REPLIES.

Query put to a Pope.—

"Sancte Pater! scire vellemSi Papatus mutat pellem?"

"Sancte Pater! scire vellem

Si Papatus mutat pellem?"

I have been told that these lines were addressed to one of the popes, whose life, before his elevation to the see of St. Peter, had been passed in excesses but little suited to the clerical profession.

They were addressed to himorally, by one of his former associates, who met and stopped him while on his way to or from some high festival of the Church, and who plucked aside, as he spoke, the gorgeous robes in which his quondam fellow-reveller was dressed.

The reply of the pope was prompt, and, like the question, in a rhyming Latin couplet. I wish, if possible, to discover, the name of the pope;—the terms of his reply;—the name of the bold man who "put him to the question;"—by what writer the anecdote is recorded, or on what authority it rests.

C. FORBES.

Temple.

The Carpenter's Maggot.—I have in my possession a MS. tune called the "Carpenter's Maggot," which, until within the last few years, was played (I know for nearly a century) at the annual dinner of the Livery of the Carpenters' Company. Can any of your readers inform me where the original is to be found, and also the origin of the word "Maggot" as applied to a tune?

F.T.P.

Lord Delamere.—Can any of your readers give me the words of a song called "Lord Delamere," beginning:

"I wonder very much that our sovereign king,So many large taxes upon this land should bring."

"I wonder very much that our sovereign king,

So many large taxes upon this land should bring."

And inform me to what political event this song, of which I have an imperfect MS. copy, refers.

EDWARD PEACOCK, JUN.

Henry and the Nut-brown Maid.—SEARCH would be obliged for any information as to the authorship of this beautiful ballad.

[Mr. Wright, in his handsome black-letter reprint, published by Pickering in 1836, states, that "it is impossible to fix the date of this ballad," and has not attempted to trace the authorship. We shall be very glad if SEARCH's Query should produce information upon either of these points.]

The two stanzas your correspondent E.R.C.B. has cited (Vol. ii., p. 71.) are from an elegiac poem by MALHERBE (who died in 1628, at the good old age of seventy-three), which is entitledConsolation à Monsieur Du Perrier sur la Mort de sa Fille. It has always been a great favorite of mine; for, like Gray's Elegy and the celebratedCoplasof Jorge Manrique on the death of his father, beside its philosophic moralising strain, it has that pathetic character which makes its way at once to the heart. I will transcribe the first four stanzas for the sake of the beauty of the fourth:—

"Ta douleur, Du Perrier, sera done éternelle,Et les tristes discoursQue te met en l'esprit l'amitié paternelleL'augmenteront toujours."Le malheur de ta fille au tombeau descendue,Par un commun trépas,Est-ce quelque dédale, où ta raison perdueNe se retrouve pas?"Je sai de quels appas son enfance estoit pleine;Et n'ay pas entrepris,Injurieux ami, de soulager ta peineAvecque son mépris."Mais elles estoit du monde, où les plus belles chosesOnt le pire destin:Et Rose elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses,L'espace d'un matin."

"Ta douleur, Du Perrier, sera done éternelle,Et les tristes discoursQue te met en l'esprit l'amitié paternelleL'augmenteront toujours.

"Ta douleur, Du Perrier, sera done éternelle,

Et les tristes discours

Que te met en l'esprit l'amitié paternelle

L'augmenteront toujours.

"Le malheur de ta fille au tombeau descendue,Par un commun trépas,Est-ce quelque dédale, où ta raison perdueNe se retrouve pas?

"Le malheur de ta fille au tombeau descendue,

Par un commun trépas,

Est-ce quelque dédale, où ta raison perdue

Ne se retrouve pas?

"Je sai de quels appas son enfance estoit pleine;Et n'ay pas entrepris,Injurieux ami, de soulager ta peineAvecque son mépris.

"Je sai de quels appas son enfance estoit pleine;

Et n'ay pas entrepris,

Injurieux ami, de soulager ta peine

Avecque son mépris.

"Mais elles estoit du monde, où les plus belles chosesOnt le pire destin:Et Rose elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses,L'espace d'un matin."

