Chapter C: H. B

Clarence Street, Islington.

5. _Dell, in what County?_--I shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents can tell me whereabouts this place is, and in what county?

J. N. C.

6. _Bummaree or Bumaree._--There is a large class of salesmen in Billingsgate Market not recognised as such by the trade, but styled Bumarees, who get a living by purchasing large parcels of fish of the factor or common salesman, and selling it out in smaller quantities to the fishmongers and other retailing buyers. This whole-sale retailing of fish is also called bummareeing it, hence the name of these (self-styled) salesmen.

I have not been able to find any clue to the meaning of this word thus used in any authority that I possess, though the word has been recognised in statutes and bye-laws of the markets for upwards of one hundred years.

As I feel very interested in this matter, may I be allowed to call the attention of some of your very learned correspondents to this matter, and ask for the probable etymology and exact orthography of the word.

I have been informed that the only other use of the word known is with the confectioners, who use _Bummaree_ pans.

The prefix "bum" is used to express the lowest of the kind in bum-bailiff, and also further additionally in connexion with selling in "bum-boat." I cannot think that "bona venalia," goods set to sale, among the Romans, give any clue to Bummaree. This, and other derivations equally unsatisfactory, have been submitted by those who have hitherto directed their attention to this subject.

BLOWEN.

7. _Thread the Needle._--What is the game so called? and what its origin?

In it these words occur:

"How far hence to Hebron?
Threescore miles and ten!
Can I be there to-night?
Yes! and back again!"

I have somewhere seen the name of Thread-the-Needle-Gate. Where is, or was, it? and whence was the London street so named?

R. S. H.

Morwenstow.

8. _Proof of a Sword._--Is the following statement correct and true (I mean, as to the trial of the sword blade, not the anecdote)?

"A troop of horse are riding along under the command of 'Duke
William' of Cumberland, in the '45. A little old Highlander joins
the march; a strong lusty soldier laughs at, and insults him. He
is allowed to demand satisfaction, and fight it out at once: he
craves the loan of a sword; one is handed to him. But Donald had
seen too many snows to trust his life to the blade of untried
metal: he minutely examined the handle, the edge, the point, and
the _spring_, and finally turning aside to _a pool_ of water, and
applying the _flat_ side of the blade to its surface, with one
smart stroke broke it in two."

Is this a good test of a sword blade? Would _any_ sword stand it?

Would the Toledo blade, at the Crystal Palace, that _rolls_ up into the form of a serpent, bear it?

What is the usual test of a good blade?

ENSIS.

9. _Shelley's Children._--Are any of Shelley's children, by his first wife, still living and where?--a friend of mine, who was her companion, having a relic of her, which she would gladly give into their possession.

PHILO.

10. _Ackey Trade._--I have in my cabinet a silver coin (shilling size) which has on the obverse, besides the bust of the kind, the date 1818, and the legend, the following under the head (between it and the legend), "_½ Ackey Trade_;" and I shall be glad to have an explanation of what is meant by the "_Ackey Trade_?" The reverse has the arms and crest of the African Company. The legend is "Free Trade to Africa by Act of Parliament, 1750."

J. N. C.

11. _Baskerville the Printer._--I was informed in 1835, by a friend living at Birmingham, that the coffin containing the body of that celebrated printer was then lying in a timber yard in that town under a pile of deals--a fact which was well known there.

Is it still in the same place? And why? And is there any portrait, engraved or otherwise, of him? Mr. Merridew of Coventry, and others, have assured me there was not.

G. C.

12. _Statue of Charles II._--What became of the fine statue of Charles II. on horseback which formerly stood in Stock's Market, the site of the present Mansion House?

It was placed on a conduit at the "sole cost and charges of that worthy citizen and alderman Sir Robert Viner, Bart." I have seen a print of it, folio. (London, pub. 1708.)

G. CREED.

13. _La Mère Jeanne._--In Hallam's _Literature of Europe_, 2nd edition, vol. i. p. 461., I read this passage:--

Two crude Attempts at introducing the Eastern tongues were made
soon afterwards (1530). One of these was by William Postel, a man
of some parts, and more reading; but chiefly known, while he was
remembered at all, for mad reveries of fanaticism, and an
idolatrous veneration for a saint of his own manufacture, La Mère
Jeanne, the Joanna Southcote of the sixteenth century."

Has any account of the character and proceedings of "La Mère Jeanne" been handed down to us; and, if so, where is it to be found?

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, June, 1851.

