Chapter I: Part 1

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NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION

FOR

LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

VOL. III.--NO. 83--SATURDAY, MAI 31. 1851.

Price Threepence. Stamped Edition 4_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

On the Proposed Record of Existing Monuments 417

NOTES:--

Illustrations of Chaucer, No. VII.: The star Min Al Auwâ 419

Traditions from remote Periods through few Links, by Rev.
Thos. Corser 421

Dr. Young's Narcissa 422

Minor Notes:--Curious Epitaph--The Curse of Scotland--The
Female Captive--Pictorial Antiquities 422

QUERIES:--

English Poems by Constantine Huyghens, by S. W. Singer 423

The Rev. Mr. Gay, by Edward Tagart 424

Minor Queries:--Carved Ceiling in Dorsetshire--Publicans'
Signs--To a T.--Skeletons at Egyptian Banquet--Gloves--Knapp
Family in Norfolk and Suffolk--To learn by "Heart"--Knights--
Supposed Inscription in St. Peter's at Rome--Rag Sunday in
Sussex--Northege Family--A Kemble Pipe of Tobacco--Durham
Sword that killed the Dragon 424

MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--"At Sixes and Sevens"--Swobbers--
Handel's Occasional Oratorio--Archbishop Waldeby's
Epitaph--Verstegan--Royal Library 425

REPLIES:--

Hugh Holland and his Works, by Bolton Corney 427

The Milesians 428

The Tanthony 428

Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury 429

Replies to Minor Queries:--Shakespeare's Use of
"Captious"--Inscription of a Clock--Authors of the Anti-Jacobin
Poetry--"Felix, quem faciunt," &c.--Church Bells--Chiming,
Tolling, and Pealing--Extraordinary North Briton--Fitzpatrick's
Lines of Fox--Ejusdem Farinæ--The Sempecta--"Nulli fraus
tuta latebris"--Voltaire, where situated--By the Bye--Bigod de
Loges--Knebsend--Mrs. Catherine Barton--Peter Sterry--Wife of
James Torre--Ramasse--Four Want Way--Dr. Owen's Works--Bactrian
Coins--Baldrocks--Tu Autem--Commoner marrying a Peeress--Ancient
Wood Engraving--Vegetating Insects--Prayer at the Healing--M.
or N., &c. 430

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 438

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 438

Notices to Correspondents 439

Advertisements 439

ON THE PROPOSED RECORD OF EXISTING MONUMENTS.

Although disappointed in the hope we had entertained of being, by this
time, in a position to announce that some decided steps had been taken
to carry out, in a practical manner, the great scheme of preserving a
record of our existing Monuments, we are gratified at being enabled to
bring under the notice of our readers several communications which
show the still increasing interest which is felt upon the subject.

The first, by Sir Thomas Phillipps, besides some valuable information
upon the matter immediately under consideration, contains several very
useful suggestions upon other, though kindred points.

In approving of the design mentioned in your "NOTES" by MR. DUNKIN, it has surprised me that in no one of the communications which you have there printed is any allusion to the multitude of inscriptions already collected, and now preserved in the British Museum and other libraries. A list of what are already copied should _first_ be made, which would considerably abridge the labour of collecting. For instance, the whole of Gloucestershire has been preserved by Bigland, and nearly two-thirds of these have been printed. I should recommend his plan to be adopted, being _multum in parvo_, as to the headstones in the churchyards, and the clearest for reference by its alphabetical order of parishes. He copies them about 1780; so that now seventy years remain to be obtained. His collection would make two, or at most three, volumes folio, by which we can form an approximate idea as to the extent for the kingdom, which I estimate at one hundred volumes for the forty counties, because some of these are very small, and many monuments have been destroyed by the barbarous Gothlike conduct of church renovators and builders. (_A propos_ of which conduct, I believe they are liable to an _action at law_ from the next of kin: at all events, it is sacrilege.) In many county histories, _all_ the monuments inside the churches, up to nearly the date of the publication, have been printed, as in Nichols's _Leicestershire_. I have myself printed the greater part of those for Wiltshire; but some are incorrectly printed, not having been collated; for I merely printed a few as handbooks to accompany me in my personal correcting survey of each church at another time. I have also printed as far as letter "E" of Antony à Wood's and Hinton's _Oxfordshire Monuments_, of which, I believe, MR. DUNKIN has a MS. copy. Now, it would be useless to reprint those which have been printed; consequently I should imagine twenty-five or thirty volumes, on Bigland's plan, would comprise all the villages; and I should imagine five or ten volumes at most would comprise all the capital towns. Allow me here to suggest the absolute necessity of taking "Notes" of the residence, parentage, and kindred of _every one_ of the families of that vast tide of emigration now quitting our shores; and I call Lord Ashley's and Mr. Sidney Herbert's attention to it. These poor people will, many of them, become rich in half a century; will then probably die without a kindred soul in America to possess their wealth; and their next of kin must be sought for in the mother land, where, unless some _registered memorial_ of their departure and connexions is kept, all traces of their origin may be lost for ever. It was the neglect of an act like this which has involved the beginning of nations in such profound obscurity. It was the neglect of such a register as I here propose, that makes it so difficult now for the American to discover the link which actually connected him with England. There is a corporate body, long established in this country, whose sole occupation is to make such registers; but at present they confine themselves to those called gentlemen. Why not make them useful as registers of the poor, at a small remuneration for entering each family. These poor, or their descendants, will some day become gentlemen, and perhaps not ashamed of their ancestry, although they may derive it through poverty. How gratified they may feel to be able, by means of this proposed registry, clearly to trace themselves to Great Britain (once the mistress of half the world), when their now adopted country has risen up in her place, and the mother has become subject to the daughter.

And then, too, how valuable will Americans and Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, find the proposed _Monumentarium_ of MR. DUNKIN.

