Chapter I: Part 1
[Transcriber's note: Original spelling varieties have not been standardized. Norwegian words have been retained as printed. 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. 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. 91. SATURDAY, JULY 26. 1851.
Price Sixpence. Stamped Edition 7_d._
CONTENTS.
Page
NOTES:--
Richard Rolle of Hampole 49
Notes and Queries MSS. 50
MS. Fragments of Old Poetry 51
Folk Lore:--Medical Use of Mice--Legend of Haydon's
Gully--The Crow Charm and the Lady-bird Charm--School
Superstitions--The Nightmare--East Norfolk Folk Lore:
1. Cure for Fits; 2. Cure for Ague--Extreme Ignorance
and Superstition 52
Minor Notes:--The Word "Repudiate"--The First
Panorama--Chaucer and Gray--Burns and
Propertius--Shakspeare in Sweden 54
QUERIES:--
On the Elision of the Letter "_v_" 55
Anthony Mundy, by Sir F. Madden 55
Minor Queries:--Margaret Maultasch--Arms of Halle--Test
of Strength of a Bow--Vox Populi--Meaning of Whig and
Tory--"Fortune, Infortune, Fort une"--Unde derivatur
Stonehenge--Marriage of Bishops--The Sign ¶--Early German
Virgil--Fairlight Church--The Leman Baronetcy--Armorial
Bearings--History of Magnetical Discovery--George
Chalmers--Mistake as to an Eclipse--Statue of Mrs.
Jordan--"A Posie of other Men's Flowers"--Sir Edmund
Ployden or Plowden--Pope's Translations or Imitations of
Horace--John Bodley--Dr. Thomas Johnson--"You Friend drink
to me Friend"--The Latin Termination "aster"--Portrait
of Dryden--Inscription on a Claymore out in 1745 56
REPLIES:--
De Rebus Septentrionalibus, by W. E. C. Nourse 59
Hugh Holland and his Works, by Dr. E. F. Rimbault 62
"Prenzie" in "Measure for Measure" 63
The Ten Commandments 63
The Republic of San Marino, by Walter Montagu 64
Shakespeare's Use of "Eisell" 64
Royal Library 69
The Caxton memorial, by Beriah Botfield 69
Meaning of "Nervous," by W. E. C. Nourse and E. J. Jones 70
The Duke of Monmouth's Pocket-books, by C. Ross 70
Replies to Minor Queries:--Pope's "honest Factor"--Banks
Family--Dies Iræ, Dies Illa--Equestrian Statues--Monumental
Symbolism--Organs in Churches--Tennyson: "The
Princess"--"Perhaps it was right to dissemble your
love"--Sardonic Smiles--Epitaph on Voltaire--Voltaire,
where situated--Children at a Birth--Milkmaids--"Heu
quanto minus," &c.--The "Passellew" Family--Lady Petre's
Monument--Spenser's Age at his Death--Blessing by the
hand--Handel's Occasional Oratorio--Moore's Almanack--Kiss
the Hare's Foot--Derivation of the World "Bummaree" or
"Bumaree"--Sheridan and Vanbrugh--"Felix quem faciunt aliena
pericula cautum"--"Alterius Orbis Papa"--Umbrella--To learn
by Heart--"Suum cuique tribuere"--Frogs in Ireland--Round
Towers--Lines on the Temple--Killigrew Arms--Meaning of
Hernshaw--Theory of the Earth's Form--Coke and Cowper, how
pronounced--Registry of British Subjects Abroad, &c. 71
MISCELLANEOUS:--
Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 77
Books and Odd Volumes wanted 78
Notices to Correspondents 79
Advertisements 79
Notes.
RICHARD ROLLE OF HAMPOLE.
If the following "Notes" do not demand too much of your valuable space, they may possibly interest the philological reader, and elicit a number of learned illustrations. They are drawn from a MS. belonging to this University (Dd. I. 1.), of which the main part is a course of _metrical_ sermons upon the Gospels throughout the year. The author of most, if not all, of the pieces, was the famous solitary, Richard Rolle, of Hampole, near Doncaster, who died in 1348.
1. The first sample I shall give is a curious illustration of the way in which the preachers of that age were wont to represent the harshness of the great in their dealings with the poor:
"For wiþ ensample may we se,
Þ't al þis world is but as þe se
Þ't bremli bariþ on banke wiþ bale,
And grete fischis etin þerin þe smale.
For riche men of þis world ete
Þ't pore men wiþ traueyle gete:
For wiþ pore men fariþ þe king
Riht as þe hal wiþ þe hering,
Riht as þe sturgeoun etiþ _merling_
And _lobkeling_ etiþ _spirling_,
So stroyen more men þe lesse
Wiþ worldis wo and wrongwisnesse,
All þ'e ska þe þt lesse sufferin of more
Smytiþ as storm of þe se ful sore."
Pp. 115, 116.
2. The word _keling_ (cod-fish) occurs again in the following passage, where the subject of the preacher is the Incarnation of our Lord:
"For right as bayt þe hok heliþ
And so þe gredi keling teliþ,
so telid Ih[=u]s wiþ flesch & blode
_Gormond_ þe _gredi_ on þe rode:
Gormond þe gredi I him calle
Þt swelewiþ synful soulis alle,
Þt neuer is ful but euer redi
To ha[=u]se hem as _Gawen gredi_.
Þis Gaweyn was hirchid on a hoke
Þat flesch & bold on Marie toke
for hirching þe bodi slas
And so slow Ih[=e] Salhanas."--P. 193.
3. At p. 352. a rebuke is administered to the _gourmet_ in the following terms:
"Þat oþer gostli ydropicy
Is called on Englisch gloteny,
þ't mekil is vsed wiþ these burgese,
þt lyue mekil at hir owne ese.
þei gar (i.e. _cause to_) seke þ'e cuntre thorw,
Boþe oplond and in borw,
Riche metis for to bye,
Summe to bake and summe to frye:
Al schal ben brouht on to his ham
Beste and foul boþ'e wylde & tame,
And yet all þis way not fille
His yernyng & his herte wille.
On þe pore men þinkiþ he nought
Ne on þt lord þt him der bought.
