Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling variations have not been standardized. Characters with macrons have been marked in brackets with an =equal= sign, as [=e] for a letter e with a macron on top. _Underscores_ have been used to mark _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.

VOLUME FIFTH.

JANUARY--JUNE, 1852

LONDON:

GEORGE BELL, 186. FLEET STREET.

1852.

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION

FOR

LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

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

VOL. V.--No. 114. SATURDAY, JANUARY 3. 1852.

Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition 5_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

Our Fifth Volume 1

NOTES:--

Stops, when first introduced, by Sir Henry Ellis 1

Preaching from Texts in Cornwall, by E. Smirke 2

On the Expression "Richly deserved," by D. Jardine 3

The Caxton Coffer, by Bolton Corney, &c. 3

Admonition to the Parliament, by J. Payne Collier 4

Folk Lore:--New Year's Rain; Saxon Spell--Fishermen's
Superstitions 5

The Author of Hudibras at Ludlow Castle, by Peter
Cunningham 5

Dr. Franklin's Tract on Liberty and Necessity, by Jas.
Crossley 6

Early Flemish Illustrations of Early English Literature,
by William J. Thoms 6

Minor Notes:--Family Likenesses--Bloomerism in the
Sixteenth Century--Inscriptions at Much Wenlock and on
Statue of Queen Anne at Windsor 7

QUERIES:--

The Age of Trees--The Great Elm at Hampstead, by
John Bruce 8

Minor Queries:--"Inveni portum;" "For they, 'twas
they"--Matthew Walker--Aleclenegate--Smothering Hydrophobic
Patients--Philip Twisden, Bishop of Raphoe--"Sir
Edward Seaward's Narrative," edited by Miss Jane
Porter--Clerical Members of Parliament--Allens of
Rossull--Number of the Children of Israel--Computatio
Eccles. Anglic.--Martinique, &c. 10

MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--Mutabilitie of France--Caldoriana
Societas--Millers of Meath--Kissing under the
Mistletoe--Trinity Chapel, Knightsbridge--"Please the
Pigs"--Meaning of Barnacles--The Game of Curling 12

REPLIES:--

Saint Irene and the Island of Santorin, by Sir J. E.
Tennent 14

The Old Countess of Desmond--Who was she? No. II. 14

Collar of SS., by Edward Foss, &c. 16

Replies to Minor Queries:--Tregonwell Frampton--Longueville
MSS.--Cooper's Miniature of Cromwell--Pope and
Flatman--Voltaire--Tudur Aled--Latin Verse on Franklin 16

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c. 18

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 18

Notices to correspondents 18

Advertisements 19

OUR FIFTH VOLUME.

Although We cannot commence our Fifth Volume, and the First of our
enlarged Series, without some reference to so important an event
in the history of "NOTES AND QUERIES," our address shall be as
"brief as the posey of a ring." We heartily and earnestly express
our thanks to all our friends, whether Contributors or Readers,
for the favour they have shown us, and the encouragement and
support which have rendered the enlargement of our paper
necessary. We entered upon our course with the support of many
distinguished friends, whose varied acquirements stamped an
immediate value on "NOTES AND QUERIES," and gave it a character
which raised it to its present position among the periodicals of
the country. The present number bears witness for us, that whilst
we have retained our old friends, which we acknowledge with pride
and thankfulness, we have added to the number many new ones. We
have striven, and shall ever continue to strive, to unite them
together into one goodly band, feeling assured that by that union
we bring into the pages of "NOTES AND QUERIES" the learning,
kindliness, aptitude, and diversity of talent and subject, which
are necessary to ensure its usefulness, and therefore its success.
To all our Friends and Contributors, both old and new, we offer in
their several degrees the tribute of our grateful thanks, and our
heartiest wishes that we may pass together MANY HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Notes.

STOPS, WHEN FIRST INTRODUCED.

In casually looking into a little work entitled _The Tablet of Memory_, I found an entry which informed me that "stops in literature were introduced in 1520: the colon, 1580; semicolon, 1599."

Upon what authority the dates here quoted may have been supposed to rest, I have no notion.

The comma, beyond question I believe, has been derived from the short oblique line which, both in manuscripts and in early printed books, is continually seen to divide portions of sentences.

The colon is of very old date, derived from the κωλον of the Greeks, the part of a period. In printing, we find it in the Mazarine Bible soon after 1450; and in the block books, believed to be of still earlier date.

Herbert, in his edition of Ames's _Typographical Antiquities_, p. 512., notices the first semicolon he had met with in an edition of Myles Coverdale's New Testament, printed in 1538 by Richard Grafton. It was in the Dedication, and, he says, a solitary instance in the book. The only semicolon he subsequently met with, was in a book printed by Thomas Marshe in 1568, on Chess. Ibid. p. 358.

Herbert says, both seem to have been used accidentally.

Puttenham, in his _Arte of English Poesie_, 4to., 1589, in his chapter of "Cesure," says:--

"The ancient reformers of language invented these names of pauses,
one of lesse leasure than another, and such several intermissions
of sound, to serve (besides easement to the breath) for a treble
distinction of sentences or parts of speech, as they happened to
be more or lesse perfect in sense. The shortest pause, or
intermission, they called _comma_, as who would say a piece of a
speech cut off. The second they called _colon_, not a piece, but
as it were a member, for his larger length, because it occupied
twice an much time as the comma. The third they called _periodus_,
for a complement or full pause, and as a resting place and
perfection of so much former speech as had been uttered, and from
whence they needed not to passe any further, unless it were to
renew more matter to enlarge the tale."

The "three pauses, comma, colon, and periode," with the interrogative point, appear to have been all which were known to Puttenham.

