Chapter C: R. M

_Sir Walter Raleigh's Snuffbox_ (Vol. v., p. 78.).--In answer to your question from your correspondent L. H. L. T., I have to inform you that Sir Walter Raleigh's snuffbox is in my possession. It was bought when the Duke of Sussex's collection was sold at Messrs. Christie's, in 1843, by a gentleman of the name of Lake. Mr. Lake having died, his effects were sold by Messrs. Christie, either 1849 or 1850, when it was purchased by me. Should your correspondent wish to see it, he can have the opportunity by applying as below.

R. POLWARTH.

8. Queen's Row, Pimlico.

_Epigram on Erasmus_ (Vol. iv., p. 437.).--I well remember to have seen this before, in one of the multiplied editions of his _Colloquies_ which I cannot directly indicate. M. Ménage could not recollect, he says, the name of the author[1] of the following singular epigram on the same celebrated writer's character and name:--

"Hic jacet Erasmus, qui quondam bonus erat mus:
Rodere qui solitus, roditur a vermibus."

[Footnote 1: [The author of the _Critique de Marsollier_ says it
was Philip Labbe. See Burigni, tom. ii. pp. 428, 429. Jortin's
_Life of Erasmus_.--ED.]]

This distich, it has been remarked, presents two obvious faults of prosodial quantity; the first syllable of _bonus_ being made long, and the first of _vermibus_ short, which the author explained by maintaining that the one nullified and compensated for the other, thus redeeming both.

The best epitaph on Erasmus has always appeared to me to be that of Julius Cæsar Scaliger, expressive of his regret for their long personal hostility, and then rendering ample justice to his deceased adversary. It begins thus:--

"Tunc etiam moreris? ah quid me linquis, Erasme?
Ante meus quam sit conciliatus amor!"

To which may be aptly applied the sentiment expressed by Corneille (_Mort de Pompée_, Acte V. Sc. 1.):--

"Ah! qu'il est doux de plaindre
La mort d'un ennemi, quand il n'est plus à craindre."

To the portrait of Erasmus have been subscribed these characteristic words, "Vidit, pervidit, risit."

J. R. (Cork.)

_General Wolfe_ (Vol. iv., p. 439.).--To the inquiries of Ȝ. relative to General Wolfe, I can only answer that the northern English county to which his ancestor, Captain George Woulfe, made his escape in 1651 from Ireton's proscription, was understood to be Yorkshire. After his expatriation and change of religion, the family in Clare lost, in a great measure, sight of him and of his descendants, until, like Epaminondas and Nelson, crowned with victory and glory at his death.

I may be here permitted to observe that your correspondent distinguishes me as J. R. (of Cork); but, whether with the single initials, or the local addition, the signature is mine, though latterly, to avoid all mistake, I append my locality.

J. R. (Cork.)

_Ghost Stories_ (Vol. iv., p. 5.; Vol. v., p. 89.).--Baron Reichenbach has evidently overrated the importance of his discovery, but his system may be advantageously applied to the explanation of corpse-candles, illuminated church-yards, and other articles of Welsh and English superstition. Aubrey tells us, that "when any Christian is drowned in the river Dee, there will appear over the water where the corpse is a light, by which means they do find the body." The Welsh also to this day believe that the body of a secretly buried person may be discovered by the lambent blue flame which hovers round the grave at night.

I would also refer DR. MAITLAND to Baxter's _Certainty of the World of Spirits_, and the chapter on "Spectral Lights" in Mrs. Crowe's _Night-side of Nature_.

T. STERNBERG.

_Epigram on Burnet_ (Vol. v., p. 58.).--Odd enough!--at the moment when your No. 116. reached me, a volume of the _State Poems_ was before me, in which I read the very _epigram_ to which your correspondent alludes, where it thus stands:--

"ELEGY ON COLEMAN.

"If heaven be pleased, when sinners cease to sin,
If hell be pleased, when souls are damned therein,
If earth be pleased, when its rid of a knave,
Then all are pleased, for Coleman's in his grave."