Many a mes be forn him stondiþ
And of ilkon sum þing he fondiþ,
Of venyson, of gos and gryse,
Tarte, _blawmanger_, and of ryse,
Of euerilkon sumwhat he tastiþ
And so forsoþe his kynde be wastiþ,
For ser deyntes & many mes
Make men falle in many sicknes.
But if þe riche man wolde þinke
Among al his mete & drynke,
þt his flesch schol rote in molde,
He wold not bin þerto so bolde."
4. The following passage is curious in more respects than one:
"This day _witsonday_ is cald,
For wisdom & wit seuene fald
Was youen to þe apostles as þis day
For wise in alle þingis wer thay,
To spek wt outen mannes lore
Al maner langage eueri whore.
þei spak _latyn_, _frensch_ & _grew_,
_Saresenay_, _deuenisch_ & _ebrew_,
_Gascoyne_, _Pikard_, Englisch & Walsch
And oþer speche spak þei als."
5. At p. 372. we have an interesting picture of a nun persecuted by the rest of the sisterhood on account of her stricter living:
"Hir cher was ay semand sori
Hir felawis held hir wod forþ'i,
And made of hir ful gret skornyng
And callid hir oule & outcasting:
For alle þe nonnes þ't were thore
Wend wel þt sche fonned wore,
And summe on hir foul water keste,
And sumtyme draf & sometyme yeste,
And summe rubbid hir wiþ oute
Wiþ ground mustard al a boute;
But sche made no grucching
For al hir euyl skornying,
Bul al sche suffrid ful mekeli
And to hir seruise was ay redi,
For ofte tymes sche grecid hir schos,
And wisch hir vessel as a guystroun dos,
And what so euer þei put hir to
W't a good wil al dide scho.
Hir hed was wounden al a boute
Wiþ a foul lynen cloute,
And for sche was so onlikli
Alle þei letin of hir skornfulli,
But yet sche was ful derworthi
Beforn our lord god almyghti."
6. I will add, in conclusion, a sample from one of the prose treatises contained in the same volume (p. 464.):
"Oþere spices þer ben of pride whiche men & women ben founden
inne, & it encresiþ fro day to day, of dyuers atire about þ'e
bodi: as ofte streyte clothes & schorte daggid hodis, chaunsemlees
(i.e. _shoes_) disgised & teyde op strayt in v. or vi. stedis:
women with schorte clothis unneþe to þ'e hipes, _booses_ &
_lokettes_ about þe heed, & vile stynkend hornes longe & brode, &
oþer dyuers atire, þ't I can nought witen ne discryen of surche
þinges. Eueri man & woman be his owne juge & loke weel if it be
nought þus."
C. H.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.
NOTES AND QUERIES MSS.
The commencement of a new volume appears to be the signal for new suggestions. May I fire one off as well as others?
In p. 282. of the Third, and in p. 19 of your present volume, you have printed two MSS. relating to Cromwell, which I sent you. No doubt there are many MSS. equally, or indeed more curious and interesting, scattered throughout the country, which would be worthy of preservation in type in your valuable columns, and which may possibly be so preserved. But what shall become of the originals? Would not the possessors of twos or threes of such documents be glad to place them in a safe and useful repository, where they might be preserved and be made available to all who take an interest in our history, whether social or political? And how could this be better effected than by opening a book for their reception and safe custody at your office; such book to be open to the inspection of all applicants, under proper regulations; and, when full, to be deposited in the British Museum as Vol. I. of the "NOTES AND QUERIES MSS.?"
With regard to the two which you have thought worth printing, I would by far prefer such a mode of disposing of them, to consigning them, as trifles, to what might prove the bottomless pit of the Museum, or to returning them to the snug dormitory in which I found them, between the leaves of Bishop Kennett's _History of England_.
Should this hint find favour in the eyes of yourself and your learned correspondents, not only are these at your service, but I might find another or two to add to them. I think, however, that none should be admitted into the collection but such as were considered worthy of being also preserved in print in "NOTES AND QUERIES."
S. H. H.
St. John's Wood.
[It can scarcely be necessary for us to add that we shall be very
glad to do our part towards carrying out the very sensible and
practical suggestion of our Correspondent. We shall indeed be glad
to show the sense we entertain of the obligations which we, in
common with all lovers of literature in this country, owe to the
British Museum, by aiding in this or any other well connected
scheme for enriching that storehouse of learning, and increasing,
if possible, its present usefulness.]
MS. FRAGMENTS OF OLD POETRY.
I have before me a sheet of vellum, part of old tale or tales in verse, which has been used as the cover of a manuscript book. I conceive it to be about the time of Henry VI. Can any of your correspondents, from the following extracts, give me any information as to the author, or the work of which it is a part? There would appear to be parts of two tales, at least.
G. H. D.
"Thanne seide the Prest, i will the telle,
For alle my good i wele the selle,
For alle the synnes that thou hast don,
I graunte the hem alle sone anon.
Alle gode dedes and eke preiere.
That Marchaunt the Prest wel understod,
That the Prestes chaffare was to hym good,
Gif that it mythe awelde;
And seide, as i am a trewe man,
In alle the wittis that i can,
Covenaunt i wele the helden.
Gif thou wilt me with herte and thouth (thought),
Give me alle thi gode dedes that thou hast wrouth,
As covenaunt was before;
Loke, he seide, to the Prest anon,
That thou telle hem everecheon,
That thou be nouth forswore.
And i schal telle the anon,
Alle the ... de dedes that I haue don,
Alle with outen ende;
The Prest began anon to telle,
Of hese goodnesse anon snelle,
No lengere he wolde hym wende.
The Prest seide, while i was yonge,
And coude gon and speke with tunge,
I was sette to lore;
Pore men i loved wel,
Of that i hadde i zaf hem su ... el,
Bothe lesse and more.
And quanne i my primer cou[the],
I seide it eche day with my mouthe,
And forgat ... uth on;
To God i made my preiere,
And eche dai seide oure ladies [sa]utere,
To God I made my mone.