THOS. PHILLIPPS.
Middle Hill, April, 1851.

The next is from a frequent contributor to our pages, and we have
selected it for publication from among many which we have received
promising assistance in the carrying out of the great scheme, because
it shows very strikingly how many of the memorials, which it is the
especial object of that scheme to preserve, have disappeared within
the last few years.

Your valuable remarks on this head have induced me to send you a few observations in the same direction. You have justly said that the means by which the object can be accomplished fall into the three distinct operations of Collection, Preservation, and Publication. The first will require the help of all antiquaries throughout the kingdom who will volunteer their services, and of the clergymen resident in country parishes. Where possible, it would be well to find a co-operator in every county town, who would undertake the collection of all ancient memorials in his own district, either by personal inspection, or by the aid of the clergy. For this county we have, fortunately, a record of all or most of the monuments existing in the time of James I., published in Burton's History. Besides the monuments, there are also mentioned the coats of arms preserved in the churches. In the useful and voluminous world of Nichols, the record is brought down nearly to the commencement of the present century. But in late years, many ancient memorials have been removed altogether, or displaced. A day or two ago, I found only one monument in a village church, where Burton says there were two in his time. The chancel of St. Martin's Church, Leicester, a few years ago, contained a large number, of which many have been placed elsewhere, in order to "improve" the appearance of this part of the edifice. I believe a list of the monuments is preserved somewhere. This kind of proceeding has been carried on very generally throughout the country since the desire for "church restoration" has prevailed, and has led to great alterations in the interiors of our old parish churches. I should be happy to lend a helping hand in the collections for Leicester and the neighbourhood.

JAYTEE.

From our next communication, it will be seen that the Scottish
Antiquaries, whose zeal and intelligence in the preservation and
illustration of objects of national interest, are beyond all praise,
are working in the same direction; and although we have not seen the
_Origines Parochiales_, we can readily believe in the great value of a
work of such a character when undertaken by the Bannatyne Club.

It may interest some of your "Monumental" and "Ecclesiological" correspondents to be informed that in 1834 there was collected and published by D. Macvean, bookseller, Glasgow, a volume of _Epitaphs and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland_. Also, that there has just been published by Lizars, Edinburgh, for the Bannatyne Club, the first volume of the _Origines Parochiales Scotiæ_.

The former of these books (_Epitaphs_, &c.) is perhaps of no great value, being badly selected and worse arranged; but the latter (_Origines_, &c.) seems to be exactly such a work as W. J. D. R. (Vol. iii., p. 314.) has in his mind's eye for England.

Y.

A correspondent, MERCURII, has also directed our attention to a small
volume, published in 1848, by one of the most valued contributors to
our own columns, MR. DAWSON TURNER, under the title of _Sepulchral
Reminiscences of a Market Town, as afforded by a List of the
Interments within the Walls of the Parish Church of St. Nicholas,
Great Yarmouth, collected chiefly from Monuments and Gravestones still
remaining, June, 1845_. This little volume may be regarded as a public
testimony on the part of MR. DAWSON TURNER to the value of the plan
under consideration, and there are few antiquaries whose opinions are
entitled to greater respect upon this or any other point to which he
has devoted his talents and attention. Can we doubt, then, the success
of a plan which has met with such general approbation, and is
undertaken with so praiseworthy an object,--an object which may well
be described in the words which Weever used when stating the motive
which led him to undertake the publication of his _Funeral Monuments_,
viz., "To check the unsufferable injury, offered as well to the living
as to the dead, by breaking down and almost utterly ruinating
monuments with their epitaphs, and by erasing, tearing away, and
pilfering brazen inscriptions, by which inhumane deformidable act, the
honorable memory of many virtuous and noble persons deceased is
extinguished, and the true understanding of divers families is so
darkened, that the course of their inheritance is thereby partly
interrupted."

Notes.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHAUCER, NO. VIII.

_The Star Min Al Auwâ._

"Adam Scrivener, if ever it thee befall Boece, or Troilus, for to
write newe, Under thy long locks thou mayst have the scull But, after
my making, thou write more trew; So oft a day I mote thy worke renew,
It to correct, and eke to rubbe and scrape, And all thorow thy
negligence and rape."

_Chaucer to his own Scrivener._

If, during his own lifetime, and under his own eye, poor Chaucer was so sinned against as to provoke this humorous malediction upon the head of the delinquent, it cannot be a matter of surprise that, in the various hands his text has since passed through, many expressions should have been perverted, and certain passages wholly misunderstood. And when we find men, of excellent judgment in other respects, proposing, as Tyrwhitt did, to alter Chaucer's words to suit their own imperfect comprehension of his meaning, it is only reasonable to suspect that similar mistakes may have induced early transcribers to alter the text, wherever, to their wisdom, it may have seemed expedient.

Now I know of no passage more likely to have been tampered with in this way, than those lines of the prologue to the _Persone's Tale_, alluded to at the close of my last communication. Because, supposing (which I shall afterwards endeavour to prove) that Chaucer really meant to write something to this effect: "Thereupon, as we were entering a town, the moon's rising, with Min al auwâ in Libra, began to ascend (or to become visible),"--and supposing that his mode of expressing this had been,

"Therewith the mone's exaltacioun,
In libra men alawai gan ascende,
As we were entrying at a towne's end:"

--in such a case, what can be more probable than that some ignorant transcriber, never perhaps dreaming of such a thing as the Arabic name of a star, would endeavour _to make sense_ of these, to him, obscure words, by converting them into English. The process of transition would be easy; "min" or "men" requires little violence to become "mene" (the modern "mean" with its many significations), and "al auwâ" (or "alwai," as Chaucer would probably write it) is equally identical with "alway." The misplacement of "Libra" might then follow as a seeming necessity; and thus the line would assume its present form, leaving the reader to understand it, either with Urry, as,

"I mene Libra, that is, I _refer to_ Libra;"

or with Tyrwhitt:

"In mene Libra, that is, In _the middle of_ Libra."

