Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling variations have not been standardized. Characters with macrons have been marked in brackets with an equal sign, as [=e] for a letter e with a macron on top; [)u] shows a character with breve. 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. 132. SATURDAY, MAY 8. 1852.

Price Fourpence. Stamped Edition, 5_d._

CONTENTS.

Page

On Sir Robert Peel, and his Claims to be remembered
by the Literary Men of England 433

NOTES:--

Sitting in Bede's Chair, by Cuthbert Bede 434

Inedited Poetry, by W. Sparrow Simpson 435

On a Passage in "Measure for Measure," Act I. Sc. 1.,
by S. W. Singer 435

Folk Lore:--Sites of Buildings mysteriously
changed--Burning the Bush--Essex Superstition 436

Old Song, "Not long ago I drank a full Pot" 437

Minor Notes:--Boston and Bunker's Hill--Snooks--Last
Slave sold in England--Hoax on Sir Walter Scott 438

QUERIES:--

Irish Queries 439

Minor Queries:--The Azores--Johnny Crapaud--Poems
in the "Spectator"--Old John Harries, "Bishop of
Wales"--University Hood--Black Rood in Scotland; Cross
Neytz--Crown Jewels once kept at Holt Castle--"Cane
Decane," &c.--Rev. John Meekins, D.D.--Finsbury
Manor--Frebord--The Stature of Queen Elizabeth--Portrait
of Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough--Inscription
by Luther--"O Juvenis frustra," &c.--All-fours--Richard,
second Son of the Conqueror--Francis Walkinghame--Optical
Phenomenon 439

MINOR QUERIES ANSWERED:--Abraham-men--Author of "Le Blason
des Couleurs"--Banyan-day--General Urmston--Works of
Alexander Neville--Lindisfarne--Index to the Critical
Review--"No great shakes" Translation of Richard de
Bury--Life of Ken--Wedding Rings--Monasteries, &c.
dissolved--Bishops at the Hampton Court Controversy 442

REPLIES:--

Scottish Regalia 443

Gospel Oaks, by Professor Theodore Goedes 444

Mitigation of Capital Punishment to a Forger 444

Lords Marchers of Wales, by E. Smirke 445

Doctrine of the Resurrection 446

Can a Clergyman marry himself? 446

Replies to Minor Queries:--Algernon Sydney--Cock-and-Bull
Stories--Thomas Crawford--Longevity--Theological
Tract: The Huntyng of the Romish Fox--Moke--Ground
Ice--Nobleman alluded to by Bishop Berkeley--House at
Welling--Constable of Scotland--The Iron Plate in Lewes
Castle--Chelwoldesbury--"The King's Booke"--Key
Experiments--Rhymes on Places--Old Scots March,
&c.--Ecclesiastical Geography--"Please the Pigs"--The Word
Shunt--Plato's Lines in "Antho. Palat."--Abigail--Nuremberg
Token--Meaning of Lode--Mother Damnable--Monuments
of De la Beche Family--Coke and Cowper--Monumental
Portraits--Motto on Chimney-piece--"Ve dâl am
daro"--White-livered--Enigmatical Epitaphs--Pelican in
her Piety, &c. 447

MISCELLANEOUS:--

Notes on Books, &c. 454

Books and Odd Volumes wanted 454

Notices to Correspondents 454

Advertisements 455

SIR ROBERT PEEL, AND HIS CLAIMS TO BE REMEMBERED BY THE LITERARY MEN OF ENGLAND.

One of the most interesting of the recently published parts of Murray's _Reading for the Rail_ is unquestionably _Theodore Hook, a Sketch_, which has been reprinted from the _Quarterly Review_, with some additional notes. Of these there is one (at p. 62.) which presents us with the following honorable and characteristic anecdote of the late Sir Robert Peel:--

