Chapter C: H. Cooper

Cambridge, April 14. 1851.

[The fifteen O's are fifteen prayers commencing with the letter O, and
will be found in _Horæ Beatissime Virginis Marie, secundum usum
ecclesiæ Sarum_, p. 201. edit. 1527.]

_Meaning of Pightle._--As I dare say you number some Suffolk men among your readers, would any of them kindly inform me the meaning and derivation of the word "pightle," which is always applied to a field adjoining the farm-houses in Suffolk?

PHILO-STEVENS.

[Phillips, in his _New World of Words_, has "PIGLE or PIGHTEL, a small
Parcel of Land enclosed with a Hedge, which in some Parts of England is
commonly call'd a Pingle."]

_Inscription on a Guinea of George III._--Round the reverse of a guinea of George III., 1793, are the following initials:--"M. B. F. ET H. REX--F. D. B. ET L. D. S. R. I. A. T. ET E." The earlier letters are sufficiently intelligible; but I should be glad to learn the meaning of the whole inscription.

J. H. C.

Adelaide, South Australia.

[Of the Faith Defender, of Brunswick and Lunenburg Duke, of the Holy
Roman Empire Arch-Treasurer and Elector.]

_Meaning of Crambo._--Sir Thomas Browne (_Religio Medici_, part ii. § 15. ed. 1678) says:

"I conclude, therefore, and say, there is no happiness under (or, as
Copernicus will have it, above) the sun, nor any Crambo in that
repeated verity and burthen of all the wisdom of _Solomon_, _All is
vanity and vexation of spirit_."

Query, What is the meaning of _crambo_ here, and is it to be met with elsewhere with a similar meaning?

J. H. C.

Adelaide, South Australia.

[The words "nor any Crambo" mean that the sentiment expressed by
Solomon is a truth which cannot be too often repeated. Crabbe says,
"_Crambo_ is a play, in rhyming, in which he that repeats a word that
was said before forfeits something." In all the MSS. and editions of
the _Religio Medici_, 1642, the words "nor any Crambo," are wanting.
See note on the passage in the edition edited by Simon Wilkin, F.L.S.]

* * * * *

Replies.

JOHN TRADESCANT PROBABLY AN ENGLISHMAN, AND HIS VOYAGE TO RUSSIA IN 1618.

(Vol. iii., pp. 119. 286. 353.)

DR. RIMBAULT justly observes that "the history of the Tradescants is involved in considerable obscurity." He does not, however, seem to have been aware that some light has been thrown on that of the elder John Tradescant by the researches of Dr. Hamel, in his interesting Memoir published in the _Transactions of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg in 1847_, with the following title:--"Tradescant der Æltere 1618 in Russland. Der {392} Handelsverkehr zwischen England und Russland in seiner Entstehung," &c.

DR. RIMBAULT'S note contains a good epitome of the most obvious English notices respecting the Tradescants; but while correcting the errors of others, he has himself fallen into one important mistake, in stating that "Old John Tradescant died in 1652;" for that is the date of the death of his grandson, John, who died young. Old John died in 1638, leaving a son, also named John, who was born in 1608, and died in 1662, having survived his only son ten years; and, having no heir to his treasures, he had previously conveyed them, by deed of gift, to Elias Ashmole, who seems to have contrived to make himself agreeable to him by his pursuits as a virtuoso, and by his alchemical and astrological fancies. When Dr. Hamel was in England, I had the pleasure of indicating to him the site of "Tradescant's Ark" in South Lambeth. It was situate on the east side of the road leading from Vauxhall to Stockwell, nearly opposite to what was formerly called Spring Lane. Ashmole built a large brick house near that which had been Tradescant's, out of the back of part of which he made offices. The front part of it became the habitation of the well-known antiquary, Dr. Ducarel. It still remains as two dwellings; the one, known as "Turret House," is occupied by John Miles Thorn, Esq., and the other, called "Stamford House," is the dwelling of J. A. Fulton, Esq.

In his indefatigable researches to elucidate the early intercourse between England and Russia, Dr. Hamel's attention was accidentally called to the Tradescants and their Museum; and the following passage in Parkinson's _Paradisus Terrestris_, p. 345. (Art. "Neesewort," then called _Elleborus albus_), led to the discovery of a relation of Old John's voyage to Russia:--

"This (says Parkinson) grows in many places in Germany, and likewise in
certain places in Russia, in such abundance, that, according to the
relation of that worthy, curious, and diligent searcher and preserver
of all nature's rarities and varieties, my very good friend John
Tradescante, of whom I have many times before spoken, a moderately
large ship (as he says) might be laden with the roots thereof, which he
there saw on a certain island."

