MILTON'S WIDOW.

Footnote 4:(return)This word is used for want of a better, to signify some unknown change.

This word is used for want of a better, to signify some unknown change.

(Vol. viii., p. 594. &c.)

Garlichithe'sapologies toMr. Hughesare due, not so much for neglecting his communications as for misquoting them. We all owe an apology to your readers for keeping up so pertinaciously a subject of which I fear they will begin to be tired.

Mr. Hugheshasnotstated that Richard Minshull of Chester, son of Richard Minshull, the writer of the letter of May 3, 1656, was born in 1641. WhatMr. Hughesdidstate (Vol. viii., p. 200.) was, that Mrs. Milton's brother, Richard Minshull of Wistaston, was baptized on April 7 in that year; and the statement is quite correct, as I can vouch, from having examined the baptismal register. Richard Minshull of Chester was aged forty or forty-one at the date of his father's letter, as shown below; but even if he had been aged only fifteen, as supposed byGarlichithe, I do not see that there is anything in the language of the letter to call for observation. He had conveyed to his father a communication from Randle Holmes, and the father writes in answer,—"Deare and loveing sonne, my love and best respects to you and to my daughter [Garlichithemay read daughter-in-law if he likes, but I see no necessity for it], tendered wthtrust of yrhealth. I have reaceived Mr. Alderman Holmes his letter, together with yrs, wherin I understand that you desire to know what I can say concerning our coming out of Minshull House;" and he proceeds to give the information asked for.

Garlichithe, in his former communication, confounds Randle the great-grandfather with Randle the great-grandson, and in his present one he confounds Richard Minshull of Chester, the uncle, with Richard Minshull of Wistaston, the nephew. I agree withGarlichithethat "he, Richard, the writer of the said letter, must befairly presumedto have been married at the date of such letter," which he addresses to his "Deare and loveing sonne;" but what of that? Whom he married, your readers are informed at p. 595. He died in the year following his letter, at the ripe age of eighty-six.

The misquotations noticed above would, if not pointed out, lead to inextricable confusion of facts; and I am compelled therefore again totrouble you. In order, if possible, to set the matter at rest, I will put together in the form of a pedigree, compressed so as to be fit for insertion in your columns, the material facts which have been the subject of so much discussion; but, before doing so, permit me a word of protest against some of the communications alluded to, which are scarcely fair to "N. & Q."

A correspondent (Vol. vii., p. 596.) asks for information as to Milton's widow, andMr. Hughes(Vol. viii., p. 12.) refers him to a volume in which will be found the information asked for, and gives a brief outline of the facts there stated. On thisGarlichithe(Vol. viii., p. 134.), misquotingMr. Hughes, calls his attention to Mr. Hunter's letter, which, ifGarlichithehad availed himself of the reference furnished to him, he would have found duly noticed. A second correspondent,Mr. Singer, whose literary services render me unwilling to find fault with him (Vol. viii., p. 471.), heading his article with five references, of which not one is correct, suggests as new evidence the very documents to whichMr. Hugheshad furnished a reference; and a third, T. P. L. (quoting an anonymous pamphlet), jumps at once to the conclusion that "there can be little doubt" the author derived his information from an authentic source, "and, if so, it seems pretty clear"—that all the evidence supplied by heralds' visitations, wills, and title-deeds is to be discarded as idle fiction. Such objections as these, and the replies which they have rendered necessary, are, with the exception of the valuable contribution ofMr. Arthur Paget, the staple of the contributions which have filled so much of your valuable space.

I conclude with my promised pedigree, the authorities for which are the Cheshire Visitation of 1663-4, and the Lancashire Visitation of 1664-5, confirmed by the letter to Randle Holmes, and the legal documents published by the Chetham Society:

J. F. Marsh.

Warrington.

(Vol. viii., pp. 57. 398.)

