Chapter I: Front Matter

{457}

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. 58.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7. 1850. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

NOTES:-- Page
Further Notes on the Hippopotamus 457
Parallel Passages: Coleridge, Hooker, Butler, by
J. E. B. Mayor 458
Shakspeare and the old English Actors in Germany,
by Albert Cohn 459
Ten Children at a Birth 459
George Herbert and Bemerton Church, by H. T.
Ellacombe 460
Minor Notes:--Lord Mayor's Show in 1701--Sir
Thomas Phillipps's MSS.--Translation from Owen,
&c.--Epigram on the late Bull--Bailie Nicol
Jarvie--Hogs not Pigs--The Baptized Turk 460

QUERIES:--
Gray--Dryden--Playing Cards 462
Minor Queries:--Pretended Reprint of Ancient Poetry--The
Jews' Spring Gardens--Cardinal Allen's Admonition
to the Nobility--"Clarum et venerabile Nomen"--Whipping
by Women--Lærig--MS. History
of Winchester School--Benedicite--The Church
History Society--Pope Ganganelli--Sir George
Downing--Solemnization of Matrimony--Passage
in Bishop Butler--The Duke of Wharton's Poetical
Works--Titus Oates--Translations of Erasmus'
Colloquies and Apuleius' Golden Ass, &c. 463

REPLIES:--
Holme MSS.--The Cradocks 465
Antiquity of Smoking 465
Antiquitas Sæculi Juventus Mundi 466
Albemarle, Title of, by Lord Braybrooke 466
Replies to Minor Queries:--Cromwell Poisoned--"Never
did Cardinal bring Good to England"--Gloves
not worn in the Presence of Royalty--Nonjurors'
Oratories in London--"Filthy Gingran"--Michael
Scott--The Widow of the Wood--Modum
Promissionis--End of Easter--First Earl of Roscommon--Dryden's
"Absolom and Achitophel"--Cabalistic
Author--Becket--Aërostation--Kilt--Bacon
Family, &c. 467

Miscellaneous:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 470
Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 470
Notices to Correspondents 470

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NOTES.

FURTHER NOTES ON THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

The following remarks are supplementary to a note on the hippopotamus in Vol. ii, p. 35. In that note the exhibition of the hippopotamus at the Roman games is not traced lower than the time of the Emperor Commodus. Helagabalus, however, 218-22 A.D., had hippopotami among the various rare animals which he displayed in public as a part of his state. (Lamprid. c. 28) A hippopotamus was likewise in the vast collection of animals which were prepared for the Persian triumph of Gordian III., but were exhibited at the secular games celebrated by the Emperor Philip in the 1000th year of Rome, 248 A.D. (_Capitol. in Gordian. Tert_., c. 33.) In the seventh eclogue of Calpurnius, a countryman describes the animals which he saw in the Roman amphitheatre, among which is the hippopotamus:

"Non solum nobis silvestria cernere monstra
Contigit; æquoreos ego cum certantibus ursis
Spectavi vitulos, et equorum nomine dignum,
Sed deforme genus, quod in illo nascitur amni
Qui sata riparum venientibus irrigat undis."
VII. 64--8.

Calpurnius is generally referred to the time of Carus and Numerian, about 283 A.D.; but his date is not determined by any satisfactory proof. (See Dr. Smith's _Dict. of Ancient Biog. and Myth_. in v.)

There is no trace of a live hippopotamus having been brought to Europe between the time specified in the last of these testimonies and the middle of the sixteenth century. When Belon visited Constantinople, he saw there a living hippopotamus, which had been brought from the Nile:

"L'animal que j'ai veu vivant à Constantinople (he says), apporté du
Nil, convenoit en toutes marques avec ceulx qu'on voit gravez en
diverses medales des Empereurs."--_Observations_, liv. ii. c. 32. fol.
103. b. ed. 1564.

Belon returned to Paris from the Levant in the year 1550. In his work on fishes, p. 17., he speaks of another Frenchman, lately returned from Constantinople, who had seen the same animal. (See Schneider on _Artedi Synonym. Piscium_, p. 267.) P. Gillius likewise, who visited Constantinople in 1550, saw there the same hippopotamus, as he states in his description of the elephant, Hamburg, 114. (Schneider, _Ib._ p. 316.)

Your correspondent, MR. G. S. JACKSON (Vol. ii., p. 277.) controverts the opinion expressed in my former note, that none of the Greek writers had seen a live hippopotamus. He thinks that "Herodotus's way of speaking would seem to show that he was describing from his own observation;" and he infers that the animal was found at that time as far north as the Delta, from the fact, mentioned by Herodotus, of its being held sacred in the nome of Papremis. But, in the first place, it does not follow that, because the hippopotamus was held sacred in the Papremitic nome, it was found in the {458} Nile as low as that district. In the next place, there is nothing in the words of Herodotus to indicate that he had seen the object of his description. (ii. 71.) On the other hand, the substance of his description tends strongly to the inference that he had _not_ seen the animal. It is difficult to conceive that any eye-witness could have described a hippopotamus as having the hoofs of an ox, with the mane and tail of a horse. His information as to javelins being made of its skin was doubtless correct, and he may perhaps have seen some of these weapons. Cuvier conjectures that the original author of the description in Herodotus had seen only the teeth and some part of the skin of the real hippopotamus; but that the other particulars were taken from a figure or description of the gnu (_Trad. de Pline_, tom. vi. p. 444.) This supposition is improbable, for the gnu is an animal of Southern Africa, and was doubtless unknown to the Egyptians in the time of Herodotus. Moreover, Cuvier is in error as to the statement of Herodotus respecting the animal's size: he says that the animal is equal in size, not to an ass, but to the largest ox. The statement as to the ass is to be found in Arist. _Hist. An._, ii. 7. Cuvier's note is hastily written; for he says that Diodorus describes the hippopotamus as equalling the strongest bulls,--a statement not to be found in Diodorus. (i. 35.) His judgment, however, is clear, as to the point that none of the ancient naturalists described the hippopotamus from autopsy. The writer of the accurate history of the hippopotamus in the _Penny Cyclopædia_, vol. xii. p. 247., likewise takes the same view. If Achilles Tatius is correct in stating that "the horse of the Nile" was the native Egyptian name of the animal, it is probable that the resemblance to the horse indicated in the description of Herodotus, was supplied by the imagination of some informant.

In the mosaic of Palestrina (see Barthelemy in _Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript._, tom. xxx. p. 503.), the hippopotamus appears three times in the lower part of the composition, at the left-hand corner. Two entire figures are represented, and one head of an animal sinking into the river. Men in a boat are throwing darts at them, some of which are sticking in their backs. (See _Ib._ p. 521.) Diodorus (i. 35.) describes the hippopotamus as being harpooned, and caught in a manner similar to the whale. Barthelemy properly rejects the supposition that the mosaic of Palestrina is the one alluded to by Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ xxxvi. 64.) as having been constructed by Sylla. He places it in the time of Hadrian, and supposes it to represent a district of Upper Egypt, with which the introduction of the hippopotamus well accords. The true form of the hippopotamus was unknown in Italy in the time of Sylla.