Now, to Urry's reading, it may be objected that it makes _the thing ascending_ to be Libra, and does not of necessity imply the moon's appearance above the horizon. But since the rising of the moon is a _visible_ phenomenon, while that of Libra is theoretical, it must have been _to the former_ Chaucer was alluding, as to something witnessed by the whole party as they

"Were entrying at a towne's end;"

or otherwise this latter observation would have no meaning.

The objection to Tyrwhitt's reading is of a more technical nature--the moon, if in _the middle_ of Libra, _could not_ be above the horizon, in the neighbourhood of Canterbury, at four o'clock P. M., in the month of April. Tyrwhitt, it is true, would probably smooth away the difficulty by charging it as another inconsistency against his author; but I--and I hope by this time such readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" as are interested in the subject--have seen too many proofs of Chaucer's competency in matters of science, and of his commentator's incompetency, to feel disposed to concede to the latter such a convenient method of interpretation.

But there is a third objection common to both readings--that they do not satisfactorily account for the word "alway;" for although Tyrwhitt endeavours to explain it by _continually_, "was _continually_ ascending," such a phrase is by no means intelligible when applied to a single observation.

For myself, I can say that this word "alway" was, from the first, the great difficulty with me--and the more I became convinced of the studied meaning with which Chaucer chose his other expressions, the less satisfied I was with this; and the more convinced I felt that the whole line had been corrupted.

In advocating the restoration of the reading which I have already suggested as the original meaning of Chaucer, I shall begin by establishing the _probability_ of his having intended to mark the moon's place by associating her rising with that of a known fixed star--a method of noting phenomena frequently resorted to in ancient astronomy. For that purpose I shall point out another instance wherein Chaucer evidently intended an application of the same method for the purpose of indicating a particular position of the heavens; but first it must noted, that in alluding to the Zodiac, he always refers _to the signs_, never to the constellations--in fact, he does not appear to recognise the latter at all! Thus, in that palpable allusion to the precession of the equinoxes, in the Frankeleine's Tale--

"He knew ful wel how fer Alnath was shove
From the hed of thilke fixe Aries above:"

--by _the hed of Aries_, Chaucer did not mean the os frontis of the Ram, whereon Alnath still shines conspicuously, but the equinoctial point, from which Alnath _was shove_ by the extent of a whole sign.

This being premised, I return to the indication of a point in the ecliptic by the coincident rising of a star; and I contend that such was plainly Chaucer's intention in those lines of the Squire's Tale wherein King Cambuscan is described as rising from the feast:--

"Phebus hath left the angle meridional,
And yet ascending was the beste real,
The gentle Leon, _with his Aldryan_."

Which means that _the sign_ Leo was then in the horizon--the precise degree being marked by the coincident rising of the star Aldryan.

Speght's explanation of "Aldryan," in which he has been copied by Urry and Tyrwhitt, is--"a star in the neck of the Lion." What particular star he may have meant by this, does not appear; nor am I at present within reach of probable sources wherein his authority, if he had any, might be searched for and examined; but I have learned to feel such confidence in Chaucer's significance of description, that I have no hesitation in assuming, until authority for a contrary inference shall be produced, that by the star "Aldryan" he meant REGULUS, not the neck, but the heart, of the Lion--

1st. Because it is the most remarkable star in the sign Leo.

2nd. Because it was, in Chaucer's time, as it now is, nearly upon the line of the ecliptic.

3rd. Because its situation in longitude, about two-thirds in the sign Leo, just tallies with Chaucer's expression "_yet_ ascending,"--that is, one-third of the sign was still below the horizon.

Let us examine how this interpretation consists with the other circumstances of the description. The feste-day of this Cambuscan was "The last idus of March"--that is, the 15th of March--"after the yere"--that is, after the _equinoctial year_, which had ended three or four days previously. Hence the sun was in three degrees of Aries--confirmed in Canace's expedition on the following morning, when he was "in the Ram foure degrees yronne," and his corresponding right ascension was twelve minutes. Now by "the angle meridional" was meant the two hours _inequall_ immediately succeeding noon (or while the "1st House" of the sun was passing the meridian), and these two hours may, so near the equinox, be taken as ordinary hours. Therefore, when "Phebus hath left the angle meridional," it was two o'clock P.M., or eight hours after sunrise, which, added to twelve minutes, produces eight hours twelve minutes as the ascending point of the equinoctial. The ascending point of _the ecliptic_ would consequently be twenty degrees in Leo, or within less than a degree of the actual place of the star Regulus, which in point of fact did rise on the 15th of March, in Chaucer's time, almost exactly at two in the afternoon.

Such coincidences as these could not result from mere accident; and, whatever may have been Speght's authority for the location of Aldryan, I shall never believe that Chaucer would refer to an inferior star when the great "Stella Regia" itself was in so remarkable a position for his purpose--assuming always, as a matter of course, that he referred his phenomena, not to the country or age wherein he laid the action of his tale, but to his own.

This, then, is the precedent by which I support the similar, and rather startling, interpretation I propose of these obscure words "In mena Libra alway."

There are two twin stars, of the same magnitude, and not far apart, each of which bears the Arabic title of Min al auwâ; one ([Greek: beta] Virginis) in the sign Virgo--the other ([Greek: delta] Virginis) in that of Libra.

The latter, in the south of England, in Chaucer's time, would rise a few minutes before the autumnal equinoctial point, and might be called _Libra_ Min al auwâ either from that circumstance, or to distinguish it from its namesake in Virgo.

