LINDIS, MEANING OF.

Footnote 5:(return)[There is a Latin epigram, by R. Marshall of St. John's College, Cambridge, prefixed to John Hall'sPoems, published in 1646.—Ed.]

[There is a Latin epigram, by R. Marshall of St. John's College, Cambridge, prefixed to John Hall'sPoems, published in 1646.—Ed.]

We are told by Bede thatLindisfarne, now Holy Island, derives the first part of its name from the small brook Lindis, which at high water is quite invisible, being covered by the tide, but at low water is seen running briskly into the sea. Now I should be glad to know the precise meaning ofLindis. We are informed by etymologists, thatLynorLin, in names of places, signifies water in any shape, as lake, marsh, or stream: but what does the adjunctdismean? Some writers assert thatLindissignifies the linden-tree; thus making the sound an echo to the meaning: and hence they assume that Lindesey in Lincolnshire must signify an Isle of Linden-trees. But it is very doubtful that such a tree ever existed in Lincolnshire anterior to the Conquest. Thelindenis rather a rare tree in England; and the two principal species, theTilia Europeaand theTilia grandifolia, are said by botanists not to be indigenous to this country, but to have been introduced into our island at an early period to adorn the parks of the nobles, and certainly not till after the Conquest.

Dr. Henry, in hisHistory of Britain, vol. iv., gives the meaning of "Marsh Isle" to Lindsey, and of "Lake Colony" to Lincolnia. This I consider the most probable signification to a districtthat abounded in marshes at that early period, when the rude Briton or the Saxon applied names to places the most consonant to the aspects they afforded them: nor is it likely they would give the name of Lindentree to a small brook, where such a tree never could have grown.

As to the antiquity of the name of Lindes or Lindesey, I should say Lindentree must be of comparatively modern nomenclature. I should, however, be glad to have the opinion of some of your better-informed etymologists on the meaning of the word, as it may decide a point of some importance in genealogy.

J. L.

Berwick.

Smock Marriage in New York.—In a curious old book, entitledThe interesting Narrative of the Life of Oulandah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, written by himself, and published in London, by subscription, in 1789, I find the following passage:

"While we lay here (New York,A.D.1784) a circumstance happened which I thought extremely singular. One day a malefactor was to be executed on a gallows, but with a condition that if any woman, having nothing on but her shift, married the man under the gallows, his life was to be saved. This extraordinary privilege was claimed; a woman presented herself, and the marriage ceremony was performed."—Vol. ii. p. 224.

Perhaps some of your New York correspondents can say whether the annals of that city furnish evidence of so extraordinary an occurrence.

R. Wright.

The broken Astragalus.—Where was the broken astragalus, given by the host to his guest, first used as the symbol of hospitality?

C. H. Howard.

Penardo and Laissa.—Who is the author of a poem (the title-page of which is wanting) calledThe Historye of Penardo and Laissa, unpaged, in seventeen caputs, with poems recommendatory, by Drummond of Hawthornden and others, small 4to., containing many Scotticisms?

E. D.

St. Adulph(Vol. v., pp. 566, 567.).—Capgrave, quoting John of Tynemouth (?), says:

"Sanctum igitur Adulphum audita ejus fama adtrajectensemecclesiam in episcopumrexsublimavit."

Query 1. Who is the "rex" here mentioned?

Query 2. "Trajecteasem:" ought this to be applied to "Utrecht" or "Maestricht," or either? Literally, it is "on the other side of the water."

A. B.

St. Botulph(Vol. v., pp. 566, 567.).—Your correspondent C. W. G. says:

"His (St. Botulph's) life was first put into regular form by Fulcard.... Fulcard tells us what his materials were.... An early MS. ofthislife is in the Harleian Collection, No. 3097. It was printed by Capgrave in theLegenda Nova."

Query:Fulcard'slife of the saint, or the life by some other person: John of Tynemouth to wit?

A. B.

Tennyson.—Mr. Gilfillan, in hisLiterary Gallery, speaking of that fine poem "The Two Voices," says that the following line—

"You scarce could see the grass for flowers"—P. 308. l. 18., 7th edit.

"You scarce could see the grass for flowers"—

P. 308. l. 18., 7th edit.

is borrowed from one of the old dramatists. Could you or any of your correspondents tell me what the line is?

As also the Latin song referred to in "Edwin Morris:"

"Shall not love to me,As in the Latin song I learnt at school,Sneeze out a full God-bless-you right and left?"P. 231. l. 10., 7th edit.

"Shall not love to me,

As in the Latin song I learnt at school,

Sneeze out a full God-bless-you right and left?"