One of the most distinguished men of science in France, M. Chevreul, the editor (late or present) of theAnnales de Chimie, &c., has commenced a series of articles in theJournal des Savantson the subject of the divining-rod, the exploring pendulum, table-turning, &c., his intention being to investigate scientifically the phenomena presented in these instances. Having formerly written much on the occult sciences and being a veteran in experimental science, M. Chevreul was generally deemed better qualified than most men living to throw light on the intervention of a principle whose influence he thinks he has proved by his own proper experience. It will be better to quote his own language:

"Ce principe concerne ledéveloppement en nous d'une action musculaire qui n'est pas le produit d'une volonté, mais le résultat d'une pensée qui se porte sur un phénomène du monde extérieur sans préoccupation de l'action musculaire indispensable à la manifestation du phénomène. Cet énonce sera développé lorsque nous l'appliquerons à l'explication des faits observés par nous, et deviendra parfaitement clair, nous l'espérons, lorsque le lecteur verra qu'il est l'expression précise de ces mêmes faits."

A farther quotation (if it should not prove too long for "N. & Q.") from M. Chevreul'spreliminary remarks will be thought interesting by many persons:

"En définitive, nous espérons montrer d'une manière précise comment des gens d'esprit, sous l'influence de l'amour du merveilleux, si naturel à l'homme, franchissent la limite du connu, du fini, et, dès lors, comment, ne sentant pas le besoin de soumettre à un examen réfléchi l'opinion nouvelle qui leur arrive sous le cachet du merveilleux et du surnaturel, ils adoptent soudainement ce qui, étudié froidement, rentrerait dans le domaine des faits aux causes desquels il est donné à l'homme de remonter. Existe-t-il une preuve plus forte de l'amour de l'homme pour le merveilleux, que l'accueil fait de nos jours aux tables tournantes? Nous ne le pensons pas. Plus d'un esprit fort, qui accuse ses pères de crédulité en rejetant leurs traditions religieuses contemporains de Louis XIV., ont repoussé comme impossible un traité de chimère. Ce fait confirme ce que nous avons dit de la crédulité à propos de l'Essai sur la Magied'Eusèbe Salverte, car si l'esprit fort qui repousse la révélation ne s'appuie pas sur la méthode scientifique propre à discerner l'erreur de la vérité, l'incertain du fait démontré, il sera sans cesse exposé à adopter comme vraies les opinions les plus bizarres, les plus erronées, ou du moins les plus contestables."

The two articles hitherto published by M. Chevreul in theJournal des Savantsfor the months of October and November, extend only to the first-mentioned subject of these inquiries, the divining-rod. The world will probably wait with some impatience to learn the final views of so eminent a scientific man.

J. Macray.

Oxford.

(Vol. viii., pp. 229. 551.)

Your correspondent is a very Antæus. He has fallen again uponuim, and he rises up from it to defend theHeapianpronunciation with renewed vigour. But I cannot admit that he has proved the pedigree ofhumblefrom the Gaelic.

But, even ifuimwere the root of a Sanscrit word, and not itself a derivative, still the many stages through which the derivation undoubtedly passes, without any need of reference to the Gaelic, are quite enough to establish the existence and continuance of an aspirate, until we arrive at the French; and it has already been proved, that many words which lose the aspirate in French do not lose it in English. The progress from the Sanscrit is very clear:

Sanscrit.Kshama.

Pracrit.Khama.

Old Greek.Χάμα; whenceχάμαι,χάμαζε,χθαμαλός.

Latin.Humus,humilis.

Italian.Umile; because there is in Italian no initial aspirate.

French.’Humble; because in words of Latin origin the French almost always omit the aspirate.

English.‘Humble.

And here it may be observed, thathumilisnever had, except in the Vulgate and in ecclesiastical writers, the metaphorically Christian sense to which its derivatives in modern tongues are generally confined, and to which I believe the Gaelicumhalto be strictly confined. But the original words forhumbleareiosalandiriosal, cognate with the Irishiosalandiriseal, and the Cymricisel; and the olden and more established words for the earth are, both in Gaelic and Irish,talamhandlar, cognate with the Cymricllawr.