Now on the 18th of April this Libra Min al auwâ would rise in the neighbourhood of Canterbury at about half-past three in the afternoon, so that by four o'clock it would attain an altitude of about five degrees--not more than sufficient to render the moon, supposing it to have risen with the star, visible (by daylight) to the pilgrims "entrying at a towne's end."

It is very remarkable that the only year, perhaps in the whole of Chaucer's lifetime, in which the moon could have arisen with this star on the 18th of April, should be the identical year to which Tyrwhitt, _reasoning from historical evidence alone_, would fain attribute the writing of the _Canterbury Tales_. (Vide Introductory Discourse, note 3.)

On the 18th of April, 1388, Libra Min al auwâ, and the moon, rose together about half-past three P. M. in the neighbourhood of Canterbury; and Tyrwhitt, alluding to the writing of the _Canterbury Tales_, "_could hardly suppose it was much advanced before 1389!_"

Such a coincidence is more than remarkable--it is convincing: especially when we add to it that 1388 "is the very date that, by a slight and probable injury to the last figure, might become the _traditional_ one of 1383!"

Should my view, therefore, of the true reading of this passage in Chaucer be correct, it becomes of infinitely greater interest and importance than a mere literal emendation, because it supplies that which has always been supposed wanting to the _Canterbury Tales_, viz., some means of identifying the year to which their action ought to be attributed. Hitherto, so unlikely has it appeared that Chaucer, who so amply furnishes materials for the minor branches of the date, should leave the year unnoted, that it has been accounted for in the supposition that he reserved it for the unfinished portion of his performance. But if we consider the ingenious though somewhat tortuous methods resorted to by him to convey some of the other data, it is by no means improbable that he might really have devised this circumstance of the moon's rising as a means of at least _corroborating_ a date that he might intend to record afterwards in more direct terms.

A. E. B.

P.S.--Since writing the foregoing I have obtained, through the kindness of Mr. Thoms, the several readings of the lines commented upon in six different MSS. in the British Museum. And I have great satisfaction in finding that five out of the six confirm my hypothesis, at least with respect to the uncertain spelling of "alway." The readings in respect of the two words are these:

I meene alweye.
In mena alway.
I mene allweye.
In mene allwey.
I mene alweie.
I mene alwaye.

I acknowledge that, from the first, if I could have discovered a probable interpretation of "mene" as an independent word, I should have preferred it rather than that of making it a part of the Arabic name, because I think that the star is sufficiently identified by the latter portion of its name "Al auwâ," and because the preservation of "mene" in its proper place in the line would afford a reading much less forced than that I was obliged to have recourse to. Now it very singularly happens that in "NOTES AND QUERIES" of this day (page 388.) I find, upon the authority of A. C. M., that there is an Armorican word "menex" or "mene," signifying a summit or boundary. Here is an accidental, though most probable, original of the Chaucerian "mene," because the moon's place in longitude at the time specified was precisely on the verge or boundary of Libra: or even in the sense "summit" the word would be by no means inappropriate to the point of a sign in the ecliptic which first emerges from the horizon; with such a reading the lines would stand thus, which is a very slight change from _their present form_:

"Then, with the mone's exaltacioun
In menez Libra, ALWAI gan ascende,
As we were entrying at a towne's end."

Perhaps A. C. M. would be good enough to cite his authorities for the word "mene," "menez"--in the signification of "summit" or "margin"--with examples, if possible, of its use in these or kindred senses.

And perhaps some Arabic scholar will explain the name "Min al auwâ," and show in what way the absence of the prefix "Min" would affect it?

A. E. B.

TRADITIONS FROM REMOTE PERIODS THROUGH FEW LINKS.

In some of your former numbers (Vol. iii., pp. 206. 237. 289.) allusions have been made by your correspondents, showing that traditions may come down from remote periods through very few links. Having myself seen a man whose father lived in the time of Oliver Cromwell, I trust I shall be excused for stating some particulars of this fact, which I think will be considered by your readers as one of the most remarkable on record. In the year 1844 died James Horrocks, a small farmer, who lived at Harwood, a short distance from Bolton, in Lancashire, having completed his hundredth year. This circumstance, however, was not so remarkable as that of his own birth, his father, William Horrocks, having been born in 1657, one year before the death of Cromwell, and having married in 1741, at the advanced age of eight-four, a second wife, a young and buxom woman of twenty-six, by whom he had one child, the above James Horrocks, born March 14, 1744, and baptized at Bradshaw Chapel, near Bolton.

It is believed that the first wife of William Horrocks had been employed in the well-known family of the Chethams, at Castleton Hall, near Rochdale (a branch of that of Humphrey Chetham), by whom they were both much respected; and soon after the second marriage, he and his youthful wife were sent for to Castleton Hall by the Chethams, by whom they were treated with much kindness; and the remarkable disparity of years in their marriage having no doubt created great interest, a painter was employed to take their portraits, which are still in existence, with the ages of the parties at the time, and the dates, when taken, painted upon them.

I paid the son, James Horrocks, more than one visit, and on the last occasion, in company with James Crossley, Esq., of Manchester, the Reverend Canon Parkinson, Principal of St. Bees' College, and one or two other gentlemen, I took my son with me. It happened to be the very day on which he completed his hundredth year, and we found him full of cheerfulness and content, expecting several of his descendants to spend the day with him. I possess a portrait in crayons of this venerable patriarch, taken on that day by a very clever artist, who accompanied us on our visit, and which is an extremely faithful likeness of the original. Should it please Providence to spare my son to attain to his seventieth year, he also will be enabled, in the year 1900, to say that he has seen a man whose father lived in the time of Oliver Cromwell; thus connecting events, with the intervention of _one_ life only, comprehending a period of very nearly two centuries and a half.

