mure to his lawfull bed, whose children shortlie yrafter the
nobility did sweare in parliament to maintaine in the right of
succession to the croune as the only lawfull heirs yrof."

"In these harder times shee bare to him Robert (named Johne
Fairneyear), after Earle of Carrick, who succeeded to the croune;
Robert, after Earl of Fyffe and Maneteeth, and Governour; and
Alexander, after Earle of Buchane, Lord Badyenoch; and daughters, the
eldest maried to Johne Dumbar, brother to the Earl of March, after
Earle of Murray, and the second to Johne the Whyt Lyon, progenitor of
the House of Glames, now Earle of Kinghorn."

So much for the marriage of Elizabeth Mure, as given by the historian of the House of Rowallane. Can any of your readers inform me whether Elizabeth had any issue by her second husband, Lord Yester Snawdoune? If so, there would be a relationship between Queen Victoria and the Hays, Marquesses of Tweeddale, and the Brouns, Baronets of Colstoun. One of the latter family received as a dowry with a daughter of one of the Lords Yester the celebrated WARLOCK PEAR, said to have been enchanted by the necromancer Hugo de Gifford, who died in 1267, and which is now nearly six centuries old. In the _Lady of the Lake_, James Fitz-James is styled by Scott "Snawdon's knight;" but why or wherefore does not appear, unless Queen Elizabeth Mure had issue by Gifford. Robert II. was one of three Scottish kings in succession who married the daughters of their own subjects, and those only of the degree of knights; namely, David Bruce, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Loggie; Robert II., who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Adam Mure; and Robert III., who married Annabell, daughter to Sir John Drummond of Stobhall.

SCOTUS.

* * * * *

GRAY'S ELEGY.--DRONING.--DODSLEY'S POEMS.

(Vol. ii., pp. 264. 301.)

I only recur to the subject of Gray's Elegy to remark, that although your correspondents, A HERMIT AT HAMPSTEAD, and W.S., have given me a good deal of information, for which I thank them, they have not answered either of my Queries.

I never doubted as to the true reading of the third line of the second stanza of Gray's Elegy, but merely remarked that in one place the penultimate word was printed _drony_, and other authorities _droning_. With reference to this point, what I wanted to know was merely, whether, in any good annotated edition of the poem, it had been stated that when Dodsley printed it in his _Collection of Poems_, 1755, vol. iv., the epithet applied to flight was _drony_, and not _droning_? I dare say the point has not escaped notice; but if it have, the fact is just worth observation.

Next, any doubt is not at all cleared up respecting the date of publication of Dodsley's Collection. The Rev. J. Mitford, in his Aldine edition of Gray, says (p. xxxiii.) that the first three volumes came out in 1752, whereas my copy of "the _second edition_" bears the date of 1748. Is that the true date, or do editions vary? If the second edition came out in 1748, what was the date of the first edition? I only put this last question because, as most people are aware, some poems of note originally appeared in Dodsley's _Collection of Poems_, and it is material to ascertain the real year when they first came from the press.

THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT.

* * * * *

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

_Zuendnadel Guns_ (Vol. ii., p. 247.).--JARLTZBERG "would like to know when and by whom they were invented, and their mechanism."

To describe mechanism without diagrams is both tedious and difficult; but I shall be happy to show JARLTZBRG one of them in my possession, if he will favour me with a call,--for which purpose I inclose my address, to be had at your office. The principle is, to load at the breach, and the cartridge contains the priming, which is ignited by the action of a pin striking against it. It is one of the worst of many methods of loading at the breach; and the same principle was patented in England by A.A. Moser, a German, more than ten years ago. {344}

It has already received the attention of our Ordnance department, and has been tried at Woolwich. The letter to which JARTZBERG refers, dated Berlin, Sept. 11., merely shows the extreme ignorance of the writer on such subjects, as the range he mentions has nothing whatever to do with the principle or mechanism of the gun in question. He ought also, before he expressed himself so strongly, to have known, that the extreme range of an English percussion musket is nearer _one mile_ than _150 yards_ (which latter distance, he says, they do not exceed) and he would not have been so astonished at the range of the Zuendnadel guns being 800 yards, if he had seen, as I have, a plain English two-grooved rifle range 1200 yards, with a proper elevation for the distance, and a conical projectile instead of a ball.

The form and weight of the projectile fired from rifle, at a considerable elevation, say 25º to 30º, with sufficient charge of gunpowder, is the cause of the range and of the accuracy, and has nothing whatever to do with the construction or means by which it is fired, whether flint or percussion. The discussion of this subject is probably unsuited to your publication, or I could have considerably enlarged this communication. I will, however, simply add, that the Zuendnadel is very liable to get out of order, much exposed to wet, and that it does not in reality possess any of the wonderful advantages that have been ascribed to it, except a facility of loading, _while clean_, which is more than counterbalanced by its defects.