Evereche day to chirche i went,
And seide my psauter with sex [en?]tente
Both be dai and be nyth;
Quanne i to bedde schulde go,
Mi clothes i kest me fro,
To serue God ful of myth.
Certes oftyn i gan take,
An usage on nyth moche to wake,
And prei to hevene kyng;
That i moste comen to this ... religion,
To my soule Savacioun,
To joye with outen endyng.
And quanne i was made a prest here,
God thewes i wolde lere,
As I haue the told;
Now thou woste with outen strife,
How I haue led in lif,
And all my goodnesse I haue thee solde.
Thanne seide the Prest to the Marchaunt,
Hold thou me my covenaunt,
That I of haue of the bouth;
Thou woste wel al untold,
But gif a man wolde truthe hold,
Marchaundize is rith nouth,
With tretchere thou myth me katche,
And do me _bie the cat in a Satche_,[1]
Thyng that I may nouth se;
All thi synnes thou me telle,
And thou schalt be saued fro the payne of helle,
Gif thou ne levest nouth me.
The Marchaunt seide, geve me myn,
And thou schalt have chaffare thin,
Gif thou wilt understonde;
This seide the Prest, be my leute,
Alle thi synnes telle thou me,
For no thyng that thou ne wende.
The Marchaunt seide, wil I was yong,
And coude gon and spake with tung,
I was jolif and wilde;
Be myn own sister I lay,
Many a nyth and many a day,
And gret sche was with childe.
With childe she was, tho sothe to telle,
And I gaf reed my fader to quelle,
So God me bryng out of care;
Now God Fader in Trinite,
Have merci on here and on me,
Of blisse I am all bare.
And after that with outen othe,
Oure fader and oure moder bothe,
Whanne that it was eve;
And thei bothe aslepe were,
We wenten to hem bothe in fere,
And slowe hem with outen weve (?).
And quanne this dede was i-do,
We wenten away bothe to,
Mi sister wente behynde;
As gret with childe as sche was,
I lep to here a woligret pas,
And dede here heved of wynde.
Sche that was me lef and dere,
I smot here heved of be the swere,
Now lord, merci I crie;
Fader, God omnipotent,
Ne lete our soules never be schent,
For the love of oure lefdie.
Maries sone that sitteth in trone,
Lade to the i make my mone,
For thin holy grace;
That we mote be present,
At the day of jujement,
And seen thin holi face."
... ... ...
"Thanne he sei a leoun come,
And taken awei hese yonge sone,
On hym he gaped wide.
The Lyoun bar that child with hym,
Awei rennynge wroth and grym,
The knyth was ney aswoune;
There he was in the water deep,
It was no wonder thow he wep,
Of Care hadde [he] inow.
Sore he gan to sihhe and grone,
Thei he ne seide wordes none,
To loude he moste tee;
A wonder thyng he sey thar,
A wolf hese other child away bar,
He fel doun on swoune on kne.
Tho that he aswouning ros,
He loked abouten and hym agros,
Hese wit was ney forlore;
But yet he thouthe on Ih[=u] Crist,
On his deth and on hese uprist,
That for us was i-bore.
Lord God Almythti, thou it wost,
Fadir sone and holi gost,
To thee i menene my mone;
For my spouse that was so trewe,
Fadir hende brith of newe,
Wol wo is me alone.
For my sones that ben forlorn,
That wilde bestes hath awei born,
I not nouth where to wone;
To wheche lond mai i fle,
How longe schal i on lyve be,
Sorewes comen gret wone.
Of Job i well bethenke me,
That long in welthe hadde be,
And fel sone in care;
Ih[=u] Crist for love of The,
To carful well i nevere be,
How so it ever fare.
I have wepte al my fille,
I nele no more, i well be stille,
Goddes helpe is us ney;
Thanne come an aungel from hevene,
And spake to hym with mylde Stevene,
Of God that woneth on hey.
Be bold blithe, he seide, Eustace,
For in hevene is maad thi place,
There thou schalt myrie be;
Thi children and thi wif,
Schal have longe lyf,
And al that blisse i-se.
Thus long he wente forth his wai,
Biddynge his bedes on hase lai,
Til beter tyme come;
To Swynke and swate he most,
For hese spendying was ney go,
---- it under no ----
With bowe and arwe and horn,
For to kepe a lordis corn,
Be day and eke be nyth;
... ... ...
knythes from fer i fare
For to seeke here and thare
After on manne
The emperoures counceyler
We han forth far and ner
There can no man hym kenne:
The wisest knyth of hese coort he was,
He was i hoten Sire Placidas,
On huntynge out he ferde;
And never after come he hom,
Ne no tidyng of him com.
... ... ...
On the mouthe is a wounde."
[Footnote 1: Proverb.]
[The first of these fragments is obviously a portion of a
religious tale (similar to the French _Contes Dévots_, from one of
which it is probably borrowed).
The second is a portion of the Legend of St. Eustace, otherwise
named Placidas, which occurs in an earlier metrical English form
among the Collections of Lives of Saints in MS. Laud. 108. art.
59.; MS. Digby 86.; MS. Bodl. 779. art. 64.; MS. Vernon, fol. 170;
MS. Ashm. 43. art. 73.; and MS. Cott. Cal. A. II. It occurs as
prose in the Golden Legend.]
FOLK LORE.
_Medical Use of Mice._--Seeing some Queries and Replies on this subject, I am induced to send you a few extracts from an old book in my possession (marked "very scarce"), published in 1661. Its title is _Panzoologicomineralogia, or a Compleat History of Animals and Minerals_. By Richard Lovell, St. C. C. Oxon. It treats chiefly of the medicinal uses of the various objects. I am tempted to tell you the use of a "unicorne," but confine myself to the mouse.
"The flesh eaten causeth oblivion, and corrupteth the meat; yet
those of Chalecut eat them; it is hot, soft, and fattish, and
expelleth melancholy.... A mouse dissected and applied, draweth
out reeds, darts, and other things that stick in the flesh....
Mice bruised, and reduced to the consistence of an _acopon_
(what's that?), with old wine, cause hair on the eyebrows....
Being eaten by children when rosted, they dry up the spittle. The
magicians eat them twice a month against the paines of the teeth.
