Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling variations have not been standardized. Ϲ (Greek Capital Lunate Sigma Symbol) rather than Σ has been used in some words to reproduce the characters exactly; Hebrew characters have been represented as printed. Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. A list of volumes and pages in "Notes and Queries" has been added at the end.]

NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION

FOR

LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."--Captain Cuttle.

VOL. V.--No. 120. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14. 1852.

Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

NOTES:--

The Old Countess of Desmond 145

The Imperial Eagle of France 147

Folk Lore:--Valentine's Day--Nottingham Hornblowing--Bee
Superstitions; Blessing Apple-trees;
"A Neck! a Neck!"--Hooping Cough 148

Note on the Coins of Vabalathus 148

The Agnomen of "Brother Jonathan," of Masonic
Origin 149

Minor Notes:--Hippopotamus, Behemoth--Curious
Inscription--Coins of Edward III. struck at Antwerp
in 1337 149

QUERIES:--

Is the Walrus found in the Baltic? 150

English Free Towns, by J. H. Parker 150

Minor Queries:--Bishop Hall's Resolutions--Mother
Huff and Mother Damnable--Sir Samuel Garth--German's
Lips--Richard Leveridge--Thomas Durfey--Audley
Family--Ink--Mistletoe excluded from
Churches--Blind taught to read--Hyrne, Meaning of--The
fairest Attendant of the Scottish Queen--"Soud,
soud, soud, soud!"--Key Experiments--Shield
of Hercules--"Sum Liber, et non sum," &c. 150

MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--Whipping a Husband;
Hudibras--Aldus--"The last links are broken"--Under
Weigh or Way--The Pope's Eye--"History
is Philosophy" 152

REPLIES:--

Coverdale's Bible, by George Offor 153

"As Stars with Trains of Fire," &c.,
by Samuel Hickson 154

Dials, Dial Mottoes, &c. 155

Can Bishops vacate their Sees? 156

Character of a True Churchman 156

Wearing Gloves in Presence of Royalty 157

Gospel Oaks 157

The Pendulum Demonstration 158

Expurgated Quaker Bible, by Archdeacon Cotton 158

Junius Rumours 159

Wady Mokatteb not mentioned in Num. xi. 26.,
by Rev. Dr. Todd 159

Replies to Minor Queries:--Rotten Row--"Preached from a
Pulpit rather than a Tub"--Olivarius--Slavery in Scotland
--Cibber's Lives of the Poets--Theoloneum--John of
Padua--Stoke--Eliza Fenning--Ghost Stories--Autographs of
Weever and Fuller--Lines on the Bible--Hell-rake--Family
Likenesses--Grimsdyke--Portraits of Wolfe, &c. 160

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, &c. 166

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 166

Notices to Correspondents 167

Advertisements 167

Notes.

THE OLD COUNTESS OF DESMOND.

(_Continued from_ Vol. iv., p. 426.)

I feel much obliged to J. H. M., who writes from Bath, and has directed my attention to Horace Walpole's "minute inquiry" respecting the "Old Countess of Desmond," as also to "Pennant's Tours," all which I have had opportunity of examining since I wrote to you last. The references do not incline me to alter one word of the opinion I have ventured as to the identity of this lady; on the contrary, with the utmost respect for his name and services to the cause of antiquarian research, I propose to show that Horace Walpole (whose interest in the question was, by his own confession, but incidental, and ancillary to his historic inquiries into the case of Richard III., and who had no direct data to go on) knew nothing of the matter, and was quite mistaken as to the individual.

Before I proceed on this daring undertaking, I beg to say, that an inspection of Pennant's print, called "The Old Countess of Desmond," _satisfies_ me that it is _not_ taken from a duplicate picture of that in possession of the Knight of Kerry: though there certainly is a resemblance in the faces of the two portraits, yet the differences are many and decisive. Pennant says that there are "four other pictures in Great Britain in the same dress, and without any difference of feature," besides that at Dupplin Castle, from which his print was copied; but that of the Knight of Kerry must be reckoned as a sixth portrait, taken at a _much more advanced period_ of life: in it the wrinkles and features denote _extreme_ old age. The head-dresses are markedly different, that of Pennant being a _cloth_ hood lying back from the face in folds; in the Knight of Kerry's, the head-dress is more like a beaver bonnet standing forward from the head, and throwing the face somewhat into shade. In Pennant's, the cloak is plainly fastened by leathern strap, somewhat after the manner of a laced shoe; in the other, the fastening is a single button: but the difference most marked is this, that the persons originally sitting for these pictures, looked opposite ways, and, of course, presented different sides to the painter. So that, in Pennant's plate, the _right side-face_ is forward; and in the other, the left: therefore, these pictures are markedly and manifestly neither the same, nor copies either of the other.

It does not concern us, in order to maintain the authority of our _Irish_ picture, to follow up the question at issue between Pennant and Walpole but I may here observe, that either must be wrong in an important matter of fact. Walpole, in a note to his "Fugitive Pieces" (Lord Orford's _Works_, vol. i. p. 210-17.), writes thus: "_Having by permission of the Lord Chamberlain obtained a copy of the picture at Windsor Castle, called The Countess of Desmond, I discovered that it is not her portrait; on the back is written in an old hand, 'The Mother of Rembrandt.'_" He then proceeds to prove the identity of this picture with one given to King Charles I. by Sir Robert Car, "My Lord Ankrom" (after Duke of Roxburg), and set down in the Windsor Catalogue as "_Portrait of an old woman, with a great scarf on her head, by Rembrandt_." Pennant's note differs from this in an essential particular; he mentions this picture at Windsor Castle thus: "_This was a present from Sir Robert Car, Earl of Roxburg, as is signified on the back; above it is written with a pen,_ 'REMBRANDT' (not a word of his _mother_), _which must be a mistake, for Rembrandt was not fourteen years of age in 1614_, at a time when _it is certain (?) that the Countess was not living, and ... it does not appear that he ever visited England_."

The discrepancy of these two accounts is obvious--if it "_be written in an old hand, 'The Mother of Rembrandt,'_" on the back of the picture, it seems strange that Pennant should _omit_ the first three words; if they be not so written, it seems equally strange that Walpole should venture to _add_ them. I presume the picture at Windsor is still extant; and probably some reader of "N. & Q." having access to it, will be so good as to settle the question of accuracy and veracity between two gentlemen, of whom one must be guilty of _suppressio veri_, or the other of _suggestio falsi_.

Horace Walpole, or his editor, must have corrected his "Fugitive Pieces" since the "Strawberry Hill edition," to which J. H. M. refers, was printed; for in the edition I have consulted, instead of saying "I can make no sense of the word _noie_," the meaning is correctly given in a foot-note to the inscription; and the passage given by J. H. M. is altogether omitted from the text.

I must now proceed in my bold attempt to show that Horace Walpole knew nothing of a matter, into which he made a "minute inquiry." This may seem presumptuous in a tyro towards one of the old masters of antiquarian lore and research; but I plead in apology the great advance of the science since Horace Walpole's days, and the greater plenty of materials for forming or correcting a judgement. It has been well said, that a single chapter of Mr. Charles Knight's _Old England_ would full furnish and set up an antiquarian of the last century; and this is true, such and so many are the advantages for obtaining information, which we modern antiquaries possess over those who are gone before us; and lastly, to quote old Fuller's quaintness, I would say that "a dwarf on a giant's shoulders can see farther than he who carries him:" thus do I explain and excuse my attempt to impugn the conclusion of Horace Walpole.