HENRY WILKINSON.

_Thomson of Esholt_ (Vol. ii., p. 268.).--Dr. Whitaker tells us (Ducatus, ii. 202.) that the dissolved priory of Essheholt was, in the 1st Edw. VI., granted to Henry Thompson, Gent., one of the king's _gens d'armes_ at Bologne. About a century afterwards the estate passed to the more ancient and distinguished Yorkshire family of Calverley, by the marriage of the daughter and heir of Henry Thompson, Esq., with Sir Walter Calverley. If your correspondent JAYTEE consult Sims's useful _Index to the Pedigrees and Arms contained in the Genealogical MSS. in the British Museum_, he will be referred to several pedigrees of the family of Thomson of Esholt. Of numerous respectable families of the name of Thompson seated in the neighbourhood of York, the common ancestor seems to have been a James Thompson of Thornton in Pickering Lythe, who flourished in the reign of Elizabeth. (Vice Poulson's _Holderess_, vol. ii. p. 63.) All these families bear the arms described by your correspondent, but _without_ the bend sinister. The crest they use is also nearly the same, viz., an armed arm, embowed, grasping a broken tilting spear.

No general collection of Yorkshire genealogies has been published. Information as to the pedigrees of Yorkshire families must be sought for in the well-known topographical works of Thoresby Whitaker, Hunter, &c., or in the MS. collections of Torre, Hopkinson, &c.

In the _Monasticon Eboracense_, by John Burton M.D., fol., York, 1778, under the head of "Eschewolde, Essold, Esscholt, or Esholt, in Ayredale in the Deanry of the Ainsty," at pp. 139. and 140., your correspondent JAYTEE will find that the site of this priory was granted, 1 Edward VI., 1547, to Henry Thompson, one of the king's _gens d'armes_, at Boleyn; who, by Helen, daughter of Laurence Townley, had a natural son called William, living in 1585 who, assuming his father's surname, and marrying Dorothy, daughter of Christopher Anderson of Lostock in com. Lanc. prothonotary became the ancestor of those families of the Thompsons now living in and near York. He may see also Burke's _Landed Gentry_, article "Say of Tilney, co. Norfolk," in the supplement.

_Minar's Books of Antiquities_ (Vol. i., p. 277.).--A.N. inquires who is intended by Cusa in his book _De Docta Ignorantia_, cap. vii., where he quotes "Minar in his _Books of Antiquities_." Upon looking into the passage referred to, I remembered the following observation by a learned writer now living, which will doubtless guide your correspondent to the author intended:--

"On the subject of the imperfect views concerning the Deity,
entertained by the ancient philosophical sects, I would especially
refer to that most able and elaborate investigation of them, Meiner's
very interesting tract, _De Vero Deo._"--(An Elementary Course of
Theological Lectures, delivered in Bristol College, 1831-1833, by the
Rev. W.D. Conybeare, now the Very Rev. the Dean of Llandaff. )

A.N. will not be surprised at Cusa Using the term "antiquitates" instead of "De Vero Deo," if he will compare his expressions on the same subject in his book _De Venatione Sapientiae_, e.g.:--

"Vides nunc aeternum illud _antiquissimum_ in eo campo (scilicet non
aliud) dulcissima venatione quaeri posse. Attingis enim _antiquissimum_
trinum et unum."--Cap. xiv.

T.J.

_Smoke Money_ (Vol. ii., pp. 120. 174.).--Sir Roger Twisden (_Historical Vindication of the Church of England_, chap. iv. p. 77.) observes--

"King Henry, 1533/4, took them (Peter's pence) so absolutely away, as
though Queen Mary repealed that Act, and Paulus Quartus dealt earnestly
with her agents in Rome for restoring the use of them, yet I cannot
find that they were ever gathered and sent thither during her time but
where some monasteries did answer them to the Pope, and did therefore
collect the tax, that in process of time became, as by custom, paid to
that house which being after derived to the crown, and from thence, by
grant, to others, with as ample {345} profits as the religious persons
did possess them, I conceive they are to this day paid as an appendant
to the said manors, by the name of _Smoke Money_.

J.B.

_Smoke Money_ (Vol. ii., pp. 120, 269.).--I do not know whether any additional information on _smoke money_ is required but the following extracts may be interesting to your Querist:--

"At this daie the Bp. of Elie hath out of everie parish in
Cambridgeshire a certeine tribute called Elie Farthings, or _Smoke
Farthings_, which the church-wardens do levie, according to the number
of houses or else of chimneys that be in a parish."--MSS, Baker, xxix.
326.

The date of this impost is given in the next extract:--

"By the records of the Church of Elie, it appears that in the year
1154, every person who kept a fire in the several parishes within that
diocese was obliged to pay one farthing yearly to the altar of S.
Peter, in the same cathedral."--MSS. Bowtell, Downing Coll. Library.

