CHRISTIAN NAMES.

"That undiscovered country, from whose bourneNo traveller returns."—Shakspeare."I know each lane, and every alley green,And every bosky bourn from side to side."—Milton.

"That undiscovered country, from whose bourneNo traveller returns."—Shakspeare.

"That undiscovered country, from whose bourne

No traveller returns."—Shakspeare.

"I know each lane, and every alley green,And every bosky bourn from side to side."—Milton.

"I know each lane, and every alley green,

And every bosky bourn from side to side."—Milton.

(Vol. vii., pp. 406. 488, 489.)

The opinion of your correspondents, that instances of persons having more than one Christian name before the last century are, at least, very rare, is borne out by the learned Camden, who, however, enables me to adduce two earlier instances of polyonomy than those cited by J. J. H.:

"Two Christian names," says he (Remaines concerning Britaine, p. 44.), "are rare in England, and I onely remember now his majesty, who was named Charles James, and the prince his sonne Henry Frederic; and among private men, Thomas Maria Wingfield, and Sir Thomas Posthumous Hobby."

The custom must have been still rare at the end of the eighteenth century, for, as we are informed by Moore in a note to hisFudge Family in Paris(Letter IV.):

"The late Lord C. (Castlereagh?) of Ireland had a curious theory about names; he held thateveryman withthreenames was a Jacobin. His instances in Ireland were numerous; Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Theobald Wolfe Tone, James Napper Tandy, John Philpot Curran, &c.: and in England he produced as examples, Charles James Fox, Richard BrinsleySheridan, John Horne Tooke, Francis Burdett Jones," &c.

Perhaps the noble lord thought with Sterne inTristram Shandy, though thenexusis not easy to discover, that "there is a strange kind of magic bias, which good or bad names irresistibly impose upon our character and conduct," or perhaps he had misread that controverted passage in Plautus (Aulular.Act II. Sc. 4.):

"Tun'trium literarumhomoMe vituperas?Fur."

"Tun'trium literarumhomo

Me vituperas?Fur."

The custom is now almost universal; and as, according to Camden (Remaines, &c., p. 96.),

"Shortly after the Conquest it seemed a disgrace for a gentleman to have but one single name, as the meaner sort and bastards had,"

so now, thetria nomina nobiliorumhave become so common, as to render the epigram upon a certain M. L-P. Saint-Florentin, of almost universal applicability as a neat and befitting epitaph.

"On ne lui avait pas épargné," says the biographer of this gentleman (Biographie Universelle, tom. xxxix. p. 573.), "les épigrammes de son vivant; il en parut encore contre lui au moment de sa mort; en voici une:—'Ci gît un petit homme à l'air assez commun,Ayant portétrois noms, et n'en laissantaucun.'"

'Ci gît un petit homme à l'air assez commun,Ayant portétrois noms, et n'en laissantaucun.'"

'Ci gît un petit homme à l'air assez commun,

Ayant portétrois noms, et n'en laissantaucun.'"

William Bates.

Birmingham.

Leopold William Finch, fifth son of Heneage, second Earl of Nottingham, born about the year 1662, and afterwards Warden of All Souls, is an earlier instance of an English person with two Christian names than your correspondent J. J. H. has noticed.

J. B.

(Vol. vii., p. 522.)

Your correspondent J. A.,Jun., makes a Note and asks a question regarding a popular opinion prevalent in Worcestershire, on the subject of a "Sunday's moon," as being one very much addicted to rain. In Sussex that bad repute attaches to the moon that changes on Saturday:

"A Saturday's moon,If it comes once in seven years, it comes too soon."

"A Saturday's moon,

If it comes once in seven years, it comes too soon."

It may be hoped that the time is not far distant when a scientific meteorology will dissipate the errors of the traditional code now in existence. Of these errors none have greater or more extensive prevalence than the superstitions regarding the influence of the moon on the atmospheric phenomena of wet and dry weather. Howard, the author ofThe Climate of London, after twenty years of close observation, could not determine that the moon had any perceptible influence on the weather. And the best authorities now follow, still more decidedly, in the same train.

"The change of the moon," the expression in general use in predictions of the weather, is idly and inconsiderately used by educated people, without considering that in every phase that planet is the same to us, as a material agent, except as regards the power of reflected light; and no one supposes that moonlight produces wet or dry. Why then should that point in the moon's course, which we agree to call "the new" when it begins to emerge from the sun's rays, have any influence on our weather. Twice in each revolution, when in conjunction with the sun at new, and in opposition at the full, an atmospheric spring-tide may be supposed to exist, and to exert some sort of influence. But the existence of any atmospheric tide at all is denied by some naturalists, and is at most very problematical; and the absence of regular diurnal fluctuations of the barometric pressure favours the negative of this proposition. But, granting that it were so, and that the moon, in what is conventionally called the beginning of its course, and again in the middle, at the full, did produce changes in the weather, surely the most sanguine ofrational lunarianswould discard the idea of one moon differing from another, except in relation to the season of the year; or that a new moon on the Sabbath day, whether Jewish or Christian, had any special quality not shared by the new moons of any other days of the week.