Walpole's first conjectures applied to a Countess of Desmond, whose tomb is at Sligo in Ireland, and who was widow to that _Gerald_, the sixteenth earl, _ingens rebellibus exemplar_, who was outlawed, and killed in the wood of _Glanagynty_, in the county of Kerry, A.D. 1583. Walpole applied to an Irish correspondent for copies of the inscriptions on her tomb; but we need not follow or discuss the supposition of her identity with "the old Countess" further, for he himself abandons it, and writes to his Irish correspondent thus:--"_The inscriptions you have sent me have not cleared away the difficulties relating to the Countess of Desmond; on the contrary, they make me doubt whether the lady interred at Sligo was the person reported to have lived to such an immense age._"

Well might he doubt it, for in no one particular could they be identified: _e.g._ the lady buried at Sligo made her will in 1636, and survived to 1656,--a date long beyond the latest assigned for the demise of "the old Countess." Sir Walter Raleigh expressly says, "the old Countess had _held her jointure from all the Earls of Desmond since the time of Edward IV._," a description which could not apply to the widow of a person who did not die until 1583, in the reign of Elizabeth. There are many other _impossibilities_ in the case, discussed by Walpole, into which it is unnecessary to follow him.

Walpole then reverts to the issue of Thomas, the sixth Earl of Desmond, who was compelled to surrender his earldom, A.D. 1418, for making an "inferior marriage;" and conjectures that "the old Countess" might have been the wife of a grandson of his born 1452, or thereabouts, who would be, as Walpole states, "a titular earl:" but this absurd supposition is met by the fact of our "old Countess" enjoying a jointure from all the earls _de facto_ in another line; a provision which the widow of an adverse claimant to the earldom could hardly have made good.

Walpole's last conjecture, following the suggestion of Smith's _History of Cork_, fixes on the widow of Thomas (_the twelfth earl_, according to the careful pedigree of Sir William Betham, though Smith erroneously calls him the thirteenth earl), and asserts the identity of the "old Countess" with a _second_ wife, called "Catherine Fitzgerald of Dromana" (the Dacres branch of the Geraldines): for this assertion Smith, in a footnote, quotes "the Russel MSS.," and Walpole calls this "the most positive evidence we have." Of the MSS. referred to, I can find no further trace, and this "positive evidence" is weakened by the silence of Lodge's _Peerage_ as to any second marriage of the earl in question, while, on the contrary, he gives many probabilities against it. Thomas (moyle, or bald), twelfth earl, succeeded to his nephew, James, the eleventh earl, in 1529, being then in extreme age, and died in five years after; he was the second brother of James, ninth earl, murdered in 1587--whose widow I affirm the old Countess to have been. Let us not lose sight of the fact, that the "old Countess," by general consent, was married in the reign of Edward IV., who died 1483. And I would ask, what probability is there that a younger brother would be already married to a _second wife_, in the lifetime of his elder brother, who is described as murdered "while flourishing in wealth and power at the age of twenty-nine years?" The supposition carries improbability on the face of it; none of the genealogies mention this second marriage at all; and Dr. Smith, whose county histories I have had particular occasion to examine, was, though a diligent collector of _reports_, no antiquarian authority to rely on. Above all, it is to be remembered, that Sir Walter Raleigh calls her "_The old Countess of Desmond of_ INCHEQUIN:" this is in itself proof, all but positive, that the lady was an _O'Bryen_, for none other could have "part or lot" in the hereditary designation of that family: hence I have no hesitation in adhering to the conclusion, which, with slight correction of dates, I have adopted from accurate authorities, that "MARGARET O'BRIEN, WIFE OF JAMES, NINTH EARL OF DESMOND, WHO WAS MURDERED IN 1587, WAS THE GENUINE AND ONLY 'OLD COUNTESS.'" Upon the only point on which I venture to correct my authority, namely, as to the date of the earl's death, I find, on reference to an older authority than any to which we have hitherto referred, that my emendation is confirmed. In the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled from more ancient documents still, in the year 1636, I find, under the date 1487, the following: "The Earl of Desmond, James Fitzgerald, was treacherously killed by his own people at Rathgeola (Rathkeale, co. Limerick), at the instigation of his brother John."

A. B. R.

Belmont.

THE IMPERIAL EAGLE OF FRANCE.

On reading the _Times_ of the 7th ult. at our city library, in which the following translation of a paragraph in the French journal, _Le Constitutionnel_, appeared, application was made to me for an explanation of that part where the Emperor Napoleon is represented as stating, among other advantages of preferring an eagle to a cock as the national emblem or ensign, which, during the ancient dynasty of France, the latter had been--

"_that it owes its origin to a pun._ I will not have the cock,
said the Emperor; it lives on the dunghill, and allows itself to
have its throat twisted by the fox. I will take the eagle, which
bears the thunderbolt, and which can gaze on the sun. The French
eagles shall make themselves respected, like the Roman eagles. The
cock, besides, has the disadvantage of owing its origin to a pun,"
&c.

Premising that the French journalist's object is to authorise the present ruler of France's similar adoption and restoration of the noble bird on the French standard by the example of his uncle, I briefly stated the circumstance to which Napoleon, on this occasion, referred; and as not unsuited, I should think, to your miscellany, I beg leave to repeat it here.

In 1545, during the sitting of the Council of Trent, Peter Danes, one of the most eminent ecclesiastics of France, who had been professor of Greek, and filled several other consonant stations, appeared at the memorable council as one of the French representatives. While there, his colleague, Nicholas Pseaume, Bishop of Verdun, in a vehement oration, denounced the relaxed discipline of the Italians, when Sebastian Vancius de Arimino (so named in the "Canones et Decreta" of the Council), Bishop of Orvietto (Urbevetanus), sneeringly exclaimed "Gallus cantat," dwelling on the double sense of the word Gallus--a Frenchman or a cock, and intending to express "the cock crows;" to which Danes promptly and pointedly responded, "Utinam et Galli cantum Petrus resipisceret," which excited, as it deserved, the general applause of the assembly, thus turning the insult into a triumph. The apt allusion will be made clear by a reference to the words of the Gospels: St. Matthew, xxvi. 75.; St. Mark, xiv. 68. 72.; St. Luke, xxii. 61-2.; and St. John, xviii. 27., where the ἀλεκτοροφωνία of the original is the "cantus galli" of the Vulgate, and where Petrus represents the pope, who is aroused to _resipiscere_ by the example of his predecessor St. Peter.

This incident in the memorable assembly is adverted to in the French contemporary letters and memoirs, but more particularly in the subsequent publication of a learned member of Danes's family, _La Vie, Eloges et Opuscules de Pierre Danes, par P. Hilaire Danes_, Paris, 1731, 4to., with the the portrait of the Tridentine deputy, who became Bishop of Lavaur, in Languedoc (now département du Saone), and preceptor to Francis, the short-lived husband of Mary Stuart, before that prince's ascent to the throne. So high altogether was he held in public estimation, that he was supposed well entitled to the laudatory anagram formed of his name (Petrus Danesius), "De superis natus."