The water in which they have been boiled helps against the
quinsey. Being boiled and eaten, they help children's pissing in
bed. The fresh blood kills warts. The ashes of the skinne, applied
with vinegar, help the paines of the head. The head worn in a
cloth, helps the headach and epilepsy. The braine being steeped in
wine, and applied to the forehead, helpeth the headach. Used with
water, it cureth the phrensy. The heart, _taken out of a mouse_
WHEN ALIVE, worne about the arme of a woman, causeth no
conception. The fillet of the liver, drunk with austere wine,
helpeth quartans. The liver, rosted in the new of the moon, trieth
the epilepsy. The dung, is corrosive. Given in any liquor, it
helpeth the collicke. It looseneth the body; therefore some nurses
use it for children in suppositories(?). It helpeth hollow teeth,
being put therein."
There is more of the sort, to the extent of 2¾ closely printed pages. It should be added that the author quotes authorities, old and new, for the several facts he adduces. Pliny is a great authority with him, and Galen is often cited.
J. K.
_Legend of Haydon's Gully._--In the parish of Hinton-Blewett, North Somersetshire, or immediately adjoining it, in the direction of West Harptree, there is a wooded gorge in the hill-side, through which runs a small stream, and which is called "Haydon's Gully." I have lately heard the following tradition respecting it; viz. that a gentleman named Colonel Haydon, who was accused of high treason, used to spend his nights under his brother's roof, somewhere in the neighbourhood, and every morning came and backed his horse into a hole in the bank, where he spent the day in order to evade his pursuers. You will perhaps agree with me, that this story, which, if it has any truth in it, probably refers to Monmouth's days, is worth inquiring into.
ARTHUR WRIGHT.
_The Crow Charm and the Lady-bird Charm._--The following charms are repeated by children throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire, and, I doubt not, in other parts of the kingdom also. They may be classed with the "Snail Charms" (Vol. iii., pp. 132. 179.):
_Crow Charm._
"Crow, crow, get out of my sight,
Or else I'll eat thy liver and lights."
_Lady-bird Charm._
"Lady-bird, lady-bird, eigh thy way home;
Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam,
Except little Nan, who sits in her pan,
Weaving gold-laces as fast as she can."
I remember, as a child, sitting out of doors on an evening of a warm summer or autumn day, and repeating the crow charm to flights of rooks, as they winked home to their rookery. The charm was chaunted so long as a crow remained in sight, the final disappearance of them being to my mind proof "strong as Holy Writ" of the efficacy of the charm.
The lady-bird charm is repeated to the insect (the _Coccinella septempunctata_ of Linnæus)--the common seven-spotted lady-bird--to be found in every field and garden during summer.
The lady-bird is placed upon the child's open hand, and the charm is repeated until the insect takes to flight. The warmth and moisture of the hand no doubt facilitate this, although the child believes fully in the moving power of the charm.
N.B. The lady-bird is also known as _lady-cow_, _cow-lady_, and is sometimes addressed as _cusha-cow-lady_.
ROBERT RAWLINSON.
_School Superstitions._--Several appear to exist in schools from generation to generation: do they exist anywhere else? and whence their origin? For instance "a boy who could not span his own wrist was a bastard;" "if you said the Lords Prayer backwards, the devil would come up," &c.
A. C.
_The Nightmare._--I recently observed a large stone, having a natural hole through it, suspended inside a Suffolk farmer's cow-house. Upon inquiry of a labourer, I was informed this was intended as a preventive of nightmare in the cattle. My informant (who evidently placed great faith in its efficacy) added that a similar stone suspended in a bed-room, or a knife or steel laid under the foot of the bed, was of equal service to the sleeper, and that he had himself frequently made use of this charm.
Is this practice common, and in what does it originate?
J. B. C.
EAST NORFOLK FOLK LORE.
1. _Cure for Fits._--A similar superstition on this subject to the one mentioned by D. (Vol. i, p. 11.) is prevalent in this vicinity. Nine or eleven young men or maidens (an odd number is indispensable) contribute each a silver coin for the manufacture of the ring. A friend of the sufferer gives out that he is making a collection for the purpose, and calls on the parties expected to contribute, and the coins must be given _unasked_, to ensure its efficacy. A watchmaker in my parish tells me that he has made ten or a dozen such rings within as many years, and that he has full faith in their curative properties.
2. _Cure for Ague._--Being afflicted two years since with a severe tertian ague, I was solicited, after the usual medical treatment had failed, by a lady to take as much of the _snuff of a candle_ as would lie on a sixpence, made into an electuary with honey. I complied and, strange to say, a complete cure was effected. Whether the nausea consequent on such an unpleasant remedy had any effect on the spasmodic nature of the malady, I cannot say; but the fact is certain, and it is esteemed a sovereign specific by the Norfolk rustics.
E. S. TAYLOR.
Martham, Norfolk.
_Extreme Ignorance and Superstition._--In a large village in Dorsetshire, not far from the county town, an intelligent man went recently into the house of a somewhat respectable woman who keeps a general shop in the village, and who is the mother of a numerous family and seeing her with a large family Bible open before her, and several of her children collected around, while she was cutting and paring their finger nails, and so holding their hands as that their cuttings might drop on the leaves of the Bible, he asked her why she did this. Suspecting, by her manner, that she had some object in view, judge of his surprise, when she replied--"I always, when I cut the nails of my children, let the cuttings fall on the open Bible, that they may grow up to be _honest_. They will never steal, if the nails are cut over the Bible!!" Do we not yet require the educator to be abroad?
T. WE.
Minor Notes.
_The Word "Repudiate."_--I cannot help following DR. KENNEDY'S example, and calling attention to another word in our language which is now-a-days, on many occasions, used very erroneously; I allude to the word _repudiation_, or rather the verb _repudiate_.
How frequently does one hear at public meetings such phrases as these: "I utterly repudiate the idea," "I repudiate the sentiment," "I repudiate the insinuation." A page might be filled with phrases of this description occurring in reported speeches of recent date. The word, in fact, is made by public speakers of "unadorned eloquence" and newspaper writers, to do duty for such words as to _refuse_, _repel_, _reject_, _abandon_, _disown_, _cast off_.