P.S. A very interesting narrative of all the facts of this case was published in the _Manchester Guardian_ a few years ago, comprising many curious particulars not noticed by myself, a copy of which I shall be glad to send you, if you think it worthy of insertion in "NOTES AND QUERIES."

THOMAS CORSER.
Stand Rectory.

[We accept with thanks the offer of our valued correspondent.]

DR. YOUNG'S NARCISSA.

A pamphlet was recently published at Lyons and Paris, by a Monsieur de Terrebasse, intending to prove that the daughter-in-law of Dr. Young, so pathetically lamented by him in the _Night Thoughts_ under the poetical name of "Narcissa," was not clandestinely buried at Montpellier; that Dr. Young did not steal a grave for her from the Roman Catholics of that city; and that consequently the celebrated and touching episode in Night III. is purely imaginary. This opinion of M. de Terrebasse, first given to the world by him in 1832, and now repeated, has been controverted by the writer of an article in the _Gazette Médicale_ of Montpellier. The tomb, it is said, of Elisabeth Lee, Dr. Young's daughter-in-law, was discovered a few years since at Lyons; and M. de Terrebasse endeavours to prove, from that circumstance, and from a comparison of facts and dates, that this Elisabeth Lee was the "Narcissa" of the poet. Not having seen M. de Terrebasse's pamphlet, and being indebted to the _Journal des Savants_ for this brief account of it, it seems difficult to discover from it how M. de Terrebasse can pretend so summarily to invalidate the solemn and touching assertions of the poet, which assuredly are anything but flights of fancy.

"Deny'd the charity of dust to spread
O'er dust! a clarity their dogs enjoy,
What could I do? what succour? what resource?
With pious sacrilege a grave I stole;
With impious piety that grave I wrong'd;
Short in my duty, coward in my grief!
More like her murderer than friend, I crept
With soft suspended step, and muffled deep
In midnight darkness, whisper'd my last sigh."

_Night Thoughts; Narcissa._

In the notes to an edition of the _Night Thoughts_, printed in 1798, by C. Whittingham, for T. Heptinstall--

"It appears," it is stated, "by the extract of a letter just printed,
that in order to obtain a grave, the Doctor bribed the under gardener,
who dug the grave, and let him in by a private door, bearing his
beloved daughter, wrapped up in a sheet, upon his shoulder. When he
had laid her in this hole he sat down, and, as the man expressed it,
'rained tears.' It appears also, that some time previous to this
event, expecting the catastrophe, he had been seen walking solitarily
backward in this garden, as if to find the most solitary spot for his
purpose."--See _Evang. Mag._, Nov. 1797.

I do not know what authority this letter quoted from the _Evang. Mag._ may possess.

J. M.
Oxford, May 20.

Minor Notes.

_Curious Epitaph._--The following lines are on a stone in Killyleagh churchyard. I have a faint recollection of seeing a similarly constructed epitaph in Harris's _History of the County of Down_, which was perhaps composed by the same person. Is any of your readers acquainted with any English inscription in the same style?

"Mysta, fidelis, amans, colui, docui, relevavi,
Numen, oves, inopes, pectore, voce, manu.
Laude orbem, splendore polum, cineresque beatos,
Fama illustravit, mens colit, urna tenet."

It will easily be seen that the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth words are to be read in connexion, as are those that follow these, and those next in succession.

The person on whose tomb the lines occur was the Rev. William Richardson, who died in 1670, having been minister of Killyleagh for twenty-one years. By the way, is not _mysta_ a strange designation for a Presbyterian minister? I should think it would be now considered as objectionable as _sacerdos_.

E. H. D. D.
Killyleagh, co. Down.

* * * * *

_The Curse of Scotland_ (Vol. i., pp. 61. 90.; Vol. iii., p. 22.).--

"The queen of clubs is called in Northamptonshire Queen Bess, perhaps,
because that queen, history says, was of a swarthy complexion; the
four of spades, Ned Stokes, but why I know not; the nine of diamonds,
the curse of Scotland, because every ninth monarch of that nation was
a bad king to his subjects. I have been told by old people, that this
card was so called long before the Rebellion in 1745, and therefore it
could not arise from the circumstance of the Duke of Cumberland's
sending orders, accidentally written upon the card, the night before
the battle of Culloden, for General Campbell to give no quarter."

The above extract from a communication to the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1791, p. 141., is quoted in Mr. Singer's _Researches into the History of Playing Cards_, p. 271.; but the reason assigned by the writer does not explain why the nine of _diamonds_ should have acquired the name in question. The nine of any _other_ suit would be equally applicable.

L.

* * * * *

_The Female Captive: a Narrative of Facts which happened in Barbary in the Year 1756. Written by Herself_, 2 vols. 12mo. Lond., 1769.--Sir William Musgrave has written this note in the copy which is now in the library at the British Museum:

"This is a true story. The lady's maiden name was Marsh. She married
Mr. Crisp, as related in the narrative. But he having failed in
business went to India, where she remained with her father, then agent
Victualler at Chatham, during which she wrote and published these
little volumes. On her husband's success in India, she went thither to
him.

"The book having, as it is said, been bought up by the lady's friends,
is become very scarce."

Y. S.

* * * * *

_Pictorial Antiquities._--The following memorandum, in the _autograph_ of Edward, Earl of Oxford (the Harleian collector), seems worth preserving:

"A picture of Edward IV. on board at Kensington.

"A whole length of him at St. James's, in a night-gown and black cap.

"A portrait of his queen in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.

"Jane Shore at Eaton (_sic_).

"Richard III. at Kensington.

"Picture of Henry V. and his family at Mr. West's.

"A picture of Mabuse at St. James's, called Albert Durer.

"Matthew Paris with miniatures, in the British Museum.

"William of Wickham's Crozier at Oxford.

