Minor Queries with Answers.

Birmingham.

"Pætus and Arria."—Can you inform me who is the author ofPætus and Arria, a Tragedy, 8vo., 1809?

In Genest'sAccount of the English Stage, this play is said to be written by a gentleman of the University of Cambridge. Can you tell me whether this is likely to be W. Smyth, the late Professor of Modern History in that university, who died in June, 1849?

Gw.

Heraldic Query.—A. was killed in open rebellion. His son B. lived in retirement under a fictitious name. The grandson C. retained the assumed name, and obtained new arms. Query,Can the descendants of C. resume the arms of A.? If so, must they substitute them for the arms of C., or bear them quarterly, and in which quarters?

Francis P.

Lord Chancellor Steele.—Is any pedigree of William Steele, Esq., Lord Chancellor of Ireland temp. Commonwealth, extant; and do any of his descendants exist?

It is believed he was nearly related to Captain Steel, governor of Beeston Castle, who suffered death by military execution in 1643 on a charge of cowardice.

Statfold.

"A Tub to the Whale."—What is the origin of this phrase?

Pimlico.

Legitimation(Scotland).—Perhaps some of your Scotch readers "learned in the law" would obligingly answer the subjoined Queries, referring to some decisions.

1. Will entail property go to abastard,legitimated before the Unionunder the great seal (by the law of Scotland)?

2. Will titles and dignities descend?

3. Will armorial bearings?

M. M.

Inner Temple.

"Vaut mieux," &c.—The proverb "Vaut mieux avoir affaire à Dieu qu'à ses saints" has a Latin origin. What is it?

Shakspeare First Folio.—Is there anyobtainableedition of Shakspeare which follows, or fully contains, the first folio?

The Staffordshire Knot.—Can any of your readers give the history of the Staffordshire knot, traced on the carriages and trucks of the North Staffordshire Railway Company?

T. P.

Sir Thomas Elyot.—I shall be extremely obliged by a reference to any sources of information respecting Sir Thomas Elyot, Knight, living in the time of Henry VIII., son of Sir Richard Elyot, Knight, of Suffolk.

I shall be glad also to know whether a short work (among others of his in my possession) entitledThe Defence of good Women, printed in London by Thomas Berthelet, 1545, is at all a rare book?

H. C. K.

"Celsior exsurgens pluviis," &c.—

"Celsior exsurgens pluviis, nimbosque cadentes,Sub pedibus cernens, et cæca tonitrua calcans."

"Celsior exsurgens pluviis, nimbosque cadentes,

Sub pedibus cernens, et cæca tonitrua calcans."

Can you oblige me by stating where the above lines are to be found? They appear to me to form an appropriate motto for a balloon.

J. P. A.

The Bargain Cup.—Can the old English custom of drinking together upon the completion of a bargain, be traced back farther than the Norman era? Did a similar custom exist in the earlier ages? Danl. Dyke, in hisMysteries(London, 1634), says:

"The Jews being forbidden to make couenants with the Gentiles, they also abstained from drinking with them; because that was a ceremonie vsed in striking of couenants."

This is the only notice I can find among old writers touching this custom, which is certainly one of considerable antiquity: though I should like confirmation of Dyke's words, before I can recognise an ancestry so remote.

R. C. Warde.

Kidderminster.

School-Libraries.—I am desirous of ascertaining whether any of our public schools possess any libraries for the general reading of the scholars, in which I do not include mere school-books of Latin, Greek, &c., which, I presume, they all possess, but such as travels, biographies, &c.

Boys fresh from these schools appear generally to know nothing of general reading, and from the slight information I have, I fear there is nothing in the way of a library in any of them. If not, it is, I should think, a very melancholy fact, and one that deserves a little attention: but if any of your obliging correspondents can tell me what public school possesses such a thing, and the facilities allowed for reading in the school, I shall take it as a favour.

Weld Taylor.

Bayswater.

Queen Elizabeth and her "true" Looking-glass.—An anecdote is current of Queen Elizabeth having in her later days, if not during her last illness, called for atruelooking-glass, having for a long time previously made use of one that was in some manner purposely falsified.

What is the original source of the story? or at least what is the authority to which its circulation is mainly due? An answer from some of your correspondents to one or other of these questions would greatly oblige

Veronica.

Bishop Thomas Wilson.—In Thoresby's Diary,A.D.1720, April 17 (vol. ii. p. 289.), is the following entry:

"Easter Sunday ... after evening prayers supped at cousin Wilson's with the Bishop of Man's son."

Was there any relationship, and what, between this "cousin Wilson," and the bishop's son, Dr. Thomas Wilson? I should be glad of any information bearing on any or on all these subjects.

William Denton.