The same notice, in other words, also occurs in Parkinson's _Theatrum_, p. 218.

In searching among the MSS. in the Ashmolean Museum, Dr. Hamel bore this passage in memory, and one MS., thus described in Mr. Black's excellent catalogue, No. 824., xvi., contained confirmatory matter:

"A Voiag of Ambassad undertaken by the Right Honnorabl S^r Dudlie
Diggs, in the year 1618."

"This curious narrative of the voyage round the North Cape to
Archangel, begins with a list of the chief persons employed in the
embassy, and contains observations of the weather, and on the
commercial, agricultural, and domestic state of Russia at that time. It
is written in a rude hand, and by a person unskilled in composition.
The last half page contains some chronological notes and other stuff,
perhaps written by the same hand."

Thus far Mr. Black. The full title of the MS. is,--

"A Viag of Ambassad undertaken by the Right Honnorabl S^r Dudlie Diggs
in the year 1618, being atended on withe 6 Gentillmen, whiche beare the
nam of the king's Gentillmen, whose names be heere notted. On M.
Nowell, brother to the Lord Nowell, M. Thomas Finche, M. Woodward, M.
Cooke, M. Fante, and M. Henry Wyeld, withe every on of them ther man.
Other folloers, on Brigges, Interpreter, M. Jams, an Oxford man, his
Chaplin, on M. Leake his Secretary, withe 3 Scots; on Captain Gilbert
and his Son, withe on Car, also M. Mathew De Quester's Son, of Filpot
Lane, in London, the rest his own retenant, some 13 _whearof_ (_Note on
Jonne an Coplie wustersher men_) M. Swanli of Limhouse, master of the
good Ship called the Dianna of Newcastell, M. Nelson, part owner of
Newe Castell."

Dr. Hamel says:

"What the words in Italics may signify is not quite clear, but that 'on
Jonne' must relate to Tradescante himself. Perhaps this passage may
lead to the discovery that Tradescant did not, as it has been
conjectured, come from Holland, but that he was a native of
Worcestershire. The name Tradescant might be an assumed one (it was
also written _Tradeskin_, which might be interpreted _Fellmonger_)."

From documents in the archives at Moscow, Dr. Hamel recovered the Christian names, and a list of Sir Dudley Digges' attendants in this voyage, which corresponds with that in the MS., thus:--_Arthur_ Nowell, _Thomas_ Woodward, _Adam_ Cooke, _Joseph_ Fante, _Thomas_ Leake, _Richard_ James, _George_ Brigges, _Jessy_ De Quester, _Adam_ Jones, _Thomas_ Wakefield, _John_ Adams, _Thomas_ Crisp, _Leonard_ Hugh, and JOHN COPLIE. This last must therefore have designated _John Tradescant_ himself, who was certainly there.

Sir Dudley Digges, to whom Tradescant seems to have attached himself in order to obtain knowledge of the plants and other natural curiosities of Russia, was sent by King James I. to the Czar Michael Fedorowitsch, who had in the previous year despatched an embassy to the king, principally to negotiate for a loan. This ambassador, Wolünsky, returned at the same time, in another vessel accompanying that of Sir Dudley.

Dr. Hamel in his memoir has given considerable extracts from the MS. narrative of the voyage, which show that Tradescant was an accurate observer not only of objects connected with his studies of phytology and natural history, but of other matters. Parkinson has justly styled him "a painful industrious searcher and lover of all natural varieties;" and elsewhere says: "My very {393} good friend, John Tradescantes, has wonderfully laboured to obtain all the rarest fruits hee can heare of in any place of Christendome, Turky, yea, or the whole world." The passages in the journal of his voyage, which prove it to be indubitably his, are numerous, but the one which first struck Dr. Hamel was sufficient; for in following the narrator on the Dwina, and the islands there, and, among others, to Rose Island, he found this note, "Helebros albus, enoug to load a ship." There are, however, others confirmatory beyond a doubt. Parkinson, in his _Paradisus Terrestris_, p. 528., has the following passage:--

"There is another (strawberry) very like unto this (the Virginia
strawberry, which carrieth the greatest leafe of any other except the
Bohemian), that John Tradescante brought with him from Brussels (l.
Russia) long ago, and in seven years could never see one berry ripe on
all sides, but still the better part rotten, although it would flower
abundantly every yeare, and beare very large leaves."