Puttenham's _Arte of Poesie_ has been already mentioned as printed in 1589. In the Countess of Pembroke's _Arcadia_, printed by W. Ponsonby in the very next year, 1590, the semicolon may be seen in the first page.

A book printed at Edinburgh in 1594 has not the semicolon; the use of it had not, apparently, arrived in Scotland.

That an earlier use of the semicolon had been made upon the Continent is probable. It occurs in the _Sermone di Beato Leone Papa_, 4to., Flor. 1485, the last point in the book.

The interrogative point, or note of interrogation, probably derived from the Greek, occurs frequently in Wilson's _Arte of Rhetorique_, 4to., 1553.

Some reader of your "NOTES AND QUERIES," better informed than myself, may possibly throw further light upon the English adoption of stops in literature.

HENRY ELLIS.

PREACHING FROM TEXTS IN CORNWALL.

Your correspondents have already pointed out the very early prevalence of this usage, but the inquiry has brought to my recollection an instance which incidentally affords some curious information respecting the several languages formerly current in the western parts of this island. It was lately published, among numerous other extracts, from the registers of the see of Exeter, in the valuable _Monasticon Dioecesis Exoniensis_ of Dr. Oliver, pp. 11, 12.

In 1336, Grandison, then Bishop of Exeter, made a visitation of his diocese. At the western extremity of it, is situate the deanery or collegiate church of St. Burian, which has always claimed to be exempt from episcopal visitation, or at least from ordinary jurisdiction. It is probable that, on one occasion of this disputed exemption, the parishioners of this remote district at the Land's End had given offence to the Bishop or his functionaries.

In company with the Lords Mortimer, D'Awney, and Bloyhon (probably an ancestor of your correspondent BLOWEN), and a large staff of archdeacons, chancellors, canons, chaplains, and familiars, the Bishop visited the church of St. Burian, and obtained from the parishioners a solemn promise of future obedience to his spiritual authority. The promise was made by the greater parishioners in English and French, and by the rest in Cornish, which the rector of St. Just (a parish which has lately obtained some celebrity by the Gorham controversy) interpreted to his lordship. Having absolved them, he then preached a long sermon on the text, "_Eratis sicut oves errantes conversi ad pastorem episcopum animarum vestrarum_," which the rector of St. Just there interpreted in Cornish.

It is not stated in the record what language was used by the Bishop in his sermon; but if he preached, as one of his successors, Bishop Lacy, is known to have done, in the language of his text, the business of explanation must have been rather troublesome. As he is said to have "successively" preached this sermon there,--"_successivè ibidem publicè prædicavit supra sumpto themate_,"--it is possible that he had to repeat his sermon in more languages than one. It is at all events certain, that _three_ languages at least were employed, and that the Bishop did not understand Cornish, nor the Cornish men the Bishop. The names of the "major parishioners," that is, of the gentlemen of the district, are appended to the document, and are all (except perhaps one) genuine Cornish families, including the Boscawens and Vyvyans of the present day. They gave in their adhesion to the Bishop in English and French, and must therefore have understood one or both of those languages. Of the Bishop's chaplains, only one has a Cornish name; and the interpreter and rector of the adjacent parish of St. Just, Henry Marseley, was also probably not a Cornubian.

I may mention that the penitent parishioners very prudently reserved the king's rights. As the king claimed the deanery of St. Burian as a royal peculiar exempt from ordinary jurisdiction, and eventually made good his claim, it is plain that neither the promises of the parishioners nor the polyglot sermon of the Bishop, could have had any lasting effect. The patronage was soon after conferred on the Black Prince, and through him transmitted to the present Duke of Cornwall, by whose spontaneous act this obnoxious exemption from episcopal control was wholly and for ever renounced within the last two years. The successor of Grandison may now, therefore, visit the churches of the deanery, excommunicate the ministers and parishioners, and interrogate presentees, without let or hindrance; and, since the language of Cornwall died with old Dolly Pentreath, his lordship will not require the hermeneutic services either of the present or the _late incumbent_ of St. Just.

E. SMIRKE.

ON THE EXPRESSION "RICHLY DESERVED."

I was a few days ago induced to consider whence the common expression "richly deserved" could be derived. It is used by Addison and his contemporaries, but I have not been able to find it in writers of an earlier period. Possibly the reading of some of your contributors may supply instances of its occurrence which may prove more precisely its origin and history.

The phrase, in its literal sense, is anomalous and unmeaning. We may properly say that a reward or punishment has been "fully deserved" or, by a common mode of exaggeration, we may say that a thing has been "abundantly deserved:" but "richly deserved" seems a false figure of speech, and presents to the mind an obvious incongruity of ideas. Dr. Johnson cites a passage from Addison, in which chastisement is said to have been "richly deserved," and says that it is used ironically to signify "truly" or "abundantly."

Of the meaning of the expression--now by usage become trivial--there can, of course, be no doubt; but how came so inappropriate a thought as _wealth_ to be applied to desert? The inaptitude of the expression suggests the presumption that it is a corruption of some more correct phrase; and I venture to throw out a conjecture, for confirmation or refutation by the more extensive reading of some of your philological contributors, that it is corrupted through the medium of oral pronunciation from "righteously deserved."

In one of the prayers of the Litany, in our Book of Common Prayer, is the expression, "Turn from us all those evils which we most righteously have deserved." "Righteously" is itself a barbarous corruption of an excellent English word, "rightwisely," which is used by Bishop Fisher and other old writers. Our ancient kings were said to be "rightwise" kings of England, and to hold their prerogatives and titles "rightwisely;" and in the Liturgies of Edward VI. the word "rightwisely" is found, instead of "righteously," in the prayer of the Litany above-mentioned. Now "rightwisely deserved" is an expression as strictly logical and correct, as "richly deserved" is the contrary; and as "righteously" is clearly a corruption of "rightwisely," may not "richly," when applied to desert, be corrupted immediately from "righteously," and ultimately from "rightwisely?"

