Chapter I: Front Matter

[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, or [C] for a Roman angled C; the Roman numeral *C shows an inverted C, or closing ). 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. 94. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16. 1851.

Price Threepence. Stamped Edition, 4_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

NOTES:--

Traditions from remote Periods through few Hands 113

Minor notes:--Nelson's Coat--Strange Reason for keeping
a Public-house--Superstitions with regard to Glastonbury
Thorn--The miraculous Walnut-tree at Glastonbury--The
Three Estates of the Realm 114

QUERIES:--

Bensleys of Norwich 115

Minor Queries:--Heraldic Figures at Tonbridge
Castle--English Translation of Nonnus--Of Prayer in One
Tongue--Inscription in Ely Cathedral--Cervantes: what was
the Date of his Death?--Meaning of "Agla"--Murderers buried
in Cross Roads--Wyle Cop--The Devil's Knell--Queries on
Poem of Richard Rolle--Did Bishop Gibson write a Life of
Cromwell?--English Translation of Alcon 115

REPLIES:--

John Bodley, by Dr. E. F. Rimbault and R. J. King 117

Wither's "Hallelujah" 118

First Panorama 118

John a Kent 119

The British Sidanen 120

Petty Cury 120

The Word "Rack" in the Tempest.--The Nebular Theory 121

Replies to Minor Queries:--Pseudo MSS.: The Devil,
Cromwell and his Amours--Anonymous Ravennas--Margaret
Maultasch--Pope's Translation or Imitations of
Horace--Brother Jonathan--Cromwell's Grants of
Land in Monaghan--Stanedge Pole--Baskerville the
Printer--Inscription on a Claymore--Burton Family--Notation
by Coalwhippers--Statue of Charles II.--Serius, where
situated?--Corpse passing makes a Right of Way--The
Petworth Register--Holland's "Monumenta Sepulchralia
Ecclesiæ S. Pauli"--Mistake as to an Eclipse--"A Posie
of other Men's Flowers," &c. 122

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 126

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 127

Notices to Correspondents 127

Advertisements 127

Notes.

TRADITIONS FROM REMOTE PERIODS THROUGH FEW HANDS.

On two or three occasions in the "NOTES AND QUERIES" instances have been given of "Traditions from remote periods through few hands," of which it would not be difficult to adduce numerous additional examples; but my present purpose is to mention some within my personal experience, or derived from authentic communication.

In 1781, and my eleventh year, a schoolfellow took me to see his great-grandmother, a Mrs. Arthur, in Limerick, then aged one hundred and eight years, whose recollection of that city's siege in 1691, when she was eighteen, was perfectly fresh and unimpaired, as, indeed, she was fond of showing by frequent and even unsolicited recurrence to its dread scenes, in which the women, history tells us, fearlessly participated. We are here then presented with an interval of one hundred and sixty years between a memorable event and my recollection of its narrative by a person actively engaged in it. The old lady's family had furnished a greater number of chief magistrates to Limerick than any other recorded in its annals.

Again in 1784, on a visit to my grandfather in the county of Limerick, during a school vacation, I heard him, then in his eighty-sixth year, say, that in 1714, on the accession to the British throne of the present royal dynasty, he heard in Cork, where he was at school, a conversation between several gentlemen on this change of the reigning family, when one of them, a Mr. Martin, said that he was born the same day as Charles II., on the 29th of May, 1631, and was present at the execution of Charles I., the 29th of January, 1649. His family then resided in London, where he joined Cromwell's Ironsides, and thence accompanied them to Ireland. The transfer to him of some forfeited property naturally induced him to settle there. Thus, between me and the eye-witness of the regicidal catastrophe, only one person intervenes.

In 1830 there died in London, at the eastern extremity, called the World's End, an Irishman, aged one hundred and eleven, named Gibson, whose father, a Scotchman, he told me, served under the Duke of Monmouth at the battle of Sedgemore in July, 1685, and afterwards, in July, 1690, under William, at the Boyne. Supposing, as we well may, the father to have been born about 1660, in 1830, before the son's decease, the two successive lives thus embrace one hundred and seventy years. I had rendered the son some services which made him very communicative to me. The father married and settled in Tipperary, where he became a Roman Catholic, and no adherent of O'Connell could be more ardent in his cause than the son. This veteran had served full seventy years in the royal navy.

In 1790 I recollect an old man of a hundred and twenty, who appeared before the French National Assembly, and gave clear answers to questions on events which he had witnessed one hundred and ten years before.