Such a publication as "N. & Q." is not the place to discuss fully the question of lunar influence. Your correspondent J. A.,Jun., and all persons who have inconsiderately taken up the popular belief in moon-weather, will do well to consult an interesting article on this subject (I believe attributed to Sir D. Brewster) inThe Monthly Chroniclefor 1838; and this will also refer such inquirers to Arago'sAnnuairefor 1833. There may be later and completer disquisitions on the lunar influences, but they are not known to me.

(Vol. i., pp. 321. 356.)

This word is now receiving a curious illustration in this colony of French origin.Rococo—antiquated, old-fashioned—would seem to have becomerococoitself; and in its place the negroes have adopted the wordentêté, wilful, headstrong, to express, as it were, the persistence of a person in retaining anything that has gone out of fashion. This term was first applied to white hats; and the wearers of such have been assailed from every corner of the streets with the cry of "Entêté chapeau!" It was next applied to umbrellas of astrange colour (the varieties of which are almost without number in this country of the sun); and it has now been extended to every article of wearing apparel of an unfashionable or peculiar shape. A negro woman, appearing with a blue umbrella, has been followed by half a dozen black boys with the cry of "Entêté parasol!" and in order to get rid of the annoyance she had to shut the umbrella and continue her way under the broiling sun. But the term is not always used in derision. A few days ago, a young girl of colour, dressed in the extreme of the fashion, was passing along, when some bystanders began to rally her with the word "Entêté." The girl, perceiving that she was the object of their notice, turned round, and in an attitude of conscious irreproachableness, retorted with the challenge in Creole French, "Qui entêté ça?" But the smiles with which she was greeted showed her (what she had already partly suspected) that their cries of "Entêté" were intended rather to compliment her on the style of her dress.

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

(Vol. vii., p. 41.)

I am gratified to see thatMr. Hardy's documentary researches have confirmed my conjectures as to the erroneous date assigned for the death of the first husband of Jane Beaufort. Perhaps it may be in his power also to rectify a chronological error, which has crept into the account usually given of the family into which one of her sons married. The Peerages all place the death of the last Lord Fauconberg of the original family in 1376, not observing that this date would make his daughter and heiress married to William Nevill, second son of the Earl of Westmoreland and Countess Joane, twenty-five years at the lowest computation; or, if we take the date which they assign for the death of Lord Ferrers of Wemme, forty years older than her husband,—a difference this, which, although perhaps it might not prove an insuperable impediment to marriage where the lady was a great heiress, would undoubtedly put a bar on all hopes of issue: whereas it stands on record that they had a family.

I must take this opportunity of complaining of the manner in which many, if not all these Peerages, are compiled: copying each others' errors, however obvious, without a word of doubt or an attempt to rectify them; thoughMr. Hardy's communication, above mentioned, shows that the materials for doing so, in many cases, exist if properly sought. Not to mention minor errors, they sometimes crowd into a given time more generations than could have possibly existed, and sometimes make the generations of a length that has not been witnessed since the patriarchal ages. As instances of the former may be mentioned, the pedigree of the Ferrerses, Earls of Derby (in which eight successions from father to son are given between 1137 and 1265), and those of the Netterville and Tracy families: and of the latter, the pedigree of the Fitzwarines, which gives only four generations between the Conquest and 1314; and that of the Clanricarde family. It is strange that Mr. Burke, who appears to claim descent from the latter, did not take more pains to rectify a point so nearly concerning him; instead of making, as he does in his Peerage, one of the family to have held the title (MacWilliam Eighter) and estates for 105 years!—an absurdity rendered still more glaring by this long-lived gentleman's father having possessed them fifty-four years before him, and his son for fifty-six years after him. If such can be supposed true, the Countess of Desmond's longevity was not so unusual after all.

J. S. Warden.

(Vol. vii., p. 407.)

May I be allowed to inform your correspondent R. L. P. that he is in error, when supposing that the English knights were deprived of their property by Queen Elizabeth, as it was done by act of parliament in the year 1534, and during the reign of Henry VIII.

