Chapter I: Front Matter

{81}

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. 66.] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1. 1851. [Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4d.

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CONTENTS.

Page

"NOTES AND QUERIES" in Holland 81

NOTES:--

Sir John Davies and his Biographers, by Dr. E. F. Rimbault 82

A Note on Queen Anne's Farthings by J. Y. Akerman 83

Folk-Lore:--Lammer Beads--On the Lingering of the
Spirit--May Cats--Mottos on Warming-pans and
Garters 84

Notes on Jesse's "London and its Celebrities," by Henry
Campkin 84

Minor Notes:--Verstegan--George Herbert and the
Church at Leighton Bromswold--Little Gidding--Etymology
of Kobold--Judas Cup--Essleholt Priory--Crossing
Rivers on Skins 85

QUERIES:--

Bibliographical Queries 86

Minor Queries:--Bishops' Lands--The Barons of Hugh
Lupus--Can the Queen make a Gentleman?--Plafery--St.
John's Bridge Fair--Queries on Costume--Cum
Grano Salis--Earl of Clarendon's Daughter,
Lucretia--Vandyke's Portrait of Lord Aubigny--Foundation
Stone of St. Mark's, Venice--Coins of
Richard Cromwell--Cataracts of the Nile--Paternoster
Tackling--Dancing Trenchmore--Hymns--
Camden and Curwen Families--Jartuare 87

REPLIES:--

John Bunyan and his Portrait.--Did Bunyan know
Hobbes? by George Offor 89

The Mother Church of the Saxons by Dr. J. Rawson 90

Replies to Minor Queries:--The Frozen Horn--To
Pose--Culprits torn by Horses--The Conquest--Mayors,
their correct Prefix--True Blue--Modum Promissionis--Fronte
capillata &c.--Cross between a
Wolf and a Hound--Touching for the Evil--Old
Booty--Breeches Bible--Separation of the Sexes--Defender
of the Faith--Epigram on the Synod of Dort--Parish
Register Tax--Clergy sold for Slaves 91

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 94

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 95

Notices to Correspondents 95

Advertisements 95

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"NOTES AND QUERIES" IN HOLLAND.

The following extremely interesting, and, we need scarcely add, to us most gratifying, communication reached us at too late a period last week to admit of our then laying it before our friends, readers, and contributors. They will one and all participate in our gratification at the proof which it affords, not merely of that success which they have all combined to secure, but of the good working, and consequent wide extension, of that great principle of literary brotherhood which it has been the great object of "NOTES AND QUERIES" to establish.

_To the Editor of_ "NOTES AND QUERIES."

Mr. Editor,

We have the pleasure of sending you the prospectus of "DE NAVORSCHER," a new Dutch periodical, grounded upon the same principle as its valuable and valiant predecessor "NOTES AND QUERIES." The title, when translated into English, would be--"_The Searcher; a medium of intellectual exchange and literary intercourse between all who know something, have to ask something, or can solve something._" If it be glorious for _you_ to have proposed a good example, we think it honourable for _us_ to follow it.

Though we do not wish to be our own trumpets, we can say that never a Dutch newspaper was greeted, before its appearance, by such favourable prognostics. _Your_ idea, Mr. Editor, was received with universal applause; and Mr. FREDERIK MULLER, by whom "DE NAVORSCHER" will be published, is not only a celebrated bookseller, but also one of our most learned _bookmen_.

Ready to promote by every means in our power the friendly intercourse between your country and our fatherland, we desire of you to lay the following plan before the many readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES."

1. Every Query, which, promulgated by our English sister, would perhaps find a solution when meeting the eyes of _Dutch_ readers, will be TRANSLATED for them by her foreign brother. We promise to send you a version of the eventual answers.

2. Of Queries, divulged in "DE NAVORSCHER," and likely to be answered if translated for the British readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES," a _version_ will be presented by us to the sister-periodical.

3. The title of BOOKS OR ODD VOLUMES wanted to purchase, of which copies may exist in the Netherlands, will be duly inserted into "DE NAVORSCHER" when required. Mr. FREDERIK MULLER will direct his letters, containing particulars and lowest price, to the persons anxious for information.

4. All communications for "DE NAVORSCHER" must be addressed to Mr. D. NUTT, Bookseller, {82} No. 270. Strand; or, _carriage free_, to the "_Directors_ of the same," care of Mr. FREDERIK MULLER, "Heerengracht, near the Oude Spieglestraat, Amsterdam."

With a fervent wish that in such a manner, two neighbourly nations, connected by religion, commerce, and literary pursuits, may be more and more united by the mail-bearing sea which divides them, we have the honour to remain,

Mr. Editor,
Your respectful servants,
THE DIRECTORS OF "DE NAVORSCHER."

Amsterdam, the 16th of December, 1850.