Similar lengths of personal remembrance are related of old Parr, Lady Desmond, and others, whose ages exceeded one hundred and forty years. The daughter-in-law of the French king, Charles IX. (widow of his natural son, the Duke of Angoulême), survived that monarch by a hundred and thirty-nine years (1574-1713),--a rare, if not an unexampled fact. The famous Cardan, in his singular work, _De Vita Propriâ_, states that his grandfather's birth anteceded his own by a hundred and fifty years (1351-1501). Franklin relates that his grandfather was born in the sixteenth century, and reign of Elizabeth, as Sir Stephen Fox, the grandfather of our contemporary statesman, Charles, was born shortly after the death of James I., in 1627. A very near connexion of my own, though much younger, is the grandson of a gentleman whose birth retrocedes to Charles II., in 1672. Niebuhr grounds one of his objections to the truth of the early Roman history on the very great improbability of the long period of two hundred and forty-five years assigned to the collective reigns of the seven kings. It does, indeed, exceed the average of enthroned life; but the seven monarchs of Spain, from Ferdinand (the Catholic) to the French Bourbon, Philip V., inclusively, embraced a period of two hundred and sixty-seven years in their successive rule (1469, when Ferdinand obtained the crown of Arragon, and 1746, the date of Philip's death). The eminent German historian offers, however, much stronger arguments in disbelief of the Roman annals; but he had many predecessors in his views, though himself, unquestionably, the most powerful writer on the subject.

J. R. (An Octogenarian.)

P.S.--In Vol. iv., p. 73., Madame du Châtelet's epitaph on Voltaire contains an error, where _canis_ twice appears, but should be _carus_. The lady's object was certainly complimentary, not sarcastic. My crampt writing was of course the cause of the mistake, though, in the _opinion of many_, the substituted word would not appear inapplicable to Voltaire. A subjoined article of the same page, "Children at a Birth," reminds me of something analogous in Mercier's _Tableau de Paris_, where reference is made to the _Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences_ for the fact. The wife of a baker, it is there stated, in the short space of seven years, produced one-and-twenty children, or three at each annual birth; and, to prove that the prolific faculty was exclusively his, he made a maid servant similarly the mother of three children at a birth. The major portion, it appears, of this numerous progeny long survived. Bayle, in his article of Tiraqueau, a French advocate of the sixteenth century, quotes an epigram, which would make him the father of forty-five children, and, it is added, by one wife. If so, several must at least have been twins:

"Fæcundus facundus aquæ Tiraquellus amator,
Terquindecim librorum et liberum parens;
Qui nisi restinxisset aquis abstemius ignes,
Implesset orbem prole animi atque corporis."

The accomplished authoress of _A Residence on the Shores of the Baltic_ (1841, 2 volumes) was, it is well known, one of _four_ congenital children in Norwich, where her father was an eminent physician.

J. R.

Cork, August, 1851.

Minor Notes.

_Nelson's Coat_ (Vol. iii., p. 517.).--The recognition of the coat Nelson wore at Trafalgar depends on its fulfilling a detail in the following fact. The present Captain Sir George Westphal was a midshipman on board the Victory, and was wounded on the back of the head: he was taken into the cockpit, and placed by the side of Nelson. When Westphal's wound was dressed, nothing else being immediately available, Nelson's coat was rolled up and used as a support to Westphal's head. Blood flowed from the wound, and, coagulating, stuck the bullion of one of the epaulettes to the bandage; it was deemed better to cut off some of the bullion curls to liberate the coat: so that the coat Nelson wore on that day will be found minus of bullion in one of the epaulettes.

ÆGROTUS.

_Strange Reasons for keeping a Public-house._--A clergyman in the south-west of England, calling lately on one of his parishioners, who kept a public-house, remarked to her how sorry he was, when passing along the road, to hear such noises proceeding from her house. "I wonder," said he, "that any woman can keep a public-house, especially one where there is so much drunkenness and depravity as in yours." "Oh, Sir," she replied, "that is the very reason why I like to keep such a house, because I see every day so much of the _worst part of human nature_."

T. W.

_Superstitions with regard to Glastonbury Thorn._--It is handed down, that when Joseph of Arimathea, during his mission to England, arrived at Weary-all-hill, near Glastonbury, he struck his travelling staff into the earth, which immediately took root, and ever after put forth its leaves and blossoms on Christmas Day, being converted into a miraculous thorn.