In the Council of Trent there only appeared two Englishmen, Cardinal Pole and Francis Gadwell[1], Bishop of St. Asaph, with three Irish prelates, (1) Thomas Herliky, Bishop of Ross, called Thomas Overlaithe in the records of the Council; (2) Eugenius O'Harte, there named Ohairte, a Dominican friar, Bishop of Ardagh; and (3) Donagh MacCongal, Bishop of Raphoe: Sir James Ware adds a fourth, Robert Waucup, or Vincentius, of whom, however, I find no mention in the official catalogue of the assisting prelates. Deprived of sight, according to Ware, from his childhood, he yet made such proficiency in learning, that, after attaining the high degree of Doctor of Sorbonne in France, he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, or Primate of Ireland; but of this arch-see he never took possession, it being held by a _reformed_ occupant, Dr. George Dowdall, appointed by Henry VIII. in 1543.

[Footnote 1: [Query, Thomas Goldwell.]]

J. R. (Cork.)

FOLK LORE.

_Valentine's Day_ (Vol. v., p. 55.).--Your correspondent J. S. A. will find the following notice of a similar custom to the one he alludes to in Mr. L. Jewitt's paper on the Customs of the County of Derby, in the last number of the _Journal of the British Archæological Association_:

"Of the latter (divinations) there is a curious instance at
Ashborne, where a young woman who wishes to divine who her future
husband is to be, goes into the church-yard at midnight, and as
the clock strikes twelve, commences running round the church,
repeating without intermission--

'I sow hemp-seed, hemp-seed I sow,
He that loves me best
Come after me and mow.'

Having thus performed the circuit of the church twelve times
without stopping, the figure of her lover is supposed to appear
and follow her."

J.

_Nottingham Hornblowing._--About the beginning of December the boys in and around Nottingham amuse themselves, to the annoyance of the more peaceable inhabitants, by parading the streets and blowing horns. I have noticed this for several years, and therefore do not think it is any whim or caprice which causes them to act thus; on the contrary, I think it must be the relic of some ancient custom. If any of your correspondents could elucidate this, it would particularly oblige

STOMACHOSUS.

_Bee Superstitions--Blessing Apple-trees--"A Neck! a Neck!"_--The superstition concerning the bees is common among the smaller farmers in the rural districts of Devon. I once knew an apprentice boy _sent back_ from the funeral _cortège_ by the nurse, to tell the bees of it, as it had been forgotten. They usually put some wine and honey for them before the hives on that day. A man whose ideas have been confused frequently says his "head has been among the bees" (buzzing).

The custom is still very prevalent in Devonshire of "hollowing to the apple-trees" on Old Christmas Eve. Toasted bread and sugar is soaked in new cider made hot for the farmer's family, and the boys take some out to pour on the oldest tree, and sing--

"Here's to thee,
Old apple-tree,
From every bough
Give apples enough,
Hat fulls, cap fulls
Bushel, bushel boss fulls.
Hurrah, hurrah!"

The village boys go round also for the purpose, and get some halfpence given them for their "hollering," as they call it. I believe this to be derived from a Pagan custom of offering to Ceres.

The farmer's men have also a custom, on cutting the last sheaf of wheat on the farm, of shouting out "A neck! a neck!" as they select a handful of the finest ears of corn, which they bind up, and plait the straw of it, often very prettily, which they present to the master, who hangs it up in the farm kitchen till the following harvest. I do not know whence this custom arises.

WILLIAM COLLYNS, M.R.C.S.

Kenton.

_Hooping Cough._--In Cornwall, a slice of bread and butter or cake belonging to a married couple whose Christian names are John and Joan, if eaten by the sufferer under this disorder, is considered an efficacious remedy, though of course not always readily found.

W. S. S.

NOTE ON THE COINS OF VABALATHUS.

(Vol. iv., pp. 255. 427. 491.)

Since the publication of my last note on the coins of Vabalathus, I have obtained the _Lettres Numismatiques_ du Baron Marchant, 1850. The original edition being very rare, and I believe only three hundred of this one having been printed, I have thought it might be as well to record some additional information from it in your pages. Marchant reads, "Vabalathus Verenda Concessione Romanorum Imperatore Medis datus Rex." It is needless to remark on this, further than on the more ancient interpretations. He points out that the Greek letters, or rather numerals, show the coins to have been struck in a country where Greek, if not the popular language, was that of the government, along with Latin. This country was necessarily an Oriental one, and I think this observation would rather lead to the inference that the word VCRIMDR, occupying the place usually filled by Cæsar, Augustus, ϹΕΒΑϹΩϹ, &c., might be an Oriental title, though expressed in Latin letters. Millin, to whom he had communicated his view, thought correctly "que ça sentait un peu le père Harduin," and it was only published in the posthumous edition of his works. De Gauley has published coins struck by the Arabs in Africa, which have Latin legends, in some of which the Arabic titles are given in Latin letters. The Emir Musa Ben Nasir appears thus, MυSE. F. NASIR. AMIRA. The coins of Vabalathus offer a more ancient example of the same. I have given what appears to me the clue, and I hope it will be followed out by Orientalists. M. de Longperier, in his annotations to the 28th letter, shows that the name Ἀθηνᾶς is derived from Ἀθηνόδωρος, and appears to think ΑΘΗΝΟΥ or ΑΘΗΝΥ the genitive of ΑΘΗΝΑϹ. The difficulty, he says, is, that names in ᾶς have, in the Alexandrian dialect, the genitive ᾶτος. He does not appear to have noticed the reading as ΥΙοϹ (or ΟΥ as Ο ΥΙοϹ?), which appears to me to remove the difficulty, but also to obviate the necessity of the name Ἀθηνᾶς at all. He remarks on the similarity of name between Αθηνας, Αθηνατος, and Odenathus.

"If," he says, "we examine comparatively Vabalath (ΟΥΑΒΑΛΑΘ)
and Odenath, or rather Odanath, as in Zosimus, we see
an analogous formation; Ou-baalat, Ou-tanat, the feminine of Baal
or Bel, and of Tan, Dan, or Zan, preceded by the same syllable.
Baalat is a Scripture form (Jos. xix. 44.; 1 Kings ix. 48.; Paral.
ii. viii. 6.). De Gauley has found the name of Tanat in a
Phoenician inscription, and Lenormant remarks that this feminine
form of Zan, or Jupiter, corresponds to Athéné. Thus Ou-tanat is
the equivalent of Athenas, consequently of Athenodorus."

Vabalathus is thus, if these etymological considerations be correct, the son of Odenathus. Longperier proposes to read ΕΡΩΤΑϹ for ϹΡΩΙΑϹ, and to consider this the equivalent of Herodes, mentioned by Trebellius Pollio. With all deference to M. de Longperier, I venture to oppose the following objections. First, Some coins read ϹΡΙΑϹ, which would read ΕΡΤΑϹ on his principle. Since, in the coins of Zenobia, Vabalathus, and those bearing the name of Athenodorus, whether struck by Vabalathus or not, is not material at present, we find the names at full length, not omitting the vowels, it is natural to suppose that the same would here take place, if the word really were the name of Herodes. To explain, if we found ΖΗΝΟΒΙΑ and ΖΝΟΒΙΑ, ΑΘΗΝΟΔΩΡΟϹ and ΑΘΝΔΡΟϹ, or similar contractions, we might consider ΕΡΩΤΑϹ and ΕΡΤΑϹ identical. Secondly, On my specimens of this coin I find the ι in this word distinctly formed, and the Τ in the next word ΑΥΤ _as_ distinct. All authors have read this letter ι, although varying in the rest. Thirdly, On the obverse of these specimens the Ε is larger and more open than the Ϲ, as may be seen in the conclusion ...ΝΟϹ . ϹΕΒ, where it is preceded by two sigmas, and is easy to compare with them. We should naturally expect to find it having the same form on the reverse, if the reading ΕΡΩΤΑϹ were correct. But it is of the same size as the other letters, on my specimens at least. I need not say that there is no trace of the central stroke.