Bishop Wilson's Works.—TheRev. John Keble, Hursley, near Winchester, being engaged in writing the life and editing the works of Bishop Wilson (Sodor and Man), would feel obliged bythe communication of any letters, sermons, or other writings of the bishop, or by reference to any incidents not to be found in printed accounts of his life.

Hobbes, Portrait of.—In theMemoirsof T. Hobbes, it is stated that a portrait of him was painted in 1669 for Cosmo de Medici.

I have a fine half-length portrait of him, on the back of which is the following inscription:

"Thomas Hobbes, æt. 81. 1669.Jos. Wick Wrilps, Londiensis, Pictor Caroli 2di. R.pinxt."

"Thomas Hobbes, æt. 81. 1669.

Jos. Wick Wrilps, Londiensis, Pictor Caroli 2di. R.

pinxt."

Is this painter the same as John Wycke, who died in 1702, but who is not, I think, known as a portrait painter?

Can any of your readers inform me whether a portrait of Hobbes is now in the galleries at Florence, and, if so, by whom it was painted? It is possible that mine is a duplicate of the picture which was painted for the Grand Duke.

W. C. Trevelyan.

Wallington.

Brasenose, Oxford.—I am anxious to learn the origin and meaning of the wordBrasenose. I have somewhere heard or read (though I cannot recall where) that it was a Saxon word,brasen hausor "brewing-house;" and that the college was called by this name, because it was built on the site of the brewing-house of King Alfred. All that Ingram says on the subject is this:

"This curious appellation, which, whatever was the origin of it, has been perpetuated by the symbol of a brazen nose here and at Stamford, occurs with the modern orthography, but in one undivided word, so early as 1278, in an Inquisition, now printed in theHundred Rolls, though quoted by Wood from the manuscript record."—See hisMemorials of Oxford.

Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

[Our correspondent will find the notice of King Alfred's brew-house in the review of Ingram'sMemorialsin theBritish Critic, vol. xxiv. p. 139. The writer says, "There is a spot in the centre of the city where Alfred is said to have lived, and which may be called the native place or river-head of three separate societies still existing, University, Oriel, and Brasenose. Brasenose claims his palace, Oriel his church, and University his school or academy. Of these Brasenose College is still called, in its formal style, 'the King's Hall,' which is the name by which Alfred himself, in his laws, calls his palace; and it has its present singular name from a corruption ofbrasinium, orbrasin-huse, as having been originally located in that part of the royal mansion which was devoted to the then important accommodation of a brew-house." Churton, in hisLife of Bishop Smyth, p. 277., thus accounts for the origin of the word:—"Brasen Nose Hall, as the Oxford antiquary has shown, may be traced as far back as the time of Henry III., about the middle of the thirteenth century; and early in the succeeding reign, 6th Edward I., 1278, it was known by the name of Brasen Nose Hall, which peculiar name was undoubtedly owing, as the same author observes, to the circumstance of a nose of brass affixed to the gate. It is presumed, however, this conspicuous appendage of the portal was not formed of the mixed metal, which the word now denotes, but the genuine produce of the mine; as is the nose, or rather face, of a lion or leopard still remaining at Stamford, which also gave name to the edifice it adorned. And hence, when Henry VIII. debased the coin, by an alloy ofcopper, it was a common remark or proverb, that 'Testons were gone to Oxford, to study inBrasenNose.'"]

G. Downing.—Can any one point out to me a biography of G. Downing, or at least indicate a work where the dates of the birth and death of this celebrated statesman may be found? He was English ambassador in the Hague previous to and in the year 1664, and to him Downing Street in London owes its name. A very speedy answer would be most welcome.—From theNavorscher.

A. T. C.

[In Pepys'sDiary, vol. i. p. 2. edit. 1848, occurs the following notice of Sir George Downing:—"Wood has misled us in stating that Sir George Downing was a son of Dr. Calibut Downing, the rector of Hackney. He was beyond doubt the son of Emmanuel Downing, a London merchant, who went to New England. It is not improbable that Emmanuel was a near kinsman of Calibut; how related has not yet been discovered. Governor Hutchinson, in hisHistory of Massachusetts, gives the true account of Downing's affiliation, which has been farther confirmed by Mr. Savage, of Boston, from the public records of New England. Wood calls Downing a sider with all times and changes; skilled in the common cant, and a preacher occasionally. He was sent by Cromwell to Holland, as resident there. About the Restoration, he espoused the King's cause, and was knighted and elected M. P. for Morpeth, in 1661. Afterwards, becoming Secretary to the Treasury and Commissioner of the Customs, he was in 1663 created a Baronet of East Hatley, in Cambridgeshire, and was again sent ambassador to Holland. His grandson of the same name, who died in 1749, was the founder of Downing College, Cambridge. The title became extinct in 1764, upon the decease of Sir John Gerrard Downing, the last heir male of the family." According to Hutchinson, Sir George died in 1684.]