The word [Greek: hippopotamos] as used by the Latin writers, instead of [Greek: hippos potamios] occurs in Lucian (_Rhet. Præcept._, c. 6.). The author of the _Cynegetica_, who addresses his poem to the Emperor Caracalla, describes the hippopotamus under the name of [Greek: hippagros], "the wild horse," compounded like [Greek: onagros] (iii. 251-61.). In this passage the old error as to the cloven hoofs and the mane is repeated. It is added that the animal will not endure captivity; but if any one is snared by means of ropes, he refuses to eat or drink. That this latter statement is fabulous, is proved by the hippopotamus taken alive to Constantinople, and by the very tame animal now in the Zoological Garden.

The fable about the hippopotamus destroying its father and violating its mother, cited before from Damascius, is to be found in Plutarch, _De Solert. Anim._, c. 4. Pausan. (viii. 46. § 4.) mentions a Greek statue, in which the face was made of the teeth of the hippopotamus instead of ivory.

An interesting account of the younger hippopotamus in the Zoological Garden, by Professor Owen, may be seen in the _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_ for June last.

L.

* * * * *

PARALLEL PASSAGES: COLERIDGE, HOOKER, BUTLER.

I do not remember to have seen the following parallels pointed out.

Coleridge. _The Nightingale. A conversation poem:_

"The nightingale--
'Most musical, most melancholy' bird!
A melancholy bird! Oh! idle thought!
In nature there is nothing melancholy.
But some night-wandering man whose heart was pierced
With the remembrance of a grievous wrong,
. . . . he, and such as he,
First named these notes a melancholy strain."

Plato Phædo, § 77. (p. 85., Steph.):

"Men, because they fear death themselves, slander the swans, and say
that they sing from pain lamenting their death, and do not consider
that no bird sings when hungry, or cold, or suffering any other pain;
no, not even the nightingale, and the swallow, and the hoopoe, which
you know are said to sing for grief," &c.

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Hooker, E. P. I. c.5. § 2.:

"All things therefore coveting as much as may be to be like unto God in
being ever, that which cannot hereunto attain personally doth seek to
continue itself another way, that is, by offspring and propagation."

Clem. Alex. Strom. II. 23. § 138. (p. 181. Sylb.)

Sir J. Davies. _Immortality of the Soul_, sect 7.:

"And though the soul could cast spiritual seed,
Yet would she not, because she never dies;
For mortal things desire their like to breed,
That so they may their kind immortalise."

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Plato Sympos. §32. (p. 207. D. Steph.):

"Mortal natures seek to attain, suffer as they can, to immortality; but
they can attain to it by this generation only; for thus they ever leave
a new behind them to supply the place of the old." Compare § 31.
"Generation immortalises the mortal, so for as it can be
immortalised."--Plato _Leg_. iv. (p. 721. G.), vi. § 17. (p. 773. E.);
Ocell. Lucan. iv. § 2.

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Butler, _Serm. I. on Human Nature_ (p. 12. Oxford, 1844):

"Which [external goods], according to a very ancient observation, the
most abandoned would choose to obtain by innocent means, if they there
as easy, and as effectual to their end."

Dr. Whewell has not, I think, in his edition, pointed out the passage alluded to, Cic. _de Fin._ III., c. 11. § 36.:

"Quis est enim, aut quis unquam fuit aut avaritiâ tam ardenti, aut tam
effrenatis cupiditatibus, ut eamdem illam rem, quam adipisci scelere
quovis velit, non multis partibus malit ad sese, etiam omni impunitate
proposita, sine facinore, quam illo modo pervenire?"

J. E. B. MAYOR.

Marlborough College.

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SHAKSPEARE AND THE OLD ENGLISH ACTORS IN GERMANY.

My studies on the first appearance of Shakspeare on the German stage, by means of the so-called "English Comedians" who from the end of the sixteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century visited Germany and the Netherlands, led me to the following passage of a Dutch author:

"In the Voyages of Vincent le Blanc through England, I met with a
description of the representation of a most absurd tragedy, which I
recognised to be the _Titus Andronicus_ of Shakspeare."

I have examined the _Voyages of Vincent le Blanc_ without having been able to discover the passage alluded to; and as the Dutch author says that some time had elapsed between his first reading those _Voyages_ and the composition of his treatise, and as he seems to quote only from memory, I am led to believe his having confounded Vincent le Blanc with some other traveller of the same period.

Undoubtedly one of your numerous readers can furnish me with the title of the work in which such a description occurs, or with the name of some other foreign traveller who may have visited England at the period alluded to, and in whose works I may find the description mentioned above.

ALBERT COHN.

Berlin, Nov. 19. 1850.

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TEN CHILDREN AT A BIRTH.

The following circumstance, although perhaps hardly coming within the ordinary scope of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," appears to me too curious to allow a slight doubt to prevent the attempt to place it on permanent and accessible record. Chancing, the other day, to overhear an ancient gossip say that there was living in her neighbourhood a woman who was one of _ten_ children born at the same time, I laughed at her for her credulity,--as well I might! As, however, she mentioned a name and place where I might satisfy myself, I called the next day at a small greengrocer's shop in this town, the mistress of which, a good-looking, respectable woman, aged seventy, at once assured me that her mother, whose name was Birch, and came from Derby, had been delivered of _ten children_; my informant having been the only one that lived, "_the other nine_," she added, "_being in bottle in the Museum in London_!" On mentioning the matter to a respectable professional gentleman of this place, he said "he had a recollection of the existence of a glass jar, which was alleged to contain some such preparation, in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, as mentioned when he was a pupil in London." Of the question, or the fact, of so marvellous a gestation and survivorship in the history of human nature should strike the editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES" as forcibly as his correspondent, the former, should he publish this article, may perhaps be kind enough to accompany it with the result of at least an inquiry, as to whether or not the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons does contain anything like corroborative evidence of so strange, and, if true, surely so unprecedented a phenomenon.

N. D.

[We are enabled by the courtesy of Professor Owen to state that there
exists no corroboration of this remarkable statement in the Museum of
the College of Surgeons. The largest number at a birth, of which any
authentic record appears, is five, and the Museum contains, in case No.
3681, five children, of about five months, all females, which were born
at the same time. Three were still-born, two were born alive, and
survived their birth but a short time. The mother, Margaret Waddington,
aged twenty-one, was a poor woman of the township of Lower Darling,
near Blackburn in Lancashire. This remarkable birth took place on the
24th April, 1786, and was the subject of a communication to the Royal
Society, which contained also the result of an investigation into
similar cases which could be well authenticated, and which may be seen
in a note in the admirable Catalogue of the College Museum, vol. v. pp.
177-185. As the remarkable birth described by our correspondent N. D.
took place five years previously to these inquiries, and is not
mentioned, it is scarcely possible to doubt that his informant must be
labouring under some great mistake. If such a birth took place, it is
probable that the parish register will contain some record of the fact.
Our correspondent will, perhaps, take the trouble to make some further
investigations, so as to trace the source of the error, for error there
must be, in the statement of his informant.]