This tax was paid in 1516, but how much later I cannot say.

The readers of Macaulay will be familiar with the term "heart-money" (_History_, vol. i. p. 283.), and the amusing illustrations he produces, from the ballads of the day, of the extreme unpopularity of the tax on chimneys, and the hatred in which the "chimney man" was held (i. 287.) but this was a different impost frown that spoken of above, and paid to the king, not to the cathedral. It was collected for the last time in 1690, having been first levied in 1653, when, Hume tells us, the king's debts had become so--

"Intolerable, that the Commons were constrained to vote him an
extraordinary supply of 1,200,000l., to be levied by eighteen months'
assessment, and finding upon enquiry that the several branches of the
revenue fell much short of the sums they expected, they at last, after
much delay, voted _a new imposition of 2s. on each hearth_, and this
tax they settled on the king during his life."

The Rev. Giles Moore, Rector of Horstead Keynes, Sussex, notes in his _Diary_ (published by the Sussex Archaeological Society),--

August 18, 1663.--I payed fore 1 half yeares earth-money 3s.

Other notices of this payment may be supplied by other correspondents.

E. VENABLES.

_Holland Land_ (Vol. ii., p. 267.).--Holland means _hole_ or _hollow land_--land lower than the level of contiguous water, and protected by _dykes_. So _Holland_, one of the United Provinces; so _Holland_, the southern division of Lincolnshire.

C.

_Caconac, Caconacquerie_ (Vol. ii., p. 267.).--This is a misprint of yours, or a misspelling of your correspondents. The word is _cacouac, cacouacquerie_. It was a cant word used by Voltaire and his correspondents to signify an _unbeliever_ in Christianity, and was, I think, borrowed from the name of some Indian tribe supposed to be in a natural state of freedom and exemption from prejudice.

C.

_Discourse of National Excellencies of England_ (Vol. ii., p. 248.).--_A Discourse of the National Excellencies of England_ was not written by Sir Rob. Howard, but by RICHARD HAWKINS, Whose name appears at length in the title-page to some copies; others have the initials only.

P.B.

_Saffron Bags_ (Vol. ii., p. 217.).--In almost all old works on Materia Medica the use of these bags is mentioned. Quincy, in his _Dispensatory_, 1730, p. 179., says:--

"Some prescribe it (saffron) to be worn with camphire in a bag at the
pit of the stomach for _melancholy_; and others affirm that, so used,
it will cure agues."

Ray observes (_Cat. Plant. Angl._, 1777, p. 84.):

"Itemque in sacculo suspenditur sub mento vel gutture ad dissipandam
sc. materiam putridam et venenatam, ne ibidem stagnans, inflammationen
excitet, aegrotumque strangulet."

The origin of the "saffron bag", is probably to be explained by the strong aromatic odour of saffron, and the high esteem in which it was once held as a medicine; though now it is used chiefly as a colouring ingredient and by certain elderly ladies, with antiquated notions, as a specific for "striking out" the measles in their grandchildren.

[Hebrew: t. a.]

_Milton's "Penseroso"_ (Vol. ii, p. 153.).--H.A.B. desires to understand the couplet--

"And love the high embower'd roof,
With antique pillars massy proof."

He is puzzled whether to consider "proof" an adjective belonging to "pillars," or a substantive in apposition with it. All the commentators seem to have passed the line without observation. I am almost afraid to suggest that we should read "pillars'" in the genitive plural, "proof" being taken in the sense of _established strength_.

Before dismissing this conjecture, I have taken the pains to examine every one of the twenty-four other passages in which Milton has used the word "proof." I find that it occurs only four times as an adjective in all of which it is followed by something dependent upon it. In three of than thus:

"---- not proof
Against temptation."--_Par. L._ ix. 298.

"---- proof 'gainst all assaults."--_Ib._ x. 88.

"Proof against all temptation."--_Par. R._ iv. 533.

In the fourth, which is a little different, thus:

"---- left some part
Not proof enough such object to sustain."
_Par. L._ viii. 5S5.

{346} As Milton, therefore, has in no other place used "proof" as an adjective without something attached to it, I feel assured that he did not use it as an adjective in the passage in question.

J.S.W.

Stockwell, Sept. 7.

_Achilles and the Tortoise_ (Vol. ii., p. l54.).--[Greek: Idiotes] will find the paradox of "Achilles and the Tortoise" explained by Mr. Mansel of St. John's College, Oxon, in a note to his late edition of Aldrich's _Logic_ (1849, p. 125.). He there shows that the fallacy is a material one: being a false assumption of the major premise, viz., that the sum of an infinite series is itself always infinite (whereas it may be finite). Mansel refers to Plato, _Parmenid._ p. 128. [when will editors learn to specify the editions which they use?] Aristot. _Soph. Eleuctr._ 10. 2. 33. 4., and Cousin, _Nouveaux Fragments, Zenon d'Elee._

T.E.L.L.