P. 231. l. 10., 7th edit.

My last Tennyson Query is about the meaning of—

"She to meWas proxy-wedded with a bootless calf,At eight years old."Princess, p. 15. l. 18., 4th edit.

"She to me

Was proxy-wedded with a bootless calf,

At eight years old."

Princess, p. 15. l. 18., 4th edit.

H. J. J.

Liverpool.

"Ma Ninette," &c.—Can any of your French readers tell me the continuation, if continuation there be, of the following charming verses; as also where they come from?

"Ma Ninette a quatorze ans,Trois mois quelque chose;Son teint est un printemps,Sa bouche une rose."

"Ma Ninette a quatorze ans,

Trois mois quelque chose;

Son teint est un printemps,

Sa bouche une rose."

H. J. J.

Astronomical Query.—You style your paper a medium of communication between literary men, &c. I trust this does not exclude one of my sex from seeking information through the same channel.

We have had additions to our solar system by the discovery of four planets within the last few years. Supposing that these planets obey the same laws as the larger ones, they must be at all times apparently moving within the zodiac; and considering the improvements in telescopes within the last seventy years, and the great number of scientific observers at all times engaged in the pursuit of astronomy both in Europe and North America, I am at a loss to understand why these planets were not discovered before.

I suppose we may not consider them as new creations attached to our solar system, because the law of perturbations on which Mr. Herscheldiscourses at length, in the eleventh chapter of hisTreatise on Astronomy, would seem to demonstrate that they would interfere with the equilibrium of the solar system.

Would some of your scientific contributors condescend to explain this matter, so as to remove the ignorance under which I labour in common with, I believe, many others?

Leonora.

Liverpool.

Chaplains to Noblemen.—Under what statute, if any, do noblemen appoint their chaplains? and is there any registry of such appointments in any archiepiscopal or episcopal registry?

"More" Queries.—

"WhenMoresome years had Chancellor been,Nomoresuits did remain;The same shall nevermorebe seen,TillMorebe there again."

"WhenMoresome years had Chancellor been,

Nomoresuits did remain;

The same shall nevermorebe seen,

TillMorebe there again."

I infer from the first lines of this epigram that Sir Thomas More, by his unremitting attention to the business of the Court of Chancery, had brought to a close, in his day, the litigation in that department. Is there any authentic record of this circumstance?

Are there, at the present day, any male descendants of Sir Thomas More, so as to render possible the fulfilment of the prophecy contained in the last two lines?

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

Heraldic Query.—To what families do the following bearings belong? 1. Two lions passant, on a chief three spheres (I think) mounted on pedestals; a mullet for difference. The crest is very like a lily reversed. 2. Ermine, a bull passant; crest, a bull passant: initials "C. G."

U. J. S.

Sheffield.

"By Prudence guided," &c.—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." supply me with the words deficient in the following lines, and inform me from what author they are quoted? I met with them on an old decaying tomb in one of the churchyards in Sheffield:

"By prudence guided, undefiled in mind,Of pride unconscious, and of soul refined,. . . . conquest . . . . . . . . subdueWith . . . . . . . . . . . . . .in viewHere . . . . . . . . the heaven-born flameWhich . . . . . . . from whence it came."

"By prudence guided, undefiled in mind,

Of pride unconscious, and of soul refined,

. . . . conquest . . . . . . . . subdue

With . . . . . . . . . . . . . .in view

Here . . . . . . . . the heaven-born flame

Which . . . . . . . from whence it came."

W. S. (Sheffield.)

Lawyers' Bags.—I find it stated by Colonel Landman, in hisMemoirs, that prior to the trial of Queen Caroline, the colour of the bags carried by barristers was green; and that the change to red took place at, or immediately after, the event in question. I shall be glad of any information both as to the fact of such change having taken place, and the circumstances by which it was brought about and accompanied.

J. St. J. Y.

Wellbank.

Master Family.—Can you refer me to any one who may be able to give me information respecting the earlier history of the family of Master or Maistre, of Kent, prior to 1550: and any suggestions as to its connexion with the French or Norman family of Maistre or De Maistre? This being a Query of no public interest, I inclose a stamped envelope, according to the wish expressed by you in a recent Number.

George S. Master.

Welsh-Hampton, Salop.

Passage in Wordsworth.—Can any of your correspondents find anolder originalfor Wordsworth's graceful conceit, in his sonnet on Walton's lines—

"There are no colours in the fairest skyAs fair as these:the feather whence the penWas shaped, that traced the lives of these good men,Dropt from an angel's wing"—

"There are no colours in the fairest sky

As fair as these:the feather whence the pen

Was shaped, that traced the lives of these good men,

Dropt from an angel's wing"—

than the following:

"whose noble praiseDeserves a quill pluckt from an angel's wing."

