Chapter I: Front Matter

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[Transcriber's note: Original spelling varieties have not been standardized. Characters with macrons have been marked in brackets with an equal sign, as [=e] for a letter e with a macron on top. Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. The index to Vol. III, originally published with this number, is not included here. A list of volumes and pages in "Notes and Queries" has been added at the end.]

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION

FOR

LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

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

VOL. IV.--No. 89.

SATURDAY, JULY 12. 1851.

Price with Index, 9_d._ Stamped Edition, 10_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

NOTES:--

Privately printed Books and privately engraved Portraits,
by J. Wodderspoon, 17

Sardonic Smiles, 18

Private Amours of Oliver Cromwell, 19

Spurious Editions of Baily's Annuities, by Professor
De Morgan, 19

Minor Notes:--Les Anguilles de Melun--Derivation
of Mews--Curious Monumental Inscriptions--First
Panorama, 20

QUERIES:--

Minor Queries:--Vermuyden--Portrait of Whiston--Charities
for the Clergy and their Families--Principle of Notation
by Coalwhippers--Kiss the Hare's Foot--Old Dog--"Heu
quanto minus," &c.--Lady Russell and Mr. Hampden--Burton
Family--"One who dwelleth on the castled Rhine"--Lady
Petre's Monument--Dr. Young's Narcissa--Briwingable--Thomas
Kingeston--Possession nine Points of the Law--Rev. H.
Bourne--Prior Lachteim--Robert Douglas--Jacobus de
Voragine--Peace Illumination, 1802--Planets of the
Months--Family of Kyme--West of England Proverb--Coke
and Cowper--Orinoco--Petty Cury--Virgil--Sheridan
and Vanbrugh--Quotation from an old Ballad, 20

REPLIES:--

Princesses of Wales, 24

The late Mr. William Hone, 25

Shakspeare's "Small Latin."--His Use of "Triple", 26

Replies to Minor Queries:--Family of Etty,
the Artist--Parish Register of Petworth--Death--"Lord
Mayor not a Privy Councillor"--"Suum cuique tribuere,"
&c.--Meaning of Complexion--Gillingham--Nao,
a Ship--John Perrot--Sneck up--Meaning of Senage--Early
Visitations--Rifles, 27

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c., 29

Books and Odd Volumes wanted, 30

Notices to Correspondents, 30

Advertisements, 31

Notes.

PRIVATELY PRINTED BOOKS AND PRIVATELY ENGRAVED PORTRAITS.

If the "NOTES AND QUERIES," in the course of its career, had only called the attention of antiquaries to the necessities of collecting epitaphs and inscriptions to the dead found in churches, and thus brought into active exertion a large number of zealous and intelligent recorders of monuments, its usefulness would have been fully established; but the multitude of suggestive hints and recommendations constantly appearing in its pages, added to the great amount of precise and unquestionable knowledge given to the public through its means, have established the publication as of the greatest importance to archæologists, and literary men generally.

A noble and highly regarded author (Lord Braybrooke) has recently shown the necessity for recording the existence of painted historical portraits, scattered, as we know they are, throughout residences of the nobility and gentry, and from thence too often descending to the humble dwelling or broker's warehouse, through the effluxion of time, the ill appreciation, in some instances, of those who possess them, or the urgencies of individuals: but there are other memorials of eminent persons extant, frequently the only ones, which, falling into the possession of but few persons, are to the seeker after biographical or topographical knowledge, for the most part, as though they had never existed. I allude to Privately Printed Books and Privately Engraved Portraits. Surely these might be made available to literary persons if their depository were generally known.

How comparatively easy would it be for the readers of the "NOTES AND QUERIES," in each county, to transmit to its pages a short note of any privately engraved portrait, or privately printed volume, of which they may be possessed, or of which they have a perfect knowledge. Collectors could in most instances, if they felt inclined to open their stores, give the required information in a complete list, and no doubt would do so; but still a great assistance to those engaged in the toils of biographical or other study could be afforded by the transmission to these pages of the casual "Note," which happens to have been taken at a moment when the book or portrait passed under the inspection of a recorder who did not amass graphic or literary treasures.