Unkid.—Can any of your readers inform me as to the derivation of this word, or give any instance of its recent use? I have frequently heard it in my childhood (the early part of the present century) among the rural population of Oxon and Berks. It was generally applied to circumstances of a melancholy or distressing character, but sometimes used to express a peculiar state of feeling, being apparently intended to convey nearly the same meaning as theennuiof the French. Irecollect an allusion to the phrase somewhere in Miss Mitford's writings, who speaks of it as peculiar to Berks; but as I was then ignorant of Captain Cuttle's maxim, I did not "make a note of it," so that I am unable to lay my hand on the passage.

G. T.

Reading.

[Mr. Sternberg also found this word in Northamptonshire: for in his valuable work onThe Dialect and Folk Loreof that county occurs the following derivation of it:—"Unked, Hunkid,s. lonely, dull, miserable. 'I was sounkedwhen ye war away.' 'Aunkedhouse,' &c. Mr. Bosworth gives, as the derivative, the A.-S.uncyd, solitary, without speech. In Batchelor'sList of Bedfordshire Words, it is speltungkid."]

Pilgrim's Progress.—The common editions contain athirdpart, setting forth the life ofTender-conscience: this third part is thought not to have been written by Bunyan, and is omitted from some, at least, of the modern editions. Can any of your readers explain by whom this addition was made, and all about it? The subject of thePilgrim's Progressgenerally—the stories of a similar kind which are said to have preceded—especially in Catholic times—the history of its editions and annotations, would give some interesting columns.

[Mr. George Offor, in his Introduction toThe Pilgrim's Progress, published by the Hanserd Knollys Society in 1847, notices the third part as a forgery:—"In a very few years after Bunyan's death, this third part made its appearance; and although the title does not directly say that it was written by Bunyan, yet it was at first generally received as such. In 1695, it reached a second edition; and a sixth in 1705. In 1708, it was denounced in the title to the ninth edition of the second part, by a 'Note,the third part, suggested to be J. Bunyan's, is an imposture.' The author of this forgery is as yet unknown." Mr. Offor has also devoted fifty pages of his Introduction to the conjectured prototypes of Bunyan'sPilgrim's Progress. He says, "Every assertion or suggestion that came to my knowledge has been investigated, and the works referred to have been analysed. And beyond this, every allegorical work that could be found, previous to the eighteenth century, has been examined in all the European languages, and the result is a perfect demonstration of the complete originality of Bunyan."]

John Frewen.—What is known of this divine? He was minister at Northiam in Sussex in 1611; and published, the following year, a small volume ofSermons, bearing reference to some quarrel between himself and parishioners. Are theseSermonsrare? Any particulars would be acceptable.

R. C. Warde.

Kidderminster.

[Accepted Frewen, Archbishop of York, was the eldest son of John Frewen, "the puritanical Rector of Northiam," as Wood calls him, and indeed his name carries a symbol of his father's sanctity. Wood has given a few particulars of John, who, he says, "was a learned divine, and frequent preacher of the time, and wrote, 1.Fruitful Instructions and Necessary Doctrine, to edify in the Fear of God, &c., 1587. 2.Fruitful Instructions for the General Cause of Reformation, against the Slanders of the Pope and League, &c., 1589. 3.Certain Choice Grounds and Principles of our Christian Religion, with their several Expositions, by Way of Questions and Answers, &c., 1621, and other things. He died in 1627 (about the latter end), and was buried in Northiam Church, leaving then behind these sons, viz. Accepted, Thankful, Stephen, Joseph, Benjamin, Thomas, Samuel, John, &c., which John seems to have succeeded his father in the Rectory of Northiam; but whether the said father was educated at Oxford, I cannot tell."]

Histories of Literature.—Can any correspondent inform me of the best, or one or two principal Histories of Literature, published in the English language, with the names of the author and publisher; as well as, if possible, the size and price?

Ilmonasteriensis.

[Our correspondent cannot do better than procure Hallam'sIntroduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, 3 vols. 8vo. (36s.). He may also consult with advantage Dr. Maitland'sDark Ages, which illustrates the state of religion and literaturefromthe ninth to the twelfth centuries, 8vo., 12s. and Berrington'sLiterary History of the Middle Ages, 3s.6d.]

"Mrs. Shaw's Tombstone."—In Leigh'sObservations(London, 1660) are several quotations from a work entitledMrs. Shaw's Tombstone. Where may a copy of this be seen?

R. C. Warde.

Kidderminster.

[Mrs. Dorothy Shaw'sTombstone, or the Saint's Remains, 1658, may be seen in the British Museum, Press-mark, 1418. i. 41.]