"Mais elles estoit du monde, où les plus belles choses

Ont le pire destin:

Et Rose elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses,

L'espace d'un matin."

The whole poem consists of twenty-one stanzas and should be read as a whole; but there are several other striking passages. The consolation the poet offers to his friend breathes the spirit of Epictetus:—

"De moy, déjà deux fois d'une pareille foudreJe me suis vu perclus,Et deux fois la raison m'a si bien fait resoudre,Qu'il ne m'en souvient plus."Non qu'il ne me soit grief que la terre possèdeCe qui me fut si cher;Mais en un accident qui n'a point de remède,II n'en faut point chercher."

"De moy, déjà deux fois d'une pareille foudreJe me suis vu perclus,Et deux fois la raison m'a si bien fait resoudre,Qu'il ne m'en souvient plus.

"De moy, déjà deux fois d'une pareille foudre

Je me suis vu perclus,

Et deux fois la raison m'a si bien fait resoudre,

Qu'il ne m'en souvient plus.

"Non qu'il ne me soit grief que la terre possèdeCe qui me fut si cher;Mais en un accident qui n'a point de remède,II n'en faut point chercher."

"Non qu'il ne me soit grief que la terre possède

Ce qui me fut si cher;

Mais en un accident qui n'a point de remède,

II n'en faut point chercher."

Then follow the two stanzas cited by your correspondent, and the closing verse is:—

"De murmurer contre-elle et perdre patience,Il est mal-à-propos:Vouloir ce que Dieu veut, est la seule scienceQui nous met en repos."

"De murmurer contre-elle et perdre patience,

Il est mal-à-propos:

Vouloir ce que Dieu veut, est la seule science

Qui nous met en repos."

The stanza beginning "Le pauvre en sa cabane," is an admirable imitation of the "Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede," &c. of Horace, which a countryman of the poet is said to have less happily rendered "La pâle mort avec son pied de cheval," &c.

Malherbe has been duly appreciated in France: his works, in one edition, are accompanied by an elaborate comment by Menage and Chevreau: Racan wrote his life, and Godeau, Bishop of Vence, a panegyrical preface. He was a man of wit, and ready at an impromptu; yet it is said, that in writing a consolotary poem to the President de Verdun, on the death of his wife, he was so longin bringing his verses to that degree of perfection which satisfied his own fastidious taste, that the president was happily remarried, and the consolation not at all required.

Bishop Hurd, in a note on theEpistle to Augustus, p. 72., says:

"Malherbe was to the French pretty much what Horace had been to Latin poetry. These great writers had, each of them, rescued the lyric muse of their country out of the rude ungracious hands of their old poets. And, as their talents of agood ear,elegant judgment, andcorrect expression, were the same, they presented her to the public in all the air and grace, and yetseverity, of beauty, of which her form was susceptible."

S.W. SINGER.

Mickleham, July 2. 1850.

In reply to the first of Mr. SIMPSON's Queries (Vol. ii., p. 72.) relative to the magnificent sequenceDies iræ, I beg to say that the author of it is utterly unknown. The following references may be sufficient:—Card. Bona,Rer. Liturgic.lib. ii. cap. vi. p. 336., Romæ, 1671; or, if possible, Sala's edition, tom. iii. p 143., Aug. Turin. 1753; Gavantus, tom. i. pp. 274-5., Lugd. 1664; and theAdditionsby Merati, i. 117-18., Aug. Vindel, 1740; Zaccaria,Biblioth. Ritual.tom. i. p. 34., Romæ, 1776; Oldoini Addit. ad CiaconiiVit. Pontiff. et Cardd., tom. ii. col. 222., Romæ, 1677.

Mr. SIMPSON's second question is, "In what book was it first printed?" Joannes de Palentia, in his notes upon theOrdinarium PP. Præd., asserts that this celebrated prose was first introduced into the Venice editions of the Missals printed for the Dominicans. The oldestMissale Prædicatorumwhich I possess, or have an opportunity of seeing, is a copy of the Parisian impression of the year 1519; and herein theDies iræis inserted in theCommemoratio Defunctorum; mens. Novemb. sig. M. 5.