This tree, which had two trunks, was preserved until the time of Queen Elizabeth; when one of the trunks was destroyed by a Puritan, and the other met with the same fate during the Great Rebellion.

Throughout the reign of Henry VIII., its blossoms were esteemed such great curiosities, and sovereign specifics, as to become an object of gain to the merchants of Bristol; who not only disposed of them to the inhabitants of their own city, but _exported_ these blossoms to different parts of Europe. There were, in addition to these, relics for rain, for avoiding the evil eye, for rooting out charlock, and all weeds in corn, with similar specifics, which were considered, at this time, _the best of all property_!

T. W.

_The miraculous Walnut-tree at Glastonbury._--This far-famed tree was at the north of St. Joseph's chapel, in the abbey churchyard. It was supposed to have been brought from Palestine by some of the pilgrims, and was visited in former days, and regarded as sacred by _all ranks_ of people; and, even so late as the time of King James, that monarch, as well as his ministers and nobility, paid large sums for sprigs of it, which were preserved as holy relics.

T. W.

_The Three Estates of the Realm._--Some, even educated persons of this day, if asked which are the three estates of the realm, will reply, the Queen, Lords, and Commons. That the three estates do not include the Queen, and are therefore the Lords, the Clergy in Convocation, and the Commons, is obvious from the title of the "Form of Prayer with Thanksgiving to be used yearly upon the 5th day of November, for the happy Deliverance of _King James I._ and the Three Estates of England from the most Traitorous," &c.; and also from the following passage of the Communion Collect for Gunpowder Treason:--

"Eternal God, and our most mighty Protector, we Thy unworthy
servants do humbly present ourselves before Thy Majesty,
acknowledging Thy power, wisdom, and goodness, in preserving _the
king_, AND _the three estates_ of the realm of England assembled
in Parliament, from the destruction this day intended against
them."

W. FRAER.

Queries.

BENSLEYS OF NORWICH.

As I am much interested in the above family, which I know to have existed at Norwich, or the vicinity, for a century or more, and have reason to think was one of some consequence, will you, through the medium of your useful columns, allow me to ask some of your intelligent correspondents who reside in that neighbourhood the following Queries?

1. Is anything known of the family of the late Sir William Bensley farther back than his father, Thomas Bensley? Sir William was born in the county of Norfolk, and at an early age entered the navy; transferred himself to the Honourable East India Company's service, made a large fortune, was elected a Director of the Company 1771, created a baronet 1801, and died without issue 1809.

2. Was Mr. Richard Bensley, an actor of some celebrity, who made his "first appearance" in 1765 (he had previously been an officer in the Marines, and, as I am informed, held the appointment of barrack-master at Knightsbridge till his death in 1817), any connexion of the above, or at all connected with Norwich?

3. Cowper, in one of his letters [to Joseph Hill, Esq., dated Huntingdon, July 3, 1765], says:

"The tragedies of Lloyd and Bensley are both very deep. If they
are of no use to the surviving part of society, it is their own
fault," &c.

Any information as to who this Bensley was, will be very acceptable; or anything concerning the tragedies mentioned.

4. Any intelligence respecting one "Isaac Bensley" of Norwich, weaver; who was alive in 1723, as his son was in that year baptized at the Octagon Chapel in that city.

If any of your contributors, in their archæological researches among tombstones and parish registers, should have met with the name of Bensley, by addressing a "note" to you thereon they will confer a great obligation on your constant reader and occasional contributor.

TEE BEE.

Minor Queries.

68. _Heraldic Figures at Tonbridge Castle._--In the court of the castle of this place, there stands a colossal figure of what I take to be an heraldic panther gorged with a ducal crown, supporting a shield of the royal arms of France and England quarterly, as borne before the accession of James I.

The corresponding supporter is gone, but the base and one claw remain, showing it to have been a beast of prey, and with it is a broken shield, thereon, "party per pale three lions rampant;" the arms, and probably the supporter of the Herberts, earls of Pembroke. The two figures have evidently capped the piers of a gateway.

Can any of your readers account for the presence of these figures here, where the Herberts are not recorded to have possessed any property?

ERMINES.

Tonbridge, July 29. 1851.

69. _English Translation of Nonnus._--I shall be obliged if any of your correspondents will inform me if any translation of the poet Nonnus, which contains, perhaps, most that is known about Bacchus, has ever been made into English; if so, by whom, and when?

ÆGROTUS.