W. H. S.

Edinburgh.

THE AGNOMEN OF "BROTHER JONATHAN," OF MASONIC ORIGIN.

George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American army in the revolution, was a mason, as were all the other generals, with the solitary exception of Arnold the traitor, who attempted to deliver West Point, a most important position, into the hands of the enemy. It was this treasonable act on the part of Arnold which caused the gallant Andre's death, and ultimately placed a monument over his remains in Westminster Abbey. On one occasion, when the American army had met with some serious reverses, General Washington called his _brother officers_ together, to consult in what manner their effects could be the best counteracted. Differing as they did in opinion, the commander-in-chief postponed any action on the subject, by remarking, "Let us consult brother Jonathan," referring to Jonathan Trumbull, who was a well-known mason, and particularly distinguished "for his sound judgment, strict morals, and having the tongue of good report."

George Washington was initiated a mason in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Lodge No. 4, on the 4th of November, 1752, was passed a fellow craft on the 3rd of March, 1753, and raised to the sublime degree of a master mason on the 4th day of August, 1753. The hundredth anniversary of this distinguished mason's initiation is to be celebrated in America throughout the length and breadth of the land.

W. W.

La Valetta, Malta.

Minor Notes.

_Hippopotamus, Behemoth._--The young animal which has drawn so much attention hitherto, will increase in attractiveness as he acquires his voice, for which the zoologist may now _arectis auribus_ await the development. It has appeared singular to many who knew the Greek name of this animal to signify _river-horse_, that he should be so unlike a horse. Nevertheless, the Greeks who knew him only at a distance, as we did formerly, named him from his voice and ears after an animal which he so little resembles in other respects. The Egyptian words from which the Behemoth of Job (chap. xl. v. 10.) are derived, more fitly designate him as _water-ox_, _B-ehe-moūt_ = literatim, _the aquatic ox_.

T. W. B.

Lichfield.

_Curious Inscription_ (Vol. iv., pp. 88. 182.).--My ecclesiological note-book supplies two additional examples of the curious kind of inscription communicated by your correspondents J. O. B. and MR. E. S. TAYLOR (by the way, the one mentioned by J. O. B. was found also at St. Olave's, Hart Street; see Weever, _Fun. Mon._). These both occur at Winchester Cathedral: the first near a door in the north aisle, at the south-west angle:--

[<--] ILL PREC
AC ATOR
H VI [-->]
AMBVLA

The other on the south side:

CESSIT COMMVNI PROPRIVM JAM PERGITE
QVA FAS. 1632.

[-->]
ACR S ILL CH
S A IT A ORO
ERV F IST F
[<--]

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

[This curious inscription, with a translation, is given by Milner,
in his _History of Winchester_, vol. ii. p. 90.]

_Coins of Edward III. struck at Antwerp in 1337._--Ruding, in his _Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain_ (3rd ed. p. 212.), describing the coins of Edward III. (who often resided on the Continent, and whose sister Eleanor was married to Raimond III., Duke of Guelder), says:

"In November A.D. 1337, according to Grafton, the king was made
vicar-general and lieutenant to the emperor, _with power to coin
money of gold and silver_. He kept his winter at the castle of
Louvain, and caused great sums of money, both of gold and silver,
to be coined at Antwerp."

And in the note:

"Chronicle [of Grafton?] _sub anno_. Froissart also mentions this
fact. The silver coins were probably struck with English dies, and
consequently _are not now to be distinguished_."

Now, you will oblige me by informing your English readers, that though these may have been struck with English dies, they can readily be distinguished from other English coins by the legends. They are represented on Pl. viii., Nos. 19. and 20., in my _Munten der voormalige Hertogdommen Braband en Limburg, van de vroeyste Tijden tot aan de Pacificatie van Gend_. The type is wholly English, and agrees with the coins of Edward III., as I have remarked in the text. The _Moneta nostra_ indicates a joint coin (_i.e._ common to the emperor and to the king); as Coin No. 3. Pl. xxxiii. was probably a joint coin of Edward III. and Philip VI., King of France.

P. O. VAN DER CHŸS.

Leiden.

Queries.

IS THE WALRUS FOUND IN THE BALTIC?

Is the Walrus, or Sea-Horse, ever found in the Baltic, or in the ocean near Norway or Lapland?

Mr. J. R. Forster, in his Notes on the _Geography of Europe by King Alfred_, appended to the edition of _Orosius_ by Daines Barrington, says, at p. 243.:

"In the country of the Beormas he (Ohthere) found the
_horse-whales_ or the _Walrus_, animals which he distinguishes
carefully from the whales and the seals, of whose teeth he brought
a present to King Alfred, and which are found _nowhere but in the
White Sea, near Archangel_, and the other seas to the north of
Siberia. In all the ocean near Norway and Lapland, no walruses are
ever seen, _but still less in the Baltic_."

I wish to know if the walrus is found in the Baltic, and where it most abounds, with a reference to voyages or written works of authority where it is mentioned. Personal testimony would be valuable.

THROW.

ENGLISH FREE TOWNS.

A great many of your readers are doubtless aware that there are in France a number of towns commonly known by the name of _Villes Anglaises_, or the English towns, and also called _Bastides_. Many of these were certainly founded by Edward I., and important privileges were granted to these _Free Towns_ from motives of sound policy. These towns are all built on a regular plan, the principal streets wide, open, and straight, and crossing each other at right angles, with a large market-place, usually in the centre of the town. I have seen several of these towns, which preserve their original ground plan to the present time. I could mention other peculiarities about them; but it is not necessary for my purpose, which is to inquire whether we have any towns in England corresponding with them, of the same regular plan and arrangement. The only one I have been able to hear of is the ruined town of Winchelsea, which corresponds closely with them, and was also founded by Edward I. If any of your readers can inform me of any other town in England of the same plan, I shall be greatly obligated to them.

J. H. PARKER.

Oxford.

Minor Queries.

_Bishop Hall's Resolutions._--A small edition of Bishop Hall's _Resolutions and Decisions of Cases of Conscience_, printed in 1650, and consequently in the author's lifetime, has, as its frontispiece, a "vera effigies" of the venerable writer. On a fly-leaf there is, in the handwriting of the former possessor,--a man of much literary information,--this note: "The following portrait of Bishop Hall is rare and valuable." I should esteem it a favour if some one of your correspondents would inform me how far this is a correct estimate of the print.