All these facts lead to a reasonable suspicion thatuim,umhal, andumhailteas(an evident naturalisation of a Latin word) are all derived from Latin at a comparatively recent date, as certainly asumile,humilde,’humble, and‘humbleare, and in the same Christian sense. The omission of an aspirate in the Gaelic word is then easily accounted for, without supposing it not to exist in other languages, and for this very simple reason, that no Gaelic word commences withh. There aresomeCeltic roots undoubtedly in the Latin language. It would be difficult, for example, to derivemœnia,munire,gladius,vir, andviragofrom any other origin, but much the larger number of words, in which the two languages resemble each other, are either adoptions from the Latin or derivatives from one common source, e. g.mathairandmother,brathairandbrother, as well as the Latinmaterandfrater, from the Sanscritmatriandbhratri, &c., as all comparative philologists are well aware. Would your correspondents call it the’Ebrewlanguage, because a Gael calls it, as he must do,Eabrach?

E. C. H.

The Calotype Process: curling up of Paper.—I am happy in having the opportunity of replying to your correspondent C. E. F. (Vol. ix., p. 16.), because, with himself, I have found great annoyance from the curling up ofsomespecimens of paper. In the papers recently sold as Turner's, I find this much increased upon his original make, so much so that, until I resorted to the following mode, I spoiled several sheets intended for negatives, by staining the back of the paper, and which thereby gave a difference of intensity when developed after exposure in the camera.

I have provided myself with some very thick extra white blotting-paper (procured of Sandford). This being thoroughly damped, and placed between two pieces of slate, remains so for many weeks. If the paper intended to be used is properly interleaved between this damp blotting-paper, and allowed to remain there twelve hours at least before it is to be iodized, it will be found to work most easily. It should be barely as damp as paper which is intended to be printed on.This arrangement will be found exceedingly useful for damping evenly cardboard and printed positives when they are intended to be mounted, so as to ensure their perfect flatness.

It is quite immaterial whether the paper is floated on a solution or applied with a glass rod. If a very few sheets are to be manipulated upon, then, for economy, the glass rod is preferable; but if several, the floating has the advantage, because it ensures the most even application. I sent you a short paragraph (Vol. ix., p. 32.) showing how we may be deceived in water-marks upon paper; and when we are supposing ourselves to be using a paper of a particular date, in fact we are not doing so.

I would also caution your photographic correspondents from being deceived in the quality of a paper by the exceeding high gloss which is given it by extra hot-pressing. This is very pleasing to the eye, and would be a great advantage if the paper were to remain dry; but in the various washings and soakings which it undergoes in the several processes before the perfect picture is formed, the artificial surface is entirely removed, and it is only upon a paper of a natural firm and even make that favourable results will be procured.

H. W. Diamond.

Turner's Paper.—There is great difficulty in procuring good paper of Turner's make; he having lately undertaken a contract for Government in making paper for the new stamps, the manufacture of paper for photographic purposes has been to him of little importance. In fact, this observation, of the little importance of photographic compared to other papers, applies to all our great paper-makers, who have it in their power to make a suitable article. Mr. Towgood of St. Neots has been induced to manufacture a batch expressly for photography; but we regret to say that, although it is admirably adapted for albumenizing and printing positives, it is not favourable for iodizing, less so than his original make for ordinary purposes. All manufacturers, in order to please the eye, use bleaching materials, which deteriorate the paper chemically. They should be thoroughly impressed with the truth, that colour is of little consequence. Abad-coloured paperis of no importance; it is the extraneous substances in the paper itself which do the mischief.

Ed.

A Practical Photographic Query.—I have never had a practical lesson on photography. I have worked it out as far as I could myself, and I have derived much information in reading the pages of "N. & Q.," so that now I consider myself (although we are all apt to flatter ourselves) an average good manipulator. Independently of the information you have afforded me, I have read all the works upon photography which I could procure; and as the most extensive one is that by Mr. Robert Hunt, I went to the Exhibition of the Photographic Society just opened, thinking I might there see his works, and gain that information from an inspection of them which I desired. My disappointment was great on finding that Mr. Hunt does not exhibit, nor have I been able to see any of his specimens elsewhere. May I ask if Mr. Hunteverattempts anything practically, or is it to thetheory of photographyalone that he directs his attention?

I begin to fear, unless he lets a little of each go hand-in-hand, that he will mislead some of us amateurs, although I am quite sure unintentionally; for personally I much respect him, having a high opinion of his scientific attainments.

A Reader of all Books on Photography.