For the information sought by your correspondent R. L. P., I would refer him to the following extract taken from Sutherland'sHistory of the Knights of Malta, vol. ii. pp. 114, 115.:

"To increase the despondency of L'Isle Adam [the Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem], Henry VIII. of England having come to an open rupture with the Pope, in consequence of the Pontiff's steady refusal to countenance the divorcement of Catherine of Arragon his queen, commenced a fierce and bloody persecution against all persons in his dominions, who persisted in adhering to the Holy See. In these circumstances, the Knights of St. John, who held themselves bound to acknowledge the Pope as their superior at whatever hazard, did not long escape his ire. The power of the Order, composed as it was of the chivalry of the nation, while the Prior of London sat in parliament on an equality with the first baron of the realm, for a time deterred him from openly proscribing it; but at length his wrath burst forth in an ungovernable flame. The knights Ingley, Adrian Forrest, Adrian Fortescu, and Marmaduke Bohus, refusing to abjure their faith, perished on the scaffold. Thomas Mytton and Edward Waldegrave died in a dungeon; and Richard and James Bell, John Noel, and many others, abandoned their country for ever, and sought an asylum at Malta[4], completely strippedof their possessions. In 1534, by an act of the legislature, the Order of St. John was abolished in the King of England's dominions; and such knights as survived the persecution, but who refused to stoop to the conditions offered them, were thrown entirely on the charity of their brethren at Malta. Henry offered Sir Wm. Weston, Lord Prior of England, a pension of a thousand pounds a year; but that knight was so overwhelmed with grief at the suppression of his Order, that he never received a penny, but soon after died. Other knights, less scrupulous, became pensioners of the crown."

W. W.

La Valetta, Malta.

Footnote 4:(return)I have sought in vain among the records of the Order at this island to find any mention made of those English knights, whom Sutherland thus mentions as having fled to Malta at the time of this persecution in their native land.

I have sought in vain among the records of the Order at this island to find any mention made of those English knights, whom Sutherland thus mentions as having fled to Malta at the time of this persecution in their native land.

Anticipatory Worship of the Cross(Vol. vii., p. 548.).—A correspondent wishes for farther information on the anticipatory worship of the cross in Mexico and at Alexandria. At the present moment I am unable to refer to the works on which I grounded the statement which he quotes. He will, however, find the details respecting Mexico in Stephens'sTravels in Yucatan; and those respecting Alexandria in the commentators on Sozomen (H. E., vii. 15.), and Socrates (H. E., v. 16.). A similar instance is the worship of theCross Fylfottein Thibet.

The Writer of "Communications with the Unseen World."

Ennui(Vol. vii., p. 478.).—

"Cleland (voc. 165.) has, with his usual sagacity, and with a great deal of trouble, as he himself acknowledges, traced out the true meaning and derivation of this word: for after he had long despaired of discovering the origin of it, mere chance, he says, offered to him what he took to be the genuine one: 'In an old French book I met,' says he, 'with a passage where the author, speaking of a company that had sat up late, makes use of this expression, "l'ennuit les avoit gagnés," by the context of which it was plain he meant, that the common influence ofthe night, in bringing onheavinessandyawning, had come upon them. The proper sense is totally antiquated, but the figurative remains in full currency to this day."—Lemon'sEtymological Dictionary.

The true synonym ofennuiseem to betædium, which appears to have the same relation totædo, a torch, asennuitonuit.

B. H. C.

"Qui facit per alium, facit per se," &c.(Vol. vii., p. 488.).—This maxim is found in the following form in theRegulæ Juris, subjoined to the 6th Book of the Decretals, Reg. lxxii.: "Qui facit per alium, est perinde ac si faciat per seipsum."

J. B.

Vincent Family(Vol. vii., pp. 501. 586.).—TheMemoir of Augustine Vincent, referred to byMr. Martin, was written by the late Sir N. Harris Nicolas, and published by Pickering in 1827, crown 8vo. Shortly after its publication, a few pages ofAddendawere printed in consequence of some information communicated by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, respecting the descendants of Augustine Vincent. At that time Francis Offley Edmunds, Esq., of Westborough, was his representative.

Judge Smith(Vol. vii., pp. 463. 508.).—I am well acquainted with the monumental inscriptions in Chesterfield Church, but I do not recollect one to the memory of Judge Smith.

Thomas Smith, who was an attorney in Sheffield, and died in 1774, had a brother, William Smith of Norwich, who died in 1801. Thomas Smith married Susan Battie, by whom he had a son Thomas Smith of Sheffield, and after of Dunston Hall, who married in 1791 Elizabeth Mary, only surviving child of Robert Mower of Woodseats, Esq., (by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Richard Milnes of Dunston Hall, Esq.) It was through this lady that the Dunston estate came to the Smiths by the will of her uncle Mr. Milnes. Mr. Smith died in 1811, having had issue by her (who married secondly John Frederick Smith, Esq., of London) three sons and several daughters. The second son (Rev. Wm. Smith of Dunston Hall) died in 1841, leaving male issue; but I am not aware of the death of either of the others. The family had a grant of arms in 1816. Dunston Hall had belonged to the Milnes family for about a century.