"whose noble praise

Deserves a quill pluckt from an angel's wing."

Dorothy Berry, in a Sonnet prefixed to Diana Primrose'sChain of Pearl, a Memorial of the peerless Graces, &c. of Queen Elizabeth: published London, 1639,—a tract of twelve pages.

M—a L.

Edinburgh.

Govett Family.—Can you inform me for what town or county Sir —— Govett, Bart., was member of parliament in the year 1669, and what were his armorial bearings? His name appears in the list of members given in page 496. of the Grand Duke Cosmo'sTravels through England, published in 1821. Is the baronetcy extinct? If so, who was the last baronet, and in what year? Where he lived, or any other particulars, will much oblige.

Quæro.

Sir Kenelm Digby.—Why is Sir Kenelm Digby represented, I believe always, with a sun-flower by his side?

Vandyke.

Riddles.—It would take up too much of your valuable time and space to insert all the riddles for which correspondents cannot find answers; but will you find means to ask, through your pages, if any clever Œdipus would allow me to communicate to him certain enigmas which puzzle me greatly, and which I should very much like to have solved.

Rubi.

Straw Bail.—Fielding, in hisLife of Jonathan Wild, book i. chap. ii., relates that Jonathan's aunt

"Charity took to husband an eminent gentleman, whose name I cannot learn; but who was famous forso friendly a disposition, that he was bail for above a hundred persons in one year. He had likewise the remarkablehumourof walking in Westminster Hall with a straw in his shoe."

What was the practice here referred to, and what is the origin of the expression "a man of straw," which is commonly applied to any one who appears, or pretends to be, but is not, a man of property?

Straw bail is, I believe, a term still used by attorneys to distinguish insufficient bail from "justifiable" or sufficient bail.

J. Lewelyn Curtis.

Wages in the West in 1642.—The Marquis of Hertford and Lord Poulett were very active in the West in the year 1642. In the famous collection of pamphlets in the British Museum (113, 69.) is contained Lord Poulett's speech at Wells, Somerset:

"His lordship, with many imprecations, oaths, and execrations (in the height of fury), said that it was not fit for any yeoman to have allowed him from his own labours any more than the poor moiety of ten pounds a-year; and when the power shall be totally on their side, they shall be compelled to live on that low allowance, notwithstanding their estates are gotten with a great deal of labour and industry."Upon this the people attempted to lay violent hands upon Lord Poulett, who was saved by a regiment marching in or by at the moment."

"Upon this the people attempted to lay violent hands upon Lord Poulett, who was saved by a regiment marching in or by at the moment."

What was Lord Poulett's precise meaning? Do we not clearly learn from the above, that the Civil War was due to more than a mere choosing between king and parliament among the humbler classes of the remote country districts?

George Roberts.

Literary Frauds of Modern Times.—In a work by Bishop (now Cardinal) Wiseman, entitledThe Connexion between Science and Revealed Religion, 3rd edition, vol. ii. p. 270., occurs the following remark:

"The most celebrated literary frauds of modern times, theHistory of Formosa, or, still more, theSicilian Code of Vella, for a time perplexed the world, but were in the end discovered."

Will you, or any of your readers, kindly refer me to any published account of the frauds alluded to in this passage? I have a faint remembrance of having read some remarks respecting theCode of Vella, but am unable to recall the circumstances.

I was under the impression that Chatterton's forgery of the Rowley poems, Macpherson's of the Ossianic rhapsodies, and Count de Surville's of the poems of Madame de Surville, were "the most celebrated literary frauds of modern times." In what respect are those alluded to by Dr. Wiseman entitled to the unenviable distinction which he claims for them?

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

"Very like a Whale."—What is the origin of this expression? It occurs in the following doggerel verses, supposed to be spoken by the driver of a cart laden with fish:

"This salmon has got a tail;It's very like a whale;It's a fish that's very merry;They say its catch'd at Derry.It's a fish that's got a heart;It's catch'd and put in Dugdale's cart."

"This salmon has got a tail;

It's very like a whale;

It's a fish that's very merry;

They say its catch'd at Derry.

It's a fish that's got a heart;

It's catch'd and put in Dugdale's cart."

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

[This expression occurs inHamlet, Act III. Sc.2.:"Hamlet.Do you see yonder cloud, that is almost in shape of a camel?Polonius.By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.Hamlet.Methinks it is like a weasel.Polonius.It is backed like a weasel.Hamlet.Or like a whale?Polonius.Very like a whale."Since Shakspeare's time, it has been used as a proverb in reply to any remark partaking of the marvellous.]