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GEORGE HERBERT AND BEMERTON CHURCH.

It is gratifying to see that some of your correspondents are taking, an interest in the "worthy, lowly, and lovely" (as Isaac Walton called him) Mr. George Herbert (Vol. ii., pp. 103. 414.). It may tend to increase that interest, if I send you a note I made a few years ago, when I visited Bemerton, and had the pleasure of officiating within the walls of that celebrated little church. The rector kindly showed me the whole Parsonage House; the parts rebuilt by Herbert were traceable; but the inscription set up by him on that occasion is not there, nor had it been found, viz.:

"TO MY SUCCESSOR.

"If thou chance for to find,
A new house to thy mind,
And built without thy cost;
Be good to the poor,
As God gives the store,
And then my labour's not lost."

It may truly be said to stand near the chapel (as his biographer calls it), being distant only the width of the road, thirty-four feet, which in Herbert's time was forty feet, as the building shows. On the south is a grass-plat sloping down to the river, whence is a beautiful view of Sarum Cathedral in the distance. A very aged fig-tree grows against the end of the house, and a medlar in the garden, both, traditionally, planted by Herbert.

The whole length and breadth of the church is forty-five feet by eighteen. The south and west windows are of the date called Decorated, say 1300. They are two-light windows, and worthy of imitation. The east window is modern. The walls have much new brickwork and brick buttresses, after the manner recommended in certain _Hints to Churchwardens_, Lond. 1825. A little square western turret contains an ancient bell of the fourteenth century (diameter, twenty-four inches), the daily sound of which used to charm the ploughmen from their work, that they "might offer their devotions to God with him."

"Note, it was a saying of his 'That his time spent in prayer and
cathedral music elevated his soul, and was his heaven upon
earth.'"--WALTON.

The doorway is Jacobean, as is the chest or parish coffer, and also the pulpit canopy; the old sittings had long been removed. The font is circular, of early English date, lined with lead, seventeen inches diameter, by ten inches deep. The walls were (1841) very dilapidated.

It cannot but be a surprise to every admirer of George Herbert and to all visitors to this highly favoured spot, to find no monument whatever to the memory of that bright example of an English parish priest. This fact need surely only to be made known to insure ample funds for rebuilding the little church, and "beautifying" it in all things as Herbert would desire (he once did it "at his own cost"), retaining, if I may be allowed to suggest, the decorated windows, with the font and bell, which, from my Notes and Recollections, seem to be all that remains of what he must have so often looked upon and cherished.

From the register I was permitted to extract this entry:

"Mr. George Herbert, Esq., Parson, of Ffoughlston and Bemerton, was
buried 3 day of March, 1632."

The _locus in quo_ is by this still left doubtful. May I, in conclusion, add a quotation from Isaac Walton:

"He lived and died like a saint, unspotted from the world, full of alms
deeds, full of humility, and all the examples of a virtuous life. 'I
wish (if God shall be so pleased) that I may be so happy as to die like
him.'"

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George, Nov. 25. 1850.

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MINOR NOTES.

_Lord Mayor's Show in_ 1701.--Among the varieties which at different times have graced the procession of the City on Lord Mayor's day, be pleased to take the following from the _Post-boy_, Oct. 30. to Nov. 1. 1701:

"The Maiden Queen who rid on the Lord Mayor's day in the pageant, in
imitation of the Patroness of the Mercer's Company, had a fine suit of
cloaths given her, valued at ninety guineas, a present of fifty
guineas, four guineas for a smock, and a guinea for a pair of gloves."

Y. S.

_Sir Thomas Phillipps's Manuscripts._--Many inquiries are made in your useful publication after books and authors, which may easily be answered by the querist referring to the Catalogue of Sir Thomas Phillipps's Manuscripts in the British Museum, the Society of Antiquaries, the _Athenæum_, or the Bodleian Library.

T.

_Translation from Owen, &c._--I do not remember seeing in a subsequent number of "NOTES AND QUERIES" any version of Owen's epigram, quoted by DR. MAITLAND in No. 17. I had hoped RUFUS would have tried his hand upon it; but as he has not, I send you a translation by an old friend of the Doctor's, which has at least the merit of being a close one, and catching, perhaps, not a little of the spirit of the original.

"_Owen de Libro suo._

"Oxoniæ salsus (juvenis tum) more vetusto
Wintoniæque (puer tum) piperatus eram.
Si quid inest nostro piperisve salisve libello,
Oxoniense sal est, Wintoniense piper."

{461}

"_Owen on his Book._

"When fresh at Oxon I a salting got;
At Winton I'd been pepper'd piping hot;
If aught herein you find that's sharp and nice,
'Tis Oxon's seasoning, and Winton's spice."

I subjoin also an epitaph[1] from the chapel of Our Ladye in Gloucester Cathedral, translated by the same hand.

"_Elizabetha loquitur._

"Conjugis effigiem sculpsisti in marmore conjux
Sic me immortalem te statuisse putas;
Sed Christus fuerat viventi spesque fidesque
Sic me mortalem non sinit esse Deus."

"Say, didst thou think within this sculptured stone
Thy faithful partner should immortal be?
Fix'd was her faith and hope on Christ alone,
And thus God gave her immortality."

F. T. J. B.

Deanery of Gloucester.

_Epigram on the late Bull_.--Pray preserve the following admirable epigram, written, it is said, by one of the most accomplished scholars of the university of Oxford:--

"Cum Sapiente Pius nostras juravit in aras:
Impius heu Sapiens, desipiensque Pius."

Thus translated:

"The wise man and the Pius have laid us under bann;
Oh Pious man unwise! oh impious Wise-man!"

S. M. H.

_Bailie Nicol Jarvie_ (Vol. ii., p. 421.).--When we spoke recently of Charles Mackay, the inimitable Bailie Nicol Jarvie of one of the Terryfications (though not by Terry) of Scott's _Rob Roy_ having made a formal affidavit that he was a real "Edinburgh Gutter Bluid," we suspect some of our readers themselves suspected a joke. The affidavit itself has, however, been printed in the _Athenæum_, accompanied by an amusing commentary, in which the document is justly pronounced "a very curious one." Here it is:

"At Edinburgh, the Fourteenth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty years.