D. JARDINE.

THE CAXTON COFFER.

If I were to print the explanation which follows without also producing evidence that it had escaped the notice of those to whose works all students in early English bibliography have recourse, it would seem like advancing a claim to discovery on very slight grounds. I must therefore quote Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin.

"_The history of Lombardy_, translated from the Latin [by William
Caxton], is mentioned by Pitts."--J. AMES, 1749.

"I take this _History of Lombardy_ to be no other than 'the gestis
of the Lombardes and of Machomet wyth other cronycles,' added to
the life of St. Pelagyen in the _Golden legend_, and printed
separately for the use of the commonality [sic], who could not
purchase so large a folio."--W. HERBERT, 1785; T. F. DIBDIN, 1810.

Both Bale and Pits ascribe to Caxton the translation of a work entitled _Historia Lumbardica_. Ames, as we have seen, states the fact with regard to Pits, but had met with no such work; Herbert, by way of explanation, assumes the existence of a publication of which no one had before heard; and Dibdin, who had far superior means of information, repeats the observations of Herbert without the addition of one word expressive of assent or dissent. May we not infer their inability to solve the problem?

The conjecture of Herbert is very plausible. One fact, however, is worth a score of conjectures; and the fact, in this case, is that in the earlier editions of the Latin legend the title is _Legenda sanctorum sive historia Longobardica_. Jacques de Voragine, the author of the work in question, was a Lombard by birth, and archbishop of Genoa. Now _Lombardi_ and _Longobardi_ were synonymous terms--as we see in Du Fresne; and so were their derivatives. With this explanation, it must be admitted that the _Historia Lumbardica_ of Bale and Pits is no other than the _Golden legend_!

BOLTON CORNEY.

Since my last communication, I have ascertained that "Caxton," in Cambridgeshire was also designated "Causton."

In the _Abbrev. Rot. Origin._, 41 E. 3., Rot. 42., we have--

"Cantabr. Joh[=e]s Freville dat viginti marcas [p=] li[=e]
feoffandi Joh[=e]m de Carleton et Joh[=e]m de Sel[=v]le de man'io
de _Causton_," &c.

And in _Cal. Inq._, p. m., 4 R. 2., No. 23., we have--

"Elena uxor Joh[=e]s Frevill Ch[=r]. _Caxton_ maner 3a
pars--Cantabr."

We have, then, in Cambridgeshire "Causton" and "Caxton" used indifferently for the same manor. There need be no difficulty, therefore, in identifying the name of "Caxton" with "Causton" manor in Hadlow.

We have advanced, then, one step further in our investigation, and the case at present stands thus: Caxton says of himself that he was born in the Weald of Kent. Fuller, as cited by MR. BOLTON CORNEY, says, "William Caxton was born in that town [sc. Caxton]."

In the Weald of Kent is a manor called Causton (to which we may now add) alias Caxton, which manor was owned in the middle of the fourteenth century by a family of the same name (from whom it had passed a century later), and held of the honour of Clare, the lords of which honour, in the fifteenth century, were that ducal and royal house, by which William Caxton was warmly patronised.

From these data we will hope that some of your correspondents may deduce materials for satisfactorily fixing the place of Caxton's birth. Is there upon record any note of armorial bearings, or of any badge used by Caxton? Should there be, and we find such to be at all connected with the bearings of the lords of Causton, it will be additional evidence in our favour.

LAMBERT B. LARKING.

In the body of St. Alphege Church, Canterbury, is the following monumental inscription:

"Pray for the sawlys of John Caxton and of Jone
And Isabel that to this church great good hath done
In making new in the chancell
Of Dexkys and Setys aswell
An Antiphon the which did bye
With a table of the martyrdome of St. Alphye
Forthing much which did pay
And departed out of this life of October the 12 day
And Isabel his second wiff
Passed to blisse where is no strife
The xijt day to tell the trowth
Of the same moneth as our Lord knoweth
In the yeare of our Lord God a thousand fower hundred
fowerscore and five."

What relation (if any) was the above to the typographer? They must have been co-existent, and the "Note" may perhaps be a step in the right direction for arriving at the true "stock" of the _Caxton Coffer_.

FRANCISCUS.

ADMONITION TO THE PARLIAMENT.

I never had the good fortune to see a copy of the book called _An Admonition to the Parliament_, but I find a full description of it in Herbert's _Ames_, iii. 1631., under the date of 1572, from which I gather that it had been printed four times anterior to that year. It was written by two puritanical divines, Field and Wilcox, and contained such an attack upon the bishops, that they did their utmost to suppress it; but Whitgift, nevertheless, gave it additional notoriety by publishing an answer to it, which came out originally in 1571, and was reprinted in 1572 and 1573 (Herbert's _Ames_, ii. 934.). I have not Strype at hand to see what he says about the _Admonition_, and the reply to it; but some time ago I met with a letter among the Lansdown MSS. (No. 27.) which relates to the _Admonition_, and shows that Thomas Woodcock, a well known stationer, had been confined in Newgate by the Bishop of London (Aylmer) for selling it. It is dated 9th Dec. 1578, and is subscribed by five of the most distinguished and respectable printers and publishers of that day, soliciting Lord Burghley (to whom it is addressed) to interfere on behalf of the poor prisoner. It runs precisely in the following form:

"Our humble duties unto your good L. premised. May it please the same to be advertised, that one Thomas Woodcock, an honest young man, and one of our Company, hathe bin imprisoned in Newgate by the L. Bishopp of London theis six dayes, for sellinge of certaine bookes called the _Admonition to the Parliament_. Dyvers of the poore mans frendes have bin earnest suitors unto the Bishopp of London for his libertie: his L. aunswere unto them is, that he neither can nor will do any thinge without your L. consent, signified by your letters or warrant. It may therfore please your honor, in consideration of the premisses and our humble request, either to direct your L. warrant for his enlargement, or els to signifie your pleasure unto the L. Bishopp of London to take order herein accordingly, the said poore man first puttinge in sufficient bond to appeare at all tymes when he shalbe called, and readdy to aunswere to any matters whatsoever shalbe objected against him. Thus prayinge, accordinge to our duties, for your good L. long and prosperous health with encrease of honor, we commyt the same for this tyme to the protection of the Almightie. At London, 9'o Decemb. 1578.