[This expression occurs inHamlet, Act III. Sc.2.:

"Hamlet.Do you see yonder cloud, that is almost in shape of a camel?Polonius.By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.Hamlet.Methinks it is like a weasel.Polonius.It is backed like a weasel.Hamlet.Or like a whale?Polonius.Very like a whale."

"Hamlet.Do you see yonder cloud, that is almost in shape of a camel?

Polonius.By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.

Hamlet.Methinks it is like a weasel.

Polonius.It is backed like a weasel.

Hamlet.Or like a whale?

Polonius.Very like a whale."

Since Shakspeare's time, it has been used as a proverb in reply to any remark partaking of the marvellous.]

Wednesday a Litany Day.—Why is Wednesday made a Litany day by the Church? We all know why Friday was made a fast; but why should Wednesday be sacred?

Anon.

[Wednesdays and Fridays were kept as fasts in the primitive Church: because on the one our Lord was betrayed, on the other crucified. See Mant and Wheatley.]

"Thy Spirit, Independence," &c.—Could you, or any of your readers, inform me where are the following lines?—

"Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye!Thy steps I'll follow with my bosom bare,Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky."

"Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,

Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye!

Thy steps I'll follow with my bosom bare,

Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky."

I quote from memory.

[In Smollett'sOde to Independence.]

"Hob and nob," Meaning of.—What is the origin of these words as verbs, in the phrase "Hob or nob," which means, as I need not inform your readers, to spend an evening tippling with a jolly companion?

What is the origin of "nob?" And is either of these two words ever used alone?

C. H. Howard.

Edinburgh.

[This phrase, according to Grose, "originated in the days of good Queen Bess. When great chimnies were in fashion, there was at each corner of the hearth, or grate, a small elevated projection, calledhob, and behind it a seat. In winter-time the beer was placed on the hob to warm; and the cold beer was set on a small table, said to have been called thenob: so that thequestion, Will you have hob or nob? seems only to have meant, Will you have warm or cold beer?i.e.beer from the hob, or beer from the nob." But Nares, in hisGlossary, s.v.HabbeorNabbe, with much greater reason, shows thathobornob, now only used convivially, to ask a person whether he will have a glass of wine or not, is most evidently a corruption of the oldhab-nab, from the Saxonhabban, to have, andnabban, not to have; in proof of which, as Nares remarks, Shakspeare has used it to mark an alternative of another kind:"And his incensement at this moment is so implacable, that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of death and sepulchre:hob, nobis his word; give't or take't."—Twelfth Night, Act III. Sc. 4.]

"And his incensement at this moment is so implacable, that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of death and sepulchre:hob, nobis his word; give't or take't."—Twelfth Night, Act III. Sc. 4.]

(Vol. vi., pp. 508. 585.)

There is an anxiety to obtain further particulars on this interesting subject, and I have searched my Genealogical MSS. Collections for such; the result has extended farther than I could have wished, but, while I am able to furnishdatesandauthoritiesfor hitherto naked statements, I have inserted two or three links of descent not before laid down.

A member of the Somersetshire Wellesleighs is said to have accompanied Henry II. to Ireland.

Walleran or Walter de Wellesley, living in Ireland in 1230 (Lynch,Feud. Dig.), witnessed a grant of certain townlands to the Priory of Christ Church about 1250 (Registry of Christ Church); while it is more effectively stated that he then "endowed the Priory of All Saints with 60 a. of land, within the manor of Cruagh,which then belonged, with other estates, to his family, and that he gave to the said prioryfree common of pasture, of wood and of turbary, over his whole mountain there."

His namesake and son (according to Lynch,Feud. Dig.), "Walran de Wylesley," was in 1302 required, as one of the "Fideles" of Ireland, by three several letters, to do service in the meditated war in Scotland (Parl. Writs, vol. i. p. 363.), and in the following year he was slain (MS. Book of Obits, T.C.D.). The peerage books merge these two Wallerans in one.

William de Wellesley, who appears to have been son to Walleran, was in 1309 appointed Constable of the Castle of Kildare (Rot. Pat. Canc. Hib.), which he maintained when besieged by the Bruces in their memorable invasion of Ireland, and their foray over that county. For these and other services to the state he received many lucrative and honourable grants from the crown, and was summoned to parliament in 1339. In 1347 he was slain at the siege of Calais. (Obits, T.C.D.)

