Chapter I: Front Matter

{417} 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. 56.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23. 1850. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:--

The Oldenburg Horn 417
Greek Particles Illustrated by the Eastern Languages 418
Samuel Rowlands, and his Claim to the Authorship of
"The Choise of Change," by Dr. E.F. Rimbault 419
Etymology of "Apricot," "Peach," and "Nectarine" 420
Minor Notes:--Chaucer's Monument Robert Herrick
--Epitaph of a Wine Merchant--Father Blackhal--
The Nonjurors--Booksellers' Catalogues--Bailie
Nicol Jarvie--Camels in Gaul 420

QUERIES:--

Bibliographical Queries 421
Dryden's "Essay upon Satire" 422
Minor Queries:--AEnius Silvius (Pope Pius II.)--
"Please the Pigs"--To save one's Bacon--Arabic
Numerals--Cardinal--"By the bye"--Poisons--
Cabalistic Author--Brandon the Juggler--Jacobus
Praefectus Siculus--The Word "after" in the Rubric--
Hard by--Thomas Rogers of Horminger--Armorial
Bearings--Lady Compton's Letter to her Husband--
Romagnasi's Works--Christopher Barker's Device 423

REPLIES:--

Licensing of Books, by C.H. Cooper 425
Remains of James II., by Dr. J.R. Wreford 427
Judge Cradock, by H.T. Ellacombe 427
Replies to Minor Queries:--Replies by George Stephens:
On a Passage in the "Tempest;" Legend of a Saint;
Cupid and Psyche; Kongs Skuggsia--Disputed Passage
in the "Tempest"--Viscount Castlecomer--Steele's
Burial-place--Cure for Warts--Etymology of
"Parse" 429

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 430
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 431
Notice to Correspondents 431
Advertisements 431

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NOTES.

THE OLDENBURG HORN.

The highly interesting collection of pictures at Combe Abbey, the seat of the Earl of Craven, in Warwickshire, was, for the most part, bequeathed by Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, the daughter of James I., to her faithful attendant, William, Earl of Craven. The collection has remained, entire and undisturbed, up to the present time. Near the upper end of the long gallery is a picture which doubtless formed a part of the bequest of the Queen of Bohemia, and of which the following is a description:--

Three quarters length: a female figure, standing, with long curling light hair, and a wreath of flowers round the head. She wears a white satin gown, with a yellow edge; gold chain on the stomacher, and pearl buttons down the front. She has a pearl necklace and earrings, with a high plaited chemisette up to the necklace; and four rows of pearls, with a yellow bow, round the sleeve. She holds in her hands a large highly ornamented gold horn. The back-ground consists of mountains. Underneath the picture is this inscription:

"Anno post natum Christum 939. Ottoni comiti Oldenburgico in venatione
vehementer sitibundo virgo elegantissima ex monte Osen prodiens cornu
argenteum deauratum plenum liquore ut biberet obtulit. Inspecto is
liquore adhorruit, ac eundum bibere recusavit. Quo facto, subito Comes
a virgine discedens liquorem retro super equum quem mox depilavit
effudit, cornuque hic depictum secum Oldenburgum in perpetuam illius
memoriam reportavit. Lucretio de Sainct Simon pinxit."

The painting is apparently of the first part of the seventeenth century. The ordinary books of reference do not contain the painter's name.

The same legend as that contained in this inscription, though with fuller details, is given by the brothers Grimm, in their collection of _Deutsche Sagen_, No. 541. vol. ii. p. 317., from two Oldenburg chronicles. According to this version Otto was Count of Oldenburg in the year 990 or 967. [The chronicles appear to differ as to his date: the inscription of the Combe Abbey picture furnishes a third date.] Being a good hunter, and fond of hunting, he went, on the 20th of July, in this year, attended by his nobles and servants, to hunt in the forest of Bernefeuer. Here he found a deer, and chased it alone from this wood to Mount Osen: but in the pursuit he left his companions and even his dogs behind; and he stood alone, on his white horse, in the middle of the mountain. Being now exhausted by the great heat, he exclaimed: "Would to God that some one had a draught of cold water!" As soon as the count had uttered these words, the mountain opened, and from the {418} chasm there came a beautiful damsel, dressed in fine clothes, with her hair divided over her shoulders, and a wreath of flowers on her head. In her hand she held a precious silver-gilt hunting-horn, filled with some liquid; which she offered to the count, in order that he might drink. The count took the horn, and examined the liquid, but declined to drink it. Whereupon the damsel said: "My dear lord, drink it upon my assurance; for it will do you no harm, but will tend to your good." She added that, if he would drink, he and his family, and all his descendants, and the whole territory of Oldenburg, would prosper: but that, if he refused, there would be discord in the race of the Counts of Oldenburg. The count, as was natural, mistrusted her assurances, and feared to drink out of the horn: however, he retained it in his hand, and swung it behind his back. While it was in this position some of the liquid escaped; and where it fell on the back of the white horse, it took off the hair. When the damsel saw this, she asked him to restore the horn; but the count, with the horn in his hand, hastened away from the mountain, and, on looking back, observed that the damsel had returned into the earth. The count, terrified at the sight, spurred on his horse, and speedily rejoined his attendants: he then recounted to them his adventure, and showed them the silver-gilt horn, which he took with him to Oldenburg. And because this horn was obtained in so wonderful a manner, it was kept as a precious relic by him and all his successors in the reigning house of Oldenburg.

The editors state that richly decorated drinking-horn was formerly preserved, with great care, in the family of Oldenburg; but that, at the present time [1818], it is at Copenhagen.

The same story is related from Hamelmann's _Oldenburg Chronicle_, by Buesching, in his _Volksagen_ (Leips. 1820), p. 380., who states that there is a representation of the horn in p. 20. of the _Chronicle_, as well as in the title-page of the first volume of the _Wunderhorn_.

Those who are accustomed to the interpretation of mythological fictions will at once recognise in this story an explanatory legend, invented for the purpose of giving an interest to a valuable drinking-horn, of ancient work, which belonged to the Counts of Oldenburg. Had the story not started from a basis of real fact, but had been pure fiction, the mountain-spirit would probably have left, not _silver gilt_, but a _gold_ horn, with the count. Moreover, the manner in which she suffers herself to be outwitted, and her acquiescence in the loss of her horn, without exacting some vengeance from the incredulous count, are not in the spirit of such fictions, nor do they suit the malignant character which the legend itself gives her. If the Oldenburg horn is still preserved at Copenhagen, its date might doubtless be determined by the style of the work.

Mount Osen seems to have been a place which abounded in supernatural beings. Some elves who came from this mountain to take fresh-brewed beer, and left good, though unknown money, to pay for it, are mentioned in another story in the _Deutsche Sagen_, (No.43. vol. i. p. 55.)