"Your L. most humble at Command the Mr. and Wardens with others of the Company of Stationers,

"RYCHARDE TOTTYLL,
GEORGE BYSSHOP,
JOHN HARYSON,
WILLM. SERES,
JOHN DAYE."

From the above we may perhaps conclude, that an edition of the _Admonition to Parliament_ had been printed not long before the date of Thomas Woodcock's imprisonment for selling it; but I do not find that any historian or bibliographer mentions such an edition. Excepting in the letter of the five stationers, Tottyll, Bysshop, Haryson, Seres, and Daye, there seems to be no authority for connecting Woodcock with the publication, and his confinement did not take place until Dec. 6, 1578; whereas Neal, in his _History of the Puritans_, as cited by Herbert, informs us that Field and Wilcox, on presenting the _Admonition_ to the House of Commons in 1572, were immediately committed to Newgate.

Unless there were two puritanical ministers of the name of Field, he, who was imprisoned with Wilcox, was the John Field, who, I apprehend, was the father of Nathaniel Field, the actor in Shakspeare's plays, and the Theophilus Field, who (in spite of his father's hostility to the church and bishops, and in spite of his brother's devotion to the stage,) was afterwards Bishop of Llandaff from 1619 to 1627, Bishop of St. David's from 1627 to 1635, and Bishop of Hereford from 1635 to 1636, when he died.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

FOLK LORE.

_New Year's Rain_--_Saxon Spell._--I have just read a good-natured notice[1] in _The Athenæum_ of December 6th, in which your contemporary suggests that communications on the subject of _Folk Lore_ should be addressed to you. The perusal of it has reminded me of two Queries upon the subject, which I had originally intended to address to the editor of that paper, as they refer to articles which appeared in his own pages. On his hint, however, I will transfer them to your columns; and avail myself of the opportunity of thanking the editor of _The Athenæum_ for having for so long a period and so effectually directed the attention of the readers of that influential journal to a subject of great interest to many, and of considerable historical value. The first relates to a song sung by the children in South Wales on New Year's morning, when carrying a jug full of water newly drawn from the well. It is given in _The Athenæum_, No. 1058., for the 5th Feb., 1848, and there several references will be found to cognate superstitions. My object is to ask if the song is known elsewhere; and if so, whether with any such varieties of readings as would clear some of the obscurities of the present version:--

"Here we bring new water
From the well so clear,
For to worship God with
This happy New Year.
Sing levez dew, sing levez dew,
The water and the wine;
The seven bright gold wires
And the bugles they do shine.

"Sing reign of Fair Maid
With gold upon her toe,--
Open you the West Door,
And let the Old Year go.
Sing reign of Fair Maid,
With gold upon her chin,
Open you the East Door,
And let the New Year in."

The second is from _The Athenæum's_ very able review of Mr. Kemble's _Saxons in England_,--a work of learning and genius not yet nearly so well known as it deserves. The reviewer says:

"In one of the Saxon spells, which Mr. Kemble has inserted in his
appendix, we at once recognized a rhyme which we have heard an old
woman in our childhood use--and in which many Saxon words,
unintelligible to her, were probably retained."

If my communication should meet the eye of the gentleman who wrote this, I hope he will let the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" become acquainted with the rhyme in question. For it is obvious that among them will be found many who agree with him that "a very curious and useful compilation might be made of the various spells in use in different parts of England, classed according to their localities,--more especially if the collectors would give them verbatim," and who would therefore be willing to assist towards its formation.

A FOLK-LORIST.

[Footnote 1: We should not be doing justice either to our own
feelings or to the kindness and liberality of our able and most
influential contemporary, if we did not take this opportunity of
acknowledging not only his kindness upon the present occasion, but
also the encouragement which _The Athenæum_ has taken every
opportunity of affording to "NOTES AND QUERIES."--ED. N. & Q.]

_Fishermen's superstitions._--A friend recently informed me that at Preston Pans the two following superstitious observances exist among the fishermen of that place. If, on their way to their boats, they meet a pig, they at once turn back and defer their embarkation. The event is an omen that bodes ill for their fishery.

It is a favourite custom to set sail on the Sunday for the fishing grounds. A clergyman of the town is said to pray against their sabbath-breaking; and to prevent any injury accruing from his prayers, the fishermen make a small image of rags, and burn it on the top of their chimneys.

U.

THE AUTHOR OF HUDIBRAS AT LUDLOW CASTLE.

So little is known of Butler,--his life, as his biographers have given it to us, is made up of so very few anecdotes and dates,--that I have thought any Note which contained a fact about him, would be an acceptable addition to "N. & Q." (I shall value your space, you see, in future contributions). The following entries are copied from Lord Carbery's Account of the Expense incurred in making Ludlow Castle habitable after Clarendon's "Great Rebellion" (query, Civil War); and the entries are valuable as specifying the period of Butler's services as steward of Ludlow Castle, and the nature of the services performed by the great wit:--

"For sundry supplyes of furniture paid for by Mr. Samuell Butler,
late Steward, from January, 1661, to January, 1662, ixli. ijs.
vd., and more by him paid to sundry Brasiers, Pewterers, and
Coopers, vjli. vijs. iijd. In both

xvli. ixs. viijd.