W. St.

"Dimidiation" in Impalements(Vol. vii., p. 548.).—In reply to your correspondent's Query as todimidiation, he will find that this was the most ancient form of impalement. Its manifest inconvenience no doubt at last banished it. Guillim (ed. 1724) says, at p. 425.:

"It was an ancient way of impaling, to take half the husband's coat, and with that to joyn as much of the wife's; as appeareth in an old roll, wherein three lions, being the arms ofEngland, are dimidiated and impaled with half the pales of Arragon. The like hath been practised with quartered coats by leaving out half of them."

On p. 426. he gives the example of Mary, Henry VIII.'s sister, and her husband Louis XII. of France. Here the French king's coat is cut in half, so that the lily in the base point isdimidiated; and the queen's coat, being quarterly France and England, shows two quarters only; England in chief, France in base.

Sandford, in hisGenealogical History, gives a plate of the tomb of Henry II. and Richard I. of England at Fontevrault, which was built anew in1638. Upon it are several impalements bydimidiation. Sandford (whose book seems to me to be strangely over-valued) gives no explanation of them. No doubt they were copied from the original tomb.

In Part II. of theGuide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford, at p. 178., is figured an impalement bydimidiationexisting at Stanton Harcourt, in the north transept of the church, in a brass on a piece of blue marble. The writer of theGuidesupposes this bearing to be some union of Harcourt and Beke, in consequence of a will of John Lord Beke, and to be commemorative of the son of Sir Richard Harcourt and Margaret Beke. It is in fact commemorative of those persons themselves. Harcourt, two bars, is dimidiated, and meets Beke, a cross moline or ancrée. The figure thus produced is a strange one, but perfectly intelligible when the practice of impaling by dimidiation is recollected. I know no modern instance of this method of impaling. I doubt if any can be found since the time of Henry VIII.

D. P.

Begbrook.

Worth(Vol. vii., p. 584.).—At one time, and in one locality, this word seems to have denoted manure; as appears by the following preamble to the statute 7 Jac. I. cap. 18.:

"Whereas the sea-sand, by long triall and experience, hath bin found to be very profitable for the bettering of land, and especially for the increase of corne and tillage, within the counties of Devon and Cornwall, where the inhabitants have not commonly used any otherworth, for the bettering of their arable grounds and pastures."

I am not aware of any other instance of the use of this word in this sense.

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

"Elementa sex," &c.(Vol. vii., p. 572.).—The answer to the Latin riddle propounded by your correspondentEffigy, seems to be the wordputres; divided intoutres,tres,res,es, and the letters.

The allusion inputresis to Virgil,Georgic, i. 392.; and inutresprobably toGeorgic, ii. 384.: the rest is patent enough.

I send this response to save others from the trouble of seeking an answer, and being disappointed at their profitless labours. If I may venture a guess at its author, I should be inclined to ascribe it to some idle schoolboy, or perhaps schoolmaster, who deserved to be whipped for their pains.

C. W. B.

"A Diasii 'Salve'," &c.(Vol. vii., p. 571.).—The deliverance desired in these words is from treachery, similar to that which was exhibited by the fratricide Alfonso Diaz toward his brother Juan. (Vid. SenarclæiHistoriam veram, 1546;Actiones et Monimenta Martyrum, foll. 126-139. [Genevæ], 1560:Histoire des Martyrs, foll. 161-168., ed. 1597; McCrie'sReformation in Spain, pp. 181-188., Edinb. 1829.)

The "A Gallorum 'Venite,'" probably refers to the singing of the "Venite, exultemus Domino," on the occasion of the massacre of St. Bartholomew.

R. G.

Meaning of "Claret"(Vol. vii., pp. 237. 511.).—Old Bartholomew Glanville, the venerable Franciscan, gives a recipe for claret in his treatiseDe Proprietatibus Rerum, Argent., 1485., lib. xix. cap. 56., which proves it to be of older date than is generally supposed:

"Claretum ex vino et melle et speciebus aromaticis est confectum ... Unde a vino contrahit fortitudinem et acumen, a speciebus autem retinet aromaticitatem et odorem, sed a melle dulcedinem mutuat et saporem."

H. C. K.

—— Rectory, Hereford.

"The Temple of Truth" (Vol. vii., p. 549.).—The author of this work, according to Dr. Watt, was the Rev. C. E. de Coetlogon, rector of Godstone, Surrey.

Ἁλιέυς.

Dublin.

Wellborne Family(Vol. vii., p. 259.).—The following is from theTown and Country Magazinefor 1772:

"Deaths.—Mr. Richard Wellborne, in Aldersgate Street, descended in a direct male line from the youngest son of Simon Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who flourished in King Henry III.'s time, and married that king's sister."

There is now a family of the name of Wellborne residing in Doncaster.

