Chapter C: I. R

The origin of the blush imparted to the rose is most beautifully described by Carey:

"As erst in Eden's blissful bowers
Young Eve surveyed her countless flowers,
An opening rose of poorest white
She marked with eye that beamed delight;
Its leaves she kissed, and straight it drew
From Beauty's lip the vermeil hue."

J. A. DOUGLAS.

_Mark for a Dollar_ (Vol. iii., p. 449.).--The origin of the sign of the dollar, concerning which T. C. inquires, is, I believe, a contraction of _scutum_, the same as _£_, formerly written _£i_, is of _libra_. The strokes through the S are merely the signs of contraction.

K. P. D. E.

_Gillingham_ (Vol. iii., p. 448.).--In a foot-note to Rapin (2nd edit., vol. i. p. 130.), the general assembly convened by Earl Goodwin, at which Edward the Confessor was chosen king, is stated, upon the same authority as Hutchins has referred to (viz. Malmsbury), to have been "Gilingeham _or_ London." If at Gillingham, there can be but little doubt it was Gillingham near Chatham, of which latter place Goodwin is stated to have been then possessed.

J. B. COLMAN.

Eye, June 10, 1851.

The share that Earl Godwin bore in the establishment of King Edward (the Confessor) on the throne of England seems to make it probable that Gillingham in Kent, not the Gillingham in Dorsetshire, was the scene of the council referred to by your correspondent

QUIDAM.

Edward, observe, was coming from the continent, and relied entirely on the support of the great East Kentish Earl. Milton names the council in his History of England, _Works_, vol. vi. p. 275., Pickering, ed. 1831. He seems to be still quoting Malmsbury.

E. J. E.

Blackheath, June 9. 1851.

_On the Lay of the Last Minstrel, &c._ (Vol. iii., p. 364.).--In reading A Borderer's interesting note on _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_, it occurred to me, whether there may not have been (perhaps unconsciously) in Walter Scott's mind a link of connexion betwixt his own "elvish page," as an agent in bringing about the nuptials of Lord Cranstoun with the Lady Margaret; and the part played by Cupid, in regard to Dido, after he had been transformed into Ascanius, as described in the first Æneid. Indeed the beautiful "Song of Robin Goodfellow" (Vol. iii., p. 403) suggests a similar speculation; for in the gambols of Puck there is something analogous to the freaks of Cupid after his metamorphose. But other and closer parallels will probably occur to your learned readers, and show that some of what are commonly esteemed the most original modern creations owe much to classical invention.

ALFRED GATTY.

_Lines on Temple_ (Vol. iii., p. 450.).--J. S. will find the lines he asks about, given (but without comment) in Knight's _Cyclopædia of London_, p. 440.

P. M. M.

J. S. will find the lines he has sent you printed in Hone's _Year Book_ (1832), p 113.; where may be also seen the following

ANSWER.

"Deluded men, these holds forego,
Nor trust such cunning elves;
These artful emblems tend to show
Their clients, not themselves.

'Tis all a trick, these are but shams,
By which they mean to cheat you;
For have a care, you are the LAMBS,
And they the wolves that eat you.

Nor let the thought of no 'delay'
To these their courts misguide you;
You are the showy HORSE, and they
Are jockeys that will ride you."

Hone does not give a hint as who was the author of either, nor can I inform J. S.

EDWARD FOSS.

[The REV. MACKENZIE WALCOTT has also kindly informed us that the original lines and the rejoinder are to be found in Brayley's _Londiniana_, vol. iv. pp. 216-7.]

_Sewell, Meaning of_ (Vol. iii., pp. 391. 482.).--H. C. K. makes an error in supposing that "formido," as used by Virgil in the passage quoted, and "sewell," are convertible terms. If there is any word in that passage which could be considered coextensive in meaning with the word "sewell," it would undoubtedly be "penna." Nor is "sewell" a _modern_ term, as he supposes; in proof of which I add an extract from a letter written by Dr. Layton, one of the commissioners for the suppression of monasteries, to Thomas Cromwell, dated 1535, in which the word "sewel" occurs:

"We have sett Dunce (Duns Scotus) in Bocardo, and have utterly
banisshede hym Oxforde for ever, with all his blinde glosses, and
is nowe made a comon servant to evere man, faste nailede up upon
postes in all comon houses of easement: _id quod oculis meis
vidi_. And the second tyme we came to New Colege, affter we hade
declarede your injunctions, we fownde all the gret quadrant court
full of the leiffes of Dunce, the wynde blowing them into evere
corner. And there we fownde one Mr. Grenefelde, a gentilman of
Buckinghamshire, getheryng up part of the said bowke leiffes (as
he saide) therewith to make hym _sewelles_ or _blawnsherres_ to
kepe the dere within the woode, thereby to have the better cry
with his howndes."

H. C. K. wishes to know the origin of the word "sewell." Can any of your readers explain the derivation of the term "blawnsherres?" Can it be connected with the French _blanche_, from white parchment, &c. having been used in making them?

E. A. H. L.

_Lambert Simnel_ (Vol. iii., p. 390.).--Though I cannot throw any light upon the question of T., _Was this his real name?_ I may mention, as a Worcestershire man, that it is a custom among the pastrycooks of Worcester to make, at the beginning of Lent, a rich sort of cake; consisting of a thick crust of saffron-bread filled with currants, citron, and all the usual ingredients of wedding-cake, which is called a "simnel." I cannot say how long this custom has existed, but I have every reason to believe it is one of great antiquity. From Johnson's explanation of the term, I conclude, that this practice of making "simnels" must in former times have been more general than it is at present.

E. A. H. L.

_Tennyson's "In Memoriam"_ (Vol. iii., pp. 142. 227. 458.).--I submit that the "crimson-circled star" may be named without calling on the poet to explain.