As respects some counties, much less has been done by the printing press to furnish this desideratum; at least that of privately engraved portraits. In Warwickshire, a list of all the portraits (with a few omissions) has within a few years been brought before the public in a volume. In Norfolk, the _Illustrations of Norfolk Topography_, a volume containing an enumeration of many thousand drawings and engravings, collected by Dawson Turner, Esq., of Great Yarmouth, to illustrate Blomefield's History of the county, is also a repertory of this kind of instruction, as far as portraits are concerned. Privately printed books are entirely unrecorded in this and most other localities. Without the publication now mentioned, persons having no personal knowledge of Mr. Turner's ample stores would be not only unacquainted with that gentleman's wonderful Norfolk collection, but also ignorant that through his liberality, and the elegant genius and labours of several members of his family, the portfolios of many of his friends have been enriched by the addition of portraits of many persons of great virtues, attainments, and learning, with whom he had become acquainted. In Suffolk, the veteran collectors, Mr. Elisha Davy, of Ufford, and Mr. William Fitch, of Ipswich, have compiled lists of portraits belonging to that county. These are, however, in manuscript, and therefore comparatively useless; though, to the honour of both these gentlemen let it be said, that no one ever asks in vain for assistance from their collections.

I trust it can only be necessary to call attention to this source of knowledge, to be supported in a view of the necessity of a record open to all. I have taken the liberty to name the "NOTES AND QUERIES" as the storehouse for gathering these scattered memorabilia together, knowing no means of permanence superior, or more convenient, to literary persons, although I am not without fears indeed, perhaps convictions, that your present space would be too much burthened thereby.

As the volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES" just completed has comprised a large amount of intelligence respecting the preservation of epitaphs, the present would, perhaps, be appropriately opened by a new subject of, I am inclined to think, nearly equal value.

JOHN WODDERSPOON.

Norwich.

SARDONIC SMILES.

A few words on the Γέλως σαÏδάνιος, or Sardonius Risus, so celebrated in antiquity, may not be amiss, especially as the expression "a Sardonic smile" is a common one in our language.

We find this epithet used by several Greek writers; it is even as old as _Homer's_ time, for we read in the _Odyssey_, μείδησε δὲ θυμῷ σαρδάνιον μάλα τοῖον, "but he laughed in his soul a very bitter laugh." The word was written indifferently σαρδάνιος and σαρδόνιος; and some lexicographers derive it from the verb σαίρω, of σέσηρα, "to show the teeth, grin like a dog:" especially in scorn or malice. The more usual derivation is from σαρδόνιον, a plant of Sardinia (Σαρδώ), which was said to distort the face of the eater. In the English of the present day, a Sardonic laugh means a derisive, fiendish laugh, full of bitterness and mocking; stinging with insult and rancour. Lord Byron has hit it off in his portraiture of the Corsair, Conrad:

"There was a laughing devil in his sneer,
That rais'd emotions both of _rage_ and _fear_."

In Izaak Walton's ever delightful _Complete Angler_, Venator, on coming to Tottenham High Cross, repeats his promised verse: "it is a copy printed among some of Sir Henry Wotton's, and doubtless made either by him or by a lover of angling." Here is the first stanza:--

"Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares,
Anxious sighs, untimely tears,
Fly, fly to courts,
Fly to fond worldlings' sports,
Where strained _Sardonic_ smiles are glosing still,
And Grief is forced to laugh against her will;
Where mirth's but mummery,
And sorrows only real be."

In Sir J. Hawkins's edition is the following note on the word "Sardonic" in these lines:

"Feigned, or forced smiles, from the word _Sardon_, the name of an
herb resembling smallage, and growing in Sardinia, which, being
eaten by men, contracts the muscles, and excites laughter even to
death. Vide _Erasmi Adagia_, tit. RISUS."

_Sardonic_, in this passage, means "forced, strained, unusual, artificial;" and is not taken in the worst sense. These lines of Sir H. Wotton's bring to mind some of Lorenzo de Medici's in a platonic poem of his, when he contrasts the court and country. I quote Mr. Roscoe's translation:--

"What the heart thinks, the tongue may here disclose,
Nor inward grief with outward smiles is drest;
Not like the world--where wisest he who knows
To hide the secret closest in his breast."