W. H. L.

Devonianisms(Vol. vii., p. 544.).—While a resident in Devonshire, I frequently met with localisms similar in character to those quoted by J. M. B.; but what at first struck me as most peculiar in common conversation, was the use, or rather abuse, of the little prepositionto. When inquiring the whereabouts of an individual, Devonians ask one another, "Where is heto?" The invariable reply is, "ToLondon," "ToPlymouth," &c., as the case may be. The Cheshire clowns, on the other hand, murder the wordat, in just the same strange and inappropriate manner.

The indiscriminate use of the termforrell, when describing the cover of a book, is a solecism, I fancy, peculiarly Devonian. Whether a book be bound in cloth, vellum, or morocco, it is all alikeforrellin Devonshire parlance. I imagine, however, that the word, in its present corrupt sense, must have originated fromforrell, a term still used by the trade to designate an inferior kind of vellumor parchment, in which books are not unfrequently bound. When we consider that vellum was at one time in much greater request for bookbinding purposes than it is just now, we shall be at no great loss to reconcile this eccentricity in the vocabulary of our west country brethren.

T. Hughes.

Chester.

Humbug(Vol. vii., p. 550.).—A recent number of Miller'sFly Leavesmakes the following hazardous assertion as to the origin and derivation of the termHumbug:

"This, now common expression, is a corruption of the word Hamburgh, and originated in the following manner:—During a period when war prevailed on the Continent, so many false reports and lying bulletins were fabricated at Hamburgh, that at length, when any one would signify his disbelief of a statement, he would say, 'You had that from Hamburgh;' and thus, 'That is Hamburgh,' orHumbug, became a common expression of incredulity."

With all my credulity, I cannot help fancying that this bit of specioushumbugis aleetletoo far-fetched.

T. Hughes.

Chester.

George Miller, D.D.(Vol. vii., p. 527.).—His Donnellan Lectures were never published.

Ἁλιέυς.

Dublin.

"A Letter to a Convocation Man" (Vol. vii., p. 502.).—Your correspondentW. Frasermay be informed that the "great preacher" for whom he inquires was Archbishop Tillotson.

Ἁλιευς.

[Perhaps our correspondent can reply to another Query fromMr. W. Fraser, viz. "Who is the 'certain author' quoted inA Letter to a Convocation Man, pp. 24, 25.?"—Ed.]

Sheriffs of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire(Vol. vii., p. 572.).—This is a very singular Query, inasmuch as Fuller's list of the sheriffs of these counties begins 1st Henry II., and not, as is assumed by your correspondent D., "from the time of Henry VIII."

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

Ferdinand Mendez Pinto(Vol. vii., p. 551.).—Inquirenswill find the passage he quotes in Congreve'sLove for Love, Act II. Sc. 5. Foresight, addressing Sir Sampson Legend, says:

"Thou modern Mandeville, Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type," &c.

In theTatler, No. 254. (a paper ascribed to Addison and Steele conjointly), these veracious travellers are thus pleasantly noticed:

"There are no books which I more delight in than in travels, especially those that describe remote countries, and give the writer an opportunity of showing his parts without incurring any danger of being examined and contradicted. Among all the authors of this kind, our renowned countryman, Sir John Mandeville, has distinguished himself by the copiousness of his invention, and the greatness of his genius. The second to Sir John I take to have been Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, a person of infinite adventure and unbounded imagination. One reads the voyages of these two great wits with as much astonishment as the travels of Ulysses in Homer, or of the Red Cross Knight in Spenser. All is enchanted ground and fairy land."

Biographical sketches of Mandeville and Pinto are attached to this paper in the excellent edition of theTatler("with Illustrations and Notes" by Calder, Percy, and Nichols), published in six volumes in 1786. Godwin selected this quotation from Congreve as a fitting motto for hisTale of St. Leon.

J. H. M.

The passage referred to occurs in Congreve'sLove for Love, Act II. Sc. 5. Cervantes had before designated Pinto as the "prince of liars." It seems that poor Pinto did not deserve the ill language applied to him by the wits. Ample notices of his travels may be seen in theRetrospective Review, vol. viii. pp. 83-105., and Macfarlane'sRomance of Travel, vol. ii. pp. 104-192.

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

"Other-some" and "Unneath"(Vol vii., p. 571.).—Mr. Halliwell, in hisDictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, hasother-some, some other, "a quaint but pretty phraseof frequent occurrence." He gives two instances of its use. He has also "Unneath, beneath. Somerset."

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

The wordother-someoccurs in the authorised version of the Bible, Acts xvii. 18. "Other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods." It does not occur in any of the earlier versions of this passage in Bagster'sEnglish Hexapla. Halliwell says that it is "a quaint but pretty phrase of frequent occurrence," and gives an example dated 1570.Unneath, according to the same authority, is used in Somersetshire.Other-someis constantly used in Norfolk. I think it, however, a pity that your space should be occupied by such Queries as these, which a simple reference to Halliwell'sDictionarywould have answered.