Tradescant mentions that he also saw strawberries to be sold in Russia, but could never get of the plants, though he saw the berries three times at Sir D. Digges's table; but as they were in nothing differing from ours, but only less, he did not much seek after them. It is most probable that he brought seed, as he did of another berry, of which he sent part, he tells us, to his correspondent Vespasian Robin at Paris.

Of a man to whom the merit is due of having founded the earliest Museum of Natural History and Rarities of Art in England, and who possessed one of the first, and at the same the best, Botanic Garden, every little particular must be interesting, and it would be pleasing to find that he was an Englishman, and not a foreigner. The only ground for the latter supposition is, I believe, the assertion of Anthony à Wood, that he was a Fleming or a Dutchman. The name Tradescant is, however, neither Flemish nor Dutch, and seems to me much more like an assumed English pseudonyme. That he was neither a Dutchman nor a Fleming will, I think, be obvious from the following passage in the narration of his travels:

"Also, I haue been tould that theare growethe in the land bothe tulipes
and narsisus. By a Brabander I was tould it, thoug by his name I should
rather think him a Holander. His name is Jonson, and hathe a house at
Archangell. He may be eyther, for he [is] always dr[=u]ke once in a
day."

Now, had Tradescant himself been a Fleming or a Dutchman, he would at least have been able to speak decisively on this occasion; to say nothing of the vice of intemperance which he attributes to the natives of those countries. Again, it is quite clear that this journal of travels was written by Tradescant; yet that name does not appear either in the MS. or in the Russian archives: but we have _John Coplie_ in both, with the indication in the MS. that he was _a Worcestershire man_. Let us therefore, on these grounds, place him in the list of English worthies to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. But supposing _Tradescant_ to have been his real name, it is quite evident that he travelled under the name of _John Coplie_; and it is perhaps vain to speculate upon the reasons for the assumption of a pseudonyme either way.

Dr. Richard James, who accompanied Sir Dudley Digges as chaplain, appears, from Turner's account of his MSS., which are deposited in the Bodleian, to have left behind him a MS. account of his travels in Russia, in five sheets; but his MS. seems to have been lost or mislaid in that vast emporium, or we might have some confirmation from it respecting Tradescant.

South Lambeth was in former times one of the most agreeable and salubrious spots in the vicinity of London, and at the time when Tradescant first planted his garden he must have had another worthy and distinguished man for a neighbour, Sir Noel Caron, who was resident ambassador here from the States of Holland for twenty-eight years. His estate contained 122 acres; he was a benefactor to the poor of his vicinity by charitable actions, some of which remain as permanent monuments of his benevolence, in the shape of almshouses, situate in the Wandsworth Road. The site of Caron House is now possessed by Henry Beaufoy, Esq., who has worthily emulated the deeds of his predecessor by acts of munificent benevolence, which must be fraught with incalculable good for ages yet to come. Mr. Beaufoy has, among his literary treasures, a very interesting collection of letters in MS., written in French, by Sir Noel Caron to Constantine Huyghens, I think, which contain many curious illustrations of the events of that period.

Let us hope that time may bring to light further and more complete materials for the biography of these Lambethan worthies, who have deserved to live in our memories as benefactors to mankind.

S. W. SINGER.

Manor Place, So. Lambeth, May 5. 1851.

* * * * *

THE FAMILY OF THE TRADESCANTS.

In Chambers's _Edinburgh Journal_, No. 359., New Series, may be found an account of this family, written by myself; I hope to be excused when I say that it is the most accurate hitherto published. It gave me great pleasure to find that so distinguished an antiquary as DR. RIMBAULT mainly corroborates the article alluded to; but I regret that I feel bound to notice a serious error into which that gentleman has fallen. DR. R. states that "Old John Tradescant died in the year 1652;" and in another place he states that-- {394}

"It was not the _youngest_ John Tradescant that died in 1652, but the
_oldest_, the _grandfather_, the first of that name that settled in
England."