When by the publication of "NOTES AND QUERIES" we laid down those
telegraphic lines of literary communication which we hoped should one
day find their way into every library and book-room in the United
Kingdom, we little thought that, ere fifteen months had passed, we
should be called upon, not to lay down a _sub_marine telegraph, but to
establish a _super_marine communication with our brethren in the Low
Countries. We do so most gladly, for we owe them much. From them it was
that Caxton learned the art, but for which "NOTES AND QUERIES" would
never have existed; and of which the unconstrained practice has, under
Providence, served to create our literature, to maintain our liberties,
and to win for England its exalted position among the nations of the
earth.

Heartily, therefore, do we bid God speed to "DE NAVORSCHER;" and
earnestly will we do all we can to realize the kindly wish of our
Amsterdam brethren, that the "two neighbourly nations of Holland and
England, connected by religion, commerce, and literary pursuits, may be
more and more united by the mail-bearing sea which divides them."

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Notes.

SIR JOHN DAVIES AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS.

Sir John Davies, the "sweet poet" and "grave lawyer"--rather odd combinations by the bye,--according to Wood, was "born at Chisgrove, in the parish of Tysbury in Wiltshire, being the son of a wealthy _tanner_ of that place!" This statement is repeated in Cooper's _Muses' Library_, p. 331.; Nichols's _Select Poems_, vol. i., p. 276.; Sir E. Brydges's edition of Philips's _Theatrum Poetarum_, 1800, p. 272.; Sir Harris Nicolas's edition of Davison's _Poetical Rhapsody_, vol. i. p. cii., &c. And Headley, in his _Select Beauties of Poetry_, ed. 1787, vol. i. p. xli., adds, "he was a man of _low_ extraction!" Wood's assertion concerning Davies's parentage, was made, I believe, upon the authority of Fuller; but it is undoubtedly an error, as the books which record the admission of the younger Davies into the Society of the Middle Temple, say the father was "late of New Inn, _gentleman_."

Mr. Robert R. Pearce, in a recent work, entitled _A History of the Inns of Court and Chancery_, 8vo. 1848, p. 293., gives the following sketch of the leading facts in the life of our "poetical lawyer:"--

"Sir John Davis, the author of _Reports_, and several other legal
works, and a poet of considerable repute, was of this Society [_i.e._
the Middle Temple]. His father was a member of New Inn, and a
practitioner of the law in Wiltshire. At the Middle Temple, young Davis
became rather notorious for his irregularities, and having beaten Mr.
Richard Martin (also a poet, and afterwards Recorder of London) in the
hall, he was expelled the house. Afterwards, through the influence of
Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, he was restored to his position in the
Middle Temple; and, in 1601, was elected a Member of the House of
Commons. In 1603, he was appointed by King James Solicitor-General in
Ireland. In 1606, he was called to the degree of Serjeant-at-Law; and,
in the following year, was knighted by the King at Whitehall. In 1612,
he published a book on the state of Ireland, which is often referred
to; and soon afterwards he was appointed King's Serjeant, and Speaker
of the House of Commons in Ireland. On his return to England he
published his reports of cases adjudged in the King's Court in
Ireland,--the first reports of Irish cases made public. The preface to
these reports is very highly esteemed. It has been said to vie with
Coke in solidity and learning, and equal Blackstone in classical
illustration and elegant language. Sir John Davis died 7th of December,
1626."

It is amusing to see how erroneous statements creep into ordinary biography. Headley, as we have just seen, calls Davies "a man of _low_ extraction;" and now we find a more recent biographer adding (without the shadow of an authority), "at the Middle Temple, young Davies became _rather notorious for his irregularities_!"

Davies's quarrel with Richard Martin is alluded to by Wood. After speaking of his admission into the Middle Temple, and of his being made a barrister (July, 1595), that writer adds:--

"But so it was that he [Sir John Davies] being a high-spirited young
man, did, upon some little provocation or punctilio, bastinado Rich.
Martin (afterwards Recorder of London) in the Common Hall of the Middle
Temple, while he was at dinner. For which act being forthwith
[February, 1597-8] expell'd, he retired for a time in private, lived in
Oxon in the condition of a sojourner, and follow'd his studies, tho' he
wore a cloak. However, among his serious thoughts, making reflections
upon his own condition, which sometimes was an affliction to him, he
composed that excellent philosophical and divine poem called _Nosce
Teipsum_."

It is not a little singular that this very Richard Martin, whose chastisement is thus recorded, had {83} been on terms of strict friendship with our "high-spirited" young lawyer. In 1596, Davies had published his poem on dancing, entitled _Orchestra_, the title-page of which is followed by a dedicatory sonnet "To his very friend, Ma. Richard Martin." This sonnet is written in extravagant terms of friendship and admiration; and as it is only to be found in the _rare_ first edition, and in the almost equally rare _Bibliographical Catalogue of the Ellesmere Collection_, some of your readers may not be displeased to see it on the present occasion:--

"TO HIS VERY FRIEND MA. RICH. MARTIN.

"To whom shall I this dauncing Poeme send,
This suddaine, rash, halfe-capreol of my wit?
To you, first mover and sole cause of it,
Mine-owne-selves better halve, my deerest frend.
O, would you yet my Muse some Honny lend
From your mellifluous tongue, whereon doth sit
Suada in majestie, that I may fit
These harsh beginnings with a sweeter end.
You know the modest sunne full fifteene times
Blushing did rise, and blushing did descend,
While I in making of these ill made rimes,
My golden bowers unthriftily did spend.
Yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse,
I will mispend another fifteene dayes."