"In presence of John Stoddart, Esq., one of Her Majesty's Justices of
the Peace for the City of Edinburgh, appeared Charles Mackay, lately
Theatre Royal, residing at number eleven Drummond Street, Edinburgh;
who being solemnly sworn and examined depones, that he is a native of
Edinburgh, having been born in one of the houses on the north side of
the High Street of said city, in the month of October one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-seven. That the deponent left Edinburgh for
Glasgow when only about nine years of age, where he sojourned for five
years; thence he became a wanderer in many lands, and finally settled
once more in Edinburgh a few months before February eighteen hundred
and nineteen years, when the drama of _Rob Roy_ was first produced in
the Theatre Royal here. That the deponent by his own industry having
realised a small competency, he is now residing in Edinburgh; and
although upwards of threescore years old he finds himself 'hale and
hearty,' and is one of the same class whom King Jamie denominates '_a
real Edinburgh Gutter Bluid._' All which is truth, as the deponent
shall answer to God.

"CHAS. MACKAY, B. N. Jarvie.
"JOHN STODDART, J. P.
"JOHN MIDDLETON, M.D.E., Witness.
"WALTER HENDERSON, Witness."

_Hogs not Pigs_ (Vol. ii., p. 102.).--J. MN.'s remark on "hogs, lambs a year old," reminds me that the origin of this rustical word still lingers in the remote west, among the Irish and the Highland Gaels, whose _gnath-bearla_, vernacular tongue, furnishes the neglected key of many a dark chamber. The word to which I allude is "og," _adj._ young; whence "ogan," a young man; "oige," a virgin.

In these islands we still apply the old French term "aver," _averium_, in Guernsey, to the hog or pig; in Jersey, to a child. In France "aver" denoted the animal produce or stock on a farm; and there were "averia lanata" likewise. Similar apparently whimsical adaptations of words will not shock those who are aware that "pig" in England properly means a little fellow of the swine species, and that "pige" in Norse signifies a little maid, a damsel.

G. M.

Guernsey.

_The Baptized Turk_.--Your correspondent CH. (Vol. ii., p. 120.), who inquired about Lord Richard Christophilus (_al._ Isuf Bassa), a converted Turk, may be interested in a curious account of another convert to Christianity, which has lately fallen in my way, if he be not already in possession of the (almost legendary) narrative. I allude to a small 8vo. volume, entitled:

"The Baptized Turk; or, A Narrative of the happy conversion of Signior
Rigep Dandulo, the onely son of a silk merchant in the isle of Tsio,
from the delusions of that great Impostor Mahomet, unto the Christian
Religion; and of his admission unto Baptism, by Mr. Gunning at
Excester-house Chappel, the 8th of November, 1657. Drawn up by Tho.
Warmstry, D.D., Lond. 1658."

Dr. Warmstry was Dean of Worcester. His conversion of the Turk Dandulo is mentioned in the _Lansdowne MSS._ (986., p. 67.), and also in the _Athenæ Oxonienses_. The narrative is dedicated to

"The Right Honourable the Countess of Dorset, the Honourable the Lord
George, and the Worshipful Philip Warwick, Esq., _witnesses_ at the
baptism of Signior Dandulo the convert."

There appears to have been "a picture of the said Dandulo in a Turkish habit put before it;" {462} but this has been abstracted from the only copy I have seen.

This conversion appears to have been effected by the instrumentality of a dream; and the Narrative contains an interesting essay of some length on the subject of visions, and gives an interpretation of the dream in question.

J. SANSOM.

[Footnote 1: On Elizabeth Williams, youngest daughter of Miles (Smith), and wife of John Williams, Esq., died in child-bed at the age of seventeen. The above Miles Smith, was Bishop of Gloster during the latter part of Henry VIII. and part of Elizabeth's reign.]

* * * * *

Queries.

GRAY.--DRYDEN.--PLAYING CARDS.

Although my question regarding Gray and Dodsley's _Collection of Poems_ has only been half answered, and my two Queries respecting Dryden's _Absolom and Achitophel_ and _Essay on Satire_ not answered at all, I am not discouraged from putting interrogatories on other matters, in the hope that I may be more fortunate hereafter. On each of my former inquiries I have still a word or two to say, and I do not know why I should not say them now.

First, as to Gray and Dodsley:--Is the epithet _droning_, or _drony_, in the first edition of the _Elegy_? and, as my copy of Dodsley's _Collection_ is dated 1748, and is said (on the half title, preceding the whole title) to be "the _second_ edition," was there a _first_ edition in the same year, or in an earlier year, or was there, in fact, no _first_ edition at all? This question is important, because several poetical productions, of undisputed excellence, originally made their appearance in Dodsley's _Collection_.

Next, as to Dryden's _Absolom and Achitophel_: Is it known, or anywhere stated, that it was printed early in the eighteenth century as a penny or two-penny chap-book, and why was it so printed? Observe, too, that it was unaccompanied by Tate's _Continuation_, which, as far as a lesson to the lower orders is concerned, was of more consequence than Dryden's portion. It is a circumstance I did not mention, but it is, nevertheless, worth a Note, that in _The Key_ which follows the Address "to the Reader," in my edition of 1708, the character of Zimri (which was given by Dryden himself to the Duke of Buckingham) is assigned to Lord Gray, who was in truth the Caleb of the performance. Is it to be taken that the publication of this chap-book edition is merely a proof of the extreme popularity of Dryden's half of the poem?

My third unanswered Query referred to the _Essay on Satire_, commonly attributed to Lord Mulgrave and Dryden, but with which, as it seems to me, for reasons there assigned, Lord Mulgrave could have nothing to do. As a farther proof of Dryden's _sole authorship_, I may here add, what I have since found, that the Addendum to the first volume of _State Poems_ consists of one thus entitled: "In opposition to Mr. Dryden's _Essay on Satyr_," treating it as only his: it begins,

"Now the reformer of the court and stage,
The common beadle of this wilful age,
Has with impartial hand whipp'd sovereign sin,
In me it is but manners to begin."

It sounds drolly, in our day, to hear Dryden called "the reformer of the court and stage," especially recollecting the attack upon him made just afterwards by Jeremy Collier. Then, what are we to say to the subsequent lines, attributed to Prior, which advert to the cudgelling Dryden received in Rose Street for his attack upon Rochester. Prior calls his own production _A Satire on the Modern Translators_, where he thus speaks of Dryden under his name of Bayes:--

"But what excuse, what preface can atone
For crimes which guilty Bayes _has singly done_--
Bayes, whose Rose Alley ambuscade enjoin'd
To be to vices, which he practised, kind?"

All the contemporary evidence, with which I am acquainted, tends to establish that Lord Mulgrave, instead of being the author of a satire which Dryden improved and polished, had nothing in the world to do with it. Is there any evidence, not contemporary, which shows the contrary? Surely this, and the two other matters to which I have above adverted, are interesting literary Queries.

Now to a subject that I care less about, and upon which I am entitled, from his published works, to appeal to your correspondent, MR. S. W. SINGER. It is a mere trifle, but upon a curious point--the history of playing cards, which may, however, attract more attention than topics that relate only to such insignificant men as Thomas Gray and John Dryden.