"Greek enamellers in the reign of the two Edwards.

"An old altar-table at Chiswick; Lord Clifford and his lady kneeling;
Consecration of Thomas à Becket at Devonshire House, both by Van
Eyck."

"Froissart illuminated, wherein is a miniature of Richard II., in the
Museum."

One might have thought that these notes were made for the use of Horace Walpole's _History of Painting_; but their writer, the second Lord Oxford, died in June, 1741, long before Walpole could have thought of such matters. They perhaps may afford clues to other antiquaries.

C.

Queries.

ENGLISH POEMS BY CONSTANTINE HUYGHENS.

It is probable that some of your friendly correspondents in Holland may have it in their power to indicate where the English verses of Constantine Huyghens are to be found which he refers to in his _Koren Bloemen_, 2de Deel, p. 528. ed. 1672, where he was given Dutch translations with the following superscriptions: "Aen Joffw Utricia Ogle, uyt mijn Engelsh;" and "Aen Me-Vrouwe Stanhope, met mijn Heilige dagen, uyt mijn Engelsh."

Huyghens appears to have had a thorough knowledge of our language, and his very interesting volume contains translations of twenty of Dr. Donne's poems, very ably rendered, considering the difficulty of the task. He refers to this in his address to the reader, and says that an illustrious Martyr [Charles I.] many years since had declared that he could not have believed that any one could have successfully accomplished it. Huyghens confesses that the Latinisms with which our language abounds, had given him much to wrestle with; and that it was difficult to express in pure Dutch such words as _ecstasy_, _atomy_, _influence_, _legacy_, _alloy,_ &c. The first stanza of the song, "Go and catch a falling Star," may perhaps be acceptable to some of your readers, who may not readily have access to the book:

"Gaet en vatt een Sterr in 't vallen,
Maeckt een' Wortel-mensch[1] met kind,
Seght waer men al den tijd die nu verby is vindt,
En wie des Duyvels voet geklooft heeft in twee ballen:
Leert my Meereminnen hooren,
Leert my hoe ick 't boose booren,
Van den Nijd ontkommen moet,
En wat Wind voor-wind is voor een oprecht gemoed."

[Footnote 1: Mandrake.]

One more example of his translation, from the epigram on Sir Albertus Morton, may be allowed, as it is short:

"She first deceased; he for a little tried
To live without her; liked it not, and died."

"Sy stierf voor uyt: hy pooghd' haer een' wijl tijds te derven,
Maer had geen' sin daer in, en ging oock liggen sterven."

Considering the affinity of the languages, and the frequent and constant intercourse with Holland, it is singular that we should have to reproach ourselves with such almost total ignorance respecting the literature of that country. With the exception of the slight sketch given by Dr. Bowring of its poetical literature, an Englishman has no work to which he can turn in his own language for information; and Dutch books may be sought for in vain in London. The late Mr. Heber when in Holland did not neglect its literature, and at the dispersion of his library I procured a few valuable Dutch books; among others, the very handsome volume which has given rise to this note. It contains much interesting matter, and affords a most amiable picture of the mind of its distinguished author, who lived to the very advanced age of ninety-one. There is a speaking and living portrait of him prefixed, from the beautiful graver of Blotelingk, and a view of his chateau of Hofwyck, with detailed plans of his garden, &c. He was secretary to three successive princes of Nassau, accountant to the Prince of Orange, and Lord of Zuylichem; and lived in habits of friendly intercourse with almost all the distinguished men who flourished during his long and prosperous life. His son is well known to the world of science as the inventor of the pendulum.

Translations of three or four of Constantine Huyghens' poems are given by Dr. Bowring in his _Batavian Anthology_. And the great Vondel pronounces his volume to be--

"A garden mild of savours sweet,
Where Art and Skill and Wisdom meet;
Rich in its vast variety
Of forms and hues of ev'ry dye."

S. W. SINGER.

THE REV. MR. GAY.

The very interesting notices which you have often given us of the truly great and inestimable Locke, induce me to trouble you with an inquiry relative to a philosophical writer, who followed in his school, I mean the Rev. Mr. Gay, the author of the Dissertation prefixed to Bishop Law's translation of King's _Origin of Evil_. It is sufficient evidence of the importance of that Dissertation, that it put Hartley upon considering and developing the principle of association, into which principle he conceived, and endeavoured to prove, that all the phenomena of reasoning and affection might be resolved, and of which Laplace observes, that it constitutes the whole of what has yet been done in the philosophy of the human mind; "la partie réelle de la métaphysique" (_Essai Philosophique sur les Probabilités_, p. 224. ed. 1825).

Of this Mr. Gay, I have not yet been able to learn more than that he was a clergyman in the West of England; but of what place, of what family, where educated, of what manner of life, or what habits of study, biographical or topographical reading has hitherto furnished me with any information. I should feel greatly indebted to any of your readers who would give the clue to what is known or can be known about him. It is probably within easy reach, though I have missed it. The ordinary biographical dictionaries make no mention of him.

EDWARD TAGART.
North End, Hampstead, May 19. 1851.

Minor Queries.

_Carved Ceiling in Dorsetshire._--In the south of Dorsetshire there is a house (its name I do not remember) which has a beautifully carved ceiling in the hall. This is said to have been sent from Spain by a King of Castile, who, being wrecked on this coast, and hospitably entertained by the owners of the mansion, took this method of showing his gratitude. Can any of your readers inform me what king this was, or refer me to any work in which I may find it?

JERNE.

* * * * *

_Publicans' Signs._--Will any of your readers inform me whether the _signs of publicans_ were allowed to be retained by the same edict which condemned those of all other trades?

ROVERT.

* * * * *

_To a T._--What is the origin of the phrase; and of that "To fit to a T.?" (Query, a "T square" = ad amussim.)