"Service is no Inheritance" (Vol. viii., p. 587.; Vol. ix., p. 20.).—P. C. S. S. confesses that he is vulgar enough to take great delight in Swift'sDirections to Servants, a taste which he had once the good fortune of hearing avowed by no less a man than Sir W. Scott himself. G. M. T., who (Vol. viii., p. 587.) quotes theWaverley Novelsfor the use of the phrase "Service is no inheritance," will therefore scarcely be surprised to find that it occurs frequently in Swift'sDirections, and especially in those to the "Housemaid," chap. x. (quod vide).

P. C. S. S.

Francis Browne(Vol. viii., p. 639)—It is not stated in the general pedigrees when or where he died, whether single or married. His sister Elizabeth died unmarried, Nov. 27, 1662; and his elder brother, Sir Henry Browne of Kiddington, in 1689. A reference to their wills, if proved, might afford some information if he, Francis, survived either of these dates. The will of Sir Henry Knollys, of Grove Place, Hants, the grandfather, might be referred to with the same view, and the respective registers of Kiddington and Grove Place.

Catholic Bible Society(Vol. viii., p. 494.).—Mr. Cottonwill find some account of this Society (the only one I know of) in Bishop Milner'sSupplementary Memoirs of the English Catholics, published in the year 1820, p. 239. It published a stereotype edition of the New Testament without the usual distinction of verses, and very few notes. The whole scheme was severely reprobated by Dr. Milner, on grounds stated by him in the Appendix to theMemoirs, p. 302. The Society soon expired, and no tracts or reports were, I believe, ever published by it. The correspondence between Mr. Charles Butler and Mr. Blair will be found in theGentleman's Magazinefor the year 1814.

Fitzroy Street.

Legal Customs(Vol. ix., p. 20.).—The custom, related by your correspondentCausidicus, of a Chancery barrister receiving his first bag from one of the king's counsel, reminds me that there are many other legal practices, both obsolete and extant, which it would be curious andentertaining to collect in your pages, as illustrative of the habits of our forefathers, and the changes that time has produced. I recognise many among your coadjutors who are well able to contribute, either from tradition or personal experience, something that is worth recording, and thus by their mutual communications to form a collection that would be both interesting and useful. Let me commence the heap by depositing the first stones.

1. My father has informed me that in his early years it was the universal practice for lawyers to attend the theatre on the last day of term. This was at a period when those who went into the boxes always wore swords.

2. It was formerly (within fifty years) the custom for every barrister in the Court of Chancery to receive from the usher, or some other officer of the court, as many buns as he made motions on the last day of Term, and to give a shilling for each bun.

Edward Foss.

Silo(Vol. viii., p. 639.).—The wordsilois derived from the Celticsiol, grain, andomh, a cave;siolomh, pronouncedsheeloo, a "grain cave." Underground excavations have been discovered in various parts of Europe, and it is probable that they were really used for storing grain, and not for habitations, as many have supposed.

Fras. Crossley.

I have no doubt but thatMr. Strong'sQuery respectingsiloswill meet with many satisfactory answers; but in the mean time I remark that the Arab subterranean granaries, often used by the French as temporary prisons for refractory soldiers, are termed by thensilosorsilhos.

G. H. K.

Laurie on Finance(Vol. viii., p. 491).—

"A Treatise on Finance, under which the General Interests of the British Empire are illustrated, comprising a Project for their Improvement, together with a new scheme for liquidating the National Debt," by David Laurie, 8vo., London, 1815.

Anon.

David's Mother(Vol. viii., p. 539.).—The following comment on this point is taken from vol. i. p. 203. of the Rev. Gilbert Burrington'sArrangement of the Genealogies of the Old Testament and Apocrypha, Lond. 1836, a learned and elaborate work:

"In 2 Sam. xvii. 25., Abigail is said to be the daughter of Nahash, and sister to Zeruiah, Joab's mother; but in 1 Chron. ii. 16., both Zeruiah and Abigail are said to be the daughters of Jesse; we must conclude, therefore, with Cappell, either that the nameנחשׁ‎, Nahash, in 2 Sam. xvii. 25., is a corruption ofישי‎, Jesse, which is the reading of the Aldine and Complutensian Editions, and of a considerable number of MSS. of the LXX in this place or that Jesse had two names, as Jonathan in his Targum on Ruth iv. 22. informs us; or that Nahash is not the name of the father, but of the mother of Abigail, as Tremellius and Junius imagine; or, lastly, with Grotius, we must be compelled to suppose that Abigail, mentioned as the sister of Zeruiah in 2 Sam., was a different person from Abigail the sister of Zeruiah, mentioned in 1 Chron., which appears most improbable."