(Vol. viii., p. 182.)

A correspondent who seems to delight in sibilants, signing, himself S. Z. Z. S., invites me to "preserve, in your columns, the letter of Calvin to Cranmer, of which Dean Jenkyns has only given extracts," as noticed by me in your Vol. vii., p. 621.

I would not shrink from the trouble of transcribing the whole letter, if a complete copy were only to be found in the short-lived columns of a newspaper, as inserted in theRecordof May 15, 1843, by Merle d'Aubigné; but the Dean has given a reference to the volume in which both the letters he cites are preserved and accessible, viz.Calvin Epistles, pp. 134, 135., Genev. 1616.

S. Z. Z. S. justly observes that there are two points to be distinguished: first, Cranmer's wish that Calvin should assist in a general union of the churches protesting against Romish errors; second, Calvin's offer to assist in settling the Church of England. He adds, "The latter was declined; and the reason is demonstrated in Archbishop Laurence'sBampton Lectures." I neither possess those lectures, nor the volume of Calvin's epistles; but all I have seen of the correspondence between him and Cranmer, in the Parker Society's editions of Cranmer, and of original letters between 1537-58, and in Jenkyns'Remains of Cranmer, indisposes me to believe that Calvin made any "offer to assist in settling the Church of England." It appears from Dean Jenkyns' note, vol. i. p. 346., that Archbishop Laurence made a mistake in the order of the correspondence, calculated to mislead himself; and as to Heylyn's assertion,Eccles. Restaur., p. 65., that Calvin made such an offer and "that the Archbishop (Cranmer)knewthe man and refused his offer," the Dean says:

"He gives no authority for the later part of his statement, and it can hardly be reconciled with Cranmer's letter to Calvin of March 20, 1552."

The contemptuous expression, he "knew the man and refused his offer," is, in fact, utterly irreconcilable with Cranmer's language in all his three letters to Melancthon, to Bullinger, and to Calvin (Nos. 296, 297, 298. of Parker Society's edition ofCranmer's Remains, and Nos. 283, 284, 285. of Jenkyns' edition), where he tells each of the other two that he had written to Calvin from his desire—

"Ut in Anglia, aut alibi, doctissimorum etoptimorumvirorum synodus convocaretur, in qua de puritate ecclesiasticæ doctrinæ, et præcipue de consensu controversiæ sacramentariæ tractaretur."

Or, as he said to Calvin himself:

"Ut docti et pii viri, qui alios antecellunt eruditione et judicio, convenirent."

Your correspondent seems to have used the word "demonstrated" rather in a surgical than in its mathematical sense.

Having taken up my pen to supply you with an answer to this historical inquiry, I may as well notice some other articles in your No. 199. For example, in p. 167., L. need not have referred your readers to Halliwell'sResearches in Archaic Languagefor an explanation of Bacon's word "bullaces." The word may be seen in Johnson'sDictionary, with the citation from Bacon, and instead of vaguely calling it "a small black and tartish plum," your botanical readers know it as thePrunus insititia.

Again, p. 173., J. M. may like to know farther, that the Duke of Wellington's clerical brother was entered on the boards of St. John's College, Cambridge, as Wesley, where the spelling must have been dictated either by himself, or by the person authorised to desire his admission. It continued to be spelt Wesley in the Cambridge annual calendars as late as 1808, but was altered in that of 1809 to Wellesley. The alteration was probably made by the desire of the family, and without communicating such desire to the registrary of the university. For it appears in the edition ofGraduati Cantabrigienses, printed in 1823, as follows:

"Wesley, Gerard Valerian, Coll. Joh. A. M. 1792. Comitis de Mornington, Fil. nat. 4tus."

In p. 173., C. M.Inglebymay like to know, as a clue to the origin of hisapussee and, that I was taught at school, sixty years ago, to call &And per se, whilst some would call itAnd-per-se-and.

In the same page, the inquirer B. H. C. respecting the wordmammon, may like to know that the history of that word has been given at some length in p. 1. to p. 68. of the Parker Society's edition of Tyndale'sParable of the wicked Mammon, where I have stated that it occurs in a form identical with the English in the Chaldee Targum of Onkelos on Exod. viii. 21., and in that of Jonathan on Judges, v. 9., as equivalent to riches; and that in the Syriac translation it occurs in a form identical withΜαμωνᾶ, in Exod. xxi. 30., as a rendering forכֹפֶר, the price of satisfaction. In B. H. C.'s citation from Barnes,evenseems a misprint forever. The Jews did not again fall into actual idolatry after the Babylonish captivity; but we are told that in the sight of God covetousness is idolatry.

Henry Walter.

Hasilbury Bryan.

(Vol. viii., p. 124.)