_Stepony Ale_ (Vol. ii., p. 267.).--The extract from Chamberlayne certainly refers to ale brewed at _Stepney._ In Playford's curious collection of old popular tunes, the _English Dancing Master_, 1721, is one called "Stepney Ale and Cakes;" and in the works of Tom Brown and Ned Ward, other allusions to the same are to be found.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_North Side of Churchyards_ (Vol. ii., p. 253.).--In reference to the north region being "the devoted region of Satan and his hosts," Milton seems to have recognised the doctrine when he says--

"At last,
Far in the horizon to the north appear'd
From skirt to skirt a fiery region, stretched
In battailous aspect, and nearer view
Bristled with upright beams innumerable
Of rigid spears, and helmets throng'd, and shields
Various, with boastful argument pourtray'd,
The banded powers of Satan hasting on
With furious expedition."--Book vi.

F.E.

_Welsh Money_ (Vol. ii., p. 231.).--It is not known that the Welsh princes ever coined any money: none such has ever been discovered. If they ever coined any, it is almost impossible that it should all have disappeared.

GRIFFIN.

_Wormwood_ (Vol. ii., pp. 249. 315.).--The French gourmands have two sorts of liqueur flavoured with wormwood; Creme d'Absinthe, and Vermouthe. In the _Almanac des Gourmands_ there is a pretty account of the latter, called the _coup d'apres._ In the south of France, I think, they say it is the fashion to have a glass brought in towards the end of the repast by girls to refit the stomach.

C.B.

_Puzzling Epitaph_ (Vol. ii., p. 311.).--J. BDN has, I think, not given this epitaph quite correctly. The following is as it appeared in the _Times_, 20th Sept., 1828 (copied from the _Mirror_). It is stated to be in a churchyard in Germany:--

"O quid tua te
be bis bia abit
ra ra ra
es
et in
ram ram ram
i i
Mox eris quod ego nunc."
The reading is--

"O superbe quid superbis? tua superbia te superabit. Terra es et in terram ibis. Mox eris quod ego nunc."

E.B. PRICE.

October 14. 1850.

[The first two lines of this epitaph, and many similar specimens of
learned trifling, will be found in _Les Bigarrures et Touches de
Seigneur des Accords,_ cap. iii., _autre Facons de Rebus_, p. 35., ed.
1662.]

_Umbrella_ (Vol. ii., pp. 25. 93.).--In the collection of pictures at Woburn Abbey is a full-length portrait of the beautiful Duchess of Bedford, who afterwards married the Earl of Jersey, painted about the year 1730. She is represented as attended by a black servant, who holds an open umbrella to shade her.

Cowper's "Task," published in 1784, twice mentions the umbrella:

"We bear our shades about us; self-deprived
Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread,
And range an Indian waste without a tree."
Book i.

In book iv., the description of the country girl, who dresses above her condition, concludes with the following lines--

"Expect her soon with footboy at her heels,
No longer blushing for her awkward load,
Her train and her umbrella all her care."

In both these passages of Cowper, the umbrella appears to be equivalent to what would now be called a parasol.

L.

_Pope and Bishop Burgess_ (Vol. ii., p. 310.).--The allusion is to the passage in _Troilus and Cressida_:

"The dreadful sagitary appals our numbers."

which Theobald explained from Caxton, but Pope did not understand.

C.B.

[Not the only passage in Shakspeare which Theobald explained and Pope
did not understand; but more of this hereafter.]

_Book of Homilies_ (Vol. ii., p. 89.).--Allow me to inform B. that the early edition of Homilies {347} referred to in his Query was compiled by Richard Taverner, and consists of a series of "postils" on the epistles and gospels throughout the year. It appears to have been first printed in 1540 (_Ames_, i. 407.), and was republished in 1841, under the editorial care of Dr. Cardwell.

C.H.

St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.

_Roman Catholic Theology_ (Vol. ii., p. 279.).--I beg to refer M.Y.A.H. to the _Church History of England_ by Hugh Tootle, better known by his pseudonyme of Charles Dod (3 vols. folio, Brussels, 1737-42). A very valuable edition of this important work was commenced by the Rev. M.A. Tierney; but as the last volume (the fifth) was published so long ago as 1843, and no symptom of any other appears, I presume that this extremely curious book has, for some reason or other, been abandoned. Perhaps the well-known jealousy of the censor may have interfered.

A useful manual of Catholic bibliography exists in the _Thesaurus Librorum Rei Catholicae_, 8vo. Wuerzburg, 1850.

G.R.