Ἁλιεύς.

Dublin.

Anagram(Vol. vii., p. 546.).—Some years since I purchased, at a book-stall in Cologne, a duodecimo (I think it was a copy of Milton'sDefensio), on a fly-leaf of which was the date 1653, and in the neat Italian hand of the period the following anagram. The book had probably belonged to one of the English exiles who accompanied Charles II. in his banishment. I have never met with it in any collection of anagrams hitherto published. Perhaps some of your numerous readers may have been more fortunate, and can give some account of it.

"Carolus Stuartus, Angliæ, Scotiæ, et Hiberniæ Rex,Aulâ, statû, regno exueris, ac hostili arte necaberis."

"Carolus Stuartus, Angliæ, Scotiæ, et Hiberniæ Rex,

Aulâ, statû, regno exueris, ac hostili arte necaberis."

John o' The Ford.

Malta.

Passage in Sophocles(Vol. viii., pp. 73. 478. 631.).—Your correspondent M. is quite right in translatingπράσσεινfares, and referring it not toΘεὸς, but to the person whom the Deity has infatuated; and he is equally right in explainingὀλίγοστον χρόνονfor a very short time.Πράσσει, the old reading restored by Herman, is probably right; but it must still be referred to the same person:Ille vero versatur, &c.Mr. Bucktonexplainsᾧ, which is the relative toνοῦν, to signifywhen, and translatesβονλεύεταιas if it were equivalent withβούλεται.Τὸν νοῦν ᾧ βουλεύεταιisthe mental power with which he(ὁ βλαφθεὶς, notΘεὸς)deliberates.Ἄτηis, as M. properly explains it, notdestruction, butinfatuation, mental delusion; that judicial blindness which leads a man to his ruin, not the ruin itself. It is a leading idea in the Homeric theology (Il.xix. 88., xxiv. 480., &c.).

Though the idea in the Antigone closely resembles that which is cited in the Scholia, it seems more than probable that the original source of both passages is derived from some much earlier author than a cotemporary of Sophocles. As to the line given in Boswell, it is not an Iambic verse, nor even Greek. It was probably made out of the Latin by some one who would try his hand, with little knowledge either of the metre or the language.Mr. Bucktonsays, that to translate lateὀλίγοστονvery short, is not to translate agreeably to the admonition of the old scholiast. Now, the words of the scholiast areὀυδὲ ὀλίγον,not even a little, that is,a very little: soὀυδὲ τυτθὸν,ὀυδ' ἠβαιον,ὀυδὲ μίνυνθα, and many forms of the same kind.

E. C. H.

B. L. M.(Vol. viii., p. 585.).—The letters B. L. M., in the subscription of Italian correspondence, stand forbacio le mani(I kiss your hands), a form nearly equivalent to "your most obedient servant." In the present instance the inflectionbaciando(kissing) is intended.

W. S. B.

"The Forlorn Hope" (Vol. viii., pp. 411. 569.).—For centuries the "forlorn hope" was called, and is still called by the Germans,Verlorne Posten; by the French,Enfans perdus; by the Poles and other Slavonians,Stracona poczta: meaning, in each of those three languages, a detachment of troops, to which the commander of an army assigns such a perilous post, that he entertains no hope of ever rescuing it, or rather gives up all hope of its salvation. In detaching these men, he is conscious of the fate that awaits them; but he sacrifices them to save the rest of his army,i. e.he sacrifices a part for the safety of the whole. In short, he has no other intention, no other thought in so doing, than that which the adjectiveforlornconveys. Thus, for instance, in Spain, a detachment of 600 students volunteered to become aforlorn hope, in order to defend the passage of a bridge at Burgos, to give time to an Anglo-Spanish corps (which was thrown into disorder, and closely pursued by a French corps of 18,000 men) to rally. The students all, to the last man, perished; but the object was attained.