The _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1849, in an article on Tyndale's _Sardinia_, says:

"The _Sardonic smile_, so celebrated in antiquity, baffles
research much more than the _intemperie_, nor have modern
physiologists thrown any light on the nature of the deleterious
plant which produces it. The tradition at least seems still to
survive in the country, and Mr. Tyndale adduces some evidence to
show that the _Ranunculus sceleratus_ was the herb to which these
exaggerated qualities were ascribed. Some insular antiquaries have
found a different solution of the ancient proverb. The ancient
Sardinians, they say, like many barbarous tribes, used to get rid
of their relations in extreme old age by throwing them alive into
deep pits; which attention it was the fashion for the venerable
objects of it to receive with great expressions of _delight_:
whence the saying of a Sardinian laugh (vulgo), laughing on the
wrong side of ones mouth. It seems not impossible, that the
phenomenon may have been a result of the effects of 'Intemperie'
working on weak constitutions, and in circumstances favourable to
physical depression--like the epidemic chorea, and similar
complaints, of which such strange accounts are read in medical
books."

GERONIMO.

PRIVATE AMOURS OF OLIVER CROMWELL.

I know nothing more of the enclosed, than that I found it with the MS. which I lately sent you on the subject of Cromwell's "Dealings with the Devil" (Vol. iii., p. 282.).

I should conclude it to be a carelessly-made transcript of a contemporary MS., the production, probably, of some warm royalist, who may, or may not, have had some grounds for his assertions. At all events, it gives a few curious details, and, in its general outline, agrees singularly with the incidents on which Mrs. Behn's play, _The Round Heads; or The Good Old Cause_, is founded: sufficiently so to give it at least an air of authenticity, so far as the popular belief of the day was concerned.

S. H. H.

"After Cromwell had been declared General of the Commonwealth's
Forces, he seized the possessions of the Royalists, who had
escaped his implacable resentment; and the New Hall fell to the
share of the Usurper, who, flushed with the victory of Worcester,
disposed at pleasure of the forsaken seates of the noble
Fugitives, who still supported Charles II.'s Drooping Standards;
and adding insulte to oppression, commanded the domesticks of the
Duke of Buckingham to follow their master's desperate fortune, and
to carry him five shillings, which he might want in his exile, for
the purchase of a Lordship, whose yearly value exceeded then
1300_l._ Cromwell kept possession of New Hall till he assumed the
title of Protector, and was instaled at White Hall, in the Pallace
of the English Kings: Then he chose Hampton Court for his Summer
Residence. He led at New Hall an obscure life, without pomp,
without luxury, having but two servants in his retinue. Though his
manners were natuaraly austere, he had some private amoures, which
he indulged with great Caution and Secrecy. His favourites were
General Lambert's wife and Major-General Vernon's sister: the
first was a well-bred, genteel woman, fatheless to her husband
from natural aversion, and attached to Cromwell from a conformity
of inclination in a mysterious enjoyment and stolen embraces, with
mask of religious deportment and severe virtue: the other was a
person made to inspire lust and desire, but selfish, revengfull,
and indiscreet. These too rivals heartily detested each other:
Mrs. Lambert reproached Cromwell for his affection to a worthless,
giddy, and wanton woman; and Mrs. Vernon laughed at him for being
the dupe of the affected fondness and hipocry of an artful
Mistress. They once met at the house of Colonel Hammond, a
Creature of Cromwell's, and reviled each other with the most
virulent sarcasms. Mrs. Lambert, fired with rage and resentment,
went immediately to New Hall, where Oliver was at that juncture,
and insisted upon her Rival's dismission for her unprovoked
outrage. Cromwell, who was then past the meridian of voluptuous
sensations, sacrificed the person he was no longer fit to enjoy,
to a woman who had gained his esteem and confidence, and delegated
to Mrs. Lambert all the domestic concerns of his house in Essex.
Cromwell's wife, called afterwards the Protectress, was a sober
helpmate, who, dressed in humble stuff, like a Quaker, neither
interfered in his amours or politics. She never went to New Hall
but once, and that was on the 25th of April, 1652, when he invited
all his family to a grand entertainment on account of his
Birthday. The other Guests were, his mother, who survived his
elevation to the Protectorship: she was a virtuous woman of the
name of Stewart, related to the Royall Family; Desborough, his
brother-in law; and Fleetwood, who had married his daughter; his
Eldest Son, Richard, a man of an inoffensive and unambitious
Character, who had been married some years, and lived in the
country on a small estate which he possessed in right of his wife,
where he spent his time in acts of benevolence: at the trial of
Charles I. he fell on his knees and conjured his Father in the
most pathetic manner to spare the life of his Sovereign; his
brother Henry, afterwards Govonor of Ireland, where he was
universally beloved for his mild administration; Mrs. Claypole,
the darling of her father; and his three other daughters: Mrs.
Rich, married to the Grandson and heir of the Earl of Warwick;
Lady Falconbridge; and the Youngest, who lived in celibacy. They
spent a week at New Hall, in innocent mirth and jollity; Oliver
himself joining in convivial pleasure with his children,
disengaged the whole time from state affairs and Political
Speculations.