_Modum Promissionis_ (Vol. ii., p. 279.).--Without the context of the passage adduced by C.W.B., it is impossible to speak positively as to its precise signification. I think, however, the phrase is equivalent to "formula professionis monasticae." _Promissio_ frequently occurs in this sense, as may be seen by referring to Ducange (s.v.).

C.H.

_Bacon Family_ (Vol. ii., p. 247.).--The name of Bacon has been considered to be of Norman origin, arising from some fief so called.--See _Roman de Rose_, vol. ii. p. 269.

X.P.M.

_Execution of Charles I. and Earl of Stair_ (Vol. ii., pp. 72. 140. 158.).--MATFELONENSIS speaks too fast when he says that "no mention occurs of the Earl of Stair." I distinctly recollect reading in an old life of the Earl of Stair an account of his having been sent for to visit a mysterious person of extreme old age, who stated that he was the earl's ancestor (grandfather or great-grandfather, but whether paternal or not I do not remember), and that he had been the executioner of Charles I.

T.N.

[The story to which our correspondent alludes is, probably, that quoted
in Cecil's (Hone's) _Sixty Curious and Authentic Narratives_, pp.
138-140., from the _Recreations of a Man of Feeling_. The peerage and
the pedigree of the Stair family alike prove that there is little
foundation for this ingenious fiction.]

_Water-marks on Writing-paper_ (Vol. ii., p. 310.).--On this subject C., will, I think, find all the information he seeks in a paper published in the _Aldine Magazine_, (Masters, Aldersgate-st., 1839). This paper is accompanied by engravings of the ancient water-marks, as well as those of more modern times, and enters somewhat largely into the question of how far water-marks may be considered as evidence of precise dates. They are not always to be relied upon, for in December, 1850, there will doubtless be thousands of reams of paper issued and in circulation, bearing the date of 1851, unless the practice is altered of late years. Timperley's _Biographical, Chronological, and Historical Dictionary_ is much quoted on the subject of "Water-marks."

E.B. PRICE.

_St. John Nepomuc_ (Vol. ii., pp. 209. 317.).--The statues in honour of this Saint must be familiar to every one who has visited Bohemia, as also the spot of his martyrdom at Prague, indicated by some brass stars let into the parapet of the _Steinerne Bruecke_, on the right-hand side going from Prague to the suburb called the _Kleinseite_. As the story goes, he was offered the most costly bribes by _Wenzel_, king of Bohemia, to betray his trust, and after his repeated refusal was put to the torture, and then thrown into the Moldau, where he was drowned. The body of the saint was embalmed, and is now preserved in a costly silver shrine of almost fabulous worth, in the church of St. Veit, in the Kleinseite. In Weber's _Briefe eines durch Deutschland reisende Deutschen_, the weight silver about this shrine is said to be twenty "centener."

C.D. LAMONT.

_Satirical Medals_ (Vol. ii., p. 298.).--A descriptive catalogue of British medals is preparing for the press, wherein all the satirical medals relating to the Revolution of 1688 will be minutely described and explained.

G.H.

_Passage in Gray_ (Vol. i., p. 150.).--I see no difficulty in the passage about which your correspondent; A GRAYAN inquires. The _abode_ of the merits and frailties of the dead, _i.e._ the place in which they are treasured up until the Judgment, is the Divine mind. This the poet, by a very allowable figure, calls "Bosom." Homer's expression is somewhat analogous.

[Greek: "Tade panta theion en gounasi keitai."]

E.C.H.

_Cupid Crying_ (Vol. i., pp. 172. 308.).--Another translation of the English verses, p. 172., which English are far superior to the Latin original:--

"Perchi ferisce Venere
Il filio suo che geme?
Diede il fanciullo a Celia
Le freccie e l'arco insieme.

Sarebbe mai possibile!
Ei nol voluto avea;
Ma rise Celia; ei subito
La Madre esser credea."

E.C.H. {348}

_Anecdote of a Peal of Bells_ (Vol. i., p. 382.).--It is related of the bells of Limerick Cathedral by Mrs. S.C. Hall (_Ireland_, vol. i., p. 328. note).

M.

[Another correspondent, under the same signature, forwards the legend
as follows

"THOSE EVENING BELLS."