The planet Venus, when she is to the east of the sun, is our _evening star_ (and as such used to be termed Hesperus by the ancients).

The evening star in a summer twilight is seen surrounded with the glow of sunset, "crimson-circled." The rose, too, was a flower sacred to Venus, which might justify the epithet. But I suppose the blush of the sky was what the poet thought of at such a moment.

Venus sinking into the sea, which in setting she would appear to do,--falls into the _grave of Uranus_,--her father, according to the theory of Hesiod (190). The part cast into the sea, from which Aphrodite sprung, is here taken, by a becoming license (which softens the grossness of the old tradition), for the whole; so that the ocean, beneath the horizon of which the evening star sinks, may be well described by the poet as "_her_ father's grave."

That Venus is meant, the gender of the pronoun relating to the star seems to prove beyond a doubt; there being no other sufficiently important to occur in a picture of this kind, to which a female name is given.

V.

Belgravia, June 12. 1851.

_The second King of Nineveh who burned his Palace_ (Vol. iii., p. 408).--D. X. will find all that is known of this king in the Armenian version of Eusebius's _Chronicle_, 53., and in the _Chronographia_ of Georgius, Syncellus (and subsequently Patriarch) of Constantinople, p. 210. B. The former gives as his authority Abydenus, and the latter Polyhistor. Both passages will be found in Cory's _Ancient Fragments_. The Median king is called in both Astyages, and not Cyaxares; but the date of the catastrophe being fixed by Ptolemy's Canon in 625 B. C., the reviewer, I suppose, considered himself justified in altering the name to that of the king who appears from Herodotus to have governed Media at that date.

E. H. D. D.

_Legend in Frettenham Church_ (Vol. iii., p. 407.).--Your correspondent C. J. E. may find some account of the legend illustrated on the walls of Frettenham Church in the _Calendar of the Anglo-Catholic Church_, from which it appears that St. Eligius, Eloy, or Loye, is the hero of the incident. He was the patron of blacksmiths, farriers, &c.; and accomplished, on one occasion, the shoeing of a refractory horse by amputating the leg; and the operation performed, he replaced the severed member. Doubtless, as C. J. E. suggests, the shoeing might have been effected without so much periphrasis; but perhaps the saint intended to teach the animal docility, and inspire the spectators with a more palpable proof of his supernatural powers, than the performance of the operation by his mere _ipse dixit_ would have afforded. The church of Durweston, Dorsetshire, is named in his honour, and a rude sculpture over the doorway commemorates the incident.

C. A.

_Natural Daughter of James II._ (Vol. iii., pp. 224. 249. 280.).--When the answer of C. to my inquiry first appeared, I doubted whether after such strong reproof I ought again to address you; but as your valuable paper was intended for the ignorant as well as for the learned, and as C. (Vol. iii., p. 334.) places your respected correspondent MR. DAWSON TURNER in the same class as my humble self, I no longer hesitate.

When I proposed the Query, I had no ready access to any book which would easily give me the required information, and it did not appear to me to be any great sin in making use of "NOTES AND QUERIES" for what I conceive is its legitimate object, the communication of knowledge; and I do not think the space my Query occupied was wasted when it called forth the interesting reply of P. C. S. S.

I would now take the liberty of asking C. to explain the following extract from _Souverains du Monde_, not finding any particulars respecting the first marriage here alluded to in those books to which I have been able to refer:--

"Les enfans naturals du Roi Jaques II. sont 1.... 2.... 3....

"4. Catherine Darnley, mariée en premières nôces avec Thomas
Wentworth, Baron de Raby; et en secondes nôces, en 1699, avec
James, Comte d'Anglesey. Elle est morte en 1700. Sa mère étoit
Catherine Sedley, Comtesse de Dorchester, Baronne d'Arlington.

"5. N. mariée avec le Duc de Buckingham le 27 Mars, 1706."

You will observe that my former inquiry referred to the daughter above stated as the fifth child.

It is plain that the compiler of _Les Souverains du Monde_ is in error in making the wife of the Earl of Anglesey a distinct person from the wife of the Duke of Buckingham.

Who was the wife to the Thomas Wentworth here mentioned? and, if a natural daughter of James II., I should be glad of the following particulars,--the names of her mother and self--the dates of her birth, marriage, and death--and the date of the death of her husband.

I must apologise for trespassing thus at length upon your space.

F. B. RELTON.

_Clarkson's Richmond_ (Vol. iii., p. 372.).--The late Mr. Clarkson's manuscripts were transferred to his son, the Rev. Christ. Clarkson; whose address might probably be obtained by Q. D. from J. B. Simpson, Esq., Richmond, Yorkshire.

M.

_MSS. of Sir Thomas Phillipps_ (Vol. iii., p. 358.).--I see that in the "Notices to Correspondents," in No. 79., for May 3, you inform W. P. A. that the _Catalogue of Sir Thomas Phillipps's MSS._ is privately printed, and that there are copies at the Bodleian, Athenæum, and Society of Antiquaries.

You may perhaps be interested to know that a catalogue of about three thousand of the Middlehill MSS. is to be found in a work entitled _Catalogi Librorum MSSorum qui in Bibliothecis Galliæ, Hiberniæ, Helvetiæ, Belgiæ, Britanniæ Magnæ, Hispaniæ, Lusitaniæ asservantur: à Gustavo Haenel_: Lipsiæ, 1830. A copy of this important work is in the reading-room of the British Museum.

I may add that a copy of the privately printed _Catalogue of Sir T. Phillipps's MSS._ is now to be found in the British Museum, but it has only recently (within the last few months) made its way into the Catalogue.