A Querist quoting from Porta'sNatural Magicthe vulgar error that "not only in Scotland, but in the river Thames, there is a kind of shell-fish which get out of their shells and grow to be ducks, or such like birds," asks, what could give rise to such an absurd belief? Your correspondent quotes from the English translation of theMagia Naturalis,A.D.1658; but the tradition is very ancient, Porta the author having died in 1515A.D.You still find an allusion inHudibrasto those—

"Who from the most refin'd of saints,As naturally grow miscreants,Asbarnaclesturn Soland geese,In th' islands of the Orcades."

"Who from the most refin'd of saints,

As naturally grow miscreants,

Asbarnaclesturn Soland geese,

In th' islands of the Orcades."

The story has its origin in the peculiar formation of the little mollusc which inhabits the multivalve shell, thePentalasmis anatifera, which by a fleshy peduncle attaches itself by one end to the bottoms of ships or floating timber, whilst from the otherthere protrudes a bunch of curling and fringe-like cirrhi, by the agitation of which it attracts and collects its food. These cirrhi so much resemble feathers, as to have suggested the leading idea of a bird's tail: and hence the construction of the remainder of the fable, which is thus given with grave minuteness inThe Herbal, or General Historie of Plants, gathered by John Gerarde, Master in Chirurgerie: London, 1597:

"What our eyes have seen, and our hands have touched, we shall declare. There is a small island in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by shipwreck; and also the trunks or bodies, with the branches of old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise, whereon is found a certain spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certain shells, in shape like those of a mussel, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour; wherein is contained a thing in form like a lace of silk finely woven as it were together, of a whitish colour; one end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oysters and mussels are; the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude mass or lump, which in time cometh to the shape and form of a bird. When it is perfectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string; next come the legs of the bird hanging out and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill. In short space after it cometh to full maturity, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl, bigger than a mallard, and lesser than a goose; having black legs, and a bill or beak, and feathers black and white, spotted in such manner as our magpie, called in some places a Pie-Annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose; which place aforesaid, and all those parts adjacent, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best may be bought for threepence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair unto me, and I shall satisfy them by the testimony of credible witnesses."—Page 1391.

Gerarde, who is doubtless Butler's authority, says elsewhere, that "in the north parts of Scotland, and the islands called Orcades," there are certain trees whereon these tree-geese and barnacles abound.

The conversion of the fish into a bird, however fabulous, would be scarcely more astonishing than the metamorphosis which it actually undergoes—the young of the little animal having no feature to identify it with its final development. In its early stage (I quote from Carpenter'sPhysiology, vol. i. p. 52.) it has a form not unlike that of the crab, "possessing eyes and powers of free motion; but afterwards, becoming fixed to one spot for the remainder of its life, it loses its eyes and forms a shell, which, though composed of various pieces, has nothing in common with the jointed shell of the crab."

Though Porta wrote at Naples, the story has reference to Scotland; and the tradition is evidently northern, and local. As toSperiend's Query, What could give rise to so absurd a story? it doubtless took its origin in the similarity of the tentacles of the fish to feathers of a bird. But I would add the farther Query, whether the ready acceptance and general credence given to so obvious a fable, may not have been derived from giving too literal a construction to the text of the passage in the first chapter of Genesis:

"And God said, Let thewaters bring forth abundantlythe moving creature that hath life, andthe fowlthat may fly in the open firmament of heaven?"

J. Emerson Tennent.

Drayton (1613) in hisPoly-olbion, iii., in connexion with the river Dee, speaks of—

"Th' anatomised fish, and fowls from planchers sprung,"

to which a note is appended in Southey's edition, p. 609., that such fowls were "barnacles, a bird breeding upon old ships." In theEntertaining Library, "Habits of Birds," pp. 363-379., the whole story of this extraordinary instance of ignorance in natural history is amply developed. The barnacle shells which I once saw in a sea-port, attached to a vessel just arrived from the Mediterranean, had the brilliant appearance, at a distance, of flowers in bloom[1]; the foot of theLepas anatifera(Linnæus) appearing to me like the stalk of a plant growing from the ship's side: the shell had the semblance of a calyx, and the flower consisted of the fingers (tentacula) of the shell-fish, "of which twelve project in an elegant curve, and are used by it for making prey of small fish." The very ancient error was to mistake the foot of the shell-fish for the neck of a goose, the shell for its head, and thetentaculafor a tuft of feathers. As to the body,non est inventus. The Barnacle Goose is a well-known bird: and these shell-fish, bearing, as seen out of the water, resemblance to the goose's neck, were ignorantly, and without investigation, confounded with geese themselves, an error into which Albertus Magnus (d. 1280) did not fall, and in which Pope Pius II. proved himself infallible. Nevertheless, in France, the Barnacle Goose may be eaten on fast-days by virtue of this old belief in its marine origin.