Now, Sir, I humbly conceive that repudiation means simply a dissolving of the marriage contract, hence of any contract or obligation and I believe I may say with safety, that in no standard classical author, ancient or modern, is the term _repudiation_, or the verb, _repudiate_, used, except in connexion with some _obligation_ expressed, or in figurative allusion to such obligation. The term, when applied to the "drab-coloured men of Pennsylvania," is undoubtedly proper; they have indeed _repudiated_ their debt, and perhaps brought the word and the thing into vogue; but to use such a phrase as "I repudiate the notion," is, I submit, surely to talk nonsense.
H. C. K.
---- Rectory, Hereford.
_The First Panorama_ (Vol. iii., p. 526.).--E. N. W. must have made some mistake in his recollection. Girton was a painter, and may have worked at the Panorama of London; but the "first Panorama" was by Mr. Robert Barker. The sketches were made by his son, Henry Aston Barker, when only a lad aged fifteen. They were taken from the top of the Albion Mills: they were also etched by H. A. Barker at the same age, and aqua-tinted by Birnie, and published in six sheets, 22 by 17, a set of which I possess, with a note of their history, as herein communicated, written _in dorso_, long ago, from Mr. B.'s own lips.
H. T. E.
E. N. W. is correct in saying, that a semicircular view of London from the top of the Albion Mills, near Blackfriar's bridge, preceded Barker's panoramas. It must have been painted about the year 1793. I saw it at the end of that year, or at the very beginning of 1794. But it was not exhibited in St. Martin's Lane, but in Castle Street, in a rough building--not, I believe, erected for the purpose--at the back of a small house on the eastern side of that street. Perhaps some other of your octogenarian readers may recollect its being there, as well as myself. The scene on the Thames was the water-procession on Lord Mayor's day.
W. D.
_Chaucer and Gray_ (Vol. iii., p. 492).--MR. THOMS suggests a very interesting parallel between a line in Chaucer, and Gray's "Even in our ashes", &c. Gray himself refers to Petrarch as his original, and the thought occurs in Shakspeare:
"In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie."
And Malone, in a note on the passage (_Supplement to Shakspeare_, 1780, vol. i. p. 640), adduces the passage in Chaucer quoted by MR. THOMS as an illustration. Steevens has mentioned the following passage in Sir P. Sidney's _Arcadia_ "In ashes of despair, though burnt, shall make thee live." Compare, also, _Antony and Cleopatra_, Act V. Sc. 2.
J. O. H.
To the verse,
"Even in our ashes live their wonted fires,"
Gray has himself appended a note, indicating that it was suggested by Petrarch, sonnet 169.; and "I will take the poet's word for a thousand pounds." It was originally written--
"Awake and faithful to her wonted fires,"
which has but little to do with Chaucer.
VARRO.
_Burns and Propertius._--There is a strange inclination to attribute similarity of sentiment to plagiarism; as if it were almost impossible for two men of genius to hit upon the same notions, independently of each other. In Propertius (II. i. 3, 4.) we find--
"Non hæc Calliope, non hæc mihi cantat Apollo,
Ingenium nobis ipsa puella facit."
In Burns we read--
"O, were I on Parnassus' hill!
Or had of Helicon my fill;
That I might catch poetic skill
To sing how dear I love thee.
But Nith maun be my Muse's well,
_My Muse maun be thy bonnie sel'_."
Had Burns been much of a Latin scholar, he would probably have been accused of stealing from Propertius.
VARRO.
_Shakspeare in Sweden._--The writings of Shakspeare would appear from the following fact to be read with as much avidity and delight in Sweden as in his native country. A translation of his plays by Hagberg, Professor of Greek in the University of Lund, is now in course of publication. Of this, twelve volumes have appeared; and although the first edition consisted of no less than two thousand copies, the whole have been sold off, and a second edition is in preparation. Professor Hagberg's translation is most favourably spoken of by those who are qualified to judge of its merits.
W. J. T.
Queries.
ON THE ELISION OF THE LETTER "V."
Through the medium of "NOTES AND QUERIES" I would be permitted to invite attention to a peculiar pronunciation that has extensively prevailed, though unnoticed I believe in print, of many words wherein the letter _v_ occurs between two vowels.
While resident in the country, when a boy, I was struck with the singular manner in which the names of certain places, having a _v_ so circumstanced, were pronounced, for the _v_ was wholly silent, and occasionally the latter vowel also; but as this was chiefly among uneducated people, I was led to regard it as a provincialism. However, as I became further acquainted with the names of places, I did not fail to observe, that it was by no means limited to any particular part of England. Thus, for example, the provincial pronunciation of Cavendish (Suffolk) is Ca'endish; of Daventry, Da'entry; of Staverton and Coverley (Warwickshire), Sta'erton and Co'erly; of Evesham, E'esham; of Davenham (Cheshire), Da'enham; of Lavington (Lincolnshire), La'enton or Lenton; of Avebury (Wilts), Abury; of Lavenham and Cavenham (Suffolk), Lanham and Canham; of Overton (Leicestershire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland), Orton; and the Principality gives us Aberga'enny for Abergavenny. Ivilchester has become Ilchester, and Tovecester (now written Towcester) is pronounced To'ecester; while Hoveden (Yorkshire) is called Ho'eden, or Howden, as it is now commonly spelt. Similar examples might be multiplied. Sometimes a succeeding consonant has undergone a change, as Pe'emsey for Pevensey, and Rochester for Rovecester or Rofecester. Numerous as the instances are, there has been some apparent caprice in the matter, not easily explained. For though, as we have seen, Staverton and Coverley in Warwickshire, and Daventry on the borders of that county, undergo this change, yet, as far as I can learn, Coventry was ever free from it; and in the like manner Twiverton in Devonshire is called Twerton, yet I believe Tiverton was never Terton. There may have been something in the original forms or meanings of Coventry, Tiverton, and the like, that occasioned the _v_ to be retained.
Many examples of the omission of this letter might be adduced from surnames, did space permit; indeed, several of those given above are surnames, as well as names of places; and some readers may recollect the change noticed in Selden's _Titles of Honour_, of Roger Wendover into Roger of Windsor, the first step having been to write Roger of Windore.
