Chapter D: Rock

Buckland, Faringdon.

Replies.

POPE AND FLATMAN.

(Vol. iv., p. 132.)

In the edition of Pope's _Works_ published by Knapton, Lintot, and others, 1753, 9 vols., I find the following note to the Ode entitled "The Dying Christian to his Soul:"--

"This Ode was written in imitation of the famous Sonnet of Hadrian
to his departing Soul, but as much superior to his original in
sense and sublimity as the Christian religion is to the pagan."

This is confirmed by the correspondence of Pope with Steele, vol. vii. pp. 185, 188, 189, 190. Letters 4, 7, 8, and 9.

That Pope also derived some hints at least from Flatman's Ode is, I think, certain, from the following extract from a bookseller's catalogue of a few years' date:

"Flatman, Thos., Poems and Songs. Portrait slightly damaged. 8vo.,
new, cf. gt. back, 8s. With autograph of Alex. Pope.

"MS. Note at p. 55.--'This next piece, _A Thought on Death_, is
remarkable as being the verses from which Pope borrowed some of
the thoughts in his Ode of The Dying Christian to his Soul.'"

F. B. RELTON.

The question whether Flatman borrowed from Pope or Pope from Flatman (the former seems far more probable) may perhaps be decided by the date of Flatman's composition, if that can be ascertained. Pope's ode was composed in November, 1712, as recorded in the interesting series of letters in the correspondence between Pope and Steele (_Letters_ iv. to ix.) and in the 532nd number of the _Spectator_. From Steele's letter it appears that the stanzas were composed for music: is any setting of them known, anterior to that by Harwood, which has obtained such universal popularity, in spite of its many undeniable errors in harmony? Is anything known of this composer? he certainly was not deficient either in invention or taste, and must have written other pieces worthy to be remembered.

E. V.

It seems probable that the coincidence between the passages of Thomas Flatman and Pope, indicated at p. 132., arises from both imitating the _alliteration_ of the original:

"_Animula, vagula, blandula,_
Hospes, comesque corporis,
Quæ nunc abibis in loca,
_Pullidula, rigida, undula_?
Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos."

Casaubon (_Hist. Ang. Script._, t. i. p. 210. ed. Lug. Bat.) has totally lost sight of this in his Greek translation.

THEODORE BUCKLEY.

TEST OF STRENGTH OF A BOW.

(Vol. iv., p. 56.)

Although unable to answer all the Queries of TOXOPHILUS, the subjoined information may possibly advantage him. His Queries of course have reference to the long bow, and not to the arbalest, or cross-bow. The length of this bow appears to have varied according to the height and strength of the bowman; for in the 12th year of the reign of Edward IV. an act was passed ordaining that every Englishman should be possessed of a bow of his own height. Bishop Latimer also, in one of his sermons, preached before Edward VI., and published in 1549, wherein he enforces the practice of archery, has the following passage:

"In my time my father taught me how to draw, how to lay my body in
my bow, and not to draw with strength of arms, as other nations
do, but with strength of body. I had my bows brought me according
to my age and strength: as I increased in them, so my bows were
made bigger and bigger."

The length of the full-sized bow appears to have been about six feet: the arrow, three.

The distance to which an arrow could be shot from the long bow of course depended, in a great measure, upon the quality and toughness of the wood, as well as upon the skill and strength of the archer; but I believe it will be found that the tougher and more unyielding the bow, the greater the strength required in bending it, and consequently the greater the force imparted to the arrow. The general distance to which an arrow could be shot from the long bow seems to have been from eleven to twelve score yards; although there are instances on record of individuals shooting from 400 to 500 yards.

The best bows used by our ancestors were made of yew, as it appears from a statute made in the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII., by which it was enacted--

"That none under the age of seventeen should shoot with a bow of
yew, except his parents were worth 10_l._ per annum in lands, or
40 marks in goods: and for every bow made of yew, the bowyer not
inhabiting London or the suburbs should make four, and the
inhabitant there two, bows of other wood."

These restrictions were doubtless owing to the great scarcity of yew. The other woods most in request were elm, witch-hazel, and ash. By the statute 8th of Elizabeth, cap. 3., it was ordained that every bowyer residing in London should have always ready fifty bows of either of the before-mentioned woods. By this statute also the prices at which the bows were to be sold were regulated.

I believe the ancient bows were made of one piece; whether there is any advantage to be derived in having a bow of more than two pieces, I leave for some one better qualified than myself to determine.

As regards arrows, Ascham, in his _Toxophilus_, has enumerated fifteen sorts of wood of which arrows were made in his time, viz. brasell, turkie-wood, fusticke, sugercheste, hard-beam, byrche, ash, oak, service-tree, alder, blackthorn, elder, beach, aspe, and sallow; of these aspe and ash were accounted the best; the one for target-shooting, the other for war. The author of _The Field Book_ says:

"That an arrow weighing from twenty to four-and-twenty
pennyweights, made of yew, was considered by archers the best that
could be used."

DAVID STEVENS.

Godalming.