It much grieves me thus to sap the foundation of the idle speculation upon a word the late Dr. Graves indulged in, and which Mr. W. R. Wilde inserted in theDublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Sciencefor February, 1849; but, on the other hand, I rejoice to have had the opportunity of endeavouring to destroy the very erroneous supposition, that Lord Byron had fallen into an error in his beautiful line:

"The full of hope, misnamedforlorn."

What the late Dr. Graves meant byhauptorhope, for head, I am at a loss to conceive.Haupt, in German, it is true, meanshead; but in speaking of a small body of men, marching at the head of an army, no German would ever sayHaupt, butSpitze. As tohope(another word forhead) I know not from what language he took it; certainly not from the Saxon, for in that tongueheadwas calledheafod,hefed, orheafd; whilsthopewas calledhopa, nothope.

C. S. (An Old Soldier.)

Oak Cottage, Coniston, Lancashire.

Two Brothers of the same Christian Name(Vol. viii., p.338.).—I have recently met with another instance of this peculiarity. John Upton, of Trelaske, Cornwall, an ancestor of the Uptons of Ingsmire Hall, Westmoreland, had two sons, living in 1450, to both of whom he gave the Christian name of John. The elder of these alike-named brothers is stated by Burke, in hisHistory of the Landed Gentry, to have been the father of the learned Dr. Nicholas Upton, canon of Salisbury and Wells, and afterwards of St. Paul's, one of the earliest known of our authors on heraldic subjects. The desire of the elder Upton to perpetuate his own Christian name may in some way account for this curious eccentricity.

T. Hughes.

Chester.

Passage in Watson(Vol. viii., p. 587.).—Your correspondent G. asks, whence Bishop Watson took the passage:

"Scire ubi aliquid invenire posses, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est."

In the account of conference between Spalato and Bishop Overall, preserved in Gutch'sCollectanea Curiosa, and printed in the Anglo-Catholic Library, Cosin'sWorks, vol. iv. p. 470., the same sentiment is thus expressed:

"By keeping Bishop Overall's library, he (Cosin) began to learn, 'Quanta pars eruditionis erat bonos nosse auctores;' which was the saying of Joseph Scaliger."

Can any of your correspondents trace the words in the writings of Scaliger?

J. Sansom.

Derivation of "Mammet"(Vol. viii., p. 515.).—It may help to throw light on this question to note that Wiclif's translation of 2 Cor. vi. 16. reads thus: "What consent to the temple of God withmawmetis?" Calfhill, in hisAnswer to Martiall(ed. Parker Soc., p. 31.), has the following sentence:

"Gregory, therefore, if he had lived but awhile longer; and had seen the least part of all the miseries which all the world hath felt since, only for maintenance of thosemawmots; he would, and well might, have cursed himself, for leaving behind him so lewd a precedent."

And at p. 175. this,—

"That Jesabel Irene, which was so bewitched with superstition, that all order, all honesty, all law of nature broken, she cared not what she did, so she might have hermawmots."

See also the editor's note on the use of the word in this last passage. In Dorsetshire, among the common people, the wordmammetis in frequent use to designate a puppet, a doll, an odd figure, a scarecrow.

J. D. S.

Ampers and,&or&(Vol. viii., p. 173.).—Ampers&, orEmpessy&, as it is sometimes called in this country, meanset per se&; that is to say,&is a character by itself, orsui generis, representing not a letter but a word. It was formerlyannexed to the alphabet in primers and spelling-books.

The figure&appears to be the two Greek lettersεandτconnected, and spelling the Latin wordet, meaningand.

Uneda.

Philadelphia.

Misapplication of Terms(Vol. viii., p. 537.).—The apparentlapsusnoticed by your correspondentJ. W. Thomas, while it reminds one that—

"Learned men,Now and then," &c.,

"Learned men,

Now and then," &c.,

is not so indefensible as many instances that are to be met with.

I have been accustomed to teach my boys thatlegend(àlego, to read) is not strictly to be confined to the ordinary translation of its derivative, since the Latin admits of several readings, and among them, by the usage of Plautus,to hearken; whence our English substantive takes equal license to admit ofa relation=a narrative, viz. "a thing to be heard;" and in this sense by custom has referred to many a gossip's tale.