An inquiry remains as to the date of the general adoption of this sequence by the Roman Church. In Quetif and Echard (Scriptt. Ord. Præd.i. 437.), under the name of Latinus Malabranca, we read that it certainly was not in use in the year 1255; and there does not appear to be the slightest evidence of its admission, even upon private authority, into the office for the dead anterior to the commencement of the fifteenth century.

Your correspondent was not mistaken in his belief that he had met with an imperfect transcript of this prose, for the original consists not of "twenty-seven," but offifty-sevenlines. I may add that I do not remember to have found the text more correctly given than in the beautiful folio missal of the church of Augsburg, partly printed on vellum in 1555 (fol. 466. b.).

R.G.

TheDies Iræis truly said by Mr. SPARROW SIMPSON (Vol. ii., p. 72.) to be an extremely beautiful hymn. Who was its author is very doubtful, but the probabilities are in favour of Thomas de Celano, a Minorite friar, who lived during the second half of the fourteenth century. It consists of nineteen strophes, each having three lines. Bartholomew of Pisa, A.D. 1401, in hisLiber Conformitatum, speaks of it; but the earliest printed book in which I have ever seen this hymn, is theMissale Romanum, printed at Pavia, A.D. 1491, in 8vo., a copy of which I have in my possession.

D. ROCK.

Buckland, Faringdon.

In reply to your correspondent TWYFORD (Vol. ii., p. 73.), the original of the common surnameOgdenis doubtless Oakden. A place so called is situated in Butterworth, Lancashire, and gave name to a family,—possibly extinct in the sixteenth century. A clergymam, whose name partook both of the original and its corruption, was vicar of Bradford, 1556, viz Dus Tho.Okden. The arms and crest borne by the Oakdens were both allusive to the name, certainly without any reference to King Charles's hiding-place.

Dr. Samuel Ogden, born in 1716 at Winchester, was the son of Thomas Ogden, a man of very humble origin: but he had the merit of giving a liberal education to one whose natural talents well deserved culture; and both his parents, in the decline of life, owed their support to Ogden's filial piety and affection. Cole is quite mistaken in fixing the father's residence at Mansfield, and in stating that he had been in the army. The monument, spoken of by Cole, is not at Mansfield, but in the cathedral of Manchester: nor is it a memorial of Dr. Ogden. It was placed by him in memory of hisfather. Ogden was buried in his own church, St. Sephlchre's, Cambridge.

The following epigram, it is believed, has not been printed. It is transcribed from a letter in my possession, addressed by the first Lord Alvanley, when at college, to his former tutor, Mr. Thyer, editor ofButler's Remains:—

"When Ogden his prosaic verseIn Latin numbers drest,The Roman language prov'd too weakTo stand the Critic's test."To English Rhyme he next essay'd,To show he'd some pretence;But ah! Rhyme only would not do—They still expected Sense."Enrag'd, the Doctor said he'd placeIn Critics no reliance,So wrapt his thoughts in Arabic,And bad them all defiance."

"When Ogden his prosaic verseIn Latin numbers drest,The Roman language prov'd too weakTo stand the Critic's test.

"When Ogden his prosaic verse

In Latin numbers drest,

The Roman language prov'd too weak

To stand the Critic's test.

"To English Rhyme he next essay'd,To show he'd some pretence;But ah! Rhyme only would not do—They still expected Sense.

"To English Rhyme he next essay'd,

To show he'd some pretence;

But ah! Rhyme only would not do—

They still expected Sense.

"Enrag'd, the Doctor said he'd placeIn Critics no reliance,So wrapt his thoughts in Arabic,And bad them all defiance."

"Enrag'd, the Doctor said he'd place

In Critics no reliance,

So wrapt his thoughts in Arabic,

And bad them all defiance."

J.H. MARKLAND.

Ogden Family(Vol. ii., p. 73.).—Perhaps the representatives of the late Thomas Ogden, Esq., and who was a private banker at Salisbury previous to 1810 (presuming he was a member of the family mentioned by your correspondent TWYFORD), might be able to furnish him with the information he seeks.

J.R. FOX.