70. _Of Prayer in one Tongue._--Bishop Jewel, in his celebrated sermon preached at Paul's Cross, quotes the following argument as used by Gerson, sometime Chancellor of Paris:

"There is but one only God; ergo, all nations throughout the world
must pray to Him in one tongue."

The editor of the Parker Society's edition of Jewel cannot discover the argument in the works of Gerson; but if any of your readers can point out where it may be found, I shall be much obliged.

N. E. R. (a Subscriber).

71. _Inscription in Ely Cathedral._--M. D. (Great Yarmouth) is anxious to have the meaning of the following inscription explained. It is on a tombstone in Ely Cathedral.

Human
Redemption
590 [x] 590 [x] 590
Born [o] Sara [o] Watts

Died
600 [x] 600 [x] 600
30 [x] 00 [x] 33

Aged
Y 30 [x] 00 [x] 33
M 3 [x] d 31 - 3
h 3 [x] 3 [x] 3 [x] 12

Nations make fun of his
Commands.

--------

S. M. E.
Judgements begun on Earth.

In memory of
JAMES FOUNTAIN.
Died August 21, 1767.
Aged 60 years.

72. _Cervantes--what was the Date of his Death?_--In the Life prefixed to a corrected edition of Jarvis's translation, published by Miller, 1801, it is stated to be April 23, 1616; and it is added:

"It is a singular coincidence of circumstances, that the same day
should deprive the world of two men of such transcendent abilities
as Cervantes and Shakspeare, the latter of whom died in England on
the very day that put an end to the life of the former in Spain."

Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, in his Life of his uncle, the poet, remarks on his decease on the anniversary of the death of Shakspeare, but makes no allusion to the double anniversary; and in the Life of Cervantes prefixed to Smollet's translation of _Don Quixote_, the day of Cervantes' death is somewhat differently stated.

GEO. E. FRERE.

73. _"Agla," Meaning of._--I have in my possession a silver ring, found some time since at a place called "Grungibane" in this neighbourhood. The hoop is flat both inside and out, about a quarter of an inch broad. On the outside, occupying about half the length, is the following inscription: "+ AGLA."

I should feel great obliged by some of your learned correspondents decyphering the above.

JOHN MARTIN.

Downpatrick.

74. _Murderers buried in Cross Roads._--Though the lines of Hood's,

"So they buried him where the cross roads met
With a stake in his inside."

occur in one of his comic poems, I have often heard it gravely stated that it was formerly the custom to bury murderers with a stake driven through the body, where cross roads meet. Was this ever a _custom_, and when was "formerly?" Are there many such tragic spots in England and can I find them enumerated anywhere?

P. M. M.

75. _Wyle Cop._--This is the name of a street, or rather bank in Shrewsbury, leading from the English Bridge to High Street. It has always struck me as being a curious name; and I should feel obliged to any of your readers who could inform me what is the origin of the place being so called, or if there is any meaning in the words beyond being the name of a place.

SALOPIAN.

76. _The Devil's Knell._--In the _Collectanea Topographica_, vol. i. p. 167., is the following note:

"At Dewsbury, Yorkshire, there is a bell called 'Black Tom of
Sothill:' the tradition is, that it is as expiatory gift for a
murder. One of the bells, perhaps this one, is tolled on
Christmas-eve as at a funeral, or in the manner of a passing-bell:
and any one asking whose bell it was, would be told that it was
the _devil's knell_. The moral of it is, that the devil died when
Christ was born. The custom was discontinued for many years, but
was revived by the vicar in 1828."

Is the gift of a bell a common expiatory gift for crime? And does the custom of tolling the _devil's knell_ on Christmas eve exist in any other place at the present time?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

77. _Queries on Poems of Richard Rolle_ (Vol. iv., p. 49.).--I should be glad to ask a question or two of your Cambridge correspondent, touching his very interesting contribution from the MS. remains of Richard Rolle of Hampole.

What language is meant by the _deuenisch_?

What is a _guystroun_?

How does the word _chaunsemlees_ come to mean shoes?

An expression very strange to English verse occurs in the line,

"Hir cher was ay _semand_ sori."

I can think of nothing to throw light upon this intensive adverb, except the Danish _saamænd_, which is generally used in that language (or rather _was_ used, i.e. when Holberg wrote his comedies) as an affirmatory oath. Native authorities explain it to mean "_so_ it is, by the holy _men_," or in other terms, "by the saints I swear."

I have no doubt that the same kindness which led your correspondent to communicate those delightful extracts, will also make him willing to assist the understanding of them.

J. E.

Oxford.