Having thus ventured to defend the use oflegendby your correspondent (Vol. v., p. 196.), I submit to the illuminating power of your pages the following novel use of a word I have met with in the course of reading this morning, and shall be gratified if some of your correspondents (better Grecians than myself) can turn their critical bull's-eye on it with equal advantage to its employer.

In the poems of Bishop Corbet, edited by Octavius Gilchrist, F.S.A., 4th edition, 1807, an editorial note at p. 195. informs us that John Bust, living in 1611, "seems to have been a worthyprototypeof the Nattus of Antiquity." (Persius, iii. 31.)

Our humorous friend in the farce, who was "'prentice and predecessor" to his coadjutor the 'pothecary whom he succeeded, is the only solecism at all parallel, that immediately occurs to

Squeers.

Dotheboys.

P.S.—It would not be any ill-service to our language to pull up the stockings of the tight-laced occasionally, though I have here rushed in to the rescue.

Belle Sauvage(Vol. viii., pp. 388. 523.).—Mr. Burn, in hisCatalogue of the Beaufoy Cabinet of Tokenspresented to the Corporation of London, just published, after giving the various derivations proposed, says that a deed, enrolled on the Claus Roll of 1453, puts the matter beyond doubt:

"By that deed, dated at London, February 5, 31 Hen. VI., John Frensh, eldest son of John Frensh, late citizen and goldsmith of London, confirmed to Joan Frensh, widow, his mother—'Totum ten' sive hospicium cum suis pertin' vocat' Savagesynne, alias vocat' le Belle on the Hope;' all that tenement or inn with its appurtenances, called Savage's Inn, otherwise called the Bell on the Hoop, in the parish of St. Bridget in Fleet Street, London, to have and to hold the same for term of her life, without impeachment of waste. The lease to Isabella Savage must therefore have been anterior in date; and the sign in the olden day was the Bell. 'On the Hoop' implied the ivy-bush, fashioned, as was the custom, as a garland."—P. 137.

Zeus.

Arms of Geneva(Vol. viii., p. 563.).—Berry'sEncyclopædiaand Robson'sBritish Heraldgive the following:

"Per pale or and gules, on the dexter side a demi-imperial eagle crowned, or, divided palewise and fixed to the impaled line; on the sinister side a key in pale argent; the wards in chief, and turned to the sinister; the shield surmounted with a marquis's coronet."

Boyer, in hisTheatre of Honour, gives—

"Party per pale argent and gules, in the first a demi-eagle displayed sable, cut by the line of partition and crowned, beaked, and membered of the second."In the second a key in pale argent, the wards sinister."

"Party per pale argent and gules, in the first a demi-eagle displayed sable, cut by the line of partition and crowned, beaked, and membered of the second.

"In the second a key in pale argent, the wards sinister."

Broctuna.

Bury, Lancashire.

"Arabian Nights' Entertainments" (Vol. viii., p. 147.).—There is a much stranger omission in these tales than anyMr. Robsonhas mentioned. From one end of the work to the other (in Galland's version at least) the name of opium is never to be found; and although narcotics are frequently spoken of, it is always in the form of powder they are administered, which shows that that substance cannot be intended; yet opium is, unlike tobacco or coffee, a genuine Eastern product, and has been known from the earliest period in those regions.

J. S. Warden.

Richard I.(Vol. viii., p. 72.).—I presume that the Richard I. of the "Tablet" is the "Richard, King of England," who figures in the Roman Calendar on the 7th February, but who, if he ever existed, was not even monarch of any of the petty kingdoms of the Heptarchy, much less of all England. However, not to go farther with a subject which might lead to polemical controversy, surelyMr. Lucasis aware that a new series of kings began to be reckoned from the Conquest, and that three Edwards, who had much more right to be styled kings of England than Richard could have possibly had, are not counted in the number of kings of that name; the reason was, I believe, that these princes, although the paramount rulers of the country, styled themselves much more frequently Kings of the West Saxons than Kings of England.