Nor is the practice confined to names. All are familiar with such contractions as _e'er_, _ne'er_, _o'er_, _e'en_, and _se'nnight_. We have also _ill_ for _evil_, and the Scotch have _de'il_ for _devil_, and _e'ening_ for _evening_. In like manner have we derived _lord_ from the old English _loverd_ or _louerd_; _lark_ from _laverock_ (Anglo-Saxon _lauerc_); _hawk_ from the Anglo-Saxon _hafoc_ or _hauoc_; and _head_ from the Anglo-Saxon _heafod_ or _heauod_; for the _f_ or _u_ in Anglo-Saxon, when representing our _v_, became subject to this elision. Time was, too, when _shovel_ was pronounced _sho'el_, and rhymed with _owl_; as is exemplified in the nursery lay of the death and burial of poor Cock Robin.
Without now attempting to account for this usage of speech, which seems to imply the prevalence of a former pronunciation of _v_ very different from the present, I will briefly notice that the like elision is of frequent occurrence in Latin, chiefly in the perfect tenses and their derivatives, as _amârunt_ for _amaverunt_, and _audîsset_ for _audivisset_; occasionally, too, in nouns, as _labrum_ for _lavabrum_; and also in the compounds of _versus_, as _retro'rsum_. It is found, I may add, in a few French words derived from the Latin, as _oncle_ from _avunculus_, and _cité_ from _civitas_. In the several languages above mentioned the _v_ between two vowels is also found passing into _w_ or _u_, especially after _a_ or _o_, the second vowel being in such cases dropped, thus indicating the connexion that existed between _v_ and _u_, which letters we know were in times past written indifferently for each other. The discussion, however, of this connexion is beside my present purpose.
The Latin contractions that I have adverted to are well known, and often noticed; and it is remarkable that the manner in which this treatment of the _v_ has affected the pronunciation and orthography of our own language, should have almost escaped observation. An acquaintance with it has been found of service when consulting ancient writings and the published records; for those who would use such sources of information with advantage, should be prepared not only to recognise, but also to anticipate, the various changes which names of persons and places have undergone.
W. S. W*****D.
ANTHONY MUNDY.
A few weeks since some manuscripts were placed in my hands belonging to the Hon. E. M. L. Mostyn, M. P. (removed from the library at Mostyn Hall in Flintshire), in order that I might ascertain the contents; and on looking at them, I discovered a play in the autograph of Anthony Mundy, with his signature at the end, and the date (supplied by another hand) of December, 1595. This play, entitled "_A Booke of John a Kent and John a Cumber_," seems to have been hitherto unknown to all the writers on the history of the stage; and its plot and dialogue appearing to me sufficiently curious to deserve publication, I lost no time in communicating my discovery to Mr. J. Payne Collier, under whose able editorship I am happy to learn that the work (by permission of Mr. Mostyn) will shortly be printed by the Shakspeare Club. The object I now have in view in making these remarks, is to point out an error relative to MUNDY (as he spells his own name) which, if not corrected, may acquire greater circulation than it possesses even at present. In Warton's _History of English Poetry_, 4to. vol. iii. p. 292. _n._ (printed in 1781), at the close of his biographical account of Mundy, he makes the following statement: "He [Mundy] collected the arms of the county of Middlesex, _lately_ transferred from Sir Simeon Stuart's library to the British Museum;" and this paragraph is copied word for word by Chalmers (writing in 1812), and inserted in his _Biographical Dictionary_ under the article MUNDAY (ANTONY). As no record exists in my department of any such transfer, I was desirous to trace the truth of this assertion, which the date of Chalmers could hardly have enabled me to do, had I not fortunately consulted Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. viii. p. 645., where I found a letter from the Rev. Michael Tyson to Gough, dated June 10, 1777, in which he mentions the manuscripts then recently sold at the seat of Sir Simeon Stuart, in Hampshire, and adds--
"A bookseller opposite the Exchange bought an heraldical lot of
eighteen volumes, big and little, for which he asks twenty
guineas: among them is Hawes's [_read_ Harvey's] original _Suffolk
Church Notes_, and a beautiful _Visitation of Cambridge_."
With this clue I had little difficulty in ascertaining that the eighteen volumes alluded to were preserved among the _Additional Manuscripts_ in the British Museum, Nos. 4960-4977., and were probably purchased of the bookseller named above. I can trace no copy of the sale catalogue of Sir Simeon Stuart's library; but this library must have belonged to the third baronet of that name, of Hartley-Maudit, co. Hants, who succeeded to the title in 1761. The manuscripts in question all belonged in the reign of Charles II. to Samuel Waker, painter-stainer, in whose handwriting many of them are, among which is No. 4964, thus entitled: "_Collections of Descents and Armes of the Gentry of Middlesex, whereof was noe visitation generall of the same County, before that made by Sir Henry St. George, Richmond Herald [in 1634], except 7 descents of these are entered in the old visitation of Hertfordshire made in a'o 1572; all the rest are the collections of mee_, RICH. MUNDY." It is evident that this is the volume referred to by Warton and Chalmers; and no less certain, that, by a careless blunder, the playwright _Anthony Mundy_ has been confounded with his namesake _Richard Mundy_, the painter-stainer, whose voluminous heraldic labours are recorded in the _Catalogue of the Harleian MSS._, Nos. 1529-1534., 1536-1566., 1570. 1571. and 1577. The Add. MS. 4964. is, in reality, only an incomplete copy by Waker of Mundy's original manuscript, preserved in MS. Harl. 1551.
I beg leave to annex the three following Queries.
1. Did any relationship exist between Anthony and Richard Mundy?
2. What is the name of the bookseller who lived "opposite the Exchange" in 1777?
3. Can any copy of the sale catalogue of Sir Simeon Stuart's library be referred to in existence?
F. MADDEN.
Minor Queries.