Sir John de Wellesly, Knight, son of William, having performed great actions against the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes of Wicklow, had grants of sundry wardships and other rewards from the year 1335. In 1343 he became one of the sureties for the appearance of the suspected Earl of Desmond, on whose flight Sir John's estates were seised to the crown and withheld for some years. (Lynch'sFeud. Dig.)

His successor was another John de Wellesley, omitted in the peerage books, but whose existence is shown byClose Roll 29 & 30 Edw. III., C. H.He died about the year 1355.

William Wellesley, son of John, was summoned to great councils and parliaments of Ireland from 1372; he was also entrusted by the king with various important commissions and custodies of castles, lands, and wards (Patent Rolls C. H.). In 1386 he was Sheriff of Kildare, and Henry IV. renewed his commission in 1403.

Richard, son and heir of William de Wellesley, as proved byRot. Pat. 1 Henry IV., Canc. Hib., married Johanna, daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas de Castlemartin, by whom the estates of Dangan, Mornington, &c. passed to the Wellesley family; he and his said wife had confirmation of their estates in 1422. (Rot. Pat. 1 Henry VI., C. H.) He had a previous grant from the treasury by order of the Privy Council, in consideration of his long services as sheriff of the county of Kildare, and yet more actively "in the wars of Munster, Meath, and Leinster, with men and horses, arms and money." (Rot. Claus. 17 Ric. II., C. H.) In 1431 he was specially commissioned to advise the crown on the state of Ireland, and was subsequently selected to take charge of the Castle of Athy, as "the fittest person to maintain that fortress and key of the country against the malice of the Irish enemy." (Rot. Pat. et Claus. 9 Henry VI., C. H.) In resisting that "malice" he fell soon after.

The issue of Sir Richard de Wellesley by Johanna were William Wellesley, who married Katherine ——, and dying in 1441 was succeeded by his next brother, Christopher Wellesley, whose recorded fealty in the same year proves all the latter links; his succession to William as brother and heir, and the titles of Johanna as widow of his father Richard, and of Katherine as widow of William, to dower off said estates. (Rot. Claus. 19 Henry VI.,C. H.) At and previous to this time, another line of this family, connected as cousins with the house of Dangan, flourished in the co. Kildare, where they were recognised as Palatine Barons of Norragh to the close of the seventeenth century. William Wellesley of Dangan was the son and heir of Christopher. An (unprinted) act of Edward IV. was passed in 1472 in favour of this William; and his two marriages are stated by Lynch (Feud. Dig.): the first was toIsmay Plunkett; the second, to Maud O'Toole, was contracted under peculiar circumstances. The law of Ireland at the time prohibited the intermarriages of the English with the natives without royal licence therefor being previously obtained, and not even did the licence so obtained wash out theoriginal sinof Irish birth; for, as in this instance, Maud, having survived her first husband, on marrying her second, Patrick Hussey, had a fresh licence to legalise that marriage. It is of record (Rot. Pat. 21 Henry VII., C. H.), and proves the second marriage of Sir William clearly: yet it is not noticed in any of the peerage books, which derive his issue from the first wife, and not from the second, as Lynch gives it, that issue being Gerald the eldest son, Walter the second, and Alison a daughter.

Gerald had a special livery of his estate in 1539; Walter the second son became Bishop of Kildare in 1531, and died its diocesan in 1539 (see Ware'sBishops); and the daughter Alison intermarried with John Cusack of Cushington, co. Meath. (Burke'sLanded Gentry, Supp. p. 88.)

Gerald, according to all the peerage books, married Margaret, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1483, and had issue William, his eldest son, Lord of Dangan, who married Elizabeth Cusack, of Portrane, co. Dublin, and died previous to 1551 (as I believe is proveable byinquisitionsof that year in the office of the Chief Remembrancer, Dublin), leaving Gerald, his eldest son and heir. An inquiry taken in 1579 as to the extent of the manor of Dangan, finds him then seised thereof (Inquis. in C. H. 23 Eliz.). Previous to this he appears a party in conveyances of record, as in 1564, &c. He had a son Edward (not mentioned in the peerage books), who joined in a family conveyance of 1599, and soon after died, leaving a son, Valerian Wellesley. Gerald himself died in 1603, leaving said Valerian, his grandson and heir, then aged ten (Inquis. 5 Jac. I. in Rolls Office), andmarried, adds the Inquisition; and Lynch, in hisFeudal Dignities, gives interesting particulars of the betrothal of this boy, and his public repudiation of the intended match on his coming to age. This Valerian is traced through Irish records to the time of the Restoration; he married first, Maria Cusack (by whom he had William Wellesley, his eldest son), and, second, Anne Forth, otherwise Cusack, widow of Sir Ambrose Forth, as shown by an Inquisition of 1637, in the Rolls Office, Dublin.