14. _Man of War, why a Ship of War so called._--Will any of your readers inform me the origin of a ship of a certain number of guns being called "a man of war?" In Shakspeare the term is applied to Falstaff: Davy inquires of Shallow:

"Doth the man of war stay all night, Sir?"

And it is singular to remark, in the same scene, the first of Act V., the Second Part of _Henry IV._, that the dinner ordered by Shallow for Falstaff is just such as any country gentleman would now provide for an unexpected guest:--

Some pigeons, Davy; a couple of short-legged hens; a joint of
mutton; and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William cook."

The only difference is the sex of the cook, as country gentlemen in these days have females in that capacity.

AN M. D.

15. _Secret Service Money of Charles II._--In Mr. Akerman's preface to this work, just published by the Camden Society, I find this passage:

"Amongst these (sums lavished on female favourites) the payments
to the Duchess of Portsmouth are most conspicuous. No less a sum
than 136,688_l._ 10_s._ appears to have been bestowed by the
profligate monarch on this woman _within the space of one
year_."--See _Payments under the year 1681_, p. 42.

Now, on turning to the year and page designated, I find that the _whole of the class_ in which the Duchess's name appears amounts for _that year_ only to about 22,000_l._, of which the Duchess of Portsmouth appears to have received about 12,000 in several quarterly payments on account of an annual pension or pensions of that amount: so in other years. This is a very different sum from 136,000_l._ I would beg leave to inquire of the editor, or of any of your _Camdenite_ correspondents, whether there is an error in Mr. Akerman's statement, or only in my way of reading it?

C.

16. _Hampton Court._--Miss Strickland, in the _Queens of England_, after saying that the Queen (Elizabeth of York, Henry VII.'s wife) had stayed at Hampton Court eight days, continues:

"It is worth noticing that Hampton Court was a favourite residence
of Elizabeth of York long before Cardinal Wolsey had it."

Now, in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for January, 1834, is a copy of the lease from the prior of St. John of Jerusalem to Cardinal Wolsey of their manor of Hampton Court, it having been in the possession of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John since 1211, when Joan Lady Grey left it by will to that order. Where, then, was Elizabeth of York's residence? Did she hold a lease of the manor and manor-house of Hampton of the Knights Hospitallers? Or was there another royal residence in that locality?

TEE BEE.

Minor Queries Answered.

_De Rebus Hibernicis._--1. Silvester Giraldus Cambrensis, born in Wales, A.D. 1145, was the author of numerous works. Can any one furnish a list of them?

2. What is the date of the _Annals of the Four Masters_?

3. Who was Tigernach, and when did he live?

4. What are the _Annals of Ulster_, and when were they written?

WILLIAM E. C. NOURSE.

[1. The printed works, as well as the manuscript collections, of
Giraldus, are so numerous, and deposited in so many different
libraries, that we must refer our correspondent to Sir R. C.
Hoare's description of them in his Introduction to the translation
of Giraldus' _Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales_, vol.
i. pp. liv.-lxxii. 4to. 1806.

2. _The Annals of Dunagall_, otherwise called _The Annals of the
Four Masters_, were compiled between A.D. 1632 and 1636. From a
MS. in the Duke of Buckingham's library at Stowe, Dr. O'Conor
published the first part of these _Annals_, extending from the
earliest period to A.D. 1172, in his _Rerum Hibernicarum
Scriptores_. The latter portion has since been edited, with a
translation and notes, by John O'Donovan, Esq., M.R.I.A., in 3
vols. 4to.

3. Tigernach was Abbot of Cluain-mac-nois, and died A.D. 1088. He
wrote the _Annals of Ireland_, from A.M. 3596 to his own time.

4. _The Annals of Ulster_ were compiled by Cathald Mac Magnus
(Charles Maguire), who died A.D. 1498. They commence with the
reign of Feradach Fionnfachtnach, monarch of Ireland, A.D. 60, and
are carried down to the author's own time. They were afterwards
continued to the year 1504, by Roderick O'Cassidy, Archdeacon of
Clogher. See O' Reilly's _Chronological Account of Irish
Writers_.]

_Abridgment of the Assizes._--Where can one see, or what is the correct title of the book containing _Abridgment of the Assizes, and Iters of Pickring and Lancaster_? It is referred to in Manwood _on Forest Laws_.

S. S.

[Richard Tottle, dwelling at the Hand and Star in Fleet Street,
and who was "licensed to print all manner of books touching the
common laws of England," published in the middle of the sixteenth
century the following work:--"_The Abridgment of the Book of
Assises_, lately perused over and corrected, and now newely
imprinted by Richard Tottle, the last day of September, 1555." It
is probable that the _Iters of Pickring and Lancaster_ are still
in manuscript.]