I have before me only four, out of what I presume originally consisted of fifty-two playing cards, unlike any I have hitherto heard of. Each of them illustrates a proverb, which is engraved at the bottom of a pictorial representation of figures and objects, and the cards consist of the ten of diamonds, the ace of hearts, the seven of hearts, and the eight of spades: the number is in Roman figures at the left-hand corner, and the subject, a diamond, heart, and spade, at the right-hand corner. I will briefly describe them separately.

The proverb illustrated by the ten of diamonds is "Hee's in an ill case y^t can finde no hole to creepe out at;" and the engraving (upon copper) represents two men, with grey heads and in black gowns, in the pillory, surrounded by soldiers armed with halberds, partisans, spears, &c., of various shapes, and by a crowd of men in dresses of the seventeenth century. The ace of hearts illustrates the proverb "Look before you leap;" a man in a hat turned up at the sides is about to leap from a high bank into the waters, wherein two others are already swimming: in the background is a fifth man looking over the fence of a cottage. The seven of hearts has engraved at the bottom of it, {463} "Patience on force is a medicine for a mad horse;" and it represents the female keeper of a brothel receiving whip-castigation at a cart's tail, a punishment frequently inflicted of old upon women of that description, as many authors testify: soldiers with halberds, &c., as before, march on either side of the cart, which at the moment is passing a house with the sign of the Half-moon hanging out from the wall by ornamented iron-work. The eight of spades is upon the proverb, "Two of a trade can never agree;" and in the engraving, a couple of fish-wives, who have thrown down their baskets of plaise, flounders, &c., are fighting furiously, while a man, behind, is obviously running away with something he has stolen from them: the background consists of gable-ended houses, part of a street.

These cards came to me from an old relative, who very likely once had the whole pack, or _deck_, as it was formerly called; but I never could find more than these four, and I have been unable to meet with, or hear of, any others like them. From the costume and other circumstances, I am inclined to think that they belong to the period of the Civil War, or rather later; and I remember, some years ago, to have been shown twenty or thirty cards of the latter end of the seventeenth century, founded upon public events, one of them relating to the celebrated "Virgins of Taunton Dean," another to the Death of Monmouth, &c. I shall be personally obliged by any information respecting the cards I have described; and, since a distinct Query may be desirable, I beg leave to ask any of your readers, whether they know of the existence of any other cards belonging to the same set?

THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Pretended Reprint of Ancient Poetry._--In a bookseller's catalogue (J. Taylor, Blackfriars-road, 1824), I find mention of a work entitled _Sundrie Pleasaunte Flowres of Poesie, newlie plucked from the Hill Parnasse the hand of P. M., and verie goodlie to smelle_. It is said to have been "Imprynted in London, in the yeare of our Lorde 1576," and "Reprinted by Davidson, 1823." The bookseller's note records the fact, that "only TWO COPIES were reprinted from the original supposed to be unique." I do not believe that any work with the above title came from the press in the sixteenth century. Query, Who was the enlightened individual who produced the _two_ copies?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_The Jews' Spring Gardens._--In the newspaper called the _Postman_, Oct. 3. to 6. 1702, I read,

"At Milend the garden and house called _the Jews' Spring Garden_, is to
be let. Enquire at Capt. Bendal's at Milend."

Can any of your readers, acquainted with the neighbourhood of London, afford me information regarding this place, which was probably one of amusement and promenade much used by the Jews, many of the wealthier of whom, at that time and long afterwards, resided in Goodman's Fields?

Y. S.

_Cardinal Allen's Admonition to the Nobility._--Sharon Turner (Eliz., book ii. chap. xxx. vol. iv. p. 348.) mentions that there is a copy of Cardinal Allen's _Admonition to the Nobility_, &c., in the Jesuit's College at Stoneyhurst, and but a few others in England.

I shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who can inform me where one is to be found. There is not one either in the Bodleian or the British Museum.

JAMES BLISS.

_"Clarum et venerabile nomen._"--Can any of your correspondents inform me in what author the following lines are to be found? They are quoted by Burke in his speech on American taxation.

"Clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus, et multum nostræ quod proderat urbi?"

W. L.

_Whipping by Women._--In the accounts of the constable of this parish for the year 1644, there are the following items:

"Paid to two men for watching Ellen
Shaw, she beinge accused for felonie 0 3 0
"Paid to a woman for whippinge y^e
said Ellen Shaw 0 0 4
"Paid for beare for her after she was
whipped 0 0 3."

Was it the usual custom for women sentenced to whipping to be consigned to the tender mercies of one of their own sex?

J. EASTWOOD.

Ecclesfield.

_Lærig_ (Vol. i., p. 292.).--Have we not a relic of this word in the vulgar _leary_, used of a _tough_ customer, one not easily taken in?

J. W. H.

_MS. History of Winchester School._--

"In the year 1715, proposals were published for an exact account of the
History and Antiquities of this College of St. Mary; and large
collections are made for that end, now dormant in a private
hand."--Rawlinson's _English Topographer_, p 63., London, 1720.

Can any of your readers tell me where this invaluable MS. (if existing) may be found? and also what became of the late Rev. Peter Hall's collections in manuscript?

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

_Benedicite_.--When a priest saluted or was asked for his blessing,, he said "Benedicite," Bless ye,--_Domino_, or, in worse Latin, _nomen Dei_. understood. Can any one say why _Benedicat_ or _Benedicimini_ was not used, as the use of _Benedicite_ was intended {464} to convey or invoke a blessing, not an exhortation to bless.

PETER CORONA.

_The Church History Society._--As one who feels greatly interested in the scheme for the establishment of THE CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY, given in your number for the 2nd November last, and which you properly describe as "a proposal calculated to advance one of the most important branches of historical learning," will you permit me to inquire, through the medium of "NOTES AND QUERIES," whether DR. MAITLAND's scheme has met with so much encouragement as to justify the expectation, and I will add the hope, that it may ever be fully carried out?

LAICUS.

_Pope Ganganelli._--There was a _Life of Pope Clement XIV._ (Ganganelli) published in London in 1785. It was a distinct work from that by Caraccioli. Can any of your readers inform me of the author's name; or is there any one who has seen the book, or can tell where a copy may be found?

CEPHAS.

_Sir George Downing._--I should be glad to obtain any information respecting Sir George Downing, of East Halley, Cambridgeshire, and Gamlingay Park, or his family. He was ambassador from Cromwell and Charles II. to the States-General of Holland, secretary to the Treasury, and the statesman who caused the "Appropriation Act" to be passed, the 17th of Charles II. The family is of most ancient origin in Devonshire, and I have heard that a portrait of him is possessed by some person in that county.

ALPHA.

_Solemnization of Matrimony._--In the service of the Church for this occasion, on the ring being placed upon the woman's finger, the man is prescribed to say: "With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and _with all my worldly goods I thee endow_," &c. How is this last sentence to be reconciled with the law? or is the vow to be considered revocable?