Porson's Imposition(Vol. i., p. 71.) is indeed, I believe, animposition. The last line quoted (and I suppose all the rest) can hardly be Porson's, for Mr. Langton amused Johnson, Boswell, and a dinner party at General Oglethorpe's, on the 14th of April, 1778, with some macaronic Greek "byJoshua Barnes, in which are to be found such comical Anglo-hellenisms as [Greek: klubboisin ebagchthae] they were banged with clubs." Boswell'sJohnson, last ed. p. 591.

The Three Dukes(Vol. ii., pp. 9, 46, 91.).—Andrew Marvel thus makes mention of the outrage on the beadle in his letter to the Mayor of Hull, Feb. 28, 1671 (Works, i. 195.):—

"On Saturday night last, or rather Sunday morning, at two o'clock, some persons reported to be of great quality, together with other gentlemen, set upon the watch and killed a poor beadle, praying for his life upon his knees, with many wounds; warrants are out for apprehending some of them, but they are fled."

I am not aware of any contemporary authority for the names of the three dukes; and a difficulty in the way of assigning them by conjecture is, that in the poem they are called "three bastard dukes." Your correspondent C. has rightly said (p. 46.) that none of Charles II.'s bastard sons besides Monmouth would have been old enough in 1671 to be actors in such a fray. Sir Walter Scott, in his notes onAbsalom and Achitophel, referring to the poem, gives the assault to Monmouth and some of his brothers; but he did so, probably, without considering dates, and on the strength of the words "three bastard dukes."

Mr. Lister, in the passage in hisLife of Clarendonreferred to by Mr. Cooper (p. 91.), gives no authority for his mention of Albemarle. I should like to know if Mr. Wade has any other authority than Mr. Lister for this statement in his useful compilation.

Were it certain that three dukes were engaged in this fray, and were we not restricted to "bastards," I should say that Monmouth, Albemarle, and Richmond (who married the beautiful Miss Stuart, and killed himself by drinking) would probably be the three culprits. As regards Albemarle, he might perhaps have been called bastard without immoderate use of libeller's licence.

If three dukes did murder the beadle, it is strange that their names have not been gibbeted in many of the diaries and letters which we have of that period. And this is the more strange, as this assault took place just after the attack on Sir John Coventry, which Monmouth instigated, and which had created so much excitement.

The question is not in itself of much importance; but I can suggest a mode in which it may possibly be settled. Let the royal pardons of 1671 be searched in the Rolls' Chapel, Chancery Lane. If the malefactors were pardoned by name, the three dukes may there turn up. Or if any of your readers is able to look through the Domestic Papers for February and March, 1671, in the State Paper Office, he would be likely to find there come information upon the subject.

Query. Is the doggerel poem in theState PoemsMarvel's? Several poems which are ascribed to him are as bad in versification, and, I need not say, in coarseness.

Query 2. Is there any other authority for Queen Catharine's fondness for dancing than the following lines of the poem?

"See what mishaps dare e'en invade Whitehall,This silly fellow's death puts off the ball,And disappoints the Queen's foot, little Chuck;I warrant 'twould have danced it like a duck."

"See what mishaps dare e'en invade Whitehall,

This silly fellow's death puts off the ball,

And disappoints the Queen's foot, little Chuck;

I warrant 'twould have danced it like a duck."

CH.

Kant's Sämmtliche Werke.—Under the head of "Books and Odd Volumes" (Vol. ii., p. 59.), there is a Query respecting the XIth part of Kant'sSämmtliche Werke, to which I beg to reply that it was published at Leipzig, in two portions, in 1842. It consists of Kant's Letters, Posthumous Fragments, and Biography. The work was completed by a 12th vol., containing a history of the Kantian Philosophy, by Carl Rosenkranz, one of the editors of this edition of Kant.

J.M.