_State Poems_, vol. iii. 1704.

Qy. Who was Coleman?

JAMES CORNISH.

[We are indebted to another correspondent, LOUISA JULIA NORMAN,
for pointing out the same epigram _on Coleman_ in _The Panorama of
Wit_ (1809). Coleman, on whom the epigram appears to have been
originally written, is obviously the Jesuit of that name executed
in the reign of Charles II.]

"_Son of the Morning_" (Vol. iv., pp. 209. 330. 391.).--As none of your correspondents have been able to explain the meaning of this passage in _Childe Harold_, I may now tell you that the phrase is an orientalism for "traveller," in allusion to their early rising to avoid the heat of the mid-day sun. Lord Byron invites the traveller to visit the ruins of Greece, but not to molest them as some former travellers had done; then he turns upon Lord Elgin, and attacks him for his misdeeds in that way.

AN OLD BENGAL CIVILIAN.

_Haberdasher_ (Vol. ii., pp. 167. 253.).--In Todd's edition of Johnson's _Dictionary_, the word _haberdasher_ is derived from _berdash_, which is said "to have been a name formerly used in England for a certain kind of neck-dress, whence the maker or seller of such clothes was called a _berdasher_; and thence comes _haberdashers_." This etymology is hardly admissible. Can an early reference be given to the use of the term _berdash_, as an article of dress? Minsheu, Todd remarks, ingeniously deduces it from _Habt ihr dass_, German, _Have you this?_ the expression of a shopkeeper offering his wares to sell. But the derivation of the term _haberdasher_ furnished by your correspondent (Vol. ii., p. 253.) is certainly the most satisfactory.

At the end of the sixteenth century (about 1580) the shopkeepers that went under this designation dealt largely in most of the minor articles of foreign manufacture; and among the "haberdashery" of that period were "daggers, swords owches, broaches, aiglets, Spanish girdles, French cloths, Milan caps, glasses, painted cruizes, dials, tables, cards, balls, puppets, ink-horns, tooth-picks, fine earthen pots, pins and points, hawks' bells, salt-cellars, spoons, knives, and tin dishes." A yet more curious list of goods vended by the "milloners or haberdashers" who dwelt at the Royal Exchange within two or three years after it had been built, occurs in Stow's _Annals_ by Howe (p. 869.), where we are informed that they "sould mouse-trappes, bird-cages, shooing-hornes, lanthornes, and Jew's trumpes."

The author of that curious tract, _Maroccus Extaticus_, 1595 (which I reprinted in the Percy Society) speaks of a "felow" loading his sleeve with "fuel from the _haberdashers_."

The more ancient name of these traders was _milainers_, an appellation derived from their dealing in merchandize chiefly imported from the city of Milan. They were also, I believe, called _hurrers_, from dealing in hats and caps.

It is evident, from the above, that "a retailer of goods, a dealer in small wares," is the true meaning of the word _haberdasher_.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Vincent Kidder_ (Vol. iv., p. 502.).--The ancestors of this personage resided at a house called the "Hole," in the parish of Maresfield. In the time of Henry VII., and earlier, they held the office of bailiffs of the Forest of Ashdown, otherwise called Lancaster Great Park. I believe that most of the existing families of Kidder are branches of this parent stock. From a branch long settled at Lewes sprang Dr. Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lost his life in the great storm of 1703. I believe that the Irish branch had previously been settled in London. A third branch settled in the American colonies in the seventeenth century, and has produced a highly respectable and wealthy progeny still resident in the New England states, and elsewhere. I have at hand materials for a complete pedigree of the Sussex or elder line of the family, down to the time of its extinction. Perhaps your correspondent will communicate with me on this subject by a private letter.

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes.