"The writer of this sketch, now that Sir R. Peel is no more among
us, takes this, perhaps his only opportunity of mentioning the
generosity of that statesman's conduct towards Maginn. The Doctor
having always retained the strong feelings of an Irish Orangeman,
was one of those who condemned with severity Sir Robert's
pro-Catholic policy of 1829; nor, perhaps was there any one writer
of the time by whom the personal motives of the minister were more
unmercifully dealt with. The Doctor assailed them with unwearied
pertinacity, in various newspapers and magazines; but especially
in rhymes only less galling than the fiercest of Swift's. He had
never been personally acquainted with Peel, who could have known
nothing about him so distinctly as this hostility. Yet when, a few
years before Maginn's death, some of his friends were privately
making a subscription to relieve him from some pressing
difficulties, Sir Robert, casually hearing of it, immediately sent
through the writer of this sketch, with a stipulation for secrecy,
the sum of 100_l._ as a contribution to the fund. The writer
believes that Sir Robert on various subsequent occasions
interfered on the Doctor's behalf in a manner not less liberal,
and with the same delicate precautions. At all events, when the
doctor was near his end, Sir Robert forwarded for his use a
similar benefaction of 100_l._ The writer has no reason to suppose
that Maginn was ever aware of any of these kind deeds. It remains
to be added that, some years after Dr. Maginn's death, his only
son, on attaining the requisite age, received a cadetship in the
East Indies from Sir Robert Peel's last government."--(1852.)

The perusal of this interesting passage has reminded us of a desire which we felt most strongly at the time when the country lost the distinguished man to whom it relates; and which we should then have given expression to, but for the fear that in the multitude of projects for doing honour to his memory then floating before the public eye, what we had to propose might not be received in the way which his merits deserved.

Sir Robert Peel was pre-eminently a patron of English Literature and literary men; and we hoped, and do still hope, to see a recognition of his great claims in that special character on the part of the men of letters in this country. The most appropriate that occurs to us would be the erection of his bust or statue in the vestibule of that national establishment, in the welfare and management of which he always took so great an interest--we mean the British Museum.

The minister who, in terms alike honorable to himself and to the man of letters to whom the dignity was offered, tendered a baronetcy to Southey, and conferred upon him a pension of 300_l._ a year--who gave the same amount to Wordsworth--who gave to James Montgomery 150_l._ a year, and to Tytler, to Tennyson, and to M'Culloch, each 200_l._ a year--who bestowed a pension upon Frances Brown, and gave a 100_l._ a year to the widow of Thomas Hood--who gave the first appointment of his first administration to a son of Allan Cunningham, and placed the sons of Mrs. Hemans in the service of the Crown,--Sir Robert Peel, the man and the minister who could thus recognise the claims of Literature[1], and not, like ministers of old, stipulate for a return in the political support of those whom he so distinguished, was surely a person whose memory the men of letters in this country should not be slow to honour.

[Footnote 1: We have confined our remarks to Sir Robert Peel's
patronage of Literature; but that patronage was as liberally
bestowed upon Science and Art. To him Mrs. Somerville and Sir M.
Faraday were indebted for their pensions; and while his friendship
with Lawrence, Wilkie, and Chantrey, and his patronage of Collins,
Roberts, Stansfield, &c., cannot be forgotten, his prompt and most
kind response to poor Haydon's application for assistance, though
addressed to him at a moment when plunged in the fiercest
political struggle in which he was ever engaged, can never be
forgotten.]

Let us hope that the moment has arrived when they will do justice to him who was so ready to recognise their claims. Let Lord Mahon or Mr. Hallam, who enjoyed the friendship of Sir Robert Peel, step forward and begin the good work. An appeal from either of them would arouse a host. They would be supported by all who love Literature, from the highest to the humblest. Who can doubt that the author of _Coningsby_ and the author of _Don Carlos_ would rejoice at the opportunity, which would thus be afforded them, of uniting to do honour to the memory of a political opponent, in that character in which he deservedly won the applause of all men--as the judicious and munificent PATRON OF THE LITERATURE OF OUR NATIVE COUNTRY.

Notes.

SITTING IN BEDE'S CHAIR.

One of the most interesting antiquities of Jarrow Church, Northumberland, is the chair of the Venerable Bede. It is preserved in the vestry of the church, whither all brides repair as soon as the marriage service is over, to seat themselves upon it. This, according to the popular belief, will make them the joyful mothers of children; and the expectant mothers (as I have been informed) would not consider the marriage ceremony complete, until they had been enthroned in the Venerable Bede's chair. The chair is very rude and substantial; made of oak; in height, four feet ten inches; having an upright back, and sides that slope off for the arms. According to the barbarous English fashion, it is carved over with the nomenclature of all the vulgar obscurities of the neighbourhood, whose sacrilegious penknives, together with the wanton depredations of relic-hunters, have so "shorn" the chair of its "fair proportions," that soon nothing but its attenuated form, "small by degrees, and beautifully less," will be left for the future Childe Harold to address with--

"Can it be,
That this is all remains of thee?"