S. S. S.

_Mother Huff and Mother Damnable._--Can any of your correspondents favour me with an account of Mother Huff? She is mentioned in Bishop Gibson's edition of the _Britannia_, in a list of wild plants found in Middlesex. In Park's _Hampstead_, p. 245., is the following extract from Baker's comedy of _Hampstead Heath_, 4to. 1706, Act II. Sc. 1.:

"_Arabella._ Well, this Hampstead's a charming place: to dance all
night at the Wells, and be treated at Mother Huff's," &c.

The place designated as "Mother Huff's" was, I think, the same as that known as "Mother Damnable's." The latter personage is mentioned in Caulfield's _Remarkable Characters_. Who was Mother Damnable? Can any of your correspondents furnish any additions to Caulfield's account of Mother Damnable?

S. WISWOULD.

_Sir Samuel Garth._--Can any of your numerous correspondents inform me when and where Sir Samuel Garth the poet was born, or favour me with a copy of the inscription on his tomb in Harrow Church? Some say he was born in Yorkshire; others that he was born at Bolam, in Durham.

S. WISWOULD.

_German's Lips._--In Fulke's _Defence of the English Translations of the Bible_ (Parker Society, 1843, p. 267.) he speaks thus:

"Beza's words agree to us, as well as German's lips, that were
nine miles asunder."

Can you inform me who German was, and where his lips were situated?

H. T.

[In our first Vol. p. 157. will be found a similar Query, founded
on passages in Calfhill and Latimer, in which the same allusion
occurs, but which has not as yet received any satisfactory reply.]

_Richard Leveridge._--Some years ago, I saw an oil-painting of this celebrated singer at an auction-room in Leicester Street. Can any of your readers give me a clue to its discovery?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Thomas Durfey._--Is there any other engraved portrait of this "distinguished" wit, besides the one prefixed to his _pills_?

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Audley Family._--Can any of your correspondents inform me whether there are any male representatives still existing of the family of _Audley_ (or _Awdeley_) of _Gransden_, in Huntingdonshire; or, if not, when it became extinct?

Thomas Audley, created Lord Audley of Walden, Lord High Chancellor, and K. G. by Henry VIII., had an only daughter and heiress, married to the Duke of Norfolk. He had also two brothers, Robert and Henry. _Robert_ was of _Berechurch_, in Essex; and, on the chancellor's death without male issue, inherited from him large landed property. His line flourished for several generations, and ended in Henry Audley--a weak and vicious spendthrift, who ruined himself, and died (without issue) in the Fleet Prison, in 1714, having married a daughter of Philip, Viscount Strangford. _Henry_, the chancellor's youngest brother, had the manor of _Great Gransden_, in Huntingdonshire, by a grant from Henry VIII., where his descendants were fixed for several generations. In the _Visitation of Hunts_, made in 1613, under the authority of William Camden (Clarencieux), there is a pedigree of the Audleys of Gransden, which comes down to Robert Audley, married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Marbury, who had two sons then living, _Robert_ and _Francis_, of the respective ages of three and two (in 1613): a daughter, _Elizabeth_, was born in 1614, and married William Sneyd, Esq., of Keele, co. Stafford; she had issue, and died 1686, aged seventy-two.

Gransden must have passed from the possession of that family not long after this visitation; for, in Charles II.'s time, it belonged to Sir Julius Cæsar: and in the catalogue of lords and gentlemen who compounded for their estates (1655), the only Audleys of Hunts who were mentioned, are, _Wheatehill Audley, of Woodhurst_; and _Molineux Audley, of St. Ives_ (both in Hunts). The parish registers of Gransden throw no light on the fate of the family. The church contains no memorials, and local tradition is silent.

Can any of your correspondents supply any information? My object is to ascertain whether the above-mentioned _Elizabeth_, married to Wm. Sneyd, did, or did not, become the representative of the family, by the death, without issue, of her brothers.

W. S.

Denton.

_Ink._--Can any of your correspondents enlighten me as to the nature of the ink used in the ancient MSS.; its delightful blackness, even in examples of great antiquity, is most refreshing to the eye.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

_Mistletoe excluded from Churches._--Is mistletoe excluded now from any church in the mistletoe-producing counties at Christmas? And was it ever admitted in Roman Catholic times?

T. GOLDSEER.

_Blind taught to read._--Burnet, in the postscript of his _Letter from Milan_, dated Oct. 1, 1685 (ed. Rotterdam, 1687, p. 114.), speaking of Mistress _Walkier_, who had been accidentally blinded in infancy, states, that her father "ordered letters to be carved in wood;" and that "she, by feeling the characters, formed such an idea of them, that she writes with a crayon so distinctly, that her writing can be well read." What is the earliest known instance of the blind being taught to read or write by the instrumentality of raised letters?

J. SANSOM.

_Hyrne, Meaning of._--During my recent investigations into our local history, I met with three places in this town with this word affixed--such as North _Hirne_, now called North Street; also Cold _Hyrne_, now called All Saints' Street, in South Lynn; and a place called Clink's _Heven_, in North Lynn.

I have also met with another village, "Guy_hirn_," in Cambridgeshire, of which most of your readers are aware; and my present object is to learn the meaning of this word?

JOHN NURSE CHADWICK.

King's Lynn.

_The fairest Attendant of the Scottish Queen._--Mary (of Guise), Dowager Queen of Scots, passed through England, on returning from a visit to France, in November 1551: she was lodged at the Bishop's Palace in London, and on her departure "divers lords and ladies brought her on her way; and when she came without Bishopsgate, _the fairest lady that she had with her of her country was stolen away from her_; and so she went forth on her journey." This passage is from _The Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London_, now printing for the Camden Society. Can any one tell me whether "the fairest lady's" elopement has been elsewhere recorded?

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS.

"_Soud, soud, soud, soud!_"--In the _Taming of the Shrew_, Act IV. Sc. 1., Petruchio, on arriving at his house, says to his bride:

"Sit down, Kate, and welcome. Soud, soud, soud soud!"

The word _soud_ puzzles the commentators.

Johnson takes it for _soot_ or _sooth_, sweet. Mason supposes it to denote the humming of a tune, or an ejaculation, for which it is not necessary to find out a meaning. Malone conjectures it to be a word coined to express the noise made by a person heated and fatigued.

This seems a proper subject for a Query.

T. C.

_Key Experiments._--Can some one of your correspondents afford me an explanation of the principles controlling the following experiment: Two persons, taking a large key, hold it balanced by the handle upon the forefinger of their opposite hands; the key should be tied in a thin book, with the handle projecting so far that the finger may easily pass between the book and the handle; the book serves to balance the key by its weight, and exhibits more plainly any movement of the key; both persons then wish the key to turn to the right or left, and, after a few moments, the key will take the desired direction. The earnest and united wish of the operators appears to be the motive power. The divination by "the Bible and key," given in your Vol. i., p. 413., and Vol. ii., p. 5., is evidently based on the same principles; and the mention of that superstition will be an apology for my making your pages the medium of the present inquiry, which is perhaps scarcely fitted for a publication designed for literary purposes.

J. P. Jun.

_Shield of Hercules._--In which of the English periodicals can I have met with a drawing of the Shield of Hercules, as described by Hesiod?

BATAVUS.

Amsterdam.

_"Sum Liber, et non sum," &c._--

"Sum Liber, et non sum liber, quia servio Servo.
Sum Servus Servo, Servus et ille Deo."