78. _Did Bishop Gibson write a Life of Cromwell?_--Mr. Carlyle, in treating on the biographies of Oliver Cromwell, says that the _Short Critical Review of the Life of Oliver Cromwell_, by a gentleman of the Middle Temple, was written by a certain "Mr. Banks, a kind of a lawyer and playwright," and that the anonymous _Life of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, impartially collected, &c._, London, 1724, which Noble ascribes to Bishop Gibson, was by "one Kember, a dissenting minister of London."

On the other hand, Mr. Russell, in his _Life of Oliver Cromwell_, 2 vols. 12mo. 1829, says:

"There is an anonymous work deserving of some notice, entitled _A
Short Critical Review of the Political Life of Oliver Cromwell_.
The title professes that it was written by a gentleman of the
Middle Temple, but there is reason to believe that it proceeded
from the pen of the learned Bishop Gibson."

It would seem, therefore, by these statements, that two different lives of the Great Protector have been ascribed to Gibson. Query, Did Gibson ever write a life of Cromwell; and if so, which is it?

It is well worth knowing which Gibson did write, if he wrote one at all, for he was connected with the Cromwell family, and, what is of more consequence, a learned, liberal man, not given to lying, so that his book probably contains more truth than any of the other Cromwell biographies of that time.

DRYASDUST.

79. _English Translation of Alcon._--Is there any translation of _Alcon_ by Baldisare Castiglione? The _Lycidas_ of Milton is a splendid paraphrase of it. The parallel passages are to be found in (I think) No. 47. of the _Classical Journal_, published formerly by Valpy. The prototypes of L'Allegro and Il Penseroso are at the beginning of Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_. Thus three of Milton's early poems cannot be termed wholly original.

ÆGROTUS.

Replies.

JOHN BODLEY.

(Vol. iv., p. 59.)

John Bodley is a name that ought not to be passed over without due reverence. He not only fostered the translation of the Genevan Bible, but was specially interested in its circulation throughout England. Neither Fox, Burnet, or Strype, Mr. Todd, or Mr. Whittaker give us any particular information respecting him. Lewis glances at him as _one_ John Bodley; and Mr. Townley, in his valuable _Biblical Literature_, after some notice of Whittingham, Gilby, Sampson, &c., closes by saying, "Of John Bodleigh no account has been obtained."

This good and pious man was the father of the celebrated Sir Thomas Bodley. He was born at Exeter, and according to the statement of his son (_Autobiography_, 4to., Oxf. 1647),--

"In the time of Queen Mary, after being cruelly threatened and
narrowly observed by those that maliced his religion, for the
safety of himself and my mother (formerly Miss Joan Hone, an
heiress in the hundred of Ottery St. Mary), who was wholly
affected as my father, knew no way so secure as to fly into
Germany; where, after a while, he found means to call over my
mother, with all his children and family, when he settled for a
while at Wesel, in Cleveland, and from thence we removed to the
town of Frankfort. Howbeit, we made no long tarriance in either of
these towns, for that my father had resolved to fix his abode in
the city of Geneva, where, as far as I remember, the English
Church consisted of some hundred members."

John Bodley returned to England in 1559, and on the 8th of January, 1560-61, a patent was granted to him by Queen Elizabeth, "to imprint, or cause to be imprinted, the English Bible, with annotations." This privilege was to last for the space of seven years. In 1565 Bodley was preparing for a new impression; and by March the next year, a careful review and correction being finished, this zealous reformer wished to _renew_ his patent beyond the seven years first granted. It does not appear, however, that his application to the authorities had the desired effect; for it will be remembered that Archbishop Parker's Bible was now in the field, and the Queen's Secretary, Sir William Cecil, was compelled to act with caution. A curious letter, addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to Sir William Cecil, concerning the extension of Bodley's privilege, is printed from the Lansdown MS. No. 8. (Art. 82.), in _Letters of Eminent Literary Men_, edited by Sir Henry Ellis for the Camden Society.