"The remarkably fine bells of Limerick Cathedral were originally
brought from Italy. They had been manufactured by a young native (whose
name tradition has not preserved), and finished after the toil of many
years; and he prided himself upon his work. They were subsequently
purchased by a prior of a neighbouring convent, and, with the profits
of this sale, the young Italian procured a little villa, where he had
the pleasure of hearing the tolling of his bells from the convent
cliff, and of growing old in the bosom of domestic happiness. This,
however, was not to continue. In some of those broils, whether civil or
foreign, which are the undying worm in the peace of a fallen land, the
good Italian was a sufferer amongst many. He lost his all; and after
the passing of the storm, he found himself preserved alone, amid the
wreck of fortune, friends, family, and home. The convent in which the
bells, the chef-d'oeuvre of his skill, were hung, was rased to the
earth, and these last carried away to another land. The unfortunate
owner, haunted by his memories and deserted by his hopes, became a
wanderer over Europe. His hair grew gray, and his heart withered,
before he again found a home and friend. In this desolation of spirit
he formed the resolution of seeking the place to which those treasures
of his memory had finally been borne. He sailed for Ireland, proceeded
up the Shannon; the vessel anchored in the pool near Limerick, and he
hired a small boat for the purpose of landing. The city was now before
him; and he beheld St. Mary's steeple lifting its turreted head above
the smoke and mist of the old town. He sat in the stern, and looked
fondly towards it. It was an evening so calm and beautiful as to remind
him of his own native haven in the sweetest time of the year--the death
of spring. The broad stream appeared like one smooth mirror, and the
little vessel glided through it with almost a noiseless expedition. On
a sudden, amid the general stillness, the bells tolled from the
cathedral; the rowers rested on their oars, and the vessel went forward
with the impulse it had received. The old Italian looked towards the
city, crossed his arms on his breast, and lay back on his seat; home,
happiness, early recollections, friends, family--all were in the sound,
and went with it to his heart. When the rowers looked round, they
beheld him with his face still turned towards the cathedral, but his
eyes were closed, and when they landed they found him cold in death."

MR. H. EDWARDS informs us it appeared in an early number of _Chambers'
Journal._ J.G.A.P. kindly refers us to the _Dublin Penny Journal_, vol.
i. p. 48., where the story is also told; and to a poetical version of
it, entitled "The Bell-founder," first printed in the _Dublin
University Magazine_, and since in the collected poems of the author,
D. H. McCarthy.]

_Codex Flateyensis_ (Vol. ii., p. 278.).--Your correspondent W.H.F., when referring to the _Orkneyinga Saga_, requests information regarding the _Codex Flateyensis_, in which is contained one of the best MSS. of the Saga above mentioned. W.H.F. labours under the misapprehension of regarding the _Codex Flateyensis_ as a mere manuscript of the Orkneyinga Saga, whereas that Saga constitutes but a very small part of the magnificent volume. The _Codex Flateyensis_ takes its name, as W.H.F. rightly concludes, from the island of Flatey in the Breidafiord in Iceland, where it was long preserved. It is a parchment volume most beautifully executed, the initial letters of the chapters being finely illuminated, and extending in many instances, as in a fac-simile now before me, from top to bottom of the folio page. The contents of the volume may be learned from the following lines on the first page; I give it in English as the original is in Icelandic:--

"John Hakonson owns this book, herein first are written verses, then
how Norway was colonised, then of Erik the Far-travelled, thereafter of
Olaf Tryggvason the king with all his deeds, and next is the history of
Olaf Haraldson, the saint, and of his deeds, _and therewith the history
of the earls of Orkney_, then is there Sverrers Saga; thereafter the
Saga of Hakon the Old, with the Saga of Magnus the king, his son, then
the deeds of Einar Sokkeson of Greenland, and next of Elga and Ulf the
Bad; and then begin the annals from the creation of the world to the
present year. John Thordarson the priest wrote the portion concerning
Erik the Far-travelled, and the Sagas of both the Olaves; but Magnus
Thorhallson the priest has written all that follows, as well as all
that preceded, and has illuminated all (the book). Almighty God and the
holy virgin mary give joy to those who wrote and to him who dictated."

A little further on we learn from the text that when the book began to be written there had elapsed from the birth of Christ 1300 and 80 and 7 years. The volume was, therefore, commenced in 1387, and finished, as we judge from the year at which the annals cease, in 1395. The death of Hakon Hakonson is recorded in the last chapters of the Saga of that name, which we see is included in the list of those contained in the _Codex Flateyensis_.

E. CHARLTON.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, Oct. 6. 1850.

_Paying through the Nose, and Etymology of Shilling_ (Vol. i., p. 335.).--Odin, they say, laid a nose-tax on ever Swede,--a penny a nose. (Grimm, _Deutsche Rechts Alterthuemer_, p. 299.) I think people not able to pay forfeited "the prominence on the face, which is the organ of scent, and emunctory of the brain," as good Walker says. It was according to the rule, "Qui non habet in aere, luat in pelle." Still we "count" or "tell noses," when computing, for instance, how many persons of the company are to pay the reckoning. The expression is used in England, if I am rightly informed, as well as in Holland. {349}

Tax money was gathered into a brass shield, and the jingling (_schel_) noise it produced, gave to the pieces of silver exacted the name of _schellingen_ (shillings). Saxo-Grammaticus, lib viii. p. 267., citatus apud Grimm, l. 1. p. 77. The reference is too curious not to note it down:--