The above lines are written in the fly-leaf of a copy of the _Iliad_, Greek and Latin, which formerly belonged to Sir Isaac Newton, and bears his autograph. Can any of your correspondents inform me whence they are taken? or may they be considered as the original composition of Newton? The autograph is "Isaac Newton. Trin. Coll. Cant. 1661."

G. E. T.

Minor Queries Answered.

_Whipping a Husband--Hudibras._--In the first canto of _Hudibras_, part ii. l. 885., are these lines:

"Did not a certain lady whip
Of late her husband's own lordship?
And though a grandee of the house
Claw'd him with fundamental blows;
Ty'd him uncover'd to a bed-post,
And firk'd his hide, as if sh' had rid post.
And after in the Sessions Court,
Where whipping's judg'd, had honor for't?"

My copy of the poem, with Hogarth's plates, has no note on this passage. To whom does it refer? A _Bury Guide_, published in 1833, states that it occurred in that town in 1650 to a nobleman who had discovered an inclination to desert the Hanoverian cause.

BURIENSIS.

[Zachary Grey has given a long note on this passage, and states
that it was William Lord M-n-n, residing at Bury St. Edmunds,
whose lady, possessing the true disciplinarian spirit, tied his
lordship to a bed-post by the help of her maids, and punished him
for showing favours to the unsanctified Cavaliers; for which
salutary discipline she had thanks given her in open court.]

_Aldus._--What was the inscription on his printing-house, requesting his friends to dispatch their business with him as soon as possible, and then go about their business?

A. D. F.R.S.

[Over the door of his _sanctum_ Aldus placed the following
inscription:

"Whoever you are, ALDUS earnestly entreats you to dispatch your
business as soon as possible, and then depart; unless you come
hither, like another Hercules, to lend him some friendly
assistance; for here will be work sufficient to employ you, and as
many as enter this place."

This inscription was afterwards adopted, for a similar purpose, by
the learned Oporinus, a printer of Basil.]

"_The last links are broken._"--Who is the author of "The last links are broken?" If they are by Moore, in what part of his works are they to be found?

M. C.

[This ballad was written by Miss Fanny Steers.]

_Under Weigh or Way._--Does a ship on sailing get under "weigh," or under "way?"

E. S. T. T.

[Webster and Falconer are in favour of _way_. The latter says,
"The _way_ of a ship is the course or progress which she makes on
the water under sail. Thus, when she begins her motion, she is
said to be under way; and when that motion increases, she is said
to have fresh way through the water; whereas, _to weigh_ (_lever
l'ancre_, _appareiller_) is to heave up the anchor of a ship from
the ground, in order to prepare her for sailing."]

_The Pope's Eye._--Why is it that the piece of fat in the middle of a leg of mutton is called the "Pope's eye?"

J. D. G.

[Boyer, in his _French Dictionary_, explains it: "Le morceau gras
d'une éclanche ou d'un gigot de mouton." Others have derived it
from _popa_, which seems originally to have denoted that part of
the _fat_ of the victim separated from the thigh in sacrificing;
and in process of time, the priest who sacrificed.]

_"History is Philosophy," &c._--What is the exact source of the often repeated passage,

"History is philosophy teaching by examples?"

I am aware that it is commonly attributed to Bolingbroke, but a distinguished literary friend tells me that he cannot find it in Bolingbroke's writings, and suspects that, as is the case with some other well-known sayings, its paternity is unknown.

T.

[In the _Encyclopædia Metropolitana_, vol. ix., p. 13., this
passage is attributed to Dionysius of Halicarnassus.]

Replies.

COVERDALE'S BIBLE.

(Vol. v., pp. 59., 109.)

Learned disputes about the translation of Biblical words might occupy the pages of "N. & Q." to the discomfort of some of its readers. In fact its numbers might be all swallowed up in the important inquiry after those original texts which our eminent translators used when they supplied England with the water of life, by furnishing the country with a faithful translation of the Holy Oracles. To the martyr Tyndale, and the venerable servant of Christ, Coverdale, this nation and the world are indebted to an extent that no honour to their memory can ever repay. Tyndale, fearless, learned, and devoted, was sacrificed in the prime of life; while Coverdale, more cautious, went on to old age constantly energetic in promoting the Reformation.

Words and sentences can be produced in which Coverdale claims superiority over Tyndale. While Tyndale's is more suited to this day of fearless enquiry and meridian light, Coverdale's may be preferred as a gentler clearing away of the morning clouds which obscured the horizon after Wickliffe had introduced the day spring from on high.

It has become too much the fashion in our day to exalt Tyndale at the expense of Coverdale. This is ungenerous and unjust: they were both of them great and shining lights in the hemisphere of the Reformation. Tyndale's learning and decision of character gave him great advantages as a translator from languages then but little known; while Coverdale's cautious, pains-taking perseverance enabled him to render most essential service to the sacred cause of Divine Truth. Our inquiry commenced with the question, why the words "translated out of Douche and Latyn into Englyshe" appeared upon the title-page to _some_ copies of Coverdale's Bible, 1535. I must remind my excellent friend, the Rev. HENRY WALTER, that while the copy in the British Museum, and that at Holkham, has those words, a finer and unsophisticated copy in the library of Earl Jersey of the _same_ edition has no such words; and that the four editions subsequently published by Coverdale all omit the words "Douche and Latyn," and insert in their place, "faythfully translated in English." My decided impression is, that the insertion of those words on the first title-page was not with Coverdale's knowledge, and that, lest they should mislead the reader, they were omitted when the title was reprinted; and a dedication and prologue were added when the copies arrived in England, the dedication and preface being from a very different fount of type to that used in printing the text.

It must also be recollected that Coverdale altered his prologue to the reader in the copies dedicated to Edward VI. Instead of "To helpe me herein I have had sondrye translacyons, not onely in Latyn but also _of the Douche interpreters_," the last four words are omitted, and he has inserted, "in other languages." Coverdale, with indefatigable zeal, made use of every translation in his power. Tyndale's _Pentateuch_ had been for several years published, and had passed through two editions. His translation of _Jonah_, with a long prologue, was printed in 1530 and 1537, and republished in Matthew's (Tyndale's) Bible in 1549. The prologue is inserted in _The Works of Tyndale_, _Frith, and Barnes_, and the translation of _Jonah_ by Tyndale is denounced by Sir Thomas More. Why MR. WALTER doubts its existence I cannot imagine. The title-page is given at full length by Herbert in his _Typographical Antiquities_; and it is a fact that _Henry Walter_, in 1828, in his _Second Letter to the Bishop of Peterborough_, clearly states that which in 1852 he says is "adhuc sub judice." Coverdale rejected from the canon all apocryphal chapters and books, and placed them together as a distinct part, in four of his editions, between the Old and New Testaments, and in one between Esther and Job. In this he neither copied from the Latin nor the German.