T. J. Buckton

Footnote 1:(return)SeePenny Cycl., art.Cirripeda, vii. 208., reversing the woodcut.

SeePenny Cycl., art.Cirripeda, vii. 208., reversing the woodcut.

(Vol. iv., p. 507. Vol. v., p. 155., &c.)

In the churchyard of Areley-Kings, Worcestershire (where is the singular memorial to Sir Harry Coningsby, which I mentioned at Vol. vi.,p. 406.), is a curious dial, the pillar supporting which has its four sides carved with figures of Time and Death, &c., and the following inscriptions.

On the south side, where is the figure of Time:

Consider"Aspice—ut aspicias.""Time's glass and scytheThy life and death declare,Spend well thy time, andFor thy end prepare.""O man, now or neverWhile there is time, turn unto the Lord,And put not off from day to day."

Consider

"Aspice—ut aspicias."

"Time's glass and scytheThy life and death declare,Spend well thy time, andFor thy end prepare."

"Time's glass and scythe

Thy life and death declare,

Spend well thy time, and

For thy end prepare."

"O man, now or neverWhile there is time, turn unto the Lord,And put not off from day to day."

"O man, now or never

While there is time, turn unto the Lord,

And put not off from day to day."

On the north side, where is the figure of Death standing upon a dead body, with his dart, hour-glass, and spade:

"Three things there be in very deede,Which make my heart in grief to bleede:The first doth vex my very heart,In that from hence I must departe;The second grieves me now and then,That I must die, but know not when;The third with tears bedews my face,That I must die, nor know the place.I. W.fecit, Anno Dmi.1687.""Behold my killing dart and delving spade;Prepare for death before thy grave be made;forAfter death there's no hope.""If a man die he shall live again.All the days of my appointed timeWill I wait till my days come."—Jobxiv. 14."The death of saints is precious,And miserable is the death of sinners."

"Three things there be in very deede,

Which make my heart in grief to bleede:

The first doth vex my very heart,

In that from hence I must departe;

The second grieves me now and then,

That I must die, but know not when;

The third with tears bedews my face,

That I must die, nor know the place.

I. W.fecit, Anno Dmi.1687."

I. W.

fecit, Anno Dmi.

1687."

"Behold my killing dart and delving spade;Prepare for death before thy grave be made;forAfter death there's no hope."

"Behold my killing dart and delving spade;

Prepare for death before thy grave be made;

for

After death there's no hope."

"If a man die he shall live again.All the days of my appointed timeWill I wait till my days come."—Jobxiv. 14.

"If a man die he shall live again.

All the days of my appointed time

Will I wait till my days come."—Jobxiv. 14.

"The death of saints is precious,And miserable is the death of sinners."

"The death of saints is precious,

And miserable is the death of sinners."

The east side of the pillar has the following:

"Si vis ingredi in vitam,Serve mandata.""Judgments are prepared for sinners."—Prov. xiv. 9.

"Si vis ingredi in vitam,Serve mandata."

"Si vis ingredi in vitam,

Serve mandata."

"Judgments are prepared for sinners."—Prov. xiv. 9.

And on the west:

"Sol non occidatSuper iracundiam vestram.""Whatsoever ye would that menShould do unto you,Do ye even so unto them."

"Sol non occidatSuper iracundiam vestram."

"Sol non occidat

Super iracundiam vestram."

"Whatsoever ye would that menShould do unto you,Do ye even so unto them."

"Whatsoever ye would that men

Should do unto you,

Do ye even so unto them."

I subjoin a few other dial inscriptions, copied from churches in Worcestershire.

Kidderminster (parish church):

"None but a villain will deface me."

Himbleton (over the porch):

"Via Vitæ."

Bromsgrove:

"We shall ——" (i.e.we shall die-all).

Shrawley:

"Ab hoc nomento pendet æternitas."

Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

(Vol. vii., pp. 377. 433. 460. 530.)

The following humble petition will give an idea of the arbitrary power exercised by the "Saltpeter maker" in the days of Good Queen Bess; and of the useful monopoly that functionary contrived to make of his employment, in defiance of county government:

"Righte honorable, our humble dewties to yorgood Lordshippe premised, maye it please the same to be advertised, that at the Quarter sessions holden at Newarke within this countie of Nottingham, There was a generall Complaynte made unto us by the Whole Countrie, that one John Ffoxe, saltpeter maker, had charged the Whole Countrie by his precepts for the Caryinge of Cole from Selsonn, in the Countie of Nottingham, unto the towne of Newarke wthin the same countie; beinge sixteene myles distante for the makeinge of saltpeter, some townes wthfive Cariages and some wthlesse, or els to geve him foure shillinges for everie Loade, whereof he hath Recyved a great parte. Uppon wchComplaynte we called the same Ffoxe before some of us at Newarke at the Sessions, there to answere the premisses, and also to make us a propcīon what Loades of Coales would serve to make a thowsand of saltpeter, To thend we might have sett some order for the preparing of the same: But the said Ffoxe will not sett downe anie rate what would serve for the makeinge of a Thowsande. Therefore we have thoughte good to advertise your good Lordshippe of the premisses, and have appoynted the clarke of the peace of this countie of Nottingham to attend yorgood Lordshippe to know yorLordshippes pleasure about the same, who can further informe yorgood Lordshippe of the particularities thereof, if it shall please yorgood Lordshippe to geve him hearings, And so most humblie take our Leaves, Newarke, the viijthof Octobr, 1589."Your Lppmost humblie to Comaunde,Ro. Markham,William Sutton,Rauf Barton, 1589,Nihs Roos,Brian Lassels,John Thornhagh."

"Your Lppmost humblie to Comaunde,Ro. Markham,William Sutton,Rauf Barton, 1589,Nihs Roos,Brian Lassels,John Thornhagh."

"Your Lppmost humblie to Comaunde,

Ro. Markham,William Sutton,Rauf Barton, 1589,Nihs Roos,Brian Lassels,John Thornhagh."

Ro. Markham,

William Sutton,

Rauf Barton, 1589,

Nihs Roos,

Brian Lassels,

John Thornhagh."

The document is addressed on the back "To the Right Honorable our verie good Lord the Lord Burghley, Lord Heighe Threasororof England, yeve theis;" and is numbered LXI. 72. among the Lansdowne MSS., B. M.

The proposal quoted below has no date attached, but probably belongs to the former part of the seventeenth century:

"The Service."1. To make 500 Tunne of refined Saltpetre within his Matiesdominions yearely, and continually, and cheaper.2.Without digging of homes or charging of carts, or any other charge to the subject whatsoever.3. To performe the whole service at our owne cost.4. Not to hinder any man in his owne way of makeing saltpetre, nor importation from forreine parts."

"The Service.

"1. To make 500 Tunne of refined Saltpetre within his Matiesdominions yearely, and continually, and cheaper.

2.Without digging of homes or charging of carts, or any other charge to the subject whatsoever.

3. To performe the whole service at our owne cost.

4. Not to hinder any man in his owne way of makeing saltpetre, nor importation from forreine parts."

The following memorandum is underwritten:

"Mr. Speaker hath our Bill; Be pleased to-morrow to call for it."

The original draft of the above disinterested offer may be seen Harl. CLVIII. fol. 272.

Furvus.

St. James's.

(Vol. viii., p. 150.)

The difficulty in investigating the origin of this word is that the letterc, "the most wonderful of all letters," says Eichhoff (Vergleichung der Sprachen, p. 55.), sounds likekbefore the vowelsa,o,u, but beforee,i, in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch, ass, in Italian astsh, in German asts. It is alwaystsin Polish and Bohemian. In Russian it is represented by a special letterц,tsi; but in Celtic it is alwaysk. Conformably with this principle, the Russians, like the Germans, Poles, and Bohemians, pronounce the Latincasts. So Cicero in these languages is pronouncedTsitsero, very differently from the Greeks, who called himKikero. The lettertsiis a supplementary one in Russian, having no corresponding letter in the Greek alphabet, from which the Russian was formed in the ninth century by St. Cyril. The word to be sought then amongst cognate languages as the counterpart oftsar(or as the Germans write itczar) iscar, as pronounced in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. The most probable etymological connection that I can discover is with the SanscritSanskrit: carcar, to move, to advance; the root of the Greekκάῤῥον, in Englishcar, Latincurro, Frenchcours. So Sanscritcaras,carat, movable, nimble; Greekχράων, Latincurrens. And Sanscritcâras, motion, Greekχόρος, Latincurrus,cursus, Frenchchar, Englishcar,cart, &c. The early Russians were doubtless wanderers, an off-shoot of the people known to the Greeks as Scythians, and to the Hebrews and Arabians as Gog and Magog, who travelled incars, occupying first one territory with their flocks, but not cultivating the land, then leaving it to nature and taking up another resting-place. It is certain that the Russians have many Asiatic words in their vocabulary, which must necessarily have occurred from their being for more than two centuries sometimes under Tatar, and sometimes under Mongol domination; and the origin of this wordtsarorcarmay leave to be sought on the plateaus of North-east Asia. In the Shemitic tongues (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, &c.) no connexion of sound or meaning, so probable as the above Indo-European one, is to be found. The popular derivations of Nabupolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, &c., are not to be trusted. It is remarkable, however, that these names are significant in Russian. (See "N. & Q.," Vol. vii., pp. 432, 433,note.) The cuneatic inscriptions may yet throw light on these Assyrian names. In Russian the kingdom isTsarstvo, the kingTsar, his queenTsarina, his son isTsarevitch, and his daughterTsarevna. The word is probably pure Russian or Slavic. The Russian tsar used about two hundred years ago to be styled duke by foreign courts, but he has advanced in the nomenclature of royalty to be an emperor. The Russians use the wordimperatorefor emperor,Kesarfor Cæsar, andsamodershetsefor sovereign.

