Chapter V: D. N

Rotterdam, Navorscher, Jan. 1852.

_Lines on the Bible_ (Vol. iv., p. 473.).--"Within that awful volume lies," &c. These lines are Walter Scott's. They are spoken by the White Lady of Avenel, in _The Monastery_. It appears that they were copied by Lord Byron into his Bible, for they are inserted at the end of Galignani's 1-vol. edition of Byron's Works (Paris, 1826), among the "_attributed_ pieces," as "lines found in Lord Byron's Bible." This I believe is the only authority on which the compiler of the volume referred to by your correspondent can have supposed his lordship to have been the author. In Murray's editions they have no place, nor even in Galignani's later editions.

B. R. I.

[We are indebted to many other correspondents for similar
replies.]

_Dial Mottoes_ (Vol. iv., p. 471.).--The following is an inscription which I copied from a dial-plate in the churchyard of Kirk-Arbory, Isle of Man:

"Thomas Kirkall de
Bolton Fecit.
Horula dum quota sit
Quæritur hora fugit.
1678."

There is a coat of arms also, but the tinctures are not marked; viz. Quarterly of three coats: first and fourth, three roundels in fess, between two barrulets; second, on a bend three mullets; third, a chevron between three lozenges.

T. H. KERSLEY, B.A.

_Martial's Distribution of Hours_ (Vol. iv., pp. 273., 332.).--I ought perhaps to thank THEOPHYLACT for good intention in answering, not the question I did ask, but that which he thinks I "might have asked."

My real question was based upon an assumption, the truth of which THEOPHYLACT denies: his reply therefore is rather a challenge to premiss, than an answer to the question.

I totally dissent from him in understanding "quies lassis" in any sense short of absolute _recumbent_ repose: "finis," which he takes as the real commencement of the siesta, I understand as its conclusion: nor am I aware of any, except the last final quies, to which the term _finis_ would be applicable.

Neither can I admit, upon the authority of THEOPHYLACT, that there was any gradual or partial cessation of business in Rome during the hour which we call "between eleven and twelve o'clock in the forenoon." Julius Cæsar left home, commenced the business of the senate, was surrounded by thronging applicants, and was assassinated--all during that hour: and, unless THEOPHYLACT can show that therefore, and on that account, it became distasteful to succeeding emperors, he must excuse me from admitting his interpretation.

A. E. B.

_Nelson's Signal_ (Vol. iv., p. 473.).--I send you Nelson's exact words as conveyed by signal at Trafalgar, as noted down by several ships in the fleet:

England [253]
expects [269]
that [863]
every [261]
man [471]
will [958]
do [220]
his [370]
d [4]
u [21]
t [19]
y [24]

Let me add, that the refrain of the best song on the Battle of Trafalgar, gives the exact words of the signal:

"From line to line the signal ran,
England expects that every man
This day will do his duty."

You should have heard this chanted in the singing-days of

W. H. S.

_Cooper's miniature, &c._ (Vol. v. p. 17.).--I have a painting on copper of Oliver Cromwell. It is oval, and about six inches by four. It resembles the engravings of him which have Cooper's name attached to them. In the distance is a "white horse," faintly sketched in. My father, in whose possession it long was, set a very great value upon it. I have not had sufficient opportunity to inquire--Did ever Cooper paint in oil?

B. G.

_Roman Funeral Pile_ (Vol. iv., p. 381.).--The ceremony of a Roman funeral concluded with a feast, which was usually a supper given to the friends and relatives of the deceased; and sometimes provisions were distributed to the people. (Vid. Adams' _Roman Hist._, 3rd edit. p. 283.) Basil Kennett, in his _Antiquities of Rome_, published 1776, further observes (p. 361.) that--

"The feasts, celebrated to the honour of the deceased, were either
private or publick. The private feasts were termed _silicernia_,
from _silex and coena_, as if we should say _suppers made on a
stone_. These were prepared both for the _dead_ and the _living_.
The repast designed for the dead consisting commonly of beans,
lettuces, bread and eggs, or the like, was laid on the tomb for
the ghosts to come out and eat, as they fancied they would; and
what was left they burnt on the stone."

No authority is cited either by Adams or Kennett for the custom, but your correspondent _John ap William ap John_ might perhaps refer to "_Petri Morestelli Pompa Feralis, sive justa Funebria Veterum_," with some probability of success in finding the subject there treated at large.

FRANCISCUS.