A. A. D.

* * * * *

_Skeletons at Egyptian Banquet._--Where did Jer. Taylor find this interpretation of the object of placing a skeleton at the banqueting table:--

"The Egyptians used to serve up a skeleton to their feasts, that
the vapours of wine might be restrained with that bunch of myrrh,
and the vanities of their eyes chastened by that sad object."

Certainly not in Herodotus, 2. 78.; which savours rather of the _Sardanapalian_ spirit: "Eat, drink, and love--the rest's not worth a fillip!" Comp. Is. xxii. 13., 1 Cor. xv. 32.

A. A. D.

* * * * *

_Gloves_ (Vol. i., pp. 72. 405.; Vol. ii., p. 4.; Vol. iii., p. 220.).--Blount, in his _Law Dictionary_, fo. 1670, under the title "Capias Utlagatum," observes:

"At present, in the King's Bench, the _outlawry_ cannot be reversed,
unless the defendant appear in person, and, by a present of gloves to
the judges, implore and obtains their favour to reverse it."

Perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to state when the practice of presenting gloves to the judges on moving to reverse an outlawry in the King's Bench was discontinued. The statute 4 & 5 Will. and Mar. c. 18., rendered unnecessary a _personal_ appearance in that court to reverse an outlawry (except for treason or felony, or where special bail was ordered).

C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge, March 24. 1851.

* * * * *

_Knapp Family in Norfolk and Suffolk._--I should be much obliged to any Norfolk or Suffolk antiquary who would give me information as to the family of Knapp formerly settled in those counties, especially at Ipswich, Tuddenham, and Needham Market in the latter county. My inquiries have not discovered any person of the name at present residing in any of these places; and my wish is to learn how the name was lost in the locality; whether by migration--and if so, when, and to what other part of the county; or if in the female line, into what family the last heiress of Knapp married; and, as nearly as may be, when either of these events occurred?

G. E. F.

* * * * *

_To learn by "Heart."_--Can you give any account of the origin of a very common expression both in French and English, _i. e._ "Apprendre _par coeur_, to learn _by heart?_" To learn _by memory_ would be intelligible.

A SUBSCRIBER TO YOUR JOURNAL.

* * * * *

_Knights._--At some periods of our history the reigning monarch bestowed the honour of knighthood, 1306, Edward I.; at other times, those in possession of a certain amount of property were compelled to assume the order, 1254. Query, Was there any difference in rank between the two sorts of knights?

B. DE. M.

* * * * *

_Supposed Inscription in St. Peter's Church, Rome._--When at school in France, some twenty years ago, I was informed that the following inscription was to be found in some part of St. Peter's Church in Rome:

"Nunquam amplius super hanc cathedram cantabit Gallus."

It appears that the active part taken by the French in fomenting the great schism of the Church during the fourteenth century, when they set up and maintained at Avignon a Pope of their own choosing, had generated an abhorrence of French interference in the Italian mind; and that, when the dissensions were abated by the suspension of the rival Popes, the _ultramontane_ cardinals had posted up this inscription to testify their desire for the exclusion of French ecclesiastics from the Papal chair. In one respect the prediction remains in force to this day; for I believe I am correct in saying that no Frenchman has worn the triple crown for the last 450 years. But that portion of it which is implied in the second meaning of "Gallus," has been woefully belied in our time by the forcible occupation of Rome by a French army, on which occasion the Gallic cock had all the "crowing" to himself.

I have never had an opportunity of ascertaining the existence of this inscription, and shall be obliged to any correspondent of "NOTES AND QUERIES" who will afford information on the subject.

HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia, April, 1851.

* * * * *

_Rag Sunday in Sussex._--Allow me to ask the explanation of "Rag Sunday" in Sussex. I lately saw some young gentlemen going to school at Brighton, who had been provided with some fine white handkerchiefs, when one observed they would not stand much chance of escape on "Rag Sunday." He then told me that each boy, on the Sunday but one preceding the holidays, always tore a piece of his shirt or handkerchief off and wore it in the button-hole of his jacket as his "rag." When a boy, I remember being compelled to do the same when at school at Hailsham in Sussex, and all boys objecting had their hats knocked off and trod on.

H. W. D.

* * * * *

_Northege Family._--Can any one tell me the county and parish in which the family of Northege were located in the sixteenth century?

E. H. Y.

* * * * *

_A Kemble Pipe of Tobacco._--In the county of Herefordshire, the people call the last or concluding pipe that any one means to smoke at a sitting, a _Kemble pipe._ This is said to have originated in a man of the name of Kemble, who in the cruel persecution under Queen Mary, being condemned for heresy, in his walk of some miles from the prison to the stake, amidst a crowd of weeping friends and neighbours, with the tranquillity and fortitude of a primitive martyr, _smoked a pipe of tobacco_! Is anything known of this Kemble? and where can I find any corroboration of the story here told?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

* * * * *

_Durham Sword that killed the Dragon._--In the Harleian MS. No. 3783., letter 107., Cosin, in describing to Sancroft some of the ceremonies of his reception at Durham, mentions "_the sword that killed the dragon_," as a relic of antiquity introduced on the occasion. I should feel obliged, if you, or any of your antiquarian readers, could kindly refer me to some tolerably full account of the ceremony alluded to, or throw any light upon the meaning of the custom in question, the origin and history of the sword, and the tradition connected with it.

J. SANSOM.

Minor Queries Answered.

"_At Sixes and Sevens_" (Vol. iii., p. 118.).--May not this expression bear reference to the _points_ in the card-game of piquet?

G. F. G.

May not this expression have arisen from the passage in Eliphaz's discourse to Job?

"He shall deliver thee is _six_ troubles; yea, in _seven_ there shall
no evil touch thee."--Job. v. 19.