_Tripos, What is the Origin of the Term?_ (Vol. iv., p. 484.).--_Tripos_, a long piece of white and brown paper, like that on which the commonest ballads are printed, containing Latin hexameter verses, with the author's name, &c. The Cambridge _tripos_, it has been conjectured, was probably in old time delivered, like the Terræ Filius, from a _tripod_, a three-legged stool, in humble imitation of the Delphic oracle. It is mentioned in the statute De tollendis ineptiis in publicis disputationibus[2], an 1626--ut prævaricatores, _tripodes_, alii que omnes disputantes veterum academia formam, &c.

[Footnote 2: The following, from the facetious Fuller, will serve
to show to what lengths they went formerly in _ineptiis_ (See his
_Worthies_, edit. 1684):--"When Morton, afterwards Bishop of
Durham, stood for the degree of D.D. at Cambridge, he advanced
something which was displeasing to the professor, who exclaimed,
with some warmth, 'Commosti mihi _stomochum_.' To whom Morton
replied, 'Gratulor tibi, Reverende Professor, de bono tuo
_stomacho_, coenabis apud me hâc nocte.' The English word
_stomach_ formerly signified 'passion, indignation.' Archbishop
Cranmer appointed one Travers to a fellowship at Trinity College,
who had been before rejected (says my author) on account of his
'intolerable stomach.' This would be thought a singular
discommendation in the present day." To add another story from
Fuller relating to _Publicis Disputatianibus_:--"When a professor
of logic pressed an answerer with a hard argument, 'Reverende
Professor,' said he, 'ingenue confiteor me non posse respondere
huic argumento.' To whom the Professor, '_Recte
respondis_.'"--_Holy and Profane State._ Vide _Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam_, a little book published by W. J. and J. Richardson,
1803.]

JAMES CORNISH.

_Monody on the Death of Sir John Moore_ (Vol. i., p. 445.).--If any person entertains a doubt that the Rev. Charles Wolfe was the author, I trust that the following statement will have the effect of removing it. In the October number of the _Dublin University Magazine_, 1851, there is a short biographical notice of the late much lamented Rev. Samuel O'Sullivan, which contains the following passage:

"One of his intimate acquaintances was Charles Wolfe. The
exquisite lines on the burial of Sir John Moore were suggested by
O'Sullivan reading to him the description in the _Annual Register_
of the retreat from Corunna. Immediately after, the two friends
went out to wander in the fields. During their ramble Wolfe was
silent and moody. On their return to their College chambers he
repeated the first and last stanzas of the ode that has made his
name immortal."

Knowing the source from which this assertion emanates, I have no reason to suspect the veracity of the writer.

There is an additional proof, which is well worthy of being recorded in your pages, and of which I have had ocular demonstration. In the _Royal Irish Academy_ there is an original letter, framed, in the handwriting of Wolfe, of which I send you an exact _fac-simile_. You will perceive that it contains a copy of the poem, and that his signature is attached to it, I need not add any more.

CLERICUS.

Dublin.

_Many Children at a Birth_ (Vol. iii., pp. 64. 347.).--In _The Natural History of Wiltshire_: by John Aubrey, F.R.S., edited by John Britton, Esq., is the following passage:

"At Wishford Magna is an inscription to Thomas Bonham and Edith
his wife, who died 1473 and 1469. Mrs. Bonham had _two_ children
at one birth the first time; _and he being troubled at it_,
travelled, and was absent seven years. After his returne, she was
_delivered of seven children at one birth_. In this parish is a
confident tradition that these seven children were all baptized at
the font in this church, and that they were brought thither in a
kind of chardger, which was dedicated to this church, and hung on
two nailes, which are to be seen there yet, neer the belfree on
the south side. Some old men are yet living that doe remember the
chardger. This tradition is entred into the Register-booke there,
from whence I have taken this narrative," 1659.--See Hoare's
_Modern Wilts_, p. 49. J. B.

The following is also from the same book:

"Dr. Wm. Harvey, author of _The Circulation of the Blood_, told me
that one Mr. Palmer's wife, in Kent, did beare a child every day
for five daies together."