William Wellesley, son and heir of Valerian, married Margaret Kempe (Peerage Books), and by her had Gerald Wellesley, who on the Restoration petitioned to be restored to his estates, and a Decree of Innocence issued, which states the rights of himself, his father, and his grandfather in "Dingen." This Gerald married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Dudley Colley, and their first daughter was baptized in 1663 by the name of Margaret, some evidence, in the courtesy of christenings, of Gerald's mother being Margaret. (Registry of St. Werburgh's.) Gerald was a suitor in the Court of Claims in 1703: he left two sons; William the eldest dieds. p., and was succeeded by Garrett, his next brother, who died also without issue in 1728, having bequeathed all the family estates to Richard Colley, second son of the aforesaid Sir Dudley Colley, and testator's uncle, enjoining upon said Richard and his heirs male to bear thenceforth, as they succeeded to the estates, the name and arms of Wellesley.

This Richard Colley Wellesley married Elizabeth, daughter of John Sale, LL.D. and M.P., by whom he had issue Garrett Wellesley, born, as theDublin and London Magazinefor 1735 announces, "19th July," when "the Lady of Richard Colley Westley was delivered of a son and heir,to the great joy of that family." This son was father of the Marquis Wellesley and of theDuke of Wellington!

John D'Alton.

48. Summer Hill, Dublin.

(Vol. vi., p. 603.)

Sir W. C. T.has opened a very interesting field for inquiry regarding these blest rings.

St. Edward, in his last illness (obiit January 5, 1066), gave a ring which he wore to the Abbot of Westminster. The origin of this ring is surrounded by much mystery. A pilgrim is said to have brought it to the king, and to have informed him that St. John the Evangelist had made known to the donor that the king's decease was at hand. "St. Edward's ring" was kept for some time at Westminster Abbey, as a relic of the saint, and was applied for the cure of the falling sickness or epilepsy, and for cramp. From this arose the custom of our English kings, who were believed to have inherited St. Edward's powers of cure, solemnly blessing every year rings for distribution.

It is said, we know not on what authority, that the ring did not always remain at Westminster, but that in the chapel of Havering (so called fromhaving the ring), in the parish of Hornchurch, near Rumford in Essex (once a hunting-seat of the kings), was kept, till the dissolution of religious houses, the identical ring given by the pilgrim to St. Edward. Weaver says he saw it represented in a window of Rumford Church.

These rings seem to have been blessed for two different species of cure: first, against the falling sickness (comitialis morbus); and, secondly, against the cramp (contracta membra). For the cure of the king's evil the sovereign did not bless rings, but continued totouchthe patient.

Good Friday was the day appointed for the blessing of the rings. They were often called "medijcinable rings," and were made both of gold and silver; and as we learn from the household books of Henry IV. and Edward IV., the metal they were composed of was what formed the king's offering to the cross on Good Friday. The following entry occurs in the accounts of the 7th and 8th years of Henry IV. (1406): "In oblacionibus Domini Regis factis adorando Crucem in capella infra manerium suum de Eltham, die Parascevis, in precio trium nobilium auri et v solidorum sterlyng, xxvs.

"In denariis solutis pro eisdem oblacionibus reassumptis, pro annulis medicinalibus inde faciendis, xxvs."

The prayers used at the ceremony of blessing the rings on Good Friday are published in Waldron'sLiterary Museum. Cardinal Wiseman has in his possession a MS. containing both the ceremony for the blessing the cramp rings, and the ceremony for the touching for the king's evil. At the commencement of the MS. are emblazoned the arms of Philip and Mary: the first ceremony is headed, "Certain prayers to be used by the quenes heignes in the consecration of the crampe rynges." Accompanying it is an illumination representing the queen kneeling, with a dish, containing the rings to be blessed, on each side of her. The second ceremony is entitled, "The ceremonye for yeheling of them that be diseased with the kynges evill;" and has its illumination of Mary kneeling and placing her hands upon the neck of the diseased person, who is presented to her by the clerk; while the chaplain, in alb and stole, kneels on the other side. The MS. was exhibited at a meeting of the Archæological Institute on 6th June, 1851. Hearne, in one of his manuscript diaries in the Bodleian, lv. 190., mentions having seen certain prayers to be used by Queen Mary at the blessing of cramp rings. May not this be the identical MS. alluded to?