The cause of quarrel between the two young lawyers is not known, but the "offence," whatever it was, was not slight. In the year 1622, when Davies reprinted his poetical works, we find that his feelings of resentment against his once "very friend" had not abated, for in place of the dedicatory sonnet to Richard Martin, is substituted a sonnet addressed to Prince Charles; and at the conclusion of the poem, he left a _hiatus_ after the one hundred and twenty-sixth stanza, on account of the same quarrel.

Sir John Davies's celebrated poem, _Nosce Teipsum_ (mentioned by Wood in the previous extract), is said to have gained the author the favour of James I., even before he came to the crown. Wood gives the precise period of its composition, and, I think, with every appearance of truth, although it does not accord with the statement of modern biographers, that it was written at twenty-five years of age. (See Campbell's _Essay on Poetry_, &c., ed. 1848, p. 184.) The first edition of this poem was printed in 4to. in the year 1599, and has for its title the following:--

"_Nosce Teipsum_. This Oracle expounded in Two Elegies. 1. Of Humane
Knowledge. 2. Of the Soule of Man, and the Immortalitie thereof.
London, Printed by Richard Field, for John Standish. 43 leaves."

As I am deeply interested in all that relates to the subject of this note, I have compiled a list of editions of the above poem, which shows its popularity for more than a century and a half:--

1. 1599. _London_, 4to. First edition.
2. 1602. _ib._ 4to. Second ed.
3. 1608. _ib._ 4to. Third ed.
4. 1619. _ib._ 8vo. Fourth ed.
5. 1622. _ib._ 8vo. The last edition printed during the
Author's lifetime.
6. 1653. _ib._ 4to. Published by T. Jenner with curious plates,
and prose paraphrase.
7. 1688. _ib._ folio. With prose dissertation.
8. 1697. _Dublin,_ 8vo. With Life of the Author, by Nahum Tate.
9. 1714. _ib._ 12mo. Second edition by Tate.
10. 1733. _ib._ 8vo. With Essay by Dr. Sheridan.
11. 1749. _London,_ 12mo.
12. 1759. _Glasgow,_ 12mo. With Life of the Author.
13. 1760. _London,_ 8vo. In Capel's _Prolusions._
14. 1773. _ib._ 12mo. In Davies's _Poetical Works_, edited by
Thompson.

Sir John Davies left behind him a large number of MSS. upon various subjects, none of which have since been printed. It would be very desirable that a list, as far as can now be made out, should be put on record. Anthony Wood says, several of Davies's MSS. were formerly in the library of Sir James Ware of Ireland and since that in the possession of Edward, Earl of Clarendon. The most interesting of these MSS. were a Collection of Epigrams, and a Metaphrase of David's Psalms. The Harleian MSS., Nos. 1578. and 4261., contain two law treatises of this learned writer, and in Thorpe's _Catalogue_ for 1823, I find _A Treatise of Tenures touchinge his Majesties Prerogative Royal_, by John Davies, folio, MS.

Granger does not record any engraved portrait of this writer, and all my enquiries have failed in discovering one. In Mr. Soame Jenyn's Hall, at Botesham, in Cambridgeshire (in 1770), was a full-length portrait of an elderly gentleman in a gown, with a book in one hand, on which is written "_Nosce Teipsum_." If this is a genuine portrait of Sir John Davies, it ought to be engraved to accompany a new edition of his poetical works; a publication which the lovers of our old poetry would deem an acceptable offering.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

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A NOTE ON QUEEN ANN'S FARTHINGS.

The idea that a Queen Anne's farthing is a coin of the greatest rarity, originated perhaps in the fact that there are several _pattern pieces_ executed by Croker, which are much valued by collectors, and which consequently bring higher prices. One type only was in circulation, and this appears to have been very limited, for it is somewhat scarce, though a specimen may easily be procured of any dealer in coins for a few shillings. This bears the bust of the {84} Queen, with the legend ANNA DEI GRATIA--reverse, BRITANNIA around the trite figure of Britannia with the spear and olive-branch: the date 1714 in the exergue. Those with Peace in a car, Britannia standing with olive-branch and spear, or seated under an arch, are patterns; the second has the legend BELLO ET PACE in indented letters, a mode revived in the reign of George III. It is said that many years ago a lady in the north of England lost one of the farthings of Queen Anne, which she much prized as the bequest of a deceased friend, and that having offered in the public journals a large reward for its recovery, it was ever afterwards supposed that any farthing of this monarch was of great value.

J. Y. AKERMAN.

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FOLK LORE.

_Lammer Beads._--Does any one know the meaning of "Lammer beads?" They are almost always made of amber, and are considered as a charm to keep away evil of every kind; their touch is believed to cure many diseases, and they are still worn by many old people in Scotland round the neck. The name cannot have anything to do with "Lammermuir," as, although they are well known among the old people of Lammermuir, yet they are equally so all over Scotland.