"For sundry other supplyes of furniture paid for by Mr. Edward
Lloyd the succeeding Steward, from January, 1662, to January,
1667

clxli. xiiijs. xd.

"For several Bottles, Corkes, and Glasses, bought by Mr. Butler,
late Steward, from January, 1661, to January, 1662, vjli. xiijs.
jd., and for two Saddles and furniture for the Caterer and
Slaughterman, xxvjs. viijd. In both

vijli. xixs. ixd."

I was at Ludlow Castle last autumn, and thought (of course) of _Comus_ and _Hudibras_. I bought at the same time the three parts of my friend Mr. Wright's excellent _History of Ludlow Castle_, and paid in advance for the concluding part. Pray let me ask Mr. Wright (through "N. & Q.") by what time (I am a hungry antiquary) we may hope the concluding part will be published? I will gladly show Mr. Wright Lord Carbery's Account.

PETER CUNNINGHAM.

DR. FRANKLIN'S TRACT ON LIBERTY AND NECESSITY.

In Dr. Franklin's _Autobiography_, he mentions as his first work a pamphlet printed in London in 1725 on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. It was written by him when he was eighteen years of age, and partly in answer to Wollaston's _Religion of Nature_. The object was to prove, from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world; and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things existing. He printed, he says, only a hundred copies, of which he gave a few to his friends; and afterwards disliking the piece, as conceiving it might have an ill tendency, he burnt the rest except one copy. This tract, most curious as the first publication of this extraordinary man, seems to have eluded hitherto every search. In Jared Sparks's elaborate edition of Dr. Franklin's Works in 10 vols., it is of course not to be found. In a note (vol. viii., p. 405.), the editor observes, "No copy of this tract is now known to be in existence." Nor do I find that any writer on the subject of Franklin, or the history of metaphysics, or moral philosophy, appears to have seen it. Sir Jas. Mackintosh was long in search of it, but was compelled ultimately to give it up in despair.

I am happy to inform those who may take an interest in Dr. Franklin's first performance--and what is there in literary history more attractive than to compare the earliest works of great men with their maturer efforts?--that I fortunately possess a copy of this tract. It is bound up in a volume of tracts, and came from the library of the Rev. S. Harper. The title is, "_A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, in a Letter to a Friend_:

'Whatever is, is in its causes just,
Since all things are by fate; but purblind man
Sees but a part o' th' chain, the nearest link,
His eyes not carrying to the equal beam,
That poises all above.'--DRYD."

It is addressed to Mr. J(ames) R(alph), and commences: "Sir, I have here, according to your request, given you my present thoughts on the general state of things in the universe;" and concludes, "Truth will be truth, though it sometimes proves mortifying and distasteful." The pamphlet contains sixteen very closely printed pages in octavo; and the author proceeds by laying down his propositions, and then enlarging upon them, so as to form, in his opinion, a regular chain of consequences. It displays, as might be anticipated, considerable acuteness, though the reasonings, as he admits in his _Autobiography_, were such as to his maturer intellect appeared inconclusive. He subsequently wrote another pamphlet, in which he took the other side of the question; but it was never published, and I suppose is not now in existence.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

EARLY FLEMISH ILLUSTRATIONS OF EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE.

The commencement of a new volume of "NOTES AND QUERIES" affords a favourable opportunity for "tapping" (to use an expressive phrase of Horace Walpole's) a subject, on which it is reasonable to suppose much light may be thrown by some of your learned correspondents. I allude to the connection which formerly subsisted between the literature of England, and that of the Low Countries. Fortunate, indeed, would it be if any communication to "NOTES AND QUERIES" might be the means of drawing some illustration from one qualified beyond all others to treat every branch of this most interesting subject. Those of your readers who had the pleasure of hearing the admirable speech of a distinguished diplomatist at the Centenary Dinner of the Society of Antiquaries, will probably understand to whom I refer.

Reserving for a future occasion some observations on the manner in which our English antiquaries have hitherto overlooked the materials illustrative of our popular literature, our popular superstitions, our early drama, our legends, and our traditions, which may be had for the gathering, from the popular literature, the popular superstitions, the early drama, the legends and traditions of the Low Countries--those Low Countries from which Chaucer married his wife--those Low Countries from which Caxton brought us his printing-press, and its long train of blessings--those Low Countries, in which, as I believe, and hope one day to prove, Shakspeare himself added to his vast stores of knowledge--I shall for the present content myself with one example, and that shall be a seasonable one, namely, of the similarity between the old Flemish carols, and those with which, at this happy season, the nights were whilom blest here in Old England.

Hoffman von Fallersleben, in the second part of his _Horæ Belgicæ_, that great storehouse of materials for illustrating the early literature of the Netherlands (and which second part, by the bye, was separately published under the title of _Holländische Volkslieder_), after showing that the sacred songs of the Low Countries are, like our own, separable into Christmas carols, Easter hymns, songs in praise of the Virgin, and songs of Christian doctrine, proceeds to characterise the former in terms in which one might well describe many of those which were formerly most popular in our country. "The carols," he remarks, "are especially deserving of our attention. In them is most clearly shown the child-like religious spirit of the olden times, when men were not content merely to relate in the simple ballad form the story of Our Saviour's birth as recorded in Holy Scripture, but sought, by the introduction of little touches drawn from social and country life, to make that story more attractive and more instructive, and so to bring it home more directly to the hearts of their pious hearers." How truly applicable these remarks are to many of our own carols, must be obvious to all who know Mr. Sandys' valuable _Collection_; and the following instances, which Hoffman adduces in support of his views, will, I trust, satisfy your readers that I am right in maintaining the great resemblance between the carols of Old Flanders and those of Old England.