17. _Margaret Maultasch--Arms of Halle._--In "Marcel de Serres' Journey in Bavaria and the Tyrol" (printed in Arliss's _Pocket Mag._ 1825), in describing the statues ranged round the mausoleum of the Emperor Mathias in the Franciscan churn at Innspruck, he says:
"Amidst the Princesses, Margaret Maultasch may easily be
discovered by the hideous conformation of her mouth, and her eyes
which glow with sensual desires. The singular arms which may be
seen over the gates of Halle, but too plainly betoken the
shameful and licentious character of this insatiable female."
Where can I read the life of this "hideous" personage? And what are the arms alluded to? She was Duchess of Tyrol, and her portrait is in the Chateau d'Eu; but I have never seen an engraving.
G. CREED.
18. _Test of Strength of a Bow._--What is the test of the strength of a _bow_?
Does the distance the bow throws the arrow increase in ratio to its strength?
What was the length of the bows used in the good old times? _Were the bows then made of more than one piece?_ Is there any advantage in having bow of _more_ than _two_ pieces?
What wood _were_ the _arrows_ made of?
TOXOPHILUS.
19. _Vox Populi._--I have a copper coin in my cabinet (halfpenny size) which I shall be glad to have explained.
The obverse has a bust laureate in profile to the left, with the letter "P." close to the nose. The bust appears to be of some popular Irish leader in 1760, as it is not like either to George II.'s or George III.'s busts; and the legend "Voce Populi."
Reverse: The figure of Hibernia seated, with an olive branch in her right hand, and a spear in her left; also a harp at her side. Legend: "Hibernia." Exergue, "1760."
J. N. C.
20. _Meaning of Whig and Tory._--May I beg sufficient space in your journal to inquire for the _exact etymology_ of the terms "Whig" and "Tory?" We all know the exact time when these first came into use. We all understand precisely the meaning of the terms "Conservative," "Liberal," "Radical," "Peelite," "Protectionist," all of which, with the exception of Peelite, are equally applicable to things not political; but Whig and Tory can only be used in this one sense. From whence then their derivation?
A CLERK OF THE HOUSE.
21. "_Fortune, Infortune, Fort une._"--In the church of Notre Dame de Brou, near the town of Bourg, in the department de l'Ain, the following inscription is engraved on the tomb of Marguerite d'Autriche, the wife of Philibert le Beau, Prince of Savoy:--
"Fortune, Infortune, Fort une."
In this epitaph, the first two words are intelligible enough, and allude to certain reverses of fortune which had chequered the life of the princess; but the expression _fort une_ reads somewhat enigmatical, and I shall be obliged to any of your readers who can give the meaning of it.
HENRY H. BREEN.
St. Lucia, June, 1851.
22. _Unde derivatur Stonehenge._--Antiquaries and topographers generally (Stukeley and Sir R.C. Hoare included) have been hitherto content to consider this word as a compound of _stan_ and _henge_, Anglo-Saxon;--that is, "hanging stone." Now this etymology of the word has always appeared to me very unsatisfactory. The cross stones do not hang; they lie on the uprights, and are kept in their places by mortice holes. An ingenious friend of mine has, by what I consider a happy train of reasoning, arrived at another and a better conclusion. Every one knows that our German ancestors used the word _horse_ adjectively. And we still have it so in use to designate many things as the largest of their kind; as _horse-chestnut_, _horse-daisey_, _horse-mushroom_, _horse-emmet_, &c. &c. _Horsa_ and _hengst_ or _hengist_, are convertible terms or if any difference, the latter word is used for _stallion_. If so, then, is it not reasonable to suppose that the stones of this Druid temple would provoke the largest idea of magnitude, and thence be called Stone-Hengst, or more euphoniously, Stone-henge,--stallion stones?
P. P.
23. _Marriage of Bishops._--I should feel obliged to any of your correspondents who would supply me with an example from early Church history of a bishop or priest marrying after ordination.
Deacons were expressly allowed to marry by the Council of Ancyra; but I should wish an example of either of the others.
Marriage after priestly ordination is now forbidden by the Greek church, and since the Council of Trullo bishops must be celibate or continent.
Second Query--What evidence is there that bishops in early times, if already married, were obliged to put away their wives? It is said that St. Gregory Nazianzen's father had children after he was raised to the episcopate. Can this be proved, and are there other instances?
From the silence of early Church writers as to any difference between the clergy and laity on this point, I am much inclined to believe that the Roman requirement of celibacy was then confined to the bishopric of Rome itself, and the immediately adjoining country.
St. Paul, in 1 Cor. ix.5., says:
"Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as the
other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas?"
implying that he had power to marry even then; and our Saviour speaks of continence as a gift given only to certain persons. (St. Matthew, chap. xix. ver. 11, 12.)
A. B. C.
Edinburgh, July 10. 1851.
24. _The Sign ¶._--What is the meaning, and whence the origin of the sectional sign ¶, so much used in the Bible, and also at the head of the rubrical instructions in the Book of Common Prayer?
P. P.
25. _Early German Virgil._--I should like to know if the following name is that of a well-known publisher; and whether the book, from which I take the name, is known? also, whether it is very rare, and of literary value? "_Gedruckt zu Frankfurt am Main durch David Zöpffeln zum Eisern Huth, 1559._"
I find this at the end of a curious German translation of Virgil into verse--short and easy flowing.
There is a summary in verse, and a quaint engraving to every book. Bound in wood and leather. It has many odd peculiarities too long to mention.
In the Preface, this is said to be the _second_ edition, that the first was published "many years ago, by a learned man." It must have been published about the same time as _Bishop Gawain (or Gawin) Douglas's_, and is something like it.
R. S. T.
26. _Fairlight Church._--In Diplock's _New Guide to Hastings, St. Leonard, and the Neighbourhood_, which, unfortunately, like most other works of this class, is worse than useless to the architectural visitor, it is stated that the old church at Fairlight, which was taken down not very long since, "was a small but ancient structure, apparently of the early part of the _thirteenth century_: it consisted of a chancel, nave, and square tower, and _was built of brick_."
Can any of your readers inform a visitor here whether this is a correct description?
ARUN.
St. Leonard's on Sea.