E. G. R.

Willow Pattern(Vol. vi., p. 509.).—Evidently a Chinese design. The bridge-houses, &c., are purely Chinese; and also the want of perspective. I have seen crockery in the shops in Shanghai with thesame pattern, or at least with very slight difference.

H. B.

Shanghai.

Cross and Pile(Vol. vii., p. 487.).—Another evidence that the wordpileis of French origin:"Pille, pile; that side of the coin which bears the head. Cross or pile, a game."—A Dictionary of the Norman French Language, by Robert Kelham of Lincoln's Inn: London, 1779, 8vo., p. 183.

Φ.

Old Fogie(Vol. vii., pp. 354. 559.).—J. L., who writes from Edinburgh, denies the Irish origin of this appellation, because he says it was used of the "veteran companies" who garrisoned the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling. My mother, who was born in 1759, often told me that she never had heard any other name for the old men in the Royal Hospital, in the vicinity of which she passed her early days. It was therefore a well-known name a century ago in Dublin, and consequently was in use long before; probably from the building of the hospital in the reign of Charles II. Can J. L. trace the Scotch term as far back as that? Scotch or Irish, however, I maintain that my derivation is the right one. J. L. says he prefers that of Dr. Jamieson, in hisScottish Dictionary, who "derives it from Su.-G.Fogde, formerly one who had the charge of a garrison." In thus preferring a Scottish authority, J. L. shows himself to be a true Scot; but he must allow me to ask him, is he acquainted with the Swedish language? (for that is what is meant by the mysterious Su.-G.) And if so, is he not aware thatFogdeis the same as the GermanVogt, and signifies governor, judge, steward, &c., never merely a military commandant; and what on earth has that to do with battered old soldiers?

I may as well take this opportunity of replying to another of your Caledonian correspondents, respecting the origin of the wordnugget. The Persian derivation is simply ridiculous, as the word was not first used in Australia. I am then perfectly well aware that this term has long been in use in Scotland and the north of Ireland asi. q.lump, as anuggetof bread, of sugar, &c. But aningotis a lump also: and the derivation is so simple and natural, that in any case I am disposed to regard it as the true one. May not the Yankee term have been made independently of the British one?

Thos. Keightley.

Another odd Mistake(Vol. vii., p. 405.).—On page 102. ofLast Glimpses of Convocation, by A. J. Joyce, 1853, I read of "the defiance thrown out to Henry III. by his barons,Nolumus leges Angliæ mutare." I have never read of any such defiance, expressed in any such language, anywhere else.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Spontaneous Combustion(Vol. vii., pp. 286. 440.).—I have somewhere read an account of a drunkard whose body was so saturated with alcohol, that being bled in a fever, and the lamp near him having been overthrown, the blood caught fire, and burst into a blaze: the account added, that he was so startled by this occurrence, that on his recovery he reformed thoroughly, and prolonged his life to a good old age. Where is this story to be found, and is the fact related physically possible? It seems to bear on the question of spontaneous combustion.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Erroneous Forms of Speech(Vol vii., p. 329.).—E. G. R. will find, on farther inquiry, that he is in the wrong as regards the mode of writing and speakingmangold-wurzel. The subject was discussed in theGardeners' Chroniclein 1844. There (p. 204.) your correspondent will find, by authority of "a German," thatmangoldis field-beet or leaf-beet: and thatmangelis a corruption or pretended emendation of the common German appellation, and most probably of English coinage. Such a thing asmangel-wurzelis not known on the Continent; and the best authorities now, in this country, all usemangold-wurzel.

P.S.—Since writing the above, I have seenMr. Frere's note on the same subject (Vol. vii, p. 463.). The substitution ofmangelfor the originalmangold, was probably an attempt to correct some vulgar error in orthography; or to substitute a word of some significance for one of none. But, as Dr. Lindley has said, "If we adopt a foreign name, we ought to take it as we find it, whatever may be its imperfections."

Ecclesia Anglicana(Vol. vii., pp. 12. 440. 535.).—I gladly set down for G. R. M. the following instances of the use of "Ecclesia Gallicana;" they are quotations occurring in Richard'sAnalysis Consiliorum: he will find many more in the same work as translated by Dalmasus:

"ExGallicanæ Ecclesiæusu, Jubilæi Bullæ ad Archiepiscopos mittendæ sunt, e quorum manibus ad suffraganeos Episcopos perferuntur."—Monumenta Cleri, tom. ii. p. 228."Gallicana Ecclesiaa disciplinæ remissione, ante quadringentos aut quingentos annos inducta, se melius quam aliæ defendit, Romanæque curiæ ausis vehementius resistat."—Fleurius,Sermo super Ecclesiæ Gallicanæ Libertatibus.