A. A.

Abridge.

_Passage in Bishop Butler._--In Bishop Butler's sermon "Upon the Government of the Tongue" occurs the following passage:

"There is in some such a disposition to be talking, that an offence of
the slightest kind, and such as would not raise any other resentment,
yet raises, if I may so speak, the resentment of the tongue, puts it
into a flame, into the most ungovernable motions. _This outrage, when
the person it respects is present, we distinguish in the lower rank of
people by a peculiar term._"

Now I should be glad if any one could offer a conjecture as to the Bishop's meaning in this last sentence? I have shown it to several people, but no one has been able to think of this "peculiar term."

R.

_The Duke of Wharton's Poetical Works._--Ritson prepared an edition of this nobleman's poetical works for the press. It contained nearly as much again as the printed edition of 1732. What has become of the MS.?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Titus Oates._--Can any of your correspondents refer me to an _autograph_ of Titus Oates?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Erasmus' Colloquies--Apuleius' Golden Ass, Translations of._--Will any of your readers be kind enough to enlighten a provincial ignoramus by answering the following Queries:--

1. Which is the best and most complete English translation of Erasmus' _Colloquies_?

2. Is there an English translation of Apuleius' _Golden Ass_?

3. Is the French translation of the latter work considered a good one?

G. P. I.

_The Molten Sea._--In 1835, Captain J. B. Jervis, of the Bombay Engineers, published at Calcutta an essay, entitled _Records of Ancient Science_, in which he endeavours to reconcile the discrepancy between the 1 Kings, vii. 23. 26. and the 2 Chron. iv. 2. 5. by proving that a vessel of oblate spheroidal form--of 30 cubits in the periphery, and 10 cubits in the major axis--would (according to the acknowledged relation of the bath to the cubit) hold exactly 2,000 baths liquid measure, and 3,000 baths when filled and heaped up conically with wheat (as specified in Ezekiel, xlv. 11.).

I do not possess any means of criticising this explanation of the difficulty, and having searched in various modern commentaries for a notice of it without success, I venture to submit it in your columns to the attention of others.

TYRO-ETYMOLOGICUS.

_"Sedem Animæ", &c._--Will any of your correspondents inform me where the following quotation is taken from:--

"Sedem animæ in extremis digitis habent."

It will be found in Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_, folio edition (7th), p. 55., and in the 8vo. edition of 1837, vol. iv. p. 80. Burton cites it as from Sallust, but the verbal index of that author has been consulted in vain for it.

W. S.

Richmond, Surrey.

_Old St. Pancras Church._--Old St. Pancras has always been a noted burial-place for Roman Catholics that reside in or near London; and it has been assigned as a reason for that being their mausoleum and cemetery, that prayers and mass are said daily in a church dedicated to the same saint, in the south of France, for the repose of the souls of the faithful whose bodies are deposited in the church of St. Pancras near London (England), where crosses and Requiescat in Pace, or the initial of those words, R.I.P., are found on the sepulchral monuments. It is said prayer and mass {465} are said at St. Peter at Rome, also for the same purpose.

Can any of your readers inform me where that church is in the south of France; and when such prayers and masses were first said?

It is also understood that this church was the last whose bell tolled in England for mass, and in which any rites of the Roman Catholic religion were celebrated after the Reformation.

S. S. N. H.

* * * * *

Replies.

HOLME MSS.--THE CRADOCKS.

(Vol. ii., p. 429.).

In answer to the Query of MR. ELLACOMBE, "I should like to know whether the MSS. of Randle Holme, of Chester, 1670, which afterwards were penes Dr. Latham, are still accessible?"

1. The MSS. alluded to are those of _four_ successive antiquaries of that name, of whom an account will be found in Ormerod's _Hist. Chesh._, vol. ii., under "Tranmere."

2. The person intended was _not_ Dr. Latham, but Mr. William Latham, of Eltham, afterwards of Quenby Hall, Leicestershire, _brother_ of Dr. Latham, _of Romsey_, the naturalist.

3. The Holme MSS. were _never_ in the possession of Mr. Latham, but if MR. ELLACOMBE will refer to Dr. Gower's prospectus, reissued by Mr. Latham in 1800, he will find a correct statement of their having been obtained by Bishop Gastrell for the Earl of Oxford, and "eventually for the mighty emolument of the public." (p. 40.)

4. These MSS. (being part of the Harleian Collection), _are accessible_ to visitors of the reading room at the Museum, and extend, in the Harleian Catalogue, from No. 1920. to No. 2180. inclusive.

5. With respect to _Cradocks_, as connected with Cheshire, Mr. E. will find notice in Ormerod's _Hist. Chesh._, iii. 236., of the tomb of Sir John Cradock in Nantwich Church, as lately, and perhaps now, remaining, and an account of its _former_ state in Chaloner's and Holme's _Church Notes_, Harl. MSS. 2151., and in _Ordinary of Arms in King's Vale Royall_, 1656, arms assigned to Cradock:--"Argent, on a chevron azure three garbs, or. Partridge (_Hist. of Nantwich_, 1773) names him Sir David, and states that the arms were not _then_ discoverable." Platt's later _History_ quotes Derrick's _Letters_ for naming him Sir Roger.

The pedigree of NEWTON, previously CRADOCK, will be found at length in Lewys Dwnn's _Visitation of Wales_ (vol. i. p. 145.), published by the late Sir Samuel Meyrick, under the auspices of the Welsh MSS. Society. It places Newton in Pembrokeshire, and differs in some other respects from MR. ELLACOMBE'S account. The entry was made in 39 Eliz., 1597, and the close of the pedigree, translated into English, is as follows:

Sir John Newton, Kt.==
_________________________________|_____________________
| | |
Henry Newton of 2 John Newton Frances, wife
Hanham, Somersetshire. of Frusto. of William
Lord Cobham.
LANCASTRIENSIS.

* * * * *

ANTIQUITY OF SMOKING.

In Vol. ii., p. 286., an allusion is made by a correspondent to the following verses of the comic poet Crobylus, in reference to the antiquity of smoking:

[Greek: A. "Egô de pros ta therma tauth' huperbolêi]
[Greek: Tous daktulous dêpouthen idaious echô,]
[Greek: Kai ton larung' hêdista puriô temachiois.]

[Greek: B. "Kaminos, ouk anthrôpos."]
Athen I. p. 5. F.

The two last verses are thus rendered in the passage referred to:

"And I will sweetly burn my throat with cuttings;
A chimney, not a man."

Athenæus is describing the fondness of the ancient gourmands for eating their food extremely hot. As they had no forks, but, like the modern Orientals, carried their food to their mouth with their fingers, one Pithyllus used gloves in order to avoid burning his fingers. (_Ib._ I. p. 6. D.)