"Huic (Fresiae) Gotricus nom tam arctam, quam inusitatam pensionem
imposuit, de cujus conditione et modo summatim referam. Primum itaque
ducentorum quadraginta pedum longitudinem habentis aedificii structura
disponitur, bis senis distincta spatiis, quorum quodlibet vicenorum
pedum intercapedine tenderetur, praedictae quantitatis summam totalis
spatii dispendio reddente. In hujus itaque aedis capite regio considente
quaestore, sub extremam ejus partem _rotundus_ e regione _elipeus_
exhibetur. Fresonibus igitur tributum daturis mos erat singulos nummos
in hujus _scuti cavum_ conjicere, e quibus eos duntaxat in censum
regium ratio computantis eligeret, qui eminus exatoris aures clarioris
soni crepitaculo perstrinxissent quo evenit, ut id solum aes quaestor in
fiscum supputando colligeret, cujus casum remotiore auris indicio
persensisset, cujus vero obscurior sonus citra computantis defuisset
auditum, recipiebatur quidem in fiscum (!!!), sed nullum summae
praestabat augmentum. Compluribus igitur nummorum jactibus quaestorias
aures nulla sensibili sonoritate pulsantibus, accidit, ut statam pro se
stipem erogaturi multam interdum aeris partem inani pensione
consumerent, cujus tributi onere per Karolum postea liberati
produntur."

JANUS DOUSA.

Huis te Manpadt.

_Small Words_ (Vol. ii., p. 305.).--Some of your correspondents have justly recommended correctness in the references to authorities cited. Allow me to suggest the necessity of similar care in quotations. If K.J.P.B.T. had taken the pains to refer to the passage in Pope which he criticises (Vol. ii., p. 305.), he would have spared himself some trouble, and you considerable space. The line is not, as he puts it, "And ten _small_ words," but--

"And ten _low_ words oft creep in one dull line."

a difference which deprives his remarks of much of their applicability.

[Greek: PH.]

_Bilderdijk the Poet_ (Vol. ii., p. 309.).--There are several letters from Southey, in his _Life and Correspondence_, written while under the roof of Bilderdijk, giving a very agreeable account of the poet, his wife, and his family.

[Greek: PH.]

_Fool or a Physician_ (Vol. i., p. 137.; vol. ii., p. 315.).--The writer who has used this expression is Dr. Cheyne, and he probably altered it from the alliterative form, "a man is a fool or a physician at forty," which I have frequently heard in various parts of England. Dr. Cheyne's words are: "I think every man is a fool or a physician at thirty years of age, (that is to say), by that time he ought to know his own constitution, and unless he is determined to live an intemperate and irregular life, I think he may by diet and regimen prevent or cure any _chronical_ disease; but as to _acute_ disorders no one who is not well acquainted with medicine should trust to his own skill."

Dr. Cheyne was a medical writer of the last century.

A. G----T.

_Wat the Hare_ (Vol. ii., p. 315.).--In the interesting, though perhaps somewhat partial, account of the unsuccessful siege of Corfe Castle, during the civil wars of the seventeenth century, which is given in the _Mercurius Rusticus_, there is an anecdote which will give a reply to the Query of your correspondent K. The commander of the Parliamentarian forces was Sir Walter Erle; and it was a great joke with his opponents that the pass-word of "Old Wat" had been given (by himself I believe) on the night of his last assault on the castle. The chronicler informs us that "Old Wat" was the usual notice of a hare being found sitting; and the proverbial timidity of that animal suggested some odious comparisons with the defeated general.

I have not the book at hand, but I am pretty sure that the substance of my information is correct.

C.W. BINGHAM.

Bingham's Melcombe, Blandford.

_Law Courts at St. Albans_ (Vol. i., p. 366.).--Although unable to answer [Greek: S.], perhaps I may do him service by enabling him to put his Query more correctly. The disease which drove the lawyers from London in the 6th year of Elizabeth (1563) was not the _sweating sickness_ (which has not returned since the reign of Edward VI.), but a plague brought into England by the late garrison of Havre de Grace. And it was at _Hertford_ that Candlemas term was kept on the occasions. See Heylyn, _Hist. Ref._, ed. Eccl. Hist. Soc. ii. 401.

J.C.R.

_The Troubles at Frankfort_ (Vol. i., p. 379.).--In Petheram's edition of this work, it is shown that Whittingham, dean of Durham, was most likely the author. That Coverdale was not, appears from the circumstance that the writer had been a party in the "Troubles," whereas Coverdale did not reside at Frankfort during any part of his exile.

J.C.R.