No subject connected with English history has been more confused and misrepresented than the history of the English Bible. Mr. Anderson's errors in quotation are most remarkable,--a fact much to be regretted in so laborious a compilation. In his selection of passages to prove the superiority of Tyndale over Coverdale (_Annals_, vol. i. pp. 587, 588), in copying forty-six lines he has made _two hundred and sixty-one errors_; viz. 191 literal errors in spelling, 5 words omitted, 1 added, 2 words exchanged for others, 11 capitals put for small letters, 47 words in Italics which ought to be Roman, 3 words joined, and 1 divided. These extracts ought to have been correct, for accurate reprints were within his reach; it probably exhibits the most extraordinary number of blunders in as short a space as could be found in the annals of literature. Mr. Anderson is equally unfortunate in nearly all his extracts from written documents and printed books: let one more instance suffice. He quotes the just and memorable words of Dr. Geddes in eulogy of our translations made in the reign of Henry VIII. It is astonishing how little obsolete the language of it is, even at this day, and "in point of perspicuity and noble simplicity, propriety of idiom, and purity of style, no English version has yet surpassed it." To this extract Mr. Anderson adds a note (vol. i. p. 586.): "These words are applied by Geddes, by way of distinction, to Tyndale, and not to Coverdale, as sometimes quoted." They occur in Dr. Geddes's _Prospectus for a New Translation of the Holy Bible_, 4to. 1786, p. 88. His words are: "The first compleat edition of an English version of the whole Bible, from the originals, is that of Tyndale's and Coverdale's together." It is to the united labours of these two great men that Dr. Geddes applies his just, and, for a Roman Catholic, liberal eulogium.

Amidst a mass of errors Mr. Anderson complains, in a note on p. 569., that Lewis's _History of the English Bible_ is "grievously in want of correction!" Mr. Anderson's _Annals_ are encumbered with a heavy disquisition on the origin of printing, which reminds us of Knickerbocker's _History of New York_, in which we find to a considerable extent learned accounts of the cosmogony of creation, because, if the world had not been created, in all probability New York would not have existed: the same probability connects the origin of printing with the history of the English Bible. Why the annalist should have omitted any notice of those important Roman Catholic translations at Rheims and Douay, after a long account of Wickliffe's, which was from the same source, is as difficult to account for as is his total silence with regard to a most important revision of the New Testament made in the reign of Edward VI., called by the Company of Stationers "the most vendible volume in English," and which was introduced into Parker's, or the Bishop's Bible, in 1568. A good historical work on this subject is greatly needed, showing not only the editions and gradual improvement, but also the sources whence our translation was derived, and its faithfulness and imperishable renown.

GEORGE OFFOR.

"AS STARS WITH TRAINS OF FIRE," ETC.

(Vol. v., p. 75.)

Your correspondent A. E. B. has shown on more than one occasion so high an appreciation of the wonderful powers of Shakspeare, and his speculations in connexion therewith are so ingenious, that I feel considerable regret when I am compelled to dissent from his conclusions. I believe with him, that Shakspeare's learning has been very much underrated; but at the same time it must be confessed, that so soon as we abandon the intuition, which some would substitute for learning, by which his knowledge was acquired, the latter ceases to be "mysterious." I regret, however, to say that, if it could be shown that he wrote "asters," and with the intention which A. E. B. claims for him, my conclusion would be against that misuse of learning which left the meaning of a passage dependent on the antithesis between two words used each in a sense different from the usual one, and not understood by the audience to whom they were addressed.

Let us now take another view of the question. The purpose of the passage is to record the occurrence of a series of omens, the harbingers of "fierce events." "The graves _stood tenantless_;" "the sheeted dead _did squeak and gibber_;" "the moist star _was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse_:" each circumstance is distinct. But what did "asters with trains of fire," and "disasters in the sun" do? Mr. Knight says that Malone's proposal to substitute "astres" for "as stars," appears to get rid of the difficulty; but not until the English language admits of the formation of a perfect sentence without a verb will it do so. In short, there is nothing gained by the substitution, as Malone saw when he proposed to turn "disasters" into "_disasterous_," and to supply the verb.

I have no alteration of my own to propose; but I think possibly a suggestion as to the directions to be taken in search of the right text may be of service. In the case of a line or lines being lost, nothing can be done; but I discern a gleam of hope in two other directions. In the first place it is to be observed, that the thoughts of the speaker would in all probability be turned to _night_-portents. There is a reference to the same circumstances in _Julius Cæsar_, Act II. Sc. 2., as having occurred in the night, and been seen by the watch. Now, though there is certainly no reason why Horatio might not have enumerated spots in the sun as one of the omens preceding terrible events, it seems scarcely probable that it was in the order of his allusions to the events of the "fearful night" preceding the death of Cæsar. Let the corruption then be sought for here. Or look for a verb in the place of "disasters" that shall intelligibly connect "the sun" with what precedes. "As stars" must not be changed into "asters" until it can be shown that such change is necessary to a better constructed sentence than any which has yet been suggested.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

St. John's Wood.

DIALS, DIAL MOTTOES, ETC.

(Vol. iv., p. 471., &c.)

Perhaps the following will be of use to your correspondent HERMES (Vol. iv., p. 471.), referring to dials which I take to mean sun-dials.

Lately there was rather an interesting object of that kind to be seen upon the south wall of Glasgow Cathedral, with this motto or inscription:--

"Our life's a flying shadow, God's the pole,
The index pointing at Him is our soul;
Death the horizon, when our sun is set,
Which will through Christ a resurrection get."

That the above cannot now be classed among _living_ inscriptions is entirely to be ascribed to the zeal for clean walls exhibited by Her Majesty's Commissioners of Woods and Forests, under whose auspices the renovation of our cathedral has been accomplished. I regret to mention some other memorials have also disappeared, long familiar to the eye of the antiquary--not granting but that these gentlemen have a power to do what they please; however, _en passant_, we would entreat, if they can, to lay on their hands as charily as possible when such innocent matters come in their way. Though the following well-known lines--

"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust inclosed here;
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones"--

be not literally applicable in the present case, they breathe such a spirit as would almost make any one "nervous" in tampering with revered and time-honoured relics nearly become sacred.

Glasgow does not appear at all rich in dial erections; the only one I know of is in our old street the Gallowgate (or _Gallow's Gate_; as you would say, _the road to Tyburn_), on the south front of a tenement, with no motto, but date 1708. Our long fame for numerous public clocks and excellent bells, according to the ancient adage--

"_Glasgow for bells_,
Linlithgow for wells,
Falkirk for beans and pease,
Edinburgh for wh----s and thieves,"

together with our frequent wet murky atmosphere, may all have contributed to the unfavourableness of endeavouring to mark the flight of Time through the medium of the solar rays.

The cities and villages under the sunny skies of southern climates, and where also appears a better taste generally than with us for inscriptions on public and private monuments, would, I think, be the richest field for HERMES to explore. I speak from some little observation in a tour of France and Italy, &c., in the year 1846. Sun-dials were to me objects of curiosity, but not of that importance as to be engrossing. On a loose memorandum I have the two following mottoes which particularly struck me, but have not preserved a note of the places, that I think lay on the route from Florence to Bologna:--

(Latin Englished) "This dial indicates every hour to man but his
last."

"Se il Sol benigno, mi concede il raggio,
L'ora ti mostra, è il ciel ti dia buon viaggio."

On a building near the Cathedral of Geneva, there is rather a novel and curious example of the sun-dial, in a perpendicular line bisected on each side by two curves, the curve on the one side _black_, the other _gilded_, with the following:--

"Fait en 1778--Restauré en 1824,
La Courbe noire Indique le Midi du 21 Juin au 21 Décembre,
et la
Courbe dorée du 21 Décembre au 21 Juin."