_Life of Cromwell._--I have in my possession a _Life of Cromwell_, written by R. B. "without passion or partiality," printed by N. Crouch in the Poultry, 1715. Query, who was this R. B.?

PHILO.

[The author was Richard or Robert Burton, _alias_ Nathaniel
Crouch, who, says Dunton in his _Life and Errors_, "melted down
the best of our English histories into twelve penny books, which
are filled with wonders, rarities, and curiosities." The first
edition of _The History of Cromwell_ was published in 1693,
"relating only matters of fact without reflection or
observation."]

Replies.

WRITTEN SERMONS AND EXTEMPORE PREACHING.

(Vol. iii., pp. 478. 526.; Vol. iv., p. 8.)

Your versatile correspondent MR. GATTY has been led astray by an incorrect assertion of Bingham's (magni nominis vir), that Origen was the first who preached extempore. The passage to which Bingham refers us, in Eusebius, asserts nothing of this sort; but simply that Origen would not suffer his sermons to be taken down by the short-hand writers till he was sixty years old,--a sufficient proof, if any were needed, that the custom of taking down sermons by notaries in the third century was not unusual.

Some rogue has stolen my Number of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" in which the inquiry on the subject of written sermons was made; but, if I remember rightly, the _question_ was put correctly, it having been asked when written sermons were first preached. As I at one time took some pains to look into this point, and as no one else seems inclined to take it up, perhaps you will allow me space for a few remarks.

1. I suppose no one will be disposed to question the extreme improbability of the "sermons" in the Apostolic are having been _written_ discourses: if, however, this be considered doubtful, I am willing to argue the point, and be set right if I am wrong in thinking it unquestionable.

2. I believe it is almost as improbable, that in what Professor Brunt calls the "post-Apostolic" times sermons were written, not only from the complete silence of the Apostolic Fathers on the point--for that would really prove next to nothing,--but because it seems quite incredible that no vestige of any such sermon should have come down to us; no forgery of one, no legend or tradition of the existence of one if the practice of writing sermons had prevailed at all.

3. In the Apologies of Justin and Tertullian [Justin, ed. Otto, i. 270.; Tertullian, _Ap._ ch. xxxix.] there is a description of the addresses delivered in the congregations of their times, which appears to me to prove that they knew of no such practice as reading a sermon and the passage from Origen contra Cels., which De la Cerda gives in his note on Tertullian, though it is only quoted in the Latin, surely shows the same (vol. i. p. 190.). I came across something of the sort in Cyprian about two years ago and, if I may dare trust my memory, it appeared to me at the time to be more satisfactory than the passages above referred to; but I made no note of it,--and I was hunting for other game when I met with it. Still, if your querist is going into the subject as a student into a matter of history, I dare stay I could find the paragraph.

4. I have really no acquaintance with the post-Nicene fathers, the mere desultory reading out of some few of the works of the Arian period counting for something less than nothing; but, as far as secondary sources are to be trusted, I certainly never met with anything that would lead me to conclude that sermons were ever read in the fourth or fifth centuries. [I shall come to the only shadow of an argument in favour of such a practice having prevailed so early, presently.] Certainly, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, were extempore preachers by Bingham's showing. Gregory the Great, much later, for all that appears to the contrary, never wrote his sermons at all, and even preached his homilies on Ezekiel almost without any preparation. Indeed the prevalence of that most abominable system of applauding the preacher, which St. Chrysostom protests against in the magnificent sermon on 1Cor.xiv.38., could scarcely have been universal where sermons were read.

5. I come now to the argument which Bingham deduces from a passage in Sidonius Apollinaris; where, in speaking of Faustus, Bishop of Riez, he says that he was "raucus plausor," while hearing "tuas prædicationes, nunc repentinas, nunc, cum ratio poposcisset, elucubratas." Until I had turned up the passage itself, I thought there was no doubt that Bingham was right in explaining it as referring partly to extempore, partly to written-and-read sermons; but taking the passage as it stands, I would submit that the "prædicationes elucubratas" were not at all _read_ sermons, though prepared and studied beforehand, and that the "prædicationes repentinas" were such as St. Augustine sometimes delivered, viz., on a text which suggested itself to him during the time of service, or in consequence of some unforeseen event having happened just before his ascending the pulpit.