Every foreigner who has visited our churches and cathedrals cannot fail to remark how the English love of popularity glares forth in its most sickly form in this barbarous custom of writing and carving names upon monuments, or other works of art. Every observant person, too, when he sees John Smith's name and full address, scratched with painful and elaborate accuracy upon the stern but noseless face of some alabaster knight, while he wonders at the gratuitous trouble which John Smith has taken, must deplore the want of education thus so lamentably evinced. Happily, this vulgar taste (so far as our churches are concerned) is now under some control; but, nevertheless, it is still sad to see--at Lichfield, for example--that control obliged to take the visible shape of railings, to prevent Messrs. Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson from handing their names down to posterity on the life-like marble of Chantrey's "Sleeping Children." I have heard that this mode of defacing monuments took its rise in the time of the Protectorate; and I would wish to put this in the form of a _Query_: Whether it was so, or no? With the impression that it _was_ the case, I have for many years past examined the dates that accompanied names scratched upon monuments, and never found a date earlier than the Protectorate. The subject seems worth the inquiry.

To return to Bede's chair. It has often been engraved: but the best representation of it that I know, is that by Mr. W. B. Scott, in his _Antiquarian Gleanings of the North of England_. Besides his careful etching of the present state of the chair, he also gives a suggestive woodcut of its restoration. The ornamental portion he confines to the front of the seat, and the head of the chair.

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_Dedication Stone at Jarrow Church._--While on the subject of Bede's chair at Jarrow, it may not prove altogether useless to transcribe you a faithful copy of the dedication stone of Jarrow Church, which is now placed against the tower-arch of the nave:

DEDICATIO BASILICAE
SCIPAVLI VIIII KL MAI
ANNO XVECFRIDIREG

CEOLFRIDIABBEIVSQ
Q·ECCLESDOAVCTORE
CONDITORIS ANNO IIII

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

INEDITED POETRY.

The _first_ piece in the volume of MS. poetry referred to in my communication in Vol. v., p. 387., may perhaps be deemed of sufficient interest to occupy a place in your columns. It is entitled "A Ballad," and appears to me worthy of notice from its quaintness both in style and rhythm.

"A BALLAD.

"Sure glorious Modesty again will rise,
Since she can conquer in bright Marcia's eyes.
Each look of hers creates a lambent fire,
And youth and age concur her virtue to admire.
Hence flow these lines from an unpolish'd hand,
Which thinks her Marcia should the world command.
Go, lovely maid, and let each virgin see
How graceful modesty appears in thee.
That they may all thy imitators be,
And give example to posterity.

1.

"View Marcia's native charms,
She's graceful in behaviour,
By wise advice she steers,
And with all the world's in favour.
No foolish talk slides from her tongue,
Her eyes ne'er wanton seem,
Regards her friends, respects the great,
And is humble to the mean.

2.

"How gentle is her voice,
Not loud with foul detraction,
Good sense guides all her words,
And prudence every action.
Not stiff in dress, or careless she,
But in the graceful mean,
What e'er she wears she still appears
Like some majestic queen.

3.

"Her mind and thoughts still tends [sic]
How to perform her duty;
To her parents' laws she bends,
Which adds more to her beauty.
In conduct she a matron is
With cheerful air and mein, [sic]
The steddiness of sixty years, [sic]
In look she's scarce fifteen.

4.

"In friendship most sincere,
As well as in devotion,
To herself alone severe,
And guards her every motion.
Her conquering eyes give her no pride,
Her charms she will not know,
Nor meaner beautys does deride [sic],
Tho' they their envy show.

5.

"How lovely is that face
Where modesty's adorning,
And Marcia with that grace
Is improving every morning.
She like the glorious sun in spring
Is encreasing every day,
For her Apollo's harp he'll string,
And the Muses sing their lay.

6.

"How happy is this nymph,
Whose noble inclination,
All subtle arts contemns
And sligh made assignation: [sic]
Whose hours are spent in useful works,
Or reading tracts divine,
The young, the grave, the wise, the brave,
Pay homage at her shrine.
And so does
Her humble slave,

"JUBA ISSHAM."

I hope that some of your readers will be able to explain this signature, which is to me inexplicable.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON.