A. M.

Mr. Halliwell, in his _Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words_, vol. ii. p. 724., thus explains this phrase:

"The Deity is mentioned in the _Towneley Mysteries_, pp. 97. 118., as
He that 'sett alle on seven,' _i. e._, set or appointed everything in
seven days. A similar phrase at p. 85. is not so evident. It is
explained in the Glossary, 'to set things in, to put them in order;'
but it evidently implies, in some cases, an exactly opposite meaning,
to set in confusion, to rush to battle, as in the following examples.
'_To set the steven_, to agree upon the time and place of meeting
previous to some expedition,'--_West and Cumb. Dial._ p. 390. These
phrases may be connected with each other. Be this as it may, hence is
certainly derived the phrase _to be at sixes and sevens_, to be in
great confusion. Herod, in his anger at the wise men, says:

"'Bot be they past me by, by Mahowne in heven,
I shalle, and that in hy, _set alle on sex and seven_;
Trow ye a kyng as I wyll suffre thaym to neven
Any to have mastry bot myself fulle even.'

_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 143.

"'Thus he _settez on sevene_ with his sekyre knyghttez.'

_Morte Arthure_, MS. Lincoln, f. 76.

"'The duk swore by gret God of hevene,
Wold my hors so evene,
Zet wold I _set all one seven_
Ffor Myldor the swet!'

_Degrevant_, 1279.

"'Old Odcombs odnesse makes not thee uneven,
Nor carelesly set all _at six and seven_.'

Taylor's _Workes_, 1630, ii. 71."

J. K. R. W.

[Six and seven make the proverbially unlucky number _thirteen_, and we
are inclined to believe that the allusion in this popular phrase is to
this combination.]

* * * * *

_Swobbers._--There is a known story of a clergyman who was recommended for a preferment by some great men at court to an archbishop. His Grace said, "He had heard that the clergyman used to play at whist and _swobbers_; that as to playing now and then a sober game at whist for pastime, it might be pardoned; but he could not digest those wicked swobbers;" and it was with some pains that my Lord Somers could undeceive him. So says Swift, in his _Essay on the Fates of Clergymen_; and a note in Sir W. Scott's edition (1824, vol. viii. p 231.) informs us that the primate was "Tenison, who, by all contemporary accounts, was a very dull man." At the risk of being thought as dull as the archbishop, I venture to ask for an explanation of the joke.

J. C. R.

[Johnson, under "Swobber" or "Swabber," gives, "1. A sweeper of the
deck;" and "2. Four privileged cards that are only incidentally used
in betting at the game of whist." He then quotes this passage from
Swift, with the difference that he says "clergymen." Were not the
cards so called because they "swept the deck" by a sort of
"sweep-stakes?"]

* * * * *

_Handel's Occasional Oratorio._--Will DR. RIMBAULT, or some other musical correspondent of your journal, enlighten us as to the true meaning of the name _Occasional Oratorio_, prefixed to one of Handel's compositions, of which no one that I have ever met with has heard more than the overture? This composition has become almost universally known from the foolish practice which used to prevail of performing it as an introduction to _Israel in Egypt_, or any other work to which its composer had purposely denied the preliminary of an overture; a practice now happily exploded, which seems to have had its origin in a misinterpretation of the name; as though Handel had written the overture to suit any _occasion_ when one might be needed, instead of, as I am rather disposed to believe, having some particular occasion in view for which the oratorio was composed.

E. V.

[Surely, if there is no _Occasional_ Oratorio to be found, the
_Overture_ must mean that it was to be used on _occasion_. Our
correspondent does not seem to know the word as it is used by writers
of a century ago, for "Occasional Sermons" or services, &c. The
question is simply one of fact. _Is_ there an Oratorio? Everybody
knows the overture. The writer of this note remembers being horrified,
when a freshman, at hearing the fugue break forth in the College
Chapel, was pondering in his mind whether it was Drops of Brandy, or
the Rondo in the Turnpike-Gate, both then popular tunes.]

* * * * *

_Archbishop Waldeby's Epitaph._--W. W. KING would be obliged by a perfect copy of the inscription on the monumental brass of Archbishop Waldeby in Westminster Abbey.

[The brass is engraved in Harding's _Antiquities of Westminster
Abbey_; but it appears that one half of the following inscription,
which was formerly round the verge of the brass, has now been torn
away:--

"Hic fuit expertus in quovis jure Robertus,
De Waldeby dictus nunc est sub marmore strictus;
Sacre Scripture Doctor fuit, et geniture
Ingenuus Medicus et plebis semper amicus
Presul Adurensis posthoc Archas Dublinensis
Hinc Cicestrensis, tandem Primas Eborensis
Quarto kalend. Junii migravit cursibus anni
Sepultus milleni ter C. septem Nonies quoque deni.
Vos precor, Orate quod sint sibi dona beate
Cum sanctis vite requiescat et hic sine lite."

Weever, in his _Funeral Monuments_, quotes the following description
of him from a MS. account of the Archbishops of York, in the Cottonian
Collection:--

"Tunc Robertus ordinis fratris Augustini
Ascendit in cathedram primatis Paulini,
Lingua scientificus sermonis latini
Anno primo proximat vite sue fini,
De carnis ergastulo presul evocatur
Gleba sui corporis Westminstre humatur."]

* * * * *

_Verstegan._--Will any of the contributors to your valuable miscellany be kind enough to inform me if there are any engraved portraits of the quaint old antiquary Richard Verstegan, the author of a curious work, entitled _A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence_? The portraits may be common, but living in the country, and at distance from town, I have no friend from whom I can glean the required information. Can my informant at the same time acquaint me with the best edition of his work? There was one printed at Antwerp in 1605.

J. S. P. (a Subscriber.)