For a full history of the Geneva Bible, I beg to refer S. S. S. to the second volume of Anderson's _Annals of the English Bible:_ Lond. 2 vols. 8vo. 1845.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

In the notice of Sir Thomas Bodley contained in Prince's _Worthies of Devon_, S. S. S. will find some particulars relating to his father, John Bodley. Prince's account of Sir Thomas is "from a MS. on probable grounds supposed to be his own handwriting, now in the custody of a neighbour gentleman," (Walter Bogan of Gatcombe, near Totnes.) From this it appears that John Bodley was long resident at Geneva--

"Where [says Sir Thomas], as far as I remember, the English church
consisted of some hundred persons. I was at that time of twelve
years of age, but through my father's cost and care sufficiently
instructed to become an auditor of Chevalerius in Hebrew, of
Beraldus in Greek, of Calvin and Beza in divinity, and of some
other professors in the university, which was then newly erected:
besides my domestical teachers in the house of Philibertus
Saracenus, a famous physician in that city, with whom I was
boarded, where Robertus Constantinus, that made the Greek Lexicon,
read Homer unto me."

There is, however, no mention of John Bodley's having been one of the translators of the Bible.

R. J. KING.

WITHER'S "HALLELUJAH."

(Vol. iii., p. 330.)

A correspondent, S. S. S., inquires concerning one of the numberless, and now almost fameless, works of George Wither, a poet of the seventeenth century, famous in his generation, but unworthily disparaged in that which followed him; the names of Quarles and Wither being proverbially classed with those of Bavius and Mævius in the Augustan age. The _Hallelujah_ of the latter has become precious from its rarity. A copy of this volume (of nearly 500 pages) was lent to me several years ago, by a collector of such treasures. On the blank at the back of the cover, there was written a memorandum that it had been bought at Heber's sale by Thorpe the bookseller for sixteen guineas; my friend, I had reason to believe, paid a much higher price for it, when it fell into his hands. The contents consist of several hundreds of _hymns_ for all sorts and conditions of men, on all the ordinary, and on many of the extraordinary circumstances of human life. Of course they are very heterogeneous, yet no small number are beyond the average of such compositions in point of devotional and poetical excellence.

The author himself, with the consciousness of Horace, in his

"Exegi monumentum ære perennius,"

crowns his labours at the 487th page with the following "Io triumphe" lines:--

"Although my Muse flies yet far short of those,
Who perfect Hallelujahs can compose,
Here to affirm I am not now afraid,
What once in part a heathen prophet said,
With slighter warrant, when to end was brought
What he for meaner purposes had wrought;
_The work is finished_, which nor human power,
Nor flames, nor times, nor envy shall devour,
But with devotion to God's praise be sung
As long as Britain speaks her English tongue,
Or shall that Christian saving faith possess,
Which will preserve these Isles in happiness;
And, if conjecture fail not, some, that speak
In other languages, shall notice take
Of what my humble musings have composed,
And, by these helps, be often more disposed
To celebrate His praises in their songs,
To whom all honour and all praise belongs."

How has this fond anticipation been fulfilled? There are not known (says my authority) to be more than _three_ or _four_ copies in existence of this indestructible work; and the price in gold which a solitary specimen can command, is no evidence of anything but its market value. Had its poetic worth been proportionate, its currency might have been as common as that of Milton's masterpiece, and its trade price as low as Paternoster Row could afford a cheap edition of the _Pilgrim's Progress_.

J. M. G.

Hallamshire.

P.S.--Lowndes says:

"Few books of a cotemporary date can more readily be procured than
Wither's first _Remembrancer_ in 1628; few, it is believed, can be
more difficult of attainment than his second _Remembrancer_,
licensed in 1640, of which latter Dalrymple observes, 'there are
some things interspersed in it, nowhere, perhaps, to be
surpassed.'"--_Bibliographer's Manual_, p. 1971.

FIRST PANORAMA.

(Vol. iv., p. 54.)

I did not speak of my own recollection of Girtin's panorama; my memory cannot reach so far back. It was my father who does perfectly remember _Girtin's_ semicircular panorama. I think the mistake must be with H. T. E. Some years back a large collection of Girtin's drawings and sketches were sold at Pimlico; my father went to see them, and was delighted to find among them some of the original sketches for this panorama, which he immediately recognised and bought. He afterwards showed them to Girtin's son, now living in practice as a surgeon at Islington (I believe), who identified them as his father's work, and with whom I went to see the painting, when not many years back it was found in a carpenter's loft. Girtin certainly was a painter principally in water colour, and one who, with the present J. M. W. Turner, contributed much to the advancement of that branch of art; but I do not see how that is a reason why he did not paint a panorama. I should think it not unlikely that two semicircular panoramas of the same subject were painted; and, therefore, with all deference, believe that the mistake is with H. T. E. Girtin's son, if applied to, could, and I am sure would, give any information he possessed readily.

E. N. W.

We are not yet quite right about the first panorama, but perhaps the following will close the discussion.