ON A PASSAGE IN "MEASURE FOR MEASURE," ACT I. SC. 1.

Dr. Johnson long since observed that "there is perhaps not one of Shakspeare's plays more darkened than this by the peculiarities of its author, and the unskilfulness of its editors, by distortions of phrase, or negligence of transcription."

Under these circumstances we cannot be surprised that we are favoured with three pages of notes on the following passage, which occurs in the opening scene:

"_Duke._ Escalus.

"_Escal._ My lord.

"_Duke._ Of government the properties to unfold,
Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse:
Since I am put to know, that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice
My strength can give you: Then no more remains
But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work."

I must refer those who are desirous of seeing the various attempts to extract a meaning from this passage to the Variorum Edition, and content myself with those of the two latest editors, Mr. Collier and Mr. Knight.

Mr. Collier says:

"This passage is evidently corrupt, as is shown both by the metre
and the sense. The latter will be cleared by the omission of the
preposition 'to:' 'then no more remains [to be said], but that
your sufficiency, as your worth is able, and let them work.' This
change, however, will only partially cure the defective measure;
and even were we to omit 'that,' as well as 'to,' the line would
not be perfect without reducing 'sufficiency' to a trisyllable. It
has been thought best, therefore, to leave the text as it stands
in the first folio. 'Sufficiency' is adequate authority."

Mr. Knight says:

"We encounter at the onset one of the obscure passages for which
this play is remarkable. The text is usually printed thus:

"'Then no more remains
But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work.'

"It is certainly difficult to extract a clear meaning from this;
and so Theobald and Hanmer assume that a line has dropped out,
which they kindly restore to us, each in his own way. The
emendation which Steevens proposes is much less forced: 'Then'
(says the Duke), 'no more remains to say,

"'But your sufficiency as your worth is able,
And let them work.'

"It is not our purpose to remove obscurities by additions or
omissions, and therefore we leave the passage as in the original,
excepting a slight alteration in the punctuation. We believe it
may be read thus, without much difficulty. '_Then no more remains_
(to say on government) _But that_, (your science) _to your
sufficiency_, (joined to your authority) _as your worth_ (as well
as your virtue) _is able_ (equal to the duty), _and let them work_
(call them into action).'"

I cannot say that this exposition (paraphrastic as it is) is clear to me; and I feel confident that our great poet never wrote the words "But that," following as they do "Exceeds in that." What does "But that" refer to? It cannot refer to "science," as Mr. Knight imagines. The remedy lies in a very trifling correction of the press. In the MS. from which the play was printed, the words "But thrto" were thus written, and the compositor mistook "thr" for "tht;" there is no comma after _that_ in the old copies. Replace "thereto" and the passage is perfectly clear as to sense.

"Then no more remains
But _thereto_ your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work."

It may be necessary to show that the word I propose would be used by the poet just in the sense required here. The following passage from the _Winter's Tale_, Act I. Sc. 2., will, I think, place it beyond doubt:

"Camillo,
As you are certainly a gentleman, _thereto_
Clerk-like experienc'd, which no less adorns
Our gentry, than our parents' noble names,
In whose success we are gentle," &c.

I take the sense of the whole passage thus: "Since I must acknowledge that you are better skilled in the nature of _government_ than I am, it would be idle in me to lecture you on the subject. Then nothing more is wanting but _thereto_ your sufficient authority (_i.e._ to govern), as you have the ability, and let them (your skill and authority) come into operation."

_Sufficiency_, as Warburton long ago observed, is _authority_, but may possibly be here used in the Latin sense of _substitution_. Escalus is to be Vice-gerent. The very slight change necessary, and the great probability of the occurrence of the error, strongly recommend this simple emendation.

Daily experience is manifesting how large a portion of the difficult passages are errors of the printer of the first folio, the two happy corrections lately given in _The Athenæum_, for instance: who can doubt that in _Coriolanus_, Act III. Sc. 1., "Bosome-multi_p_lied" should be "Bissom-multitude:" or that, in _All's Well that Ends Well_, Act V. Sc. 3., "infuite comming" should be "infinite cunning?" A glance at the passages as they stand in the old print of the first folio would convince the most sceptical. A list of mere printer's errors in that book would be not a little astounding.

S. W. SINGER.

[It may be proper to observe, that this Note by MR. SINGER had
been in the Editor's possession at least a fortnight previous to
the appearance of that by our esteemed correspondent at Leeds in
our last Number.]