T. J. Buckton.

Birmingham.

In Voltaire'sHistory of the Russian Empire, it is stated that the title of Czar may possibly be derived front theTzarsorTcharsof the kingdom of Casan. When John, or Ivan Basilides, Grand Prince of Russia, had completed the reduction of this kingdom, he assumed this title, and it has since continued to his successors. Before the reign of John Basilides, the sovereigns of Russia bore the name ofVelike Knez, that is, great prince, great lord, great chief, which in Christian countries was afterwards rendered by that of great duke. The Czar Michael Federovitz, on occasion of the Holstein embassy, assumed the titles of Great Knez and Great Lord, Conservator of all the Russias, Prince of Wolodimir, Moscow, Novogorod, &c., Tzar of Casan, Tzar of Astracan, Tzar of Siberia. The name ofTzarwas therefore the title of those Oriental princes, and therefore it is more probable for it to have been derived from theTshasof Persia than from the Roman Cæsars, whose name very likely never reached the ears of the Siberian Tzars on the banks of the Oby. In another part of Voltaire'sHistory, when giving an account of the celebrated battle of Narva, where Charles XII., with nine thousand men and ten pieces of cannon, defeated "the Russian army with eighty thousand fighting men, supported by one hundred and forty-five pieces of cannon," he says, "Among the captives was the son of a King of Georgia, whom Charles sent to Stockholm; his name wasMittelesky Czarowitz, or Czar's Son, which is farther proof that the title of Czar or Tzar was not originally derived from the Roman Cæsars." To the above slightly abbreviated description may not be uninterestingly added the language of Voltaire, which immediately follows the first reference:

"No title, how great soever, is of any signification, unless they who bear it are great and powerful of themselves. The wordemperor, which denoted only thegeneral of an army, became the title of thesovereigns of Rome and it is now conferred on the supreme governor of all the Russias."

A Hermit at Hampstead.

I beg to inform J. S. A. that the right word isTsar, and that it is the Russian word answering to our king or lord, the LatinRex, the PersianShah, &c. There may be terms in other languages that have an affinity with it, but I believe we should seek in vain for a derivation.

T. K.

(Vol. viii., p. 160.)

I wish thatR. W. Elliotof Clifton, whom I recognise as a former inhabitant of Hull, had given the authority on which he states, that "It is so called from the sale of ginger having been chiefly carried on there in early times." The name of this street has much puzzled the local antiquaries; and having been for several years engaged on a work relative to the derivations, &c., of the names of the streets of Hull, I have spared no pains to ascertain the history and derivation of the singular name of this street.

I offer then a conjecture as to its derivation as follows:—The ground on which this street stands was originally the property of De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, on which he had built his stately manor-house. On the attainder of the family it was seized by the king; and Henry VIII. several times held his court here, on one of his visits having presented his sword to the corporation. It was then, 1538, called Old Beverley Street, as seen in the survey made of the estates of Sir William Sydney, Kt. In a romance calledPiraute el Blanco, it is stated "The morning collation at the English Court wasgreen gingerwith good Malmsey, which was their custom, because of the coldness of the land." And in theFœdera, vii. 233., it is stated that, among other things, the cargo of a Genoese ship, which was driven ashore at Dunster, in Somersetshire, in 1380, consisted of green ginger (ginger cured with lemon-juice). In Hollar's Map of Hull, 1640, the street is there laid out as built upon, but without any name attached to it. No other plans of Hull are at present known to exist from the time of Hollar, 1640, to Gent, 1735. In Gent's plan of Hull, it is there called "The Land of Green Ginger;" so that probably, between the years 1640 and 1735, it received its peculiar name.

I therefore conjecture that, as Henry VIII. kept his Court here with his usual regal magnificence, green ginger would be one of the luxuries of his table; that this portion of his royal property being laid out as a garden, was peculiarly suitable for the growth of ginger—the same as Pontefract was for the growth of the liquorice plant; and that, upon the property being built upon, the remembrance of this spot being so suitable for the growth of ginger for the Court, would eventually give the peculiar name, in the same way that the adjoining street of Bowl-Alley-Lane received its title from the bowling-green near to it.

John Richardson.

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