The conflicting accounts and confusion in the history of the Tradescants, have no doubt arisen from the three, "grandsire, father, and son," having been all named John; consequently, for the sake of perspicuity, I shall adopt the plan of our worthy editor, and designate the Tradescant who first settled in England, No. 1.; his son, who published the _Musæum Tradescantianum_, No. 2.; and the son of the latter, who "died in his spring," No. 3. Now, to prove that it was the youngest of the Tradescants, No. 3., who died in 1652, we have only to refer to the preface of the _Musæum Tradescantianum_, which was published in 1656. There we find that Tradescant No. 2. says that--

"About three years agoe (by the perswasion of some friends) I was
resolved to take a catalogue of those rarities and curiosities, which
my father had sedulously collected, and myself with continued diligence
have augmented and hitherto preserved together."

He then proceeds to account for the delay in the publication of the work in these words:

"Presently thereupon my _onely son_ died, one of my friends fell sick,"
&c.

Again, in Ashmole's _Diary_ we find the following entry:

"_Sept._ 11th, 1652. Young John Tredescant died."

And, further on, Ashmole states that

"He was buried by his grandfather, in Lambeth Churchyard."

The word _by_, in the quotation, meaning, _by the side of_, _close by_ his grandfather. The burial register of Lambeth parish gives the date of the interment, Sept. 16, 1652. Ashmole's _Diary_, as quoted by DR. RIMBAULT, and the burial register also, give the date of the death of Tradescant No. 2., who survived his son ten years: the family then became extinct.

Ashmole, who became acquainted with the Tradescants in 1650, never mentions the grandfather (No. 1.), nor is his name to be found in the burial registry; and consequently the date of his death, as far as I have read, has always been set down as uncertain. There are other parish records, however, than burial registers; and I was well repaid for my search by finding, in the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's, Lambeth, the following entries:

"1634. June 1. Received for burial of Jane, wife of John Tradeskin,
12s."

"1637-8. Item. John Tradeskin; ye gret bell and black cloth, 5s. 4d."

This last entry, in all probability, marks the date of the death of the first Tradescant. Assuming that it does, and as the engraving by Hollar represents him as far advanced in years, his age did not exclude him from having been in the service of Queen Elizabeth, so much so as it would if he had died in 1652. I read the line on the tombstone,--

"Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen"--

as signifying that one of the Tradescants had been gardener to Elizabeth, the Rose Queen, and the other to Henrietta, the Lily Queen. However, as that is little more than a matter of opinion, not of historical fact, it need not be further alluded to at present.

I am happy to say, that I have every reason to believe that I am on the trace of new, curious, and indisputably authentic information respecting the Tradescants. If successful, and if the editor will spare me a corner, I shall be proud to communicate it to the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES."

Tradescant's house, and the house adjoining, where Ashmole lived, previous to his taking possession of Tradescant's house, after Mrs. Tradescant's death (see Ashmole's _Diary_), are still standing, though they have undergone many alterations. Even there, the name of Tradescant seems forgotten: the venerable building is only known by a _nick-name_, derived most probably from its antique chimneys. I had many weary pilgrimages before I discovered the identical edifice. I have not seen the interior, but am aware that there are some traces of Ashmole in the house, but none whatever of Tradescant in either house or garden. I had a conversation with the gardener of the gentleman who now occupies it: he appeared to have an indistinct idea that an adept in his own profession had once lived there, for he observed that, "If old What's-his-name were alive now, the potato disease could soon be cured." Oh! what we antiquaries meet with! He further gave me to understand that "_furriners_ sometimes came there wishing to see the place, but that I was the only Englishman, that he recollected, who expressed any curiosity about it."

The _restorers_ of the tomb of the Tradescants merely took away the old leger stone, on which were cut the words quoted by A. W. H. (Vol. iii., p. 207.), and replaced it by a new stone bearing the lines quoted by DR. RIMBAULT, which were not on the original stone (see Aubrey's _Surrey_), and the words--

"Erected 1662.
Repaired by Subscription, 1773."

But although the name of the childless, persecuted widow, Hester Tradescant, is not now on the tomb which she piously erected to the memories of her husband and son; still, on the west end of it, can be traced the form of a hydra tearing a human skull--fit emblem of the foul and vulture-like rapacity of Elias Ashmole.

WILLIAM PINKERTON.

Dalmeny Cottage, Ham, Surrey.

{395}

* * * * *

POPE JOAN.

(Vol. iii., p. 265.)