Meridian lines, though not, properly speaking, coming under the order of sun-dials, may be reckoned so far cognate; fine specimens of these may be seen in the cathedrals of Milan, Bologna, &c.

Public clocks occasionally become objects of considerable interest, as at Berne, &c., not to mention the _monster_ of Strasbourg, which all the world has heard of.

Quaint allegorising on such subjects as the foregoing, as presenting different stages in the life of man and the fleeting nature of times and things, were not unusual among our old Scotch divines, as in the subsequent quotation from _The Last Battell of the Soule in Death_, by Mr. Zachary Boyd, Glasgow, 1629:--

"Men's dayes are distributed vnto them like _houres_ upon the
_Horologe_: some must liue but till _one_; another vnto _two_;
another vnto _three_. The _Palme_ turneth about, and with its
finger pointeth at the _houre_. So soone as man's appointed
_houre_ is come, whether it bee the _first_, _second_, or _third_,
there is no more biding (abiding) for him. _Nec prece nec precio_,
neither by _pryce_ nor _prayer_ can Death be moued to spare him
but an _houre_; no, not, As the sound of the _clocke bell_
ringing, his last _houre_ passeth away with all speede, and
turneth not againe, so must the poor man at death packe him out of
sight, and no more be seene upon the _land of the living_."

NIGEL.

Glasgow.

CAN BISHOPS VACATE THEIR SEES?

(Vol. iv., p. 293.)

In answer to your correspondent K. S.'s Query, "Can bishops vacate their sees?" I have little hesitation in saying that they can; though I know of no instance (in modern times) of such an occurrence (except colonial bishops); nor have I ever heard of any one but Dr. Pearce who wished so to do. Lord Dover is, however, mistaken in supposing that "his resignation could not be received, on the ground that a bishopric, as being a peerage, is inalienable." The bishop's own account of the matter (see his Life, prefixed to his _Commentary on the Gospels and Acts_) is as follows:--Feeling himself unable, from his age and other infirmities, to perform any longer his duties as Bishop of Rochester, and wishing like Charles V. to retire from the world, he requested his friend Lord Bath to apply to the king for permission to resign. He was soon after sent for by the king, who told him that he had consulted _Lord Mansfield and Lord Northington, and that neither of them saw any objection_. In the mean time, however, Lord Bath asked the king to appoint, as his successor in the see of Rochester, Dr. Newton, then Bishop of Bristol. On this the ministry, not wishing any ecclesiastical dignities to be granted except through their hands, interfered so as to prevent the resignation from being effected; Dr. Pearce being told by the king that his resignation could not be accepted, but that he should have all the credit of it.

Lord Dover's mistake is, I think, to be attributed to his assumption that bishops are peers of the realm. This is, however, by no means the case. A bishop is simply _a Lord of Parliament_, and possesses none of the privileges of the peerage; not those, among others, of freedom from arrest, and trial by their peers. A peer can only be deprived of his peerage by a special act of parliament, and after a trial by the House of Lords; while a bishop can be deprived of his see, and, of consequence, of his seat in the House of Lords, by the sentence of the archbishop of the province, assisted by such of his suffragans as he may summon. The two last instances of deprivation were those of Bishop Watson, of St. David's, by Archbishop Tenison, and of the Bishop of Clogher, in 1822.

A bishop so deprived does not cease to be a bishop, but only ceases from having jurisdiction over a diocese. Whether a bishop can be deposed from his episcopal office altogether is a matter of doubt, though it is held by most of those who are learned in the canon law, that there is not sufficient authority in any ecclesiastical person, or body of persons, to degrade from the office of bishop any one who has once received episcopal consecration.

R. C. C.

Oxon.

CHARACTER OF A TRUE CHURCHMAN.

(Vol. v., p. 105.)

J. Y. makes an inquiry as to the author of the _Character of a True Churchman_, printed 1711. Your correspondent will do me good service by stating the size, and giving the first few words, of his tract. In 1702, or perhaps in the preceding year, Richard West, D.D., Fellow of Magd. Coll. Oxford, and prebendary of Winchester, published _The True Character of a Churchman, showing the False Pretences to that Name_, one sheet in quarto, no date, of which I have two editions; and it was reprinted in the Somers' _Tracts_: "It is commonly observed," &c. This was answered by Sacheverell in _The Character of a Low Churchman_, 4to. 1702: "It cannot but be visible," &c. And in the same year there was an edition of both these characters printed, paragraph by paragraph, the original character and the reply: London, for A. Baldwin.

I have also _The Character of a True Church of England Man_, a single sheet in 4to.: London, by D. Edwards for N. C. 1702: "Next to the name Christian." And _The True Churchman and Loyal Subject_: London, for J. Morphew, 1710, 8vo. pp. 168.: "The name of the church in whose communion I am," &c. Is this the same with J. Y.'s book with another title?

P. B.

[We have submitted the above to J. Y., who states that "neither of
the tracts mentioned by P. B. is the one noticed in his Query. It
commences with the following words: 'He [_i.e._ the True
Churchman] is one who is not only called a Christian, but is in
truth and reality such.' Prefixed is a short letter from the
author to his friend in the country; and the edition of 1711
appears to have been the first. It makes sixteen pages of octavo,
and consists of short sententious paragraphs, more practical and
devotional than controversial. J. Y. discovered it in the British
Museum bound up with Dr. Hickes' _Seasonable and Modest Apology_,
and other tracts."]

WEARING GLOVES IN PRESENCE OF ROYALTY.

(Vol. i., p. 366.; Vol. ii., pp. 165. 467.; Vol. v., p. 102.).

MR. SINGER'S explanation (Vol. ii., p. 165.) is simple, and, I believe, correct. The covered hands might be considered as discourteous as a covered head: but why should uncovering either be a mark of respect? The solution of this question seems to me of some curiosity, and may perhaps be to many of your readers of some novelty. These and most other modern forms of salutation and civility are derived from chivalry, or at least from war, and they all betoken some deference, as from a conquered person to the conqueror; just as in private life we still continue to sign ourselves the "very humble servants" of our correspondent.

The _uncovered_ head was simply the head _unarmed_; the helmet being removed, the party was at mercy. So the hand _ungloved_ was the hand _ungauntleted_, and to this day it is an incivility to shake hands with gloves on. Shaking hands itself was but a token of truce, in which the parties took hold each of the other's _weapon-hand_, to make sure against treachery. So also a gentleman's _bow_ is but an offer of the neck to the stroke of the adversary: so the lady's _curtsey_ is but the form of going _on her knees_ for mercy. This general principle is marked, as it ought naturally to be, still more strongly in the case of military salutes. Why is a discharge of guns a _salute_? Because it leaves the guns empty, and at the mercy of the opponent. And this is so true, that the saluting with blank cartridge is a modern invention. Formerly salutes were fired by discharging the cannonballs, and there have been instances in which the compliment has been nearly fatal to the visitor whom it meant to honour. When the _officer_ salutes, he points his drawn sword to the ground; and the salute of the troops is, even at this day, called "_presenting arms_,"--that is, presenting them to be taken.

There are several other details both of social and military salutation of all countries which might be produced; but I have said enough to indicate the principle.