But, to come to W. C. T.'s immediate question, "When did the use of these blest rings by our sovereigns cease?" The use never ceased till the change of religion. In addition to the evidence already given of the custom in the fifteenth century, may be added several testimonies of its continuance all through the sixteenth century. Lord Berners, when ambassador to the Emperor Charles V., writing "to my Lord Cardinal's grace" from Saragossa, June 31, 1518, says, "If your grace remember me with some crampe ryngs, ye shall doo a thing muche looked for; and I trust to bestowe thaym well with goddes grace." (Harl. MS.295. f. 119. See also Polydore Virgil,Hist.i. 8.; and Harpsfield.) Andrew Boorde, in hisIntroduction to Knowledge, mentions the blessing of these rings: "The kynges of England doth halow every yere crampe rynges, yewhich rynges worne on one's finger doth helpe them whych hath the crampe:" and again, in hisBreviary of Health, 1557, f. 166., mentions as a remedy against the cramp, "The kynge's majestie hath a great helpe in this matter, in halowing crampe ringes, and so given without money or petition."

A curious remnant or corruption of the use of cramp rings is given by Mr. G. Rokewode, who says that in Suffolk "the use of cramp rings, as a preservative against fits, is not entirely abandoned. Instances occur where nine young men of a parish each subscribe a crooked sixpence, to be moulded into a ring, for a young woman afflicted with this malady." (History, &c., 1838, Introd. p. xxvi.)

Ceyrep.

(Vol. vii., p. 15.)

L. E. X. inquires respecting the first work exhibited by the late J. M. W. Turner, R.A. The statement of the newspaper referred to was correct. The first work exhibited by Turner was a water-colour drawing of Lambeth Palace, and afterwards presented by him to a gentleman of this city, long since deceased. It is now in the possession of that gentleman's daughter, an elderly lady, who attaches no little importance to it. The fact is, that Mr. Turner, when young, was a frequent visitor at her father's house, and on such terms that her father lent Mr. Turner a horse to go on a sketching tour through South Wales. This lady has also three or four other drawings made at that time by Turner,—one a view of Stoke Bishop, near Bristol, then the seat of Sir Henry Lippincott, Bart., which he made as a companion to the Lambeth Palace; another is a small portrait of Turner by himself, of course when a youth. As the early indications of so great an artist, these drawings are very curious and interesting; but no person that knows anything of the state of water-colour painting at that period, and previous to the era when Turner, Girtin, and others began to shine out in that new and glorious style, that has since brought water-colour works to their present style of splendour, excellence, and value, will expect anything approaching the perfection of latter days.

J. Walter,Marine Painter.

28. Trinity Street, Bristol.

Whether or not the work deemed by L. E. X. to be the first exhibited by Turner may have been in water-colours, or be still in existence, I leave to other replicants, availing myself of the occasion to ask him or you, whether in 1787 two works of W. Turner, at Mr. G. Turner's, Walthamstow, "No. 471. Dover Castle," "No. 601. Wanstead House," were not, in fact, his first tilt in that arena of which he was the champion at the hour of hisdeath? Whether in the two following years he appeared at all in the ring; and, if not, why not? although in the succeeding 1790 he again threw down the glaive in the "No. 644. The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth," being then set down as "T.W. Turner;" reappearing in 1791 as "W. Turner, of Maiden Lane, Covent Garden," with "No. 494. King John's Palace, Eltham;" "No. 560. Sweakley, near Uxbridge." In the horizon of art (strange to say, and yet to be explained!) this luminary glows no more till 1808, when he had "on the line" (?) several views of Fonthill, as well as the "Tenth Plague of Egypt," purchased of course by the proprietor of that princely mansion, as it is found mentioned in Warner'sWalks near Bathto be that same year adorning the walls of one of the saloons.

J. H. A.

(Vol. vii., p. 13.)

I was preparing to answer your correspondentE. S. Taylorby a reference to the conversation between Gurth and Wamba,Ivanhoe, chap. i., when a friend promised to supply me with some additional and fuller information. I copy from a MS. note that he has placed in my hands:

"Nec quidem temerè contigisse puto quod animalia viva nominibus Germanicæ originis vocemus, quorum tamen carnem in cibum paratam originis Gallicæ nominibus appellamus; puta,—bovem, vaccam, vitulum, ovem, porcum, aprum, feram, etc. (an ox, a cow, a calf, a sheep, a hog, a boar, a deer, &c.); sed carnem bubulam, vitulinam, ovinam, porcinam, aprugnam, ferinam, etc. (beef, veal, mutton, pork, brawn, venison, &c.) Sed hinc id ortum putaverim, quod Normanni milites pascuis, caulis, haris, locisque quibus vivorum animalium cura agebatur, parcius seimmiscuerint(quæ itaque antiqua nomina retinuerunt) quam macellis, culinis, mensis, epulis, ubi vel parabantur vel habebantur cibi, qui itaque nova nomina ab illis sunt adepti."—Preface to Dr. Wallis'sGrammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ, 1653, quoted by Winning,Comparative Philology, p. 270.