J. S. Warden.

Lord Clarendon and the Tubwoman(Vol. vii., p. 211.).—I regret having omitted "when found, to make a note of," the number of Chambers'Edinburgh Journalin which I met with the anecdote referred to about Sir Thomas Aylesbury, which is given at considerable length; and having lent my set of "Chambers" to a friend at a distance, I cannot at present furnish the reference required; but L. will find it in one of the volumes between 1838 and 1842 inclusive. I do not recollect that the periodical writer gave his authority for the tale, but while it may very possibly be true as regards the wife of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, it is evident that his daughter, a wealthy heiress, could never have been in such a position; and it is not recorded that Lord Clarendon had any other wife.

J. S. Warden.

Oaths(Vol. viii., p. 605.).—Archbishop Whitgift, in a sermon before Queen Elizabeth, thus addresses her:

"As all your predecessors were at this coronation, so you also were sworn before all the nobility and bishops then present, and in the presence of God, and in His stead to him that anointed you, 'to maintain the church lands and the rights belonging to it;' and thistestified openly at the Holy Altar, by laying your hands on the Bible then lying upon it. (See Walton'sLives, Zouch's ed., p. 243.)"

I quote from the editor's introduction to Spelman'sHistory of Sacrilege, p. 75., no doubt correctly cited.

H. P.

Double Christian Names(Vol. vii.passim).—The earliest instances of these among British subjects that I have met with, are in the families of James, seventh Earl, and Charles, eighth Earl, of Derby, both of whom married foreigners; the second son of the former by Charlotte de la Tremouille, born 24th February, 1635, and named Henry Frederick after his grand-uncle, the stadt-holder, is perhaps the earliest instance to be found.

J. S. Warden.

Chip in Porridge(Vol. i., p. 382. Vol. viii., p. 208.).—The subjoined extract from a newspaper report (Nov. 1806) of a speech of Mr. Byng's, at the Middlesex election, clearly indicates the meaning of the phrase:

"It has been said, that I have played the game of Mr. Mellish. I have, however, done nothing towards his success. I have rendered him neither service nor disservice" ["No, nor to anybody else," said a person on the hustings; "you are a merechip in porridge."]

W. R. D. S.

Clarence Dukedom(Vol. viii., p. 565.).—W. T. M. will find a very interesting paper on this subject, by Dr. Donaldson, in theJournal of the Bury Archæological Society.

Prospectuses(Vol. viii., p. 562.).—I have seen a very curious volume of prospectuses of works contemplated and proposed, but which have never appeared, and wherein may be found much interesting matter on all departments of literature. A collection of this description would not only be useful, but should be preserved. A list of contemplated publications during the last half century, collected from such sources, would not be misplaced in "N. & Q.," if an occasional column could be devoted to the subject.

"I put a spoke in his wheel" (Vol. viii., pp. 464. 522. 576.).—This phrase must have had its origin in the days in which the vehicles used in this country had wheels of solid wood without spokes. Wheels so constructed I have seen in the west of England, in Ireland, and in France. A recent traveller in Moldo-Wallachia relates that the people of the country go from place to place mounted on horses, buffaloes, or oxen; but among the Boyards it is "fashionable" to make use of a vehicle which holds a position in the scale of conveyances a little above a wheelbarrow and little below a dung-cart. It is poised on four wheels of solid wood of two feet diameter, which are more or less rounded by means of an axe. A vehicle used in the cultivation of the land on the slopes of the skirts of Dartmoor in Devonshire, has three wheels of solid wood; it resembles a huge wheelbarrow, with two wheels behind, and one in front of it, and has two long handles like the handles of a plough, projecting behind for the purpose of guiding it. It is known as "the old three-wheeled But." As the horse is attached to the vehicle by chains only, and he has no power to hold it back when going down hill, the driver is provided with a piece of wood, "a spoke," which is of the shape of the wooden pin used for rolling paste, for the purpose of "dragging" the front wheel of the vehicle. This he effects by thrusting the spoke into one of the three round holes made in the solid wheel for that purpose. The operation of "putting a spoke in a wheel by way of impediment" may be seen in daily use on the three-wheeled carts used by railway navvies, and on the tram waggons with four wheels used in collieries to convey coals from the pit's mouth.

N. W. S.

Every lover of Goldsmith—and who ever read one page of his delightful writings without admiring the author, and loving the man—

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