_Standing during the Reading of the Gospel_ (Vol. ii., p. 246.).--

"Apostolica auctoritate mandamus, dum sancta Evangelia in Ecclesia
recitantur, ut Sacerdotes, et caeteri omnes presentes, non sedentes, sed
venerabiliter curvi, in conspectu Evangelii stantes Dominica verba
intente audiant, et fideliter adorent."--Anastasius, i., apud _Grat.
Decret. De Consecrat. Dist._, ii. cap. 68.

J. BE. {350}

_Scotch Prisoners at Worcester_ (Vol. ii., p. 297.).--I cannot think that the extract from the accounts of the churchwardens of St. Margaret's, Westminster, at all justifies C.F.S. in supposing that the Scotch prisoners were massacred in cold blood. The total number of these prisoners was 10,000. Of the 1,200 who were buried, the greater part most probably died of their wounds; and though this number is large, yet we must bear in mind that in those days the sick and wounded were not tended with the care and attention which are now displayed in such cases. We learn from the _Parliamentary History_ (xx. 58.), that on the 17th Sep. 1651, "the Scots prisoners were brought to London, and marched through the city into Tothill-fields." The same work (xx. 72.) states that "Most of the common soldiers were sent to the English Plantations; and 1500 of them were granted to the Guiney merchants and sent to work in the Gold mines there." Large numbers were also employed in draining the great level of the Fens (Wells, _History of the Bedford Level_, i. 228-244.). Lord Clarendon (book xiii.) says, "Many perished for want of food, and, being enclosed in little room till they were sold to the plantations for slaves, they died of all diseases."

C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Oct. 5. 1850.

_Scotch Prisoners at Worcester._--The following is Rapin's account of the disposition of these prisoners, and even this statement he seems to doubt. (Vol. ii. p. 585.)

"It is pretended, of the Scots were slain [at Worcester] about 2000,
and seven or eight thousand taken prisoners, who being sent to London,
were sold for slaves to the plantations of the American
isles."--Authorities referred to: Phillips, p. 608., Clarendon, iii. p.
320., Burnet's _Mem._ p. 432.

J.C.B.

"_Antiquitas Saeculi Juventus Mundi_" (Vol. ii., p. 218.).--A learned friend, who although involved in the avocations of an active professional career, delights "inter sylvas Academi quaerere verum," has favoured me with the following observation on these words:--"That the phrase _Antiquitas saeculi juventus mundi_ is in Italics in Bacon's work does not, in my opinion, prove it to be a quotation, any more than the words _ordine retrogrado_ in the subsequent passage. Italics were used in Bacon's time, and long afterwards, to to mark not only quotations, but emphatic words, [Greek: gnomai], and epigrammatic sentences, of which you will every where see instances. I have not the original edition of the work, but we have here[5] the rare translation into English by Gilbert Wats, Oxford, 1640, folio, through which the references to authors are given in the margin; but there is no reference appended to this passage. I cannot of course decide positively that the phrase is not a quotation, but I incline to the opinion that it is not. It may be an adaptation of some proverbial expression; but I prefer believing that it is Bacon's own mode of expressing that the present times are more ancient (_i.e._ full of years) than the earliest, and thus to show that the respect we entertain for authority is unfounded."

Coleridge was of the same opinion (Introd. to _Encycl. Metrop._, p. 19.). Had the phrase been a quotation, would not Bacon have said, "Sane ut vere _dictum est_," rather than "Ut vere _dicamus_."

T.J.

[Footnote 5: Primate Marsh's library, St. Patrick's, Dublin, which contains about 18,000 volumes, including the entire collection of Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester.]

_The Lass of Richmond Hill_ (Vol. ii., p. 103.)--In reply to QUAERO, I beg to say that he will find the words of the above song in the _Morning Herald_ of August 1, 1789, a copy of which I possess. It is here described as a "favourite song, sung by Mr. Incledon at Vauxhall; composed by Mr. Hook."

J.B.

Walworth.

* * * * *

MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

The importance of Winchelsea as a convenient port for communication with France, from the time of the Conquest to the close of the fifteenth century, having led to a wish for a more extended history of that town than is to be found in any work relating either to the Cinque Ports or to the county of Sussex, Mr. Durrant Cooper determined to gather together the existing materials for such a history as a contribution to the Sussex Archaeological Society. The industry, however, with which Mr. Cooper prosecuted his search after original records and other materials connected with the town and its varied history, was rewarded by the discovery of so many important documents as to render it impossible to carry out his original intention. The present separate work, entitled _The History of Winchelsea, one of the Ancient Towns added to the Cinque Ports_, is the result of this change; and the good people of Winchelsea have now to thank Mr. Cooper for a history of it, which has been as carefully prepared as it has been judiciously executed. Mr. Cooper has increased the amusement and information to be derived from his volume, by the manner in which he has contrived to make transactions of great historical importance illustrate his narrative of events of merely local interest.