"Many of the descriptions in these carols," he remarks, "bear a strong resemblance to some of the Bible pictures of the old masters;" and he gives, as an instance, the following simple picture of the Infant Jesus in the bath:

"'The mother she made the child a bath,
How lovely then therein it sate;
The childling so platched with its hand
That the water out of the beaker sprang.'[2]

[Footnote 2: The version is, of course, as nearly literal as possible.]

"But sometimes these religious poetical feelings impress themselves so deeply in their subject, that the descriptions verge closely upon the ludicrous:

"'Mary did not herself prepare
With cradle-clothes to her hand there,
In which her dear child to wind.
Soon as Joseph this did find,
His hosen from his legs he drew,
Which to this day at Aix they show,
And with them those holy clothes did make
In which God first man's form did take.'

"It is true that we look upon these descriptions with modern eyes, not taking into consideration that our manners and customs, that our general views, in short, are not at all times in unison with those of the fifteenth century. But even if we are always right in these and similar cases, still we cannot deny that there often lies in these old poems what we, notwithstanding we are in the possession of the most exquisite skill, cannot at all reach,--an infinite _naïveté_, a touching simplicity. Especially rich in this respect are the songs which describe the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt:

"'Joseph he did leap and run,
Until an ass's foal he won,
Whereon he set the maiden mild,
And with her that most blessed child.'

"The whole idyllic life which they led in that country is told to us in a few unpretending traits:

"'Joseph he led the ass,
The bridle held he;
What found they by the way,
But a date tree?
Oh! ass's foal thou must stand still,
To gather dates it is our will,
So weary are we.
The date tree bowed to the earth,
To Mary's knee;
Mary would fill her lap
From the date tree.
Joseph was an old man,
And wearied was he;
Mary, let the date tree bide,
We have yet forty miles to ride,
And late it will be.
Let us pray this blessed child
Grant us mercie.'

"Nay, these simple songs even inform us how the Holy family laboured for their subsistence in this 'strange countree:'

"'Mary, that maiden dear,
Well could she spin;
Joseph as a carpenter,
Could his bread win.
When Joseph was grown old,
That no longer work he could,
The thread he wound,
And Jesus to rich and poor
Carried it round.'"

WILLIAM J. THOMS.

Minor Notes.

_Family Likenesses._--I believe that a likeness always exists in members of the same family, though it may _not always_ be seen, and, even then, not by _everybody_. I have seen at times a striking likeness in a pretty face to that of a plain one in the same family.

In one of the _Edinburgh Journals_ (Chambers') a stranger is said to have remarked the likeness to the portraits of Sir William Wallace of a passer-by, and was then informed by his companion that he was a _descendant_.

I am witness of a strong likeness in a young man, born in 1832, to the portrait of his great-great-uncle, born in 1736,--which carries back the inherited likeness to the latter's father, who was born in 1707, and married 1730. It is no mere fancy of my own, but has been noticed by several on seeing the portrait.

A. C.

_Bloomerism in the Sixteenth Century._--Happening to pitch upon the following extract, I forward it to you in the belief that it may, at the present time, have an interest for some of your readers:--

"I have met with some of these trulles in London so disguised that
it hath passed my skills to discerne whether they were men or
women."--Hollinshed, _Description of England_.

X. X. X.

_Inscriptions at Much Wenlock and on Statue of Queen Anne at Windsor._--Carved in a beam over the town hall of Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, stands (or perhaps stood, for the building was very old thirty years since) the following curious verses:

"Hic locus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat,
Nequitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, bonos."

I am not aware if they have appeared previously in your publication; but they are worthy of preservation, I think, if for nothing else, for the oddity of linking one line with another.

There is also a couple of lines on the town hall, Windsor, underneath a miserable statue of Queen Anne:

"Arte tuâ, sculptor, non est imitabilis Anna,
Annæ vis similem sculpere? sculpe Deam."

The unintentional satire conveyed in the first line is very appropriate, as the statue is a thing of wood, and forcibly reminds one of the _charming_ statue of George IV. formerly at King's Cross.

PROCURATOR.

Queries.

THE AGE OF TREES.--THE GREAT ELM AT HAMPSTEAD.

The question of the age of trees, introduced to your notice by your very able correspondent L. (Vol. iv., p. 401.), and touched upon by several others, is a subject of peculiar interest, and yet I scarcely know any ancient memorials which have been so much neglected by antiquarian inquirers. How seldom has any systematic attempt been made to collect the existing historical evidence relating to them, and of the few weak efforts which have been put forth in that direction, how insignificant have been the results! Such evidence exists in a great variety of quarters, and if your correspondents could be persuaded to adopt L.'s suggestion, and take up the matter in a really serious spirit, the nature of your publication, and the wide extent of your circulation, render your pages singularly well adapted for doing really effective service in a cause which is equally interesting to the naturalist and the antiquary. What is wanted is, that antiquarian students should bring forward the facts respecting historical trees which are to be found in ancient evidences of all kinds, and that local knowledge should be applied to the identification of such trees wherever it is possible. If this were done--done, that is, thoroughly and carefully--I cannot doubt that an antiquity would be satisfactorily established in reference to many trees and clumps of trees still existing throughout the kingdom, which it would now be thought supremely wild and fanciful even to imagine. I would not go the length of anticipating that we might establish the identity of some grove in which druidical mysteries have been celebrated, or (to adopt the words of Sir Walter Scott) of some "broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched" monarchs of the forest, "which had witnessed the march of the Roman soldiery;" I should almost despair even of identifying the thorns on Ash Down (a place itself named from some celebrated tree), around which the battle raged between Alfred and the Danes: but every one at all acquainted with ancient documents knows how frequently they contain allusions to celebrated trees; and it is perfectly possible that trees which sheltered King John in his continual wild, impulsive, Arab-like flights from place to place, or under which the Edwards halted in their marches to Scotland or Wales, may yet be pointed out. I have no doubt that Evelyn saw evidence that the Tortworth Great Chestnut was a boundary tree in the days of King Stephen; and if such evidence is not now forthcoming, I by no means despair of its re-discovery, if any one will set himself seriously to search for it. We learn in Pepys[3], that in his time, in the forest of Dean, there were still standing the old "Vorbid" or "forbid" trees of the time of Edward III.; that is (I presume), the trees which were left standing as marks or boundaries when there was a great felling of timber in the reign of Edward III. Perhaps some of your correspondents can tell us whether there are any such trees known in the forest of Dean now.