C. Forbes.

Temple.

If your correspondentE. S. Taylorwill refer to the romance ofIvanhoe, he will find in the first chapter a dialogue between Wamba the son of Witless, and Gurth the son of Beowulph, wherein the subject is fully discussed as to the change of names consequent on the transmutation of live stock, under the charge of Saxon herdsmen, into materials for satisfying the heroic appetites of their Norman rulers. It would be interesting to know the source from whence Sir Walter Scott derived his ideas on this subject: whether from some previous writer, or "some odd corner of the brain."

A. R. X.

Paisley.

See TrenchOn Study of Words(3rd edit.), p. 65.

P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.

Mr. Taylorwill find in Pegge'sAnonymiana, Cent. i. 38., and Cent. vii. 95., allusion to what he inquires after.

Thos. Lawrence.

(Vol. vi., p. 604.)

In answer toMr. Livett'sQuery, as to the marks or letters employed by the Goldsmiths' Company to denote the year in which the plate was "hall-marked," I subjoin a list of such as I am acquainted with, and which might with a little trouble be traced to an earlier period: I have also added a few notes relating to the subject generally, which may interest many of your readers.

In the year 1596, the Roman capital A was used; in 1597, B; and so on alphabetically for twenty years, which would bring us to the letter U, denoting the year 1615: the alphabet finishing every twenty years with the letter U or V. The next year, 1616, commences with the Old English letterOld English A, and is continued for another twenty years in the Old English capitals. In 1636 is introduced another alphabet, called Court alphabet.

The letter for the present year, 1853, beingOld English S.

In this list it will appear difficult, at first sight, in looking at a piece of plate to ascertain its age, to determine whether it was manufactured between the years 1636 and 1655, or between 1696 and 1715, the Court hand being used in both these cycles: but (as will presently be mentioned) instead of the lion passant and leopard's head in the former, we shall find the lion's head erased, and Britannia, denoting the alteration of the standard during the latter period.

The standard of gold, when first introduced into the coinage, was of 24 carats fine; that is, pure gold. Subsequently, it was 23½ and half alloy; this, after an occasional debasement by Henry VIII., was fixed at 22 carats fine and 2 carats alloy by Charles I.; and still continues so, beingcalled the old standard. In 1798 an act was passed allowing gold articles to be made of a lower or worse standard, viz., of 18 carats of fine gold out of 24; such articles were to be stamped with a crown and the figures 18, instead of the lion passant.

The standard of silver has always (with the exception of about twenty years) been 11 oz. 2 dwts., and 18 dwts. alloy, in the pound: this was termedsterling, but very much debased from the latter end of Henry VIII. to the beginning of Elizabeth's reign. In the reign of William III., 1697, an act was passed to alter the standard of silver to11 oz. 10 dwts., and 10 dwts. alloy: and instead of the usual marks of the lion and leopard's head, the stamps of this better quality of silver were the figure of a lion's head erased, and the figure of Britannia: and the variable letter denoting the date as before. This act continued in operation for twenty-two years, being repealed in 1719, when the standard was again restored.

A duty of sixpence per ounce was imposed upon plate in 1719, which was taken off again in 1757; in lieu of which, a licence or duty of forty shillings was paid by every vendor of gold or silver. In 1784, a duty of sixpence per ounce was again imposed, and the licence still continued: which in 1797 was increased to one shilling, and in 1815 to eighteenpence—at which it still remains. The payment of this duty is indicated by the stamp of the sovereign's head.

All gold plate, with the exception of watch-cases, pays a duty of seventeen shillings per ounce; and silver plate one shilling and sixpence; watch-cases, chains, and a few other articles being exempted.

The letters used as dates in the foregoing list (it must be remembered) are only those of the Goldsmiths' Hall in London, as denoted by the leopard's head crowned. Other Halls, at York, Newcastle, Lincoln, Norwich, Bristol, Salisbury, and Coventry, had also marks of their own to show the year; and have stamped gold and silver since the year 1423, perhaps earlier. Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin have had the same privilege from a very early period: and, more recently, Chester, Birmingham, and Sheffield. Thus it will be seen that four marks or punches are used on gold and silver plate, independent of the makers' initials or symbol, viz.:

The Standard Mark.—For gold of the old standard of 22 carats, and silver of 11 oz. 2 dwts.:

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