The method of trying and proving a bow is stated by Ascham to be thus:

"By shooting it in the fields, and _sinking_ it with _dead heavy_
shafts; looking where it _comes_ most, and providing for that
place betimes, lest it pinch and so fret. When the bow has thus
been shot in, and appears to contain good shooting wood, it must
be taken to a skilful workman, to be cut shorter, scraped, and
dressed fitter, and made to come circularly round; and it should
be whipped at the ends, lest it snap in sunder or fret sooner than
the archer is aware of."

It is calculated that an arrow may be shot 110 yards for every 20 lbs. weight of the bow.

As regards the length of the old English bow, the statute 5th of Edward IV. cap. 4., runs thus:

"That every Englishman, and Irishmen that dwell with Englishmen
and speak English, that be between sixteen and sixty in age, shall
have an English bow of his own length."

Ascham recommended for men of average strength arrows made of birch, hornbeam, oak, and ash.

The foregoing is extracted from a work entitled _The English Bowman_, by T. Roberts, 1801.

PHILOSOPHUS.

BASKERVILLE THE PRINTER.

(Vol. iv., pp. 40. 123.)

Hansard's _Typographia_, i. 8vo. 1825, Preface, p. xii--xiii.:

"Of the more modern portraits something remains to be said, and
particularly of that of Baskerville. It has been hitherto supposed
that no likeness is extant of this first promoter of fine
printing, and author of various improvements in the Typographic
Art, as well as in the arts connected with it. At the time when I
was collecting information for that part of my work in which Mr.
Baskerville is particularly mentioned (p. 310. _et seq._), I
thought it a good opportunity to make inquiry at Birmingham
whether any portrait or likeness of him remained; for a long time
the inquiry was constantly answered in the negative, but at last
it occurred to a friend to make a search among the family of the
late Mrs. Baskerville, and he was successful. Mr. Baskerville
married the widow of a Mr. Eaves; her maiden name was Ruston; she
had two children by her former husband, a son and a daughter: the
latter married her first cousin, Mr. Josiah Ruston, formerly a
respectable druggist at Birmingham, and she survived her husband.
At the sale of some effects after her decease, portraits of her
mother and her father-in-law, Mr. Baskerville, were purchased by
Mr. Knott of Birmingham. Some of Mr. Ruston's family and friends
who are still living, consider this likeness of Mr. Baskerville as
a most excellent and faithful resemblance. It was taken by one
Miller, an artist of considerable eminence in the latter part of
Baskerville's time. The inquiries of my friend Mr. Grafton, of
Park Grove, near Birmingham, at once brought this painting into
notice: and at his solicitation Mr. Knott kindly permitted Mr.
Raven of Birmingham, an artist of much celebrity, to copy it for
my use and the embellishment of this work; to which, I think, the
united talents of Mr. Craig and Mr. Lee have done ample justice."

The portrait faces p. 310. of Mr. Hansard's book, and there may be found an account, though somewhat different, of the exhumation alluded to by MR. ST. JOHNS (Vol. iv., p. 123.), which took place in May, 1821.

CRANMORE.

In answer to an inquirer I beg respectfully to state that the body of the eminent printer now reposes, as it has for some years, in the vaults of Christ Church in our town.

WILLIAM CORNISH.

New Street, Birmingham.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Mazer Wood and Sin-eaters_ (Vol. iii., pp. 239. 288.).--The following extract from Hone's _Year Book_, p. 858., will add to the explanation furnished by S. S. S., and will also give an instance of the singular practices which prevailed among our ancestors:--

"Among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum are statements in
Aubrey's own handwriting to this purport. In the county of
Hereford, was an old custom at funerals, to hire poor people, who
were to take upon them the sins of the party deceased. One of them
(he was a long, lean, ugly, lamentable, poor rascal), I remember,
lived in a cottage on Rosse highway. The manner was, that when the
corpse was brought out of the house, and laid on the bier, a loaf
of bread was brought out, and delivered to the sin eater, over the
corpse, as also a _mazard bowl_ of maple, full of beer (which he
was to drink up), and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof
he took upon him, _ipso facto_, all the sins of the defunct, and
freed him or her from walking after they were dead."

Perhaps some of your readers may be able to throw some light on this curious practice of _sin-eating_, or on the existence of regular _sin-eaters_.

E. H. B.

Demerary.

[Mr. Ellis, in his edition of Brande's _Popular Antiquities_, vol.
ii. p. 155. 4to. has given a curious passage from the Lansdowne
MSS. concerning a sin-eater who lived in Herefordshire, which has
been quoted in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. xcii. pt. i. p.
222.]

"_A Posie of other Men's Flowers_" (Vol. iv., pp. 58. 125.).--If D. Q. should succeed in finding this saying in Montaigne's Works, I hope he will be kind enough to send an "Eureka!" to "NOTES AND QUERIES," as by referring to pp. 278. 451. of your second volume he will see that I am interested in the question.

I am still inclined to think that the metaphor, _in its present concise form_ at all events, does _not_ belong to Montaigne, though it may owe its origin to some passage in the _Essays_. See, for example, one in book i. chap. 24.; another in book ii. chap. 10., in Hazlitt's second edition, 1845, pp. 54. 186.

But I have not forgotten Montaigne's motto, "Que sçais-je?" The chances are that I am wrong. I should certainly like to see his right to the saying satisfactorily proved by reference to book, chapter, and page.