FOLK LORE.

_Sites of Buildings mysteriously changed._--It may be amusing to the readers of "N. & Q.," and attended with some useful result, to record a few popular traditions respecting the mysterious opposition to the building of certain edifices on the spots originally designed for them by their founders. I will introduce the subject with the local traditions about the building of three churches well known to myself.

1. The church of Breedon, in Leicestershire, stands alone on a high hill, the village being at its foot. The hill is so steep on the side towards the village, that a carriage can only ascend by taking a very circuitous course; and even the footpath winds considerably, and in some parts ascends by steps formed in the turf. The inconvenience of such a situation for the church is obvious, and the stranger, of course, wonders at the folly of those who selected a site for a church which would necessarily preclude the aged and infirm from attending public worship. But the initiated parishioner soon steps forward to enlighten him on the subject, and assures him the pious founder consulted the convenience of the village, and assigned a central spot for the site of the church. There the foundation was dug, and there the builders began to rear the fabric; but all they built in the course of the day was carried away by _doves_ in the night, and skilfully built in the same manner on the hill where the church now stands. Both founder and workmen, awed by this extraordinary interference, agreed to finish the edifice thus begun by doves.

2. The parish church of Wendover, in Buckinghamshire, stands nearly half a mile from the town. The church was to have been placed on a field adjoining the town, and there the building of it was begun; but the materials were all carried away in the night by witches, or, as some relate the tradition, by fairies, and deposited where the church now stands. The field in which the church was to have been built is still called "Witches' Meadow."

3. The parish church of Winwick, Lancashire, stands near that miracle-working spot where St. Oswald, king of the Northumbrians, was killed. The founder had destined a different site for it, but his intention was overruled by a singular personage, whose will he never dreamed of consulting. It must here be noticed that Winwick had then not even received its name; the church, as not uncommon in those days, being one of the earliest erections in the parish. The foundation of the church, then, was laid where the founder had directed, and the close of the first day's labour showed the workmen had not been idle, by the progress made in the building. But the approach of night brought to pass an event which utterly destroyed the repose of the few inhabitants around the spot. A pig was seen running hastily to the site of the new church; and as he ran he was heard to cry or scream aloud "We-ee-wick, We-ee-wick, We-ee-wick!" Then, taking up a stone in his mouth, he carried it to the spot sanctified by the death of St. Oswald, and thus employing himself through the whole night, succeeded in removing all the stones which had been laid by the builders. The founder, feeling himself justly reproved for not having chosen that sacred spot for the site of his church, unhesitatingly yielded to the wise counsel of the pig. Thus the pig not only decided the site of the church, but gave a name to the parish.

In support of this tradition, there is the figure of a pig sculptured on the tower of the church, just above the western entrance; and also the following Latin doggerel:

"Hic locus, Oswalde, quondam placuit tibi valde;
Northanhumbrorum fueras Rex, nuncque Polorum
Regna tenes, loco passus Marcelde vocato."

May not the phrase "Please the pigs" have originated in the above tradition, since the founder of Winwick Church was obliged to succumb to the pleasure of his porkish majesty?

Instances of equally marvellous changes in the sites of buildings are recorded in Bede, and other monkish writers. Perhaps it would not be difficult to unravel the mystery of such changes.

W. H. K.

_Burning the Bush._--While in Herefordshire last spring, I noticed a singular custom in the agricultural districts. When the wheat is just springing out of the ground, the farmer's servants rise before daybreak, and cut a branch of thorn of a particular kind. They then make a large fire in the field, in which they burn a portion of it; the remaining part is afterwards hung up in the house. They do this to prevent the smut, or mildew, affecting the wheat.

J. B. ROBINSON.

Belper.

_Essex Superstition._--An uncle of mine, who has a large farm near Ilford, tells me, that observing a horse-shoe nailed to the door of one of his cow-houses, he asked the cow-keeper why he had fixed it there. The lad gravely replied, "Why, to keep the wild-horse away, to be sure." This is, to me, a new reason for the practice.

I have learned that the superstition about the bees deserting their hives on the death of one of their owner's family, is common in the same county. A lady tells me, that calling upon some poor people who lived at Hyde Green, near Ingatestone, she inquired after the bees. The old woman of the house replied, "They have all gone away since the death of poor Dick; for we forgot to knock at the hives, and tell them he was gone dead."