"His constant visitors at New Hall were some Regicides, and the
meanest, lowest, and most ignorant among the Citizens on whome he
had decreed that the Sovereign power should be vested. To excell
in Fanaticism seemed a necessary qualification in this new
parliment; and Oliver foresaw that they would soon throw up the
reins of Government, which they were unqualified to guide, and
raise himself to an unlimited power far beyond that of former
Kings.

"It seems Mrs. Lambert continued to reside at New Hall during
Cromwell's Protectorship, and that Col. Wite, his trusty friend,
was often sent with kind messages and preasants from Oliver, who
travelled himself in the night, with hurry and precipitation, to
enjoy with her some moments of domestic comfort and tranquility."

SPURIOUS EDITION OF BAILY'S ANNUITIES.

In the course of last year a curious and impudent bibliographical fraud was perpetrated by some parties unknown. I am not aware that it has been publicly exposed as yet.

The celebrated work on annuities, by the late Francis Baily, was published in 1810 by Richardson, and printed by Richard Taylor. It was at first in one volume: but on the publication of an appendix in 1813, two titles were printed with this last date, and the stock then remaining was sold in two volumes. As the book became scarce, it gradually rose in price, until, when by a rare chance a copy came to the hammer, it seldom fetched less than five guineas. This price was lowered, as well by the general decline in the price of old books, as by the sale of Mr. Baily's own library in 1844, which threw a few copies into the market; but the work was still saleable at more than the original price. In the course of last year, copies, as it was pretended, of the original edition were offered at the assurance offices, and to individuals known to be interested in the subject, at twenty-five shillings. Some were taken in, others saw the trick at once. There has been, in fact, a reprint without any statement of the circumstance, and without a printer's name; but with a strong, and, on the whole, successful attempt at imitation of the peculiar typography of the work. If the execution had been as good as the imitation, the success would have been greater. But this is wretchedly bad, and will amuse those who know how very particular Mr. Baily always was in his superintendence of the press, and how plainly his genuine works bear the marks of it.

The spurious edition may be known at once by the title-page, in which the words "an appendix" are printed in open letter, which is not the case in the original. Also by "Leienitz," instead of "Leibnitz" in page xi. of the preface. Also by the Greek letter [Greek delta rotated 180 degrees] throughout, which is, in the spurious edition, never anything but an inverted δ, which looks as if it were trying to kick backwards.

In all probability, the agents in this shabby trick are beneath reproof; but it is desirable that the reputation of the author whom they have chosen for its object should not suffer from the effects of their misprint. And as the work they have appropriated is only used by a small public, and a reading one, the mode of exposure which I here adopt will probably be sufficient.

The spurious edition is now on the stalls at a few shillings; and, as a curiosity, will be worth its price.

A. DE MORGAN.

Minor Notes.

_Les Anguilles de Melun._--"Les anguilles de Melun crient avant qu'on les écorche" is a well-known proverb in that town; and as some of your readers may be curious to learn the circumstances in which it originated, I send them to you for "NOTES AND QUERIES."

According to the traditions of the Church, Saint Bartholomew was flayed alive, and his skin rolled up and tied to his back. When the religious dramas, called _Mysteries_, came into vogue, this martyrdom was represented on the stage at Melun, and the character of the saint was personated by one _Languille_. In the course of the performance, the executioner, armed with a knife, made his appearance; and as he proceeded to counterfeit the operation of flaying, Languille became terrified and uttered the most piteous cries, to the great amusement of the spectators. The audience thereupon exclaimed, "Languille crie avant qu'on l'écorche;" and hence the "jeu de mots," and the proverb.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, June, 1851.

_Derivation of Mews._--

"Muette. C'est le nom qu'on donne à un Edifice élevé au bout d'un parc de maison royale ou seigneuriale, pour servir de logement aux officiers de la venerie, et dans lequel il y a aussi des Chenils, des cours, écuries, &c. Ce terme _Muette_, vient, dit-on, de _Mue_, parceque c'est dans ces maisons que les Gardes, et autres officiers de chasse, apportent les _Mues_ ou bois que les Cerfs quittent et laissent dans les Forêts."--Lacombe, _Dictionnaire portatif des Beaux Arts, &c._ Nouvelle Edition: Paris, 1759.