[Footnote 3: Pepys's Diary, ii. 18.]

The recurrence of the mention of celebrated trees in early charters, is far more frequent than any one who has not examined the subject would suppose. There was no kind of "mark" or "bound" more common amongst ancient people, or more frequently mentioned in their written evidences, than large or celebrated trees. Any one may satisfy himself upon this point by a simple reference to Mr. Kemble's invaluable _Codex Diplomaticus_. I have just taken down the third volume of that work, and, dipping into it at random, at p. 448. I find the following, in the enumeration of the bounds of some lands at Brokenborough, in Wilts:--

"From thence to the mark which is called the Apple-Thorn, and from
the same apple-bearing tree, by the public street, to Woubourne,
and along the same water by a straight course to Geresbourne, and
along the same stream in a straight course to Ordwoldes wood,
which is now called Bradene, and through the same wood for about
three miles to the boundary mark, which is called holehoke" [Holy
Oak].

Here are intimations which must have been recognizable in the spot for centuries afterwards.

At p. 343. of the same volume, we read of "Kentwines Tree" at Shipford, and "Adulfes Tree" and "Hysemannes Thorn" at Mickleton. At p. 336. is mention of "the single thorn" by Ellenford, and the "Kolan Tree" and "Huredes Tree," near the same place. At p. 328. we read of "the Hundred Tree" at Winchendon. At p. 174. of "Dunemannes Tree" at Bladen.

In vol. v. at p. 297. we have a remarkable description of boundaries at Blewbury, in Berkshire, in which we read, if I interpret correctly:--

"From Hawkthorn [now Hackthorn] to the Long Thorn on the Ikenild
way; thence to the Third Thorn at Wirhangran; thence to the Fourth
Thorn which stands forward on Wrangan Hill; thence to the Fifth
Thorn; thence to the Olive Tree; thence west along the bye road to
the Thorn"--and so forth.

In the same description we read of several "Treowstealls," which mean, I suppose, clumps of trees, and amongst them of "Athelstanes Treowsteal."

In vol. vi. at p. 8. we read of "Frigedæges Tree," at Ginge, in Berkshire; at p. 60., of "Wiggerdes Tree," at Plush, in Dorsetshire; and innumerable other instances may be found throughout the book. These have occurred to me on just opening the volumes here and there, and are adduced merely to explain to persons unacquainted with the _Codex Diplomaticus_, the nature of the information upon this subject which it contains; and there are many other books from which similar facts may be derived.

The examples I have given exhibit the various parts which conspicuous trees were made to play in ancient times. The Holy Oak and Frigedæges Tree had, no doubt, been consecrated to superstition; the Hundred Tree marked a place for the general assembly of the people of a district; the trees distinguished by the prefixed names of individuals, indicated that they stood on the properties of private owners,--on lands, that is, which the owners had "called after their own names." The memory of many historical trees is probably preserved to the present day in the names of the fields in which they stood. How many Mickle Thorn coppices, and Broad Oak pastures, and Long Tree meadows, and Old Yew pieces are scattered over the country. How many hundreds, and other larger divisions of counties, are named after ancient trees. How many of the old Saxon names of our towns and hamlets indicate that they grew up around a well-known oak, or ash, or thorn, or yew; in like manner as, in later periods, when strength rather than law was the ruler, the people crowded together their hovels under the protective shadow of the castle of some powerful chieftain, or within the privileged precincts of some consecrated fane.

Having thus indicated, or rather enforced, a subject which I think well deserves the attention of your correspondents all over the world, allow me to conclude with a Query relating to a celebrated tree, of a comparatively modern date, which once existed in the neighbourhood of the metropolis.

THE GREAT ELM AT HAMPSTEAD.--Where did it stand? What was its ultimate fate? When and how was it compelled to yield to the great leveller? It is delineated in a very scarce engraving by Hollar, which bears the date of 1653, and which is found on a poetical commemorative broadside, printed in that year. This tree, although then in full leaf, or so represented in Hollar's engraving, was entirely hollow. A staircase of forty-two steps had been contrived within its stem, by means of which visitors ascended to a turret erected on the top, which was capacious enough to give seats to six persons, and to contain twenty persons in the whole. The stem of the tree was twenty-eight feet in compass on the ground, and the ascent to the turret was thirty-three feet. The tree must have stood on some of the highest ground at Hampstead, for it is said that six neighbouring counties could be seen from the top of it. The Thames is mentioned as visible from it, with its shipping; and the following lines indicate the wide expanse which it commanded. The lines were written just at the time when Cromwell was about to assume the Protectorate.

"Those stately structures where the court
Had late their mansions, when our kings would sport;
Of whom deprived they mourn, and, desolate,
Like widows, look on their forlorn estate:
'Tis not smooth Richmond's streams, nor Acton's mill,
Nor Windsor Castle, nor yet Shooter's Hill,
Nor groves, nor plains, which further off do stand,
Like landscapes portray'd by some happy hand:
But a swift view, which most delightful shows,
And doth them all, and all at once, disclose."[4]

[Footnote 4: These lines are by Robert Codrington, respecting whom
a reference may be made to Wood's _Athenæ_, iii. 699. Bliss's ed.]