"ExGallicanæ Ecclesiæusu, Jubilæi Bullæ ad Archiepiscopos mittendæ sunt, e quorum manibus ad suffraganeos Episcopos perferuntur."—Monumenta Cleri, tom. ii. p. 228.

"Gallicana Ecclesiaa disciplinæ remissione, ante quadringentos aut quingentos annos inducta, se melius quam aliæ defendit, Romanæque curiæ ausis vehementius resistat."—Fleurius,Sermo super Ecclesiæ Gallicanæ Libertatibus.

I have not time to search for the other examples which he wants; though I have not any doubt but they would easily be found. The English Church has been, I consider, a more Romanising church than many; but, in mediæval times, the most intimate connexion with Rome did not destroy, though it impaired, the nationality of the church. The church of Spain is, I believe, now one of the most national of the churches in communion with Rome.

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

Gloves at Fairs(Vol. vii., p. 455.).—The writer saw, a few years ago, the shape of a glove hangingduring the fair at the common ground of Southampton, and was told, that while it was there debtors were free from arrest within the town.

Anon.

In returning my thanks to your correspondents who have given instances of this custom, allow me to add that a friend has called my attention to the fact that MattishallGant, or fair, takes place in Rogation orGang week, and probably takes its name from the latter word. Forby says that there are probably few instances of the use of this word, and I am not aware of any other than the one he gives, viz. MattishallGant.

E. G. R.

Popular Sayings.—The Sparrows at Lindholme(Vol. vii., p. 234.).—The sparrows at Lindholme have made themselves scarce here, under the following circumstances:—William of Lindholme seems to have united in himself the characters of hermit and wizard. When a boy, his parents, on going to Wroot Feast, hard by, left him to keep the sparrows from the corn; at which he was so enraged that he took up an enormous stone, and threw it at the house to which they were gone, but from throwing it too high it fell on the other side. After he had done this he went to the feast, and when scolded for it, said he had fastened up all the sparrows in the barn; where they were found, on the return home, all dead, except a few which were turned white. (Vide Stonehouse'sHistory of the Isle of Axholme.)

As for the "Doncaster Daggers" and "Hatfield Rats," also inquired after, I have no information, although those places are in the same neighbourhood.

W. H. L.

Effects of the Vox Regalis of the Queen Bee(Vol. vii., p. 499.).—Dr. Bevan, than whom there is probably no better authority on apiarian matters, discredits this statement of Huber. No other naturalist appears to have witnessed these wonderful effects. Dr. Bevan however states, that when the queen is

"Piping, prior to the issue of an after-swarm, the bees that are near her remain still, with a slight inclination of their heads, but whether impressed by fear or not seems doubtful."—BevanOn the Honey Bee, p. 18.

Cheverells.

Seneca and St. Paul(Vol. vii., p. 500.).—

"The fourteen letters of Seneca to Paul,which are printedin the old editions of Seneca, are apocryphal."—Dr. W. Smith'sDict. of Mythology, &c."Seneca, Opera, 1475, fol. The second part contains only his letters, andbegins with the correspondence of St. Paul and Seneca."—Ebert'sBibl. Dict.

"The fourteen letters of Seneca to Paul,which are printedin the old editions of Seneca, are apocryphal."—Dr. W. Smith'sDict. of Mythology, &c.

"Seneca, Opera, 1475, fol. The second part contains only his letters, andbegins with the correspondence of St. Paul and Seneca."—Ebert'sBibl. Dict.

B. H. C.

Hurrah(Vol. vi., p. 54.; Vol. vii., p. 595.).—Wace'sChronicle of the Norman Conquest, as it appears in Mr. Edgar Taylor's translation, pp. 21, 22, mentions the war-cries of the various knights at the battle of Val des Dunes. Duke William cries "Dex aie," and Raol Tesson "Tur aie;" on which there is a note that M. Pluquet reads "Thor aide," which he considers may have been derived from the ancient Northmen. Surely this is the origin of our modernhurrah; and if so, perhaps the earliest mention of our English war-cry.

J. F. M.

Purlieu(Vol. vii., p. 477.).—The etymology of this word which Dr. Johnson adopted is that which many others have approved of. The only other derivation which appears to have been suggested is fromperambulatio. Blount,Law Dict., s. voc., thus explains:

"PurlueorPurlieu(from the Fr.pur, i. e.purus, andlieu, locus) is all that ground near any forest, which being made forest by Henry II., Richard I., or King John, were, byperambulation, granted by Henry III., severed again from the same, and becamepurlue, i. e. pure and free from the laws and ordinances of the forest. Manwood, par. 2., For. Laws, cap. 20.; see the statute 33 Edw. I. stat. 5. And the perambulation, whereby thepurlieuis deafforested, is calledpourallee, i. e.perambulatio. 4 Inst. fol. 303."

(See also Lye, Cowel, Skinner, and especially Minshæus.)