_Barrister_ (Vol. iv., p. 472.).--The derivation of this word proposed by W. Y. can only be looked upon as a joke, as he himself seems to regard it. "Roister" can have no more to do with it than "oyster" has with such words as "songster, spinster, maltster, punster, tapster, webster," &c., in which "ster" is the A.S. termination to denote one whose business is "song, or spinning," &c. Thus from the Mediæval Latin "barra" we get "barraster, one whose business is at the bar;" this is confirmed by the old mode of spelling the word, viz., "barrester and barraster." See Spelman's _Glossary_, v. Cancellarius--

"Dicuntur etiam _cancelli_ septa curiarum quæ _barras_ vocant;
atque inde Juris candidati causas illic agentes, Budæo
_Cancellarii_, ut nobiscum _Barrestarii_."

And again--

"_Barrasterius_, Repagularis Causidicus."

J. EASTWOOD.

_Meaning of Dray_ (Vol. iv., p. 209.).--_Dray_ is a squirrel's nest.

"A boy has taken three little young squirrels in their nest or
_drey_."--White's _Selborne_, p. 333. Bohn's edition.

To which is appended the following note:--

"The squirrel's nest is not only called a _drey_ in Hampshire, but
also in other counties; in Suffolk it is called a bay. The word
_drey_, though now provincial, I have met with in some of our old
writers."--_Mitford_.

PANTAGRUEL.

_Tregonwell Frampton_ (Vol. iv., p. 474.; Vol. v., p. 16.).--In the _History of the British Turf_, by James Christie Whyte, Esq. (London, Colburn, 2 vols. 8vo. 1840), T. R. W. will meet with a sketch of the life of Mr. Frampton, together with an inquiry into the truth of the well known anecdote respecting his cruelty to his horse Dragon. Mr. Chafin, in his _Anecdotes of Cranbourne Chase_ (London, 1818), p. 47., refers to him, and prints one or two curious original letters from him. Mr. Whyte illustrates his first volume by a portrait of Mr. Frampton.

CRANMORE.

_Vermin, Parish Payments of, &c._ (Vol. iv., p. 208.).--There is no doubt but that nearly all country parishes paid at one time for the destruction of different kinds of vermin; but this practice is now entirely discontinued. The following are the prices paid twenty-five years ago by the parish of Corsham, Wilts:--

Vipers, 6_d._ each; slowworms or blindworms, 3_d._ each; rats, 1_d._ each (the tails only were required to be brought); sparrows' heads, 6_d._ per dozen, (meaning the old birds); sparrows' eggs and young birds, 4_d._ per dozen.

I shall never forget, when a boy, and my father was churchwarden, the tricks the young lads and boys used to play in order to palm off other birds' eggs and young birds for sparrows. One young rascal actually painted the eggs very cleverly to imitate the sparrows, till I discovered it. Young birds of all kinds were brought, and many dozens paid for that were not sparrows; as it was impossible to tell the young birds of many of the hard billed kinds from the sparrow. At last the parish gave up paying for the eggs or young birds, but gave 1_s._ per dozen for the heads of old sparrows, and vast numbers were brought throughout the winter; and then attempts were made to substitute other birds' heads, which were in many cases paid for. The next year the parish agreed only to pay for the whole birds, so that no deception could be practised. When the New Poor Law came into operation, all these payments were stopped. Glead was a provincial term for the kite and buzzard, the ringtail for the hen harrier hawk, and greashead or greyhead for the female kestrel or greyheaded falcon. In most of the Wiltshire parishes 6_d._ per head was paid for the hedgehog, as the farmers always believed they sucked the teats of cows when laid down in the fields. The badger was also paid for in some places.

J. K.

North Wilts.

_Alterius Orbis Papa_ (Vol. iii., p. 497.).--The origin of this title is, I think, still open to explanation, and in offering one which I find recorded in Lambard's _Perambulation of Kent_, 1596, pp. 80, 81. I trust the quaint but interesting style of that learned antiquary and historian will be a sufficient excuse to your readers for its insertion at length _verbatim et literatim_:

"The whole Province of this Bishopricke of Canterbury, was at the
first divided by Theodorus (the seventh Bishop) into five Dioceses
only: howbeit, in processe of time it grew to twentie and one,
besides itselfe, leaving to Yorke (which by the first institution
should have had as many as it) but Durham, Carleil, and Chester
only. And whereas by the same ordinance of Gregorie, neither of
these Archbishops ought to be inferiour to other, save onely in
respect of the priority of their consecration, Lanfranc (thinking
it good reason that he should make a conquest of the English
clergie, since his maister, King William, had vanquished the whole
nation), contended at Windsor with Thomas Norman (Archbishop of
Yorke) for the primacie, and there (by judgement before Hugo, the
Pope's Legate) recovered it from him: so that ever since the one
is called _Totius Angliæ primas_, and the other _Angliæ primas_,
without any further addition. Of which judgement, one (forsooth)
hath yielded this great reason: that even as the Kentish people,
by an auncient prerogative of manhood, do challenge the first
front in each battel, from the Inhabitants of other countries; so
the Archbishop of their Shyre, ought by good congruence to be
preferred before the rest of the Bishops of the whole Realme.
Moreover, whereas before time, the place of this Archbishop in the
generall Councell was to sit next to the Bishop of Sainct
Ruffines, Anselmus, the successor of this Lanfranc (for recompence
of the good service that hee had done, in ruffling against
Priests' wives, and resisting the King for the investiture of
clerks) was by Pope Urbane endowed with this accession of honour,
that he and his Successours should from thencefoorth have place in
all generall councels, at the Pope's right foote, who then said
withall. 'Includamus hunc in orbe nostro, tanquam alterius orbis
Papam.'"

FRANCISCUS.

_Dido and Æneas_ (Vol. iv., p. 423.).--I beg leave to transcribe for A. A. D. the following passage from the _Facetiæ Cantabrigiensis_, p. 95. (London, Charles Mason, 1836):

"Porson observing that he could pun on any subject, a person
present defied him to do so on the Latin gerunds, which however he
immediately did in the following admirable couplet:

'When Dido found Æneas would not come,
She mourned in silence, and was DI-DO-DUM.'"

I have also seen these lines attributed to Porson in an old volume of _The Mirror_. Of any other authorities I have no knowledge.

J. S. W.

Stockwell.

_Compositions during the Protectorate_ (Vol. iv., pp. 406. 490.).--W. H. L. suspects that there is an error in the list of these compositions for Lincolnshire, as given in Oldfield's _History of Wainfleet_, and asks, "Where is there any account or list of these?" H. F. refers W. H. L. to a small volume entitled _A Catalogue of the Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen that have compounded for their Estates_. London, 1655. I have compared Oldfield's list with the reprint of the _Catalogue_ (Chester, 1733), and find that, with some slight exceptions, they agree. Oldfield, however, omits the following compositions for Lincolnshire:

£ _s._ _d._
"Benson, Clement, of North Kelsey,
Gent. 120 0 0

Burcroft, Thomas, late of Waltham,
_pro_ Frances and Jane, his sisters 70 0 0

Dalton, John, late of Barton on
_Humber_ 46 0 0

Fines, Morris, of Christhead (Kirkstead) 50 0 0

Leesing, Thomas, of North Somercotes 12 7 6

Monson, Sir John, of South Carleton 2642 0 0

Moore, Alexander, of Grantham 350 0 0

Manson, Sir John, Jun., of North
Thorpe 133 0 0

Thorold, Joseph, of Boston, Gent. 96 0 0

Whichcoat, Edward, of Bishop's Norton,
Esq., with 50_l._ per annum
settled 513 0 0."

There are also a few discrepancies in the amounts of the compositions, but none of any importance.

Roger Adams, the publisher of the edition of the _Catalogue_ printed at Chester in 1733, says, in the preliminary address to his subscribers, that--

"The Catalogue was printed five years before the miserable scene
of oppression (by sequestration) closed. To supply the defects of
it, I apply'd many ways, first to _Goldsmith's Hall_, where I was
told the latter sequestrations were generally imposed; but the
haste my friend was in, and some discouragements he met with,
rendered this application unsuccessful."

The error which W. H. L. suspects in Oldfield's list, may probably be corrected by application at Goldsmith's Hall.

P. T.

I was aware of the work, _A Catalogue, &c._, which contains also the error alluded to at p. 406. Will H. F. be so obliging as to say from what materials that work was compiled, and how the whole business of the compositions was managed? Some part of it was carried on at Goldsmith's Hall. Evelyn probably alludes to the compositions at p. 311. of vol. i. of his _Diary_, edition of 1850.