In the second line there is a pun upon the word [Greek: idaios] which is explained to mean "cold"--the allusion being to the Idæan Dactyli. (See Meineke, _Fragm. Com. Gr._, vol. iv. p. 568. Lobeck, _Aglaoph_. p. 1181.) The passage is to be translated thus:

A. My fingers are fire-proof against these exceedingly hot morsels, and I delight in burning my throat with slices of fish.

B. "A furnace, not a man."

In v. 3. [Greek: puriô] is the word properly applied to steaming in a vapour-bath; and [Greek: temachos] or [Greek: temachôn] is a slice or cutlet of fish. (See Aristoph. _Nub._ 339.) In v. 4. [Greek: kaminos] must not be rendered "chimney". It is a furnace or oven, and not even a stove or hearth, as Scott and Liddell remark in v. The ancient Greeks, and probably the Romans likewise, were unacquainted with chimneys. (See Beckmann, _Hist. of Inventions_, art. "Chimneys," and Smith's _Dict. of Greek and Rom. Ant._, art. "House".) The meanings of the Latin word _caminus_ are explained by Beckmann (_Ib._, vol. i. p. 301. ed. Bohn). The short poem of [Greek: kaminos ê keramis], attributed to Homer (_Epig._ 14.), illustrates the meaning of the word [Greek: kaminos]. In these verses it is a furnace used for baking pottery.

Crobylus was not earlier than Olymp. 114. B. C. 324. (See Meineke, _Ib._, vol. i. p. 490.)

L.

{466}

* * * * *

ANTIQUITAS SÆCULI JUVENTUS MUNDI.

(Vol. ii., pp. 218. 350. 295.).

The aphorism, "Antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi," which occurs in the _Treatise de Augm. Scient._, vol. viii. p. 39., and in the _Advancement of Learning_, vol. ii. p. 46., ed. Montagne, may be safely attributed to Lord Bacon himself, though it is printed in both passages in the form of quotation, between inverted commas.

In the _Novum Organum_, lib. i. aph. 83, the thought appears in this form:

"De antiquitate autem, opinio quam homines di ipsâ fovent. negligens
omnino est, et vix verbo ipsi congrua. _Mundi enim senium et
grandævitas pro antiquitate vere habenda sunt_; quæ temporibus nostris
tribui debent, non juniori ætati mundi, qualis apud antiquos fuit. Illa
enim ætas, respectu nostri, antiqua et major; respectu mundi ipsius,
nova et minor fuit."

The pointed and aphoristic form of the thought is due to Bacon; the thought itself has, however, been traced by Dr. Whewell to Giordano Bruno.

"It is worthy of remark, that a thought which is often quoted from
Francis Bacon, occurs in Bruno's _Cena di Cenere_, published in 1584; I
mean the notion, that the later times are more aged than the earlier.
In the course of the dialogue, the Pedant, who is one of the
interlocutors, says, 'In antiquity is wisdom;' to which the
philosophical character replies, 'If you knew what you were talking
about, you would see that your principle leads to the opposite result
of that which you wish to infer; I mean, that _we_ are older and have
lived longer than our predecessors.' He then proceeds to apply this, by
tracing the course of astronomy through the earlier astronomers up to
Copernicus."--_Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences_, vol. ii. p. 361.

The _Advancement of Learning_ was published in 1605, twenty-one years after the Treatise of Bruno. Mr. Hallam (_History of Europe_, vol. iv. p. 92.) treats the thought as the original property of Bacon; and although the first trace of it is to be found in Bruno, there is no improbability in supposing that it occurred independently to Bacon about the same time.

L.

_Bacon's Advancement in Learning_ (Vol. ii., p. 396.).--The writer in "NOTES AND QUERIES" speaks of the English text as being original, and the Latin a version of Lord Bacon's _Instauratio Magna_; is he not mistaken? In reality there were two originals of that work, as we learn from Mallet's account prefixed to the folio edition of Bacon's works in 4 vols. London, 1740, p. xvii. et seq. (vol. first). The first edition was in English, London, 1605, and is to be found in the Bodleian. The Latin, published in 1623, is said by Mallet to be the work of Bacon himself, with the assistance of some friends, after he had enlarged and corrected the original; it is from this that Wats' version is made, which is very exact and faithful to its original. The title-page is engraved on copper by Marshall, with this inscription:

"INSTAVR. MAG. P. I. OF THE ADVANCEMENT AND PROFICIENCE OF LEARNING or
the PARTITIONS OF SCIENCES, I[=X] Bookes, Written in Latin by the Most
Eminent, Illustrious, and Famous LORD FRANCIS BACON, Baron of Verulam,
Vicont St. Alban, Counsilour of Estate, and Lord Chancellor of England,
Interpreted by GILBERT WATS, OXFORD: Printed by Leon. Lichfield,
Printer to the Vniversity, for Rob. Young and Ed. Forrell,
CI[C*]I[C*]CXL."

The passage referred to is at p. 36.:

"Indeed, to speak truly, _Antiquitas seculi juventus mundi_, certainly
our times are the ancient times, when the world is now ancient, and not
those which we count ancient, _ordine retrogrado_, by a computation
backward from our own times."

Now this agrees exactly with Bacon's original Latin in Mallet's edition, vol. i. p. 43., except that ordine retrogrado is not in Italics; but in Bacon's English text (Mallet's edition, vol ii. p. 431.), the coincidence in all respects is complete:

"And to speak truly, Antiquitas sacculi, (_sic_) juventus mundi. These
times are the ancient times when the world is ancient, and not those
which we account ancient _ordine retrogrado_, by a computation backward
from ourselves."

Wats' version is the more exact of the two.

T.

* * * * *

ALBEMARLE, TITLE OF.

(Vol. ii., p. 442.).

In reply to the question of J., I send you some particulars about _Aumerle_ or Albemarle.

The first Earl of this place, which is the name of a small town or territory in Normandy, was Otho, descended from the Earls of Champagne, and nearly related to William the Conqueror, to whom he fled for protection, having killed a great person in that country, and obtained this earldom and the Isle of Holderness, in Yorkshire, for his maintenance. The title remained in the heirs of Otho till the death of William, eighth Earl of Albemarle, 44th Henry III., when it reverted to the Crown, with the lordship of Holderness, and in the 9th of Richard II. he granted them to Thomas of Woodstock, summoned to parliament as "Thomas, Duke of Albemarle, the king's loving uncle."

Without enumerating the different persons upon whom our kings subsequently conferred this title as often as it became extinct or vacant, it will be sufficient for our purpose to show, that at the Restoration the dukedom of Albemarle was given to General Monk, who, according to Banks (_D. and E. Peerage_, vol. iii. p. 37.), had a certain degree of hereditary pretension to the name {467} by which he was ennobled, inasmuch as he was descended from Margaret, eldest daughter and co-heir of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick and Albemarle; but this is not satisfactorily made out in Banks' table. At all events, the dukedom became again extinct on the death of Christopher Monk, the second Duke of Albemarle, in 1688, S.P.; but the name was once more revived in 1695-6, by William III., in favour of Arnold Joort Van Keppel, Lord of Voorst, who had attended the king in several campaigns, and was his Master of the Robes, and on the 10th of February in that year created "_Earl of Albemarle in Normandy_;" the title having been doubtless selected as one so frequently enjoyed by persons of the highest consideration, and not in any way resting upon an hereditary claim.