In reply to your correspondent NEMO'S Query, whether any such personage as Pope Joan ever held the keys of St. Peter, and wore the tiara? and if so, at what period, and for what time, and what is known of her personal history? I would remark that the story runs thus: that between the pontificates of Leo IV., who died in the year 855, and of Benedict III., who died in 858, a female of the name of Joan found means to cause herself to be elected Pope, which post she held for a term of upwards of two years, under the title of Joannes VII., according to Sabellicus, or, according to Platina, of Joannes VIII. She is generally said to have been an Englishwoman, the daughter of a priest, who in her youth became acquainted with an English monk belonging to the Abbey of Fulda, with whom she travelled, habited as a man, to many universities, but finally settled at Athens, where she remained until the death of her companion, and attained to a great proficiency in the learning common to the time. After this she proceeded to Rome, and having by the talent she displayed in several disputes obtained the reputation of a learned divine, was, on the death of Leo IV., elected to fill the pontifical chair. This position she held for upwards of two years, but soon after the expiration of that time was delivered of a child (but died during parturition), while proceeding in a procession between the Coliseum and the Church of St. Clemente.

The first mention of this story appears to have been made by Marianus Scotus, who compiled a chronicle at Mayence, about two hundred years after the event is said to have occurred, viz. about 1083. He was followed by Sigebert de Gemblours, who wrote about 1112; and also by Martino di Cistello, or Polonus, who wrote about 1277; since when the story has been repeated by numberless authors, all of whom have, more or less, made some absurd additions.

After the satisfactory proofs of the fictitious character of the story, which have been produced by the most eminent writers, both Catholic and Protestant, it may appear a work of supererogation to add anything on the point; yet it may perhaps be permitted to observe, that in the most ancient and esteemed manuscripts of the works of the authors above quoted, no mention whatever is made of the Papissa Giovanna, and its introduction must therefore have been the work of some later copyist.

The contemporary writers, moreover, some of whom were ocular witnesses of the elections both of Leo IV. and Benedict III., make no mention whatever of the circumstance; and it is well known that at Athens, where she is stated to have studied, no such school as the one alluded to existed in the ninth century.

The fact will not, I think, be denied that it was the practice of the chroniclers of the early ages to note down the greater portion of what they heard, without examining critically as to the credibility of the report; and the mention of a fact once made, was amply sufficient for all succeeding authors to copy the statement, and make such additions thereto as best suited their respective fancies, without making any examination as to the truth or probability of the original statement. And this appears to have been the case with the point in question: Marianus Scotus first stated, or rather some later copyist stated for him, the fact of a female Pope; and subsequent writers added, at a later period, the additional facts which now render the tale so evidently an invention.

R. R. M.

_Pope Joan_ (Vol. iii., p. 265.).--You have referred to Sir Thomas Browne, and might have added the opinion of his able editor (_Works_, iii. 360.), who says, "Her very existence itself seems now to be universally rejected by the best authorities as a fabrication from beginning to end." On the other hand, old Coryat, in his _Crudities_ (vol. ii. p. 443.), has the boldness to speak with "certainty of her birth at a particular place,--viz. at Mentz." Mosheim tells us (vol. ii. p. 300.) that during the five centuries succeeding 855, "the event was generally believed." He quotes some distinguished names, as well among those who maintained the truth of the story as amongst those who rejected it as a fable. Bayle may be included amongst the latter, who, in the third volume of his Dictionary (Article PAPESSE), has gone deeply into the question. Mosheim himself seems to leave it where Sir Roger de Coverley would have done,--"much may be said on both sides."

J. H. M.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries

_Robert Burton, his Birth-place_ (Vol. iii., pp. 106. 157.).--A friend who has just been reading the _Anatomy of Melancholy_, has referred me to the following passage, which seems to give conclusive testimony respecting the birth-place of Burton:--

"Such high places are infinite ... and two amongst the rest, which I
may not omit for vicinities sake, Oldbury in the confines of
Warwickshire, where I have often looked about me with great delight, at
the foot of which hill I was born; and Hanbury in Staffordshire,
contiguous to which is Falde, a pleasant village, and an ancient
patrimony belonging to our family, now in the possession of mine elder
brother, William Burton, Esquire." [Note on words "_I was born._" At
Lindley in Lecestershire, the possession and dwelling place of Ralph
Burton, Esquire, my late {396} deceased father.]--_Anatomy of
Melancholy_, Part ii. Sec 2. Mem. 3. ad fin.

I knew of the following, but as it merely mentions Lindley as the _residence_ of the family, it would not have answered DR. RIMBAULT'S Query.

"Being in the country in the vacation time, not many years since, at
Lindly in Lecestershire, my father's house," &c.--_Ibid._ Part ii. Sec.
5. Mem. 1. subs. 5.