I have lately been sitting with Mr. Barker (ætat 78), and he tells me that, when quite a boy, he sketched for his father the view of Edinburgh from the observatory on the Calton Hill: in the foreground was Holyrood House; that _that_ was a half circle, and was exhibited in Edinburgh.

So much was thought of the discovery of its being _possible_ to take a view beyond the old rule of sixty degrees, that they went to London, and then he took the view from the top of the Albion Mills, as was stated in Vol. iv., p. 54.

That was three quarters of a circle, and was exhibited in Castle Street, Leicester Square. Afterwards the whole circle was attempted. The idea of painting a view more than sixty degrees, was suggested by his mother. His father did not work at them, he being a portrait painter; but _he_ did, young as he was. Mr. Robert Barker and his wife were both Irish; but Henry Aston the son was born in Glasgow.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

JOHN A KENT.

(Vol. iv., p. 83.)

As I have not seen the _Athenæum_, I send the following notes, in uncertainty whether or not they may prove acceptable to MR. COLLIER.

_Sion y Cent_, i.e. John a Kent, or John of Kentchurch, is very generally believed in Wales to have been Owen Glendowr; though some few--unable to account for the mysterious disappearance of the hero--are still firmly convinced that he sleeps, like Montezuma and various other mighty men, in some deep cavern, surrounded by his warriors, until the wrongs of his country shall call him forth once more to lead them on to battle.

The following extracts are from notes appended [by the editors] to some poems of John a Kent which are published amongst the "Iolo MSS." by the "Welsh MSS. Society."

"... John of Kent, as he is called, is said to have been a priest
at Kentchurch in Herefordshire, on the confines of Wales, about
the beginning of the fifteenth century. He still enjoys a high
degree of popularity, in the legendary stories of the
principality, as a powerful magician. There is in the possession
of Mr. Scudamore, of Kentchurch, an ancient painting of a monk,
supposed to be a portrait of John of Kent; and as the family of
Scudamore is descended from a daughter of Owen Glendowr, at whose
house that chieftain is believed to have passed in concealment a
portion of the latter part of his life, it has been supposed that
John of Kentchurch was no other than Owen Glendowr himself," &c.
&c.--Page 676., note to the poem on _The Names of God_.

"... The author was a priest of Kentchurch in Herefordshire, on
the confines of Monmouthshire and Breconshire, and is said to have
lived in the time of Wickliffe, and to have been of his party. As
the parish of Kentchurch is adjacent to that of Oldcastle, the
residence of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, it is by no means
impossible that John of Kentchurch may also have favoured the same
opinions; and may in some measure sanction the idea."

"... The poet then proceeds to speak of the indignation of the
well-robed bishops, the monks, friars and priests; and in the
course of the composition he makes some strong animadversions on
the luxurious living of the churchmen, stating that formerly the
friars were preachers, who possessed no wealth, and went about on
foot with nothing but a staff; but that they now possessed horses,
and frequented banquets," &c. &c.--Page 687., notes to _A Poem to
another's Book_, by John of Kentchurch; from the collection of
Thomas ap Jevan of Tre'r Bryn, made about 1670.

The following words occur in this poem:--

"... onid côf cwymp
Olcastr, ti a gair ailcwymp."

"---- rememberest thou not the fall
Of Oldcastle?--Thou shall have a repetition of the fall."

In addition to the two poems here mentioned, the collection contains one "_Composed by John of Kent on his death-bed_;" in which are some lines of considerable beauty: and also one on _The Age and Duration of Things_.

The parish church of Kentchurch is dedicated to St. Mary. I hope to be able to send you some further information on the subject, but I well know that quotations from memory are _nearly_ valueless. Meanwhile, the following note on the mysterious disappearance to which I have already alluded may be not uninteresting: I give it as translated by the editors of the Iolo MSS.

"In 1415, Owen disappeared, so that neither sight nor tidings of
him could be obtained in the country. It was rumoured that he
escaped in the guise of a reaper; bearing[1] ... according to the
testimony of the last who saw and knew him; after which little or
no information transpired respecting him, nor of the place or
manner of his concealment. The prevalent opinion was, that he died
in a wood in Glamorgan; but occult chroniclers assert that he and
his men still live, and are asleep on their arms, in a cave called
Govog y ddinas, in the Vale of Gwent, where they will continue,
until England becomes self-debased; but that then they will sally
forth, and reconquer their country, privileges, and crown for the
Welsh, who shall be dispossessed of them no more until the day of
judgment, when the world shall be consumed with fire, and so
reconstructed, that neither oppression nor devastation shall take
place any more: and blessed will be he who shall see the
time."--Page 454. _Historical Notices extracted from the Papers of
the Rev. Evan Evans, now in the Possession of Paul Panton, Esq.,
of Anglesea._

[Footnote 1: The manuscript is defective here. "A sickle" was
probably the word.]