6. I have as yet dealt only with the negative evidence; but the positive testimony against the reading, and in favour of the reciting or preaching sermons, is far from small. I should look upon man as crazy who ventured to speak slightingly of Bingham, and should as soon think of setting up myself against that great man as of challenging Goliah of Gath to fisty-cuffs; but I can never get rid of the thought that Bingham had a strong prejudice against extempore preaching, and treated the history of sermons somewhat unfairly: _e.g._, in his 22nd section of that 4th chap. of the xivth book (with which chap. I take it for granted my readers are acquainted), he somewhat roguishly misrepresents Mabillon and the Council of Vaison; and as to every other passage he quotes or refers to, every one asserts that the sermons were to be preached or _recited_, not one says a word about reading.

The Council of Vaison is, of course, that which was held in A.D. 529, and at which Cæsarius of Arles presided: but the 2nd canon does not say a word about reading; so far from it, it commands that the homilies which the deacons preached should be recited [_recitentur_, Labbe, iv. p 1679.], as though the practice of reading a sermon were not known. So, with regard to the other passages from St. Augustine, there is not a hint about reading: if a man could not make his own sermons, he was to take another's; but to take care to commit it to memory, and then deliver it.

I should be glad to furnish you with a few "more last words" on this subject, but I fear that these remarks have already proceeded to too great a length: still, if you give me any encouragement, I should like to take up the matter again.

I should be glad to be informed whether it be true, as I have heard, that the practice of learning their sermons by heart is universal and avowed by the preachers in Germany; and whether it be really a common thing for a preacher there to deny himself on a Saturday, on the plea that he is getting his sermon by heart?

AJAX.

Papworth St. Agnes, July 8. 1851.

_Written Sermons_ (Vol. iii., p. 478.).--Your querist M. C. L. may be referred to Dr. Short's _History of the Church of England_, § 223.; or to Burnet's _Reformation_, vol. i. p. 317., folio; where he will find that the practice commenced about the year 1542.

N. E. R. (a Subscriber.)

FEST SITTINGS.

(Vol. iii., pp. 328. 396.)

Not questioning the meaning given to the word _Fest_ by R. VINCENT, I take leave to refer you to Dr. Willan's list of words in use in the mountainous districts of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in the seventeenth volume of the _Archæologia_. You will there find: "FEST, to board from home." The word is used in that sense at the present time. A gentleman resident in the West Riding writes to me:

"I have heard the term 'fest' used generally as applying to
sending out cattle to pasture, and so says Carr in his _Dialect of
Craven_. I have also frequently heard it used in this manner: 'I
have fest my lad out apprentice to so and so.' In my own
neighbourhood, in the West Riding, it is a frequent practice for
poor man who possesses a cow, but no pasture, to 'fest' her with
some occupier of land at a certain sum by the week, or for some
other term. So a gamekeeper is said 'to fest' his master's
pointer, when he agrees with a farmer to keep it for a time. In
these cases the boy, the cow, the pointer, 'are boarded from
home.'"

As to "statutes" or "sittings," the word "statutes" is explained in Blount's _Dictionary_ as follows:

"It is also used in our vulgar discourse for the Petty Sessions
which are yearly kept for the disposing of servants in service by
the statute 5 Eliz. chap. iv." (§ 48.)

See in the _Archaic and Provincial Dictionary_, "SITTINGS" and "STATUTE." In Holderness (I collect it from the Query of F. R. H.) the term "sittings" is used in the same sense as "statute" in the West Riding, and in many other parts of the kingdom. "Fest sittings" appear then to mean "the annual assemblage of servants who hire themselves to board from home." In many places the "statute" or "stattie" is connected with the fair.

"Statute Fairs," my friend writes, "are held at Settle, Long
Preston, and other places, which don't occur to me, in our
district (Craven). At Settle servants wishing to hire stand with a
small white wand in their hands, to show their object. In like
manner horses, when taken to a fair, wear on their heads a white
leather kind of bridle; and (to come nearer home) when a young
lady has attained a certain age, and begins to look with anxious
eye to future prospects, we say that she also has put on the white
bridle."

He adds: "I have myself had servants hired at Long Preston Statute Fair." Another friend writes to me:

"Richmond Statties are very famous, every servant desirous of
hiring having a peeled twig or stick. At Penrith they put a straw
in their mouths. I remember a poor girl being killed by an
infuriated cow at Penrith; and the poor thing had the straw in her
mouth when dead."

In the East Riding, Pocklington Statute is well known; and York has its Statute Fair. At these "statutes" or "statties" ("Stattie Fairs" and "Sittings," or Fest Sittings), servants "fest themselves," that is, hire themselves to board from home.

Standing in the market-place to be hired will occur to any one who may take the trouble of reading these desultory observations.

Excuse my adding irrelevantly the following use of the word "sitting." It is said that a young man is "sitting a young woman," when he is wooing or courting her.