B. H. C.

Bell Inscriptions(Vol. vi., p. 554.).—In Weever'sAncient Funeral Monuments(London, 1631) are the following inscriptions:

"En ego campana nunquam denuncio vana;Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum.Defunctos plango, vivos voco, fulmina frango.Vox mea, vox vitæ, voco vos ad sacra, venite,Sanctos collaudo, tonitrus fugo, funera claudo."· · · · · ·"Funera plango, fulgura frango, Sabbatha pango,Excito lentos, dissipo ventos, paco cruentos."

"En ego campana nunquam denuncio vana;

Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, congrego clerum.

Defunctos plango, vivos voco, fulmina frango.

Vox mea, vox vitæ, voco vos ad sacra, venite,

Sanctos collaudo, tonitrus fugo, funera claudo."

· · · · · ·

"Funera plango, fulgura frango, Sabbatha pango,

Excito lentos, dissipo ventos, paco cruentos."

There is also an old inscription for a "holy water" vessel:

"Hujus aquæ tactus depellit Demonis actus.Asperget vos Deus cum omnibus sanctis suis ad vitam æternam.Sex operantur aqua benedicta.Cor mundat, Accidiam fugat, venalia tollit,Auget opem, removetque hostem, phantasmata pellit."

"Hujus aquæ tactus depellit Demonis actus.

Asperget vos Deus cum omnibus sanctis suis ad vitam æternam.

Sex operantur aqua benedicta.

Cor mundat, Accidiam fugat, venalia tollit,

Auget opem, removetque hostem, phantasmata pellit."

At page 848. there is a beautiful specimen of an old font in the church of East Winch, in the diocese of Norwich.

Clericus(D).

Dublin.

Quotation from Juvenal(Vol. vii., pp. 166. 321.).—My copy of this poet being unfortunately without notes, I was not aware that there was authority for "abest" in this passage; but my argument still remains much the same, as regards quotershaving retained for their own convenience a reading which most editors have rejected. I observe that Gifford, in his translation, takeshabesas the basis of his version in both the passages mentioned.

May I ask if it is from misquotation, or variation in the copies, that an even more hackneyed quotation is never given as I find it printed, Sat. 2. v. 83.: "Nemo repentevenitturpissimus?"

J. S. Warden.

Lord Clarendon and the Tubwoman(Vol. vii., pp. 133. 211.).—Your correspondent L. has not proved this story to be fabulous: it has usually been told of the wife of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, great-grandmother of the two queens, and, for anything we know yet ofherfamily, it may be quite true.

J. S. Warden.

Rathe(Vol. vii., p. 512).—I can corroborate the assertion of Anon., that this word is still in use in Sussex, though by no means frequently. Not long since I heard an old woman say, "My gaeffer (meaning her husband) got up quiterathethis morning."

In the case of the early apple it is generally pronouncedratheripe.

See also Cooper's excellentSussex Glossary, 2nd edit. 1853.

Old Booty's Case(Vol. iii., p. 40.).—The most authentic report of this case is, I think, in one of the London Gazettes for 1687 or 1688. I read the report in one of these at the British Museum several years ago. It purported to be given only a few days after the trial had taken place.

H. T. Riley.

Circle of the Seasons.12mo. London, 1828. (Two Copies.)

Jones' Account of Aberystwith.Trevecka, 8vo. 1779.

M. C. H. Broemel's Fest-Tanzen der Ersten Christen.Jena, 1705.

Cooper's Account of Public Records.8vo. 1832. Vol. I.

Passionael efte dat Levent der Heiligen.Basil, 1522.

King on Roman Coins.

Lord Lansdowne's Works.Vol. I. Tonson. 1736.

James Baker's Picturesque Guide to the Local Beauties of Wales.Vol. I. 4to. 1794.

Webster's Dictionary.Vol. II. 4to. 1832.

Walker's Particles.8vo. old calf, 1683.

Warner's Sermons.2 Vols. Longman, about 1818.

Author's Printing and Publishing Assistant.12mo., cloth. 1842.

Sanders' History of Shenstone in Staffordshire.J. Nichols, London. 1794. Two Copies.

Herbert's Carolina Threnodia.8vo. 1702.

Theobald's Shakspeare Restored.4to. 1726.

Sermons by the Rev. Robert Wake, M.A.1704, 1712, &c.

History of Ancient Wilts, by SirR. C. Hoare.The last three Parts.

*** Correspondents sending Lists of Books Wanted are requested to send their names.

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

Being anxious to include as many Replies as possible in our present Number, in order that they may be found in the same Volume with theQueriesto which they relate, we have omitted for this week our usualPhotographic Correspondence,as well as ourNotes on Books,and several interesting articles, which are in type.

Mr. Lyte'sTreatment of Positivesshall appear next week.

C. Mansfield Ingleby.—The passage—-

Back to Index Next