27. _The Leman Baronetcy._--I shall be extremely obliged by any account as to the succession of the disputed Leman Baronetcy or estates. Sir William Leman, of Northaw (or Northall), Herts, was, I believe, the last of that designation, and up to the present time doubts exist as to the heir male or other descendants, although great property and possessions are in abeyance or at stake.
H. M.
28. _Armorial Bearings._--Can any of your correspondents inform me to what family the following arms belonged: Sa. a lion ramp. or, betw. three fleur-de-lys ermine. Crest, a sea-horse. Motto, "Fortior vi virtus."
The above arms are painted on the portrait of a gentleman wearing a ruff, temp. James I., in the possession of my family, and I am anxious to ascertain who it represents.
F. J. B.
Winchester.
29. "_History of Magnetical Discovery._"--In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for April 1840, I find the following notice:
"Thomas Stephens Davies, Esq., Fellow of the Royal Societies of
London and Edinburgh, Professor of Mathematics in the Royal
Military Academy at Woolwich, and Author of the _History of
Magnetical Discovery_, &c. &c."
Being interested in all that concerns the late Mr. Davies, I shall feel much obliged to any one who will state where I can find the _History_ here alluded to. I may add that I am acquainted with his papers on "Terrestrial Magnetism," published in the London _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1835-6; but since they do not much partake of the character of "History," they can scarcely be the papers intended.
T. T. W.
Burley, Lancashire.
30. _George Chalmers._--Can any of your correspondents inform me what became of the MSS. of the late Mr. George Chalmers?
On the titles of many of the older poets and dramatists of Scotland I have met with his notes referring evidently to some MS. list of the lives of such writers in his possession. My inquiry has reference, therefore, more particularly to the MS. in question, which has not, I think, been published.
J. O.
31. _Mistake as to an Eclipse._--
"Some," says Meric Casaubon, "have been deceived in the hour [of
an eclipse], as in the eclipse that happened _April 3, 1605_;
about which some very able artists are noted to have mistaken; and
the reason is given by astronomers how such a mistake might
happen."
Such is my "Note;" but I cannot just now give the reference. I will answer for its accuracy. Can any one give some account of that eclipse, and state the reasons alleged why "such a mistake might happen?"
VARRO.
32. _Statue of Mrs. Jordan._--In visiting Chantrey's studio some years since, in company with a sculptor still living, we received from Mr. Allan Cunningham a similar account to that which MR. PETER CUNNINGHAM has given, that is to say, that the design was _Stodhart's_, of which, indeed, it bore too certain evidence.
Chantrey was engaged at that time upon a colossal equestrian figure of Sir Thomas Picton, destined, I believe, for India. On that visit I was singularly impressed with the gracefulness and beauty of the statue of a female figure with three children; one was at her breast, and in the curled head of another at her feet was the mother's hand enfolded. On the pedestal of the statue was this inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Norah Bland."
I learnt from Mr. Cunningham that this was the statue of Mrs. Jordan, and was executed for William IV., and that there was some difficulty respecting its place of reception. What is become of this noble work of art? The little boy amongst whose curls the mother's hand played, was the late Earl of Munster.
JAMES CORNISH.
Falmouth.
33. "_A Posie of other Men's Flowers._"--Can any of your readers refer me to the following passage?--
"I have cull'd me a posie of other men's flowers, and nothing, save
the string that binds them, is mine own."
D. Q.
34. _Sir Edmund Ployden or Plowden._--I am desirous of obtaining information respecting Sir Edmund Ployden or Plowden, who (according to a tract published at Middleburg in Holland, in 1648, by a writer signing himself "Beauchamp Plantagenet") received a grant of land from the crown of England, covering portions of the present states of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Of this province, which was called New Albion, the grantee was "Lord Proprietor," "Earl Palatine," "Governor," and "Captain General." Your assistance I venture to ask, as this is a matter of historical interest here.
A TRANSATLANTIC READER.
Philadelphia, July, 1851.
35. _Pope's Translations or Imitations of Horace_ (Vol. i., p. 230.).--As you have, I hope, very largely increased the number of readers and contributors since I asked the question above referred to, and as it has as yet received no answer, I hope you will allow me to repeat it, in the hope that some of your new correspondents may be able to tell me what satirical "_Imitation of Horace_" can have been, so early as 1716, attributed to Pope?
I would also, on the same grounds, beg leave to repeat another question, formerly proposed by P. C. S. S. and by myself (Vol. i, pp. 201. 246.): What is the precise meaning of the last couplet of these lines of Pope:
"The hero William, and the martyr Charles,
One knighted Blackmore and one pensioned Quarles,
_Which made old Ben and surly Dennis swear,
'No Lord's anointed, but a Russian bear.'_"
That Pope had a precise meaning cannot be doubted; but I have never heard a reasonable guess at what it might be.
C.
36. _John Bodley._--Among the Parker MSS. in Corpus Library at Cambridge is a patent of Queen Elizabeth to John Bodeleigh to print the English Bible for seven years.
In the list of translators of the Bible in 1611, as given in the Introduction to Jameson's _Glossary of the Holy Scriptures_, appears the name "Burleigh, M.A.," but without any biographical notice, as in the other instances.
In Burn's _Livre des Anglois à Génève_, it is stated that John Bodleigh, the father of the celebrated Sir Thomas Bodley, was one of the translators of the Bible.
Can any of your readers throw light on the history of either of these men, or kindly point to any sources of information respecting them?
S. S. S.
37. _Dr. Thomas Johnson._--Can your readers give me _any_ particulars of _Dr. Thomas Johnson_, the editor of _Gerarde's Herbal_? I do not require such information as I can obtain concerning him in Wood's _Athenæ Oxonienses_, or Pulteney's _Sketches of Botany_; but I especially wish for some information relative to his place of burial, and whether there is any monumental or other record of its whereabout. He died from a wound he received during a _sortie_ from Basing House on the 14th of September, 1644.
GAMMA.
38. "_You Friend drink to me Friend._"--Can you inform me in what collection of glees I shall find an old one, the burden or chorus of which is--
"The more we love good liquor, the merrier we shall be?"
I think the first line is--
"You friend drink to me friend, and I friend drink to thee."
AN M. D.
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Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 91, July 26, 1851Chapter I: Part 1
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