W. H. L.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

When we consider how many indications are still discoverable, by those who know how to look for them, of the influence which the incursions of the Danes and Northmen into Britain have exercised upon our language, customs, and social and political condition; and that even the most cursory glance at the map of these islands will show in so many local names indisputable evidence of Danish occupation--evidence which is amply confirmed by many of our archaisms or provincialisms, our popular customs and observances,--when these things are considered, it is obvious that a work which should give us the result of these incursions, if written by a competent hand, must prove of great and general interest. Just such a book has been issued by Mr. Murray, under the title of _An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland_, by J. J. A. Worsaae. All who had the pleasure of making Mr. Worsaae's acquaintance when he visited this country in 1846-47, were aware that he possessed two qualifications essentially necessary for the proper execution of the task which he had undertaken. For his archæological acquirements were made patent (even to those who were unable to study his various antiquarian publications in Danish and German) by the English version of his _Primæval Antiquities of Denmark_; while his thorough mastery over our language was such as to enable him to pursue his researches into the period of our country's history which he proposed to illustrate, without the slightest let or hindrance. With a theme, then, which may be considered as novel as it is interesting (for it is the first attempt to view the subject _from the Danish side_), and with such abilities to do it justice, it is no wonder that Mr. Worsaae has produced a work which will, we are sure, be found to possess the double merit of not only gratifying the antiquary, but also of interesting, instructing, and amusing the general reader.

To form a complete Encyclopædia of Classical Antiquity, it was necessary that to the _Dictionaries of Greek and Roman Antiquities_, and of _Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology_, should be added a _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography_. That want is in the course of being supplied. The first Quarterly Part of such a _Dictionary_, called, for the sake of uniformity, "_of Greek and Roman Geography_," but including even Scriptural names, and so being in reality a _Dictionary of Ancient Geography_, edited by Dr. Smith, written by the principal contributors to the former works, and illustrated by numerous woodcuts, has just been issued. It equals its predecessors in its claims to the support of all students and lovers of classical learning; and we know no higher praise.

We learn from _The Athenæum_ that Mr. George Stephens, the translator of Tegner's beautiful epic _Frithiof's Saga_, and whose intimate acquaintance with the early literature of Sweden has been shown by the collection of legends of that country which he has edited in conjunction with Hylten-Cavallius, and by the various works superintended by him for the _Svenska Fornskrift-Sällskapet_, a sort of Stockholm Camden Society, has removed to Copenhagen in consequence of his having been appointed Professor of the English Language and Literature in the University there. The subject of his first course of lectures--to be delivered in the present month--is, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. After this we shall be quite prepared to hear of a Danish translation of this masterpiece of the Father of English Poetry, as a companion to the recently published Swedish translations of Shakspeare.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--_The Rhymed Chronicle of Edward Manlove concerning the Liberties and Customs of the Lead Mines within the Wapentake of Wirksworth, Derbyshire_, &c., edited by Thomas Tapping, Esq. This little tract (which with its valuable Glossary, List of Cases, &c., occupies but forty pages) is an extremely curious book; and the manner in which it has been edited reflects great credit upon Mr. Tapping.--_Neander's General History of the Christian Religion and Church_, vol. vi., forms the new volume of Bohn's _Standard Library_. The same indefatigable publisher has issued, as the new volume of his Classical Library, _The Odes of Pindar, literally translated into English Prose_, by Dawson W. Turner, M.A.; and, as if this was not sufficient, he has added the _Metrical Version by the late Abraham Moore_--a translation which he pronounces, and with great justice, to be distinguished for "poetry, scholarship, and taste."

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. Vol. I. Part I. (Several Copies are wanting, and it is believed that many are lying in London or Dublin.)

CH. THILLON (DE HALLE) NOUVELLE COLLECTION DES APOCRYPHES. Leipsic, 1832.

THEOBALD'S SHAKSPEARE RESTORED, ETC. 4to. 1726.

A SERMON preached at Fulham in 1810 by the REV. JOHN OWEN of Paglesham, on the death of Mrs. Prowse, Wicken Park, Northamptonshire (Hatchard).

FÜSSLEIN, JOH. CONRAD, BEYTRÄGE ZUR ERLÄUTERUNG DER KIRCHEN-REFORMATIONS-GESCHICHTE DES SCHWEITZERLANDES. 5 vols. Zurich, 1741.

[Star symbol] Letters, stating particulars and lowest price,
_carriage free_ to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND
QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

Notices to Correspondents.

_We have to regret being compelled to postpone until next week a valuable communication from the_ REV. JOSEPH MENDHAM _on the_ INDEX EXPURGATORIUS.

W. F. S. _will find the subject of_ MORGANATIC MARRIAGES _treated in our_ 2nd Vol., pp. 72. 125. 231. 261.

WILHELM, FRANZ ADOLPH, GERMANUS. _A letter will reach the accomplished lady to whom our correspondents refer, if addressed to_ 69. _Dean Street, Soho; or Craven Hill Cottage, Bayswater._