F. W. T.

HISTOIRE DES SÉVÉRAMBES.

(Vol. iii., pp. 4. 72. 147. 374.)

In Quérard's _France Littéraire_ (Didot, Paris, 1839), tome x. p. 10., I read the following notice of the author of _Histoire des Sévérambes_:--

"Vairasse (Denis) d'Alais, écrivain français du XVII. Siècle.

"---- Grammaire raisonnée et méthodique, contenant en abrégé les
principes de cet art et les règles les plus nécessaires de la
langue français. Nouv. édit. Paris, D. Mariette, 1702, in-12.

"La première édition a paru en 1681.

"---- Histoire des Sévérambes (Roman politique) nouv. édit.
Amsterdam, Etienne Roger, 1716, 2 vol. in-12.

"La première édition parut de 1677 à 1679, en trois vol. in-12.

"Cet ouvrage a été réimprimé dans la collection des Voyages
imaginaires."

_La France Littéraire_ is a compilation of extraordinary labour and research; and, in the absence of more authentic information, I believe we may safely rely on the above statement. The facts, therefore, in so far as they have been brought to light, may be summed up as follows:--

1. The original work was written in English, was entitled _History of the Sevarites_, and published in 1675.

2. That work suggested the idea of the _Histoire des Sévérambes_, which was published in 1677-9, and in all essential respects may be said to be an original composition.

3. The Captain _Liden_ of one edition, and the Captain _Siden_ of another (from whose memoirs the work is said to have been translated), are one and the same imaginary personage.

4. The author of the _History of the Sevarites_ has not been ascertained; the claims of Vairasse, Algernon Sidney, and Isaac Vossius, being founded on mere conjecture.

5. There seems no reason to doubt that Denis Vairasse d'Alais was the author of _Histoire des Sévérambes_; supported as that opinion is by the testimony of Christian Thomasius, Barbier, and Quérard.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, June, 1851.

SALTING THE DEAD.

(Vol. iv., p. 6.)

An amusing instance of this custom--perhaps even now, under certain circumstances, prevalent in some parts of England--occurs in Mrs. Bray's _Letters on the Superstitions, &c. of Devonshire_. A traveller while passing over one of the large uninclosed tracts of land near Tavistock, was overtaken by a violent snowstorm, which compelled him to seek a night's shelter from the inhabitants of a lonely cottage on the moor. In the chamber assigned for his repose, he observed a curiously carved oak chest of antique appearance.

"He noticed or made some remarks upon it to the old woman who had
lighted him up stairs, in order to see that all things in his room
might be as comfortable as circumstances would permit for his
rest. There was something he thought shy and odd about the manner
of the woman when he observed the chest; and after she was gone,
he had half a mind to take a peep into it."

After a while he does, and _horribile dictu!_ a human corpse, stiff and cold, lay before his sight! After a night spent in the most agonizing apprehensions he descends to breakfast, and his fears become somewhat lightened by the savoury fumes of the morning meal.

"Indeed so much did he feel reassured and elevated by the
extinction of his personal fears, that, just as the good woman was
broiling him another rasher, he out with the secret of the chest,
and let them know that he had been somewhat surprised by its
contents; venturing to ask, in a friendly tone, for an explanation
of so remarkable a circumstance. 'Bless your heart, your honour,
'tis nothing at all,' said her son; 'tis only fayther!'--'Father!
your father!' cried the traveller; 'what do you mean?'--'Why, you
know, your honour,' replied the peasant, 'the snaw being so thick,
and making the roads so cledgy like, when old fayther died, two
weeks agon, we couldn't carry un to Tavistock to bury un, and so
mother put un in the old box, and salted un in: mother's a fine
hand at salting un in.'"--Vol. i. pp. 29. 32.

In connexion with this subject you will perhaps permit me to observe, that the custom of placing a plate of salt on the body is still retained in many parts of the country. An instance of its use in the metropolis came under my notice only last week. The reason assigned for this is, that it prevents the spread of any noxious vapours. But query, is it not an ancient superstitious observance? According to Moresin:

"Salem abhorrere constat diabolum et ratione optima nititur, quia
Sal æternitatis est et immortalitatis signum, neque putredine
neque corruptione infestatur unquam, sed ipse ab his omnia
vendicat.--"_Moresini Papatus_, p. 154.

SPERIEND.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Bogatsky_ (Vol. iii., p. 478.).--A very satisfactory biographical sketch of Bogatsky, author of the _Golden Treasury_, will be found in _Evangelical Christendom_, vol. iii. for 1849, pp. 69. and 101.