Such was the entire command of the country which this tree enjoyed, that it is said that

"Only Harrow on the Hill plays Rex,
And will have none more high in Middlesex."

"Essex Broad Oak" [where did that stand?] from which more than twenty miles could be seen, is poetically declared to have been "but a twig" in comparison with his relative at Hampstead; to find whose equal it is stated that

"You must as far as unto Bordeaux go."

There are other things worth remembering in connexion with this wonder of Hampstead: but I have occupied already more than enough of your space, and will only express my hope that some one will tell us where the Hampstead tree stood, and what was its fate; and what is known about the Essex Broad Oak; and what also about the Bordeaux compeer of the tree monarch of Hampstead.

JOHN BRUCE.

Minor Queries.

"_Inveni portum_"--"_For they, 'twas they._"--You will much oblige me by permitting me to ask, through the medium of your entertaining publication, from whence the two following quotations were cited:

"Inveni portum.--Spes et fortuna valete:
Sat me lusistis; ludite nunc alios."

"For _they_, 'twas _they_, unsheath'd the ruthless blade,
And Heav'n shall ask the havock it has made."

The first will be found in _Gil Blas_, livre 10ième, chapitre 10ième; and the second is used by the renegade Paul Jones in his mock-heroic epistle to the Countess of Selkirk, in extenuation of his having plundered the family seat in Scotland of the plate, on the 23rd April, 1778.

I should not trouble you, but I have asked many, of extensive reading and retentive memories, for solution of these Queries ineffectually.

AMICUS.

_Matthew Walker._--Can any of your correspondents, learned in naval antiquities and biographies, give any account of Matthew Walker, whose knot (described and figured in Darcy Lever's _Sheet Anchor_) is known by his name all over the world; and truly said to be "a handsome knot for the end of a Lanyard?"

REGEDONUM.

_Aleclenegate._--The east gate of the town of Bury St. Edmund's, which was always under the exclusive control of the abbot, is sometimes mentioned as "the Aleclenegate." What is the origin of the word?

BURIENSIS.

_Smothering Hydrophobic Patients._--I can recollect, when I was a boy, to have been much surprised and horrified with the accounts that old people gave me, that it was the practice in decided cases of _rabies canina_ to suffocate the unfortunate patient between feather beds. The disease being so suddenly and so invariably fatal, where it appeared unequivocally to attack the sufferer, might dispose the world to ascribe the death to what surely may be termed foul play; but perhaps some of your readers may be able to state where mention is made of such treatment, or what could give rise to such an opinion in the public mind.

INDAGATOR.

_Philip Twisden, Bishop of Raphoe._--In Haydn's _Book of Dignities_, p. 475., there is the following note on the name of the prelate:--

"Sir James Ware, or, more properly, the subsequent editors of his
works, narrate some very extraordinary circumstances that rendered
the close of the life of this prelate very remarkable and
unfortunate; but we feel unwilling to transcribe them, though
there seems to be no doubt of their truth."

As Sir James Ware died in 1666, and the latest edition of his work on the Bishops of Ireland (by Walter Harris) was published in 1736, it is impossible that either he, or his subsequent editors, could have recorded anything of the last days of a prelate who died Nov. 2, 1752.

Mr. Haydn, however, speaks as if he had actually before him the mysterious narrative which he has gone so far out of his way to allude to, and which for some equally mysterious reason he was "unwilling to transcribe," although he thought it necessary to call attention to it, and to express his inclination to believe in its truth.

If this should meet his eye, would Mr. Haydn have the kindness to say where he found the story in question, as it is certainly not in Ware? I know of two stories, one of which is probably that to which Mr. Haydn has called the attention of his readers; but I have never seen them stated with such clearness, or on such authority, as would lead me to the conclusion that "there seemed no doubt of their truth."

JAMES H. TODD.

Trinity College, Dublin.

_"Sir Edward Seaward's Narrative," edited by Miss Jane Porter._--I am in possession of a copy of the above work, presented to my father by the late amiable authoress, Miss Porter. It is, as you are no doubt aware, a journal of adventure in the Carribean Sea and its islands, between 1733 and 1749; but on the publication of the first edition its authenticity was questioned, and a suggestion made by some of the critics that the editor was also the author. This, Miss Porter assured me was not the fact, and that the work is a genuine diary, placed in her hands for publication by the family, still existing, of the original writer. The name I think she intimated was not _Seaward_, but she expressed some hesitation to detail the circumstances of its coming into her possession. She makes, in a preface to the second edition, an assurance to the same effect as to the genuineness of the Narrative, and says the author died _at his seat in Gloucestershire in the year 1774_.

Can any of your readers throw further light on this story, or inform who the hero of the Narrative really was?

W.W.E.T.

Warwick Square, Belgravia.

_Clerical Members of Parliament._--In a note in p. 4. of _The Lexington Papers_, recently published, mention is made of a Mr. Robert Sutton, who, after having taken deacon's orders, and having accompanied his relative, Lord Lexington, to Vienna, in the joint capacity of chaplain and secretary, was, on his recall in 1697, appointed resident minister at the Imperial Court; was subsequently sent as envoy extraordinary to the Ottoman Porte; in 1720, succeeded Lord Stair as British minister at Paris; in 1721, was elected M.P. for Notts; and in 1725, was created Knight of the Bath. The editor adds this remark:

"It is well known that holy orders were not at that time
considered any disqualification for civil employments, but I do
not recollect any other instance of a clerical Knight of the
Bath."

Do you, Mr. Editor, or any of your readers, recollect any other instance since the Reformation, of a _clerical member of parliament_, before the celebrated one of Horne Tooke? Were any such instances quoted in the debates on the bill for excluding clergymen from Parliament?

CLERICUS.