BRAYBROOKE.

Audley End.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Cromwell Poisoned_ (Vol. ii., p. 393.).--Your correspondent P. T. queries if there be any other statement than that which he adduces respecting Cromwell having been poisoned. I would refer him to the _Athenæ Oxoniensis_ of Anthony à Wood, vol. ii. p. 303.,[2] in which it is stated that Dr. George Bate's friends gave him credit for having given a baneful dose to the Protector, to ingratiate himself with Charles II. Amidst all the mutations of those changeful times, and whether Charles I., Cromwell, or Charles II. were in the ascendant, Dr. George Bate always contrived to be the chief state physician. In Whitelock's _Memorials of the English Affairs_ (1732), p. 494, it appears that the Parliament, in 1651, ordered Dr. Bate to go into Scotland to attend the General (Cromwell), and to take care of his health; he being his usual physician in London, and well esteemed by him. He wrote a work styled _Elenchus Motuum nuperorum in Angliâ_. This was severely scrutinised in another, entitled _Elenchus Elenchi; sive Animadversiones in Georgii Batei, Cromwelli Paricidæ, aliquando Protomedici, Elenchi Motuum nuperorum in Angliâ. Autore Robt. Pugh; Parisiis, 1664_.

Dr. Bate, who died 19th April, 1669, was buried at Kingston upon Thames.

§ N.

Nov. 9. 1850.

[Footnote 2: I allude to the old edition, 2 vols. Lond. 1691-2, folio; not having any other at hand.]

"_Never did Cardinal bring Good to England_" (Vol. ii., pp. 424, 450.).--BERUCHINO is right in his suggestion that Dr. Lingard may accidentally have omitted a reference to the place from whence he really derived this saying; for Hall tells us in his _Chronicle_ (ed. 1809, p. 758.), that

"Charles, Duke of Suffolke, seeing the delay, gave a great clappe on
the table with his hande and said, 'By the masse, now I see that the
olde saied sawe is true, _that there was never Legatt nor Cardinall
that did good in Englande_.'"

Whether Charles Brandon was a reader of _Piers Ploughman_, I know not; but the following passage from that poem proves he was giving expression to a feeling which had long been popular in this country. I quote from Mr. Wright's edition, published by Pickering:

"I knew nevere Cardinal
That he ne cam fra the Pope;
And we clerkes, whan thei come,
For hir comunes paieth,
For hir pelure and hir palfreyes mete,
And pilours that hem folweth.

"The comune _clamat cotidie_
Ech a man til oother,
_The contree is the corseder_
_That Cardinals comme inne_;
And ther thei ligge and lenge moost,
Lecherie there regneth."

L. 13789--13800.

Mr. Wright observes in a note upon this passage, that "the contributions levied upon the clergy for the support of the Pope's messengers and agents was a frequent subject of complaint in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries."

THETAS.

_Gloves not worn in the Presence of Royalty_ (Vol. i., p. 366.).--

"This week the Lord Coke, with his gloves on, touched and kissed the
King's hand; but whether to be confirmed a counsellor, or cashiered, I
cannot yet learn."--Letter in _Court and Times of Charles I._, dated
April, 1625.

W. DN.

_Nonjurors' Oratories in London_ (Vol. ii., p. 354.).--

"Nothing, my lord, appears so dreadful to me, as the account I have of
the barefaced impudence of your Jacobite congregations in London. The
marching of the King's forces to and fro through the most factious
parts of the kingdom, must (in time) put an end to our little country
squabbles; but your _fifty churches_ of nonjurors could never be thus
daring, were they not sure of the protection of some high
ally."--Letter from Bishop Nicholson to Archbishop Wake, dated Rose,
Sept. 20. 1716. in Ellis's _Letters_, Series iii.

W. DN.

_"Filthy Gingran"_ (Vol. ii., p. 335).--I have found the following clue to the solution of my Query on this point:--

"Gingroen (gin-croen) _s. f._, the toad-flax, a kind of stinking
mushroom."--Owen's _Welsh Dictionary_.

There is, however, some mistake (a high authority informs me) in the explanation given in the dictionary. Toad-flax is certainly not a "mushroom," neither does it "stink." Is the Welsh word applied to both equivocally as distinct {468} objects? In Withering's _Arrangement of British Plants_, 7th edit., vol. iii., p. 734., 1830, the Welsh name of _Antirrhinum Sinaria_, or common yellow toad-flax, is stated to be _Gingroen fechan_.

I must still invite further explanation.

A. T.

_Michael Scott_ (Vol. ii., p. 120.).--A correspondent wishes to know what works of Michael Scott's have ever been printed. In John Chapman's Catalogue for June, 1850, I see advertised

"Michael Scott's Physionomia, Venet. 1532.
-------- Chyromantia del Tricasso da Ceresari, 2 vols. in 1, 1532."

H. A. B.

_The Widow of the Wood_ (Vol. ii., p. 406.).--Your correspondent is referred to Lowndes's _Bibliographical Manual_, vol. iii. p. 1868, for some mention of this work. It is there stated that the late eminent conveyancer, Francis Hargreave, the step-son of the lady, "bought up and destroyed every copy of this work that he could procure."

J. H. M.

Bath.

_The Widow of the Wood_, 1775, 12mo., pp. vi. and 208. (Inquired after at Vol. ii, p. 406.)--I have this book. It appears to be a Narrative of Complaint of the widow of "John Wh--y, Esq.," of "Great H-y-w--d" (Great Heywood, near Stafford), against Sir W--m W--y in the same neighbourhood.

THOMAS KERSLAKE.

Bristol.

_Modum Promissionis_ (Vol. ii., pp 279. 347.).--Your correspondent C. H. has not solved my difficulty as to _modum promissionis_. In the hope that he, or others, will still kindly endeavour to do so, I subjoin the context in which it stands:--

"Noluit Jethro legem posteris figere: sed, quoad quietam stationem
adeptus esset populus, remedium præsentibus incommodis, atque (ut vulgo
loquitur) modum promissionis ostendit."

An old French translation renders it:--

"Il n'a point donc voulu mettre loy pour la posterité: mais seulement
remedier aux incommoditez presentes _par maniére de provision_ (comme
on dit)," &c.

The general import of the passage is, that Jethro's counsel to Moses, as to the appointment of rulers over the people, was not intended to apply to Canaan, but only to their sojourn in the wilderness.

I do not see how the "formula professionis monasticæ" helps us; unless, indeed, "modus promissionis" were a kind of temporary and conditional vow, which does not appear in Ducange.