SELEUCUS.

THE BRITISH SIDANEN.

(Vol. iv., p. 83.)

MR. J. P. COLLIER will find all the information that Cambrian antiquaries can give him respecting Sidanen in Powell's _Cambria_, Matthew Paris, Wynne's _Caradoc_, and Warrington's _History of Wales_, under the year 1241. The history is given at most length in Warrington; where the share which Sidanen had in an interesting episode in Cambrian history is fully developed. There were two Welsh princes named Llywelyn, who stood to each other in the following relation:

LLYWELYN AB JORWERTH
(died in 1240).
|
+------+-------+-----------+
| | |
GRIFFITH, DAVID. GLADYS, a
married to daughter.
_Senena_,
daughter of a
Cambrian lord
named Caradoc
ab Thomas.
|
+--------------------------+--------+
| | |
LLYWELYN AB GRIFFITH, OWEN. DAVID.
last Prince of Wales.

The Prince of Wales mentioned by Munday is the first, Llywelyn ab Jorwerth, whose descent, as his father was not allowed to reign on account of personal deformity, we had better indicate:

OWEN, king of North Wales.
|
(Eldest son) JORWERTH, the _Broken-nosed_.
|
LLYWELYN AB JORWERTH.

Llywelyn, as has been shown, had two sons, Griffith and David, the first and eldest of whom, being a turbulent prince, was set aside by his father at a solemn assembly of Cambrian lords, in 1238, and David was elected to succeed his father. In 1240, David became king of North Wales, and one of his first acts was to apprehend his brother and his son Owen, and put them in prison. This was done with the connivance of a Bishop of Bangor: but that worthy, fearing that the scandal would spread abroad, intrigued with _Senena_, the _daughter-in-law_, and not the daughter of Prince Llywelyn, and wife of his son Griffith, for his release. Overtures were made to Henry III.; and certain lords having joined the confederacy, stipulations were entered into, and Henry marched against King David. David, who had married the king's daughter, now began to counterplot, in which he was quite successful; for Henry, who had come to release Griffith, by _special contract_ with his brother, took him, with his wife Senena, and his son Owen, with him to London, and imprisoned them in the Tower, in attempting to escape from whence, two years afterwards, Griffith lost his life. Such is a brief outline of all that is known of Senena, who is undoubtedly the Sidanen of Munday, and whose name is variously written _Sina_, _Sanan_, _Sanant_, and in the Latin chronicle _Senena_. The negotiations here alluded to, with the names of all the parties engaged in them, will be found in the authorities herein named; all of which being in English, MR. COLLIER can easily consult.

John a Cumber is probably John y Kymro, or John the Cambrian; but I know nothing of him.

Respecting John of Kent there is but little else known than may be found in Coxe's _Monmouthshire_, and Owen's _Cambrian Biography_, sub "Sion Cent." There is, however, a tradition in this neighbourhood that he was born at Eglwys Ilan, in the county of Glamorgan; and the road is shown by which he went to Kentchurch, in Herefordshire. It was at Eglwys Ilan that he is reported to have pounded the crows by closing the park gates. As this story has not appeared in English print, I will endeavour to furnish you again with a more circumstantial statement. Sion Kent, who lived about 1450, appears to have derived his name from Kent Chester, or Kent Church. He was a monk, holding Lollard opinions; and a bard of considerable talent and celebrity. As a matter of course, he was on good terms with his Satanic majesty; for he was a mighty reputation as a conjuror. MR. COLLIER may find a portion of one of his poems, translated in the Iolo MSS., page 687. Should this, or any other authority herein named, not be accessible to MR. COLLIER, it would afford me great pleasure to send him transcripts.

There is a very gross anachronism in making Sion, _lege_ Shôn Kent, to be the contemporary of Senena.

T. STEPHENS.

Merthyr Tydfil, Aug. 7. 1851.

PETTY CURY.

(Vol. iv., p. 24.)

I believe that Petty Cury signifies the Little Cookery. See a note in my _Annals of Cambridge_, vol. i. p. 273.