Is this a better explanation of the English word _mews_ than has generally been given by writers?

W. P.

_Curious Monumental Inscriptions._--In the south aisle of Martham Church, Norfolk, are two slabs, of which one, nearly defaced, bears the following inscription:

Here Lyeth
The Body of Christo
Burraway, who departed
this Life ye 18 day
of October, Anno Domini
1730.
Aged 59 years.

And there Lyes [pointing hand symbol]
Alice who by hir Life
Was my Sister, my mistres
My mother and my wife.
Dyed Feb. ye 12. 1729.
Aged 76 years.

The following explanation is given of this enigmatical statement. Christopher Burraway was the fruit of an incestuous connexion between a father and daughter, and was early placed in the Foundling Hospital, from whence, when he came of age, he was apprenticed to a farmer. Coming in after years by chance to Martham, he was hired unwittingly by his own mother as farm steward, her father (or rather the father of both) being dead. His conduct proving satisfactory to his mistress she married him who thus became, successively, mother, sister, mistress, and wife, to this modern OEdipus. The episode remains to be told. Being discovered by his wife to be her son, by a peculiar mark on his shoulder, she was so horror-stricken that she soon after died, he surviving her scarcely four months. Of the other slab enough remains to show that it covered her remains; but the registers from 1729 to 1740 are unfortunately missing so that I cannot trace the family further.

E. S. T.

_First Panorama_ (Vol. iii., p. 526.).--I remember when a boy going to see that panorama. I was struck with "the baker knocking at the door, in Albion Place, and wondered the man did not _move!_" But this could not have been the first (though it might have been the first publicly exhibited), if what is told of Sir Joshua Reynolds be true, that, having held that the painting of a panorama was a "thing impossible," on the sight of it he exclaimed--"This is the triumph of perspective!" I have frequently met with this anecdote.

B. G.

Queries.

Minor Queries.

_Vermuyden._--I wish very much to obtain a portrait, painted or engraved, of Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, Knt., a celebrated Flemish engineer in the time of Charles I. Can any one kindly assist my object, and inform me where one is to be met with?

J.

_Portrait of Whiston._--Having an original and characteristic half-length portrait in oil, bearing to the left corner (below an oval, such as is found about portraits by Alex. Cooper) the name of William Whiston, which picture came from a farm-house named Westbrook, in Wiltshire, and was by my ancestors, who lived there, called a family portrait, I should be glad to know how such connexion arose, if any did exist.

In the possession of a member of my family, on the maternal side, is a large silver tobacco-box, bearing the initials W. W., and given as a legacy by Whiston to his friend Thomas White, Fellow and Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge. They were members of the same club.

WILLIAM FENNELL.

Wakefield, June 12. 1851.

_Charities for the Clergy and their Families._--I am desirous of procuring a complete list of charities confined to, or primarily intended for, the benefit of clergymen, their wives and families. There are a good many such throughout the country, but I am not aware that any list has ever been published. Will your readers furnish me with the particulars of such as they may be acquainted with, together with the names of the secretaries?

J. WHITAKER.

377. Strand.

_Principle of Notation by Coalwhippers, &c._--I shall feel much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me whether the principle adopted by the coalwhippers on the river Thames, and by the seafaring class in general, is adopted by any other class in these islands, or particularly in the North of Europe.

This principle may be thus explained, viz.:

1. A set of four perpendicular, equal, and equidistant straight lines are cut by a diagonal line, which runs from _right_ to _left_; that is to say, from the higher end of the fourth line to the lower extremity of the first line. This diagonal then represents number 5, and completes the scale or tally of 5.

2. A similar set of four lines are cut by another diagonal, which passes from _left_ to _right_, or from the higher extremity of number one, to the lower extremity of number four. The diagonal thus completes the second score or tally for number 5.

The two fives are marked or scored separately, and the diagonals thus form a series of alternations, which, when repeated, form a scale of ten, the tally of the _coalwhippers_.

The "navvies" of the railroads carry this principle somewhat further. They form a cross with two diagonals on the perpendiculars, and count for ten; then, by repeating the process, they have a division into tens, and count by two tens, or a score.