Becket's Mother(Vol. i., pp. 415. 490.; vol. ii., p. 78.).—Although the absence of any contemporaneous relation of this lady's romantic history may raise a reasonable doubt of its authenticity, it seems to derive indirect confirmation from the fact, that the hospital founded by Becket's sister shortly after his death, on the spot where he was born, part of which is now the Mercers' chapel in Cheapside, was called "The Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyrof Acon." Erasmus, also, in hisPilgrimages to Walsingham and Canterbury(see J.G. Nichol's excellent translation and notes, pp. 47. 120.), says that the archbishop was called "ThomasAcrensis."

Edward Foss.

"Imprest" and "Debenture."—Perhaps the following may be of some use to D.V.S. (Vol. ii., p. 40.) in his search for the verbal raw material out of which these words were manufactured.

Their origin may, I think, be found in the Latin terms used in the ancient accounts of personsofficially employed by the crown to express transactions somewhat similar to those for which they appear to be now used. Persons conversant with those records must frequently have met with cases where money advanced, paid on account, or as earnest, was described as "de prestito" or "in prestitis." Ducange gives "præstare" and its derivatives as meaning "mutuo dare" with but little variation; but I think that too limited a sense. The practice of describing a document itself by the use of the material or operative parts expressing or defining the transaction for which it was employed, is very common. In legal and documentary proceedings, it is indeed the only one that is followed. Let D.V.S. run over and compare any of the well-known descriptions of writs, ashabeas corpus,mandamus,fi. fa.: or look into Cowell'sInterpreter, or a law dictionary, and he will see numerous cases where terms now known as the names of certain documents are merely the operative parts of Latinformulæ. "Imprest" seems to be a slightly corrupted translation of "in prestito;" that part of the instrument being thus made to give its name to the whole. Of "debenture" I think there is little doubt that it may be similarly explained. Those Record Offices which possess the ancient accounts and vouchers of officers of the royal household contain numerous "debentures" of the thirteenth, but far more of the fourteenth, century. In this case theinitialis the chief operative word: those relating to the royal wardrobe, commencing "Debentur in garderoba domini regis," being in fact merely memorandums expressing or acknowledging that certain sums of money "are owing" for articles supplied for the use of that department. It is well known that the royal exchequer was, at the time these documents were executed, often in great straits; and it seems to me scarcely doubtful that these early "debentures" were actually delivered over to tradesmen, &c., as security for the amount due to them, and given in to be cancelled when the debts were discharged by the Exchequer officers.

There is a remarkable feature about these ancient "debentures" which I may perhaps be permitted to notice here, viz., the very beautiful seals of the officers of the royal household and wardrobe which are impressed upon them. They are of the somewhat rare description known as "appliqué;" and at a time when personal seals were at the highest state of artistic developement, those few seals of the clerks of the household which have escaped injury (to which they are particularly exposed) are unrivalled for their clearness of outline, design, delicacy, and beauty of execution.

Allowing for the changes produced by time, I think sufficient analogy may be found between the ancient and modern uses of the words "imprest" and "debenture."

J. BT.

"Imprest" (Vol. ii., p. 40).—D.V.S. will find an illustration of the early application of this word to advances made by the Treasury in the "Rotulus dePrestito" of 12 John, printed by the Record Commission under the careful editorship of Mr. T. Duffus Hardy, whose preface contains a clear definition of its object, and an account of other existing rolls of the same character.

EDWARD FOSS.

Derivation of News.—P.C.S.S. has read with great interest the various observations on the derivation of the word "News" which have appeared in the "NOTES AND QUERIES," and especially those of the learned and ingenious Mr. Hickson. He ventures, however, with all respect, to differ from the opinion expressed by that gentleman in Vol. i., p. 81., to the effect that—

"In English, there is no process known by which a noun plural can be formed from an adjective, without the previous formation of the singular in the same sense."

P.C.S.S. would take the liberty of reminding Mr. H. of the following passage in theTempest:—

"When that is gone,He shall drink nought but brine, for I'll not show himWhere the quick freshes lie."

"When that is gone,

He shall drink nought but brine, for I'll not show him

Where the quick freshes lie."

Surely, in this instance, the plural noun "freshes" is not formed from any such singular noun as "fresh," but directly from the adjective, which latter does not seem to have been ever used as a singularnoun.

While on the subject of "News," P.C.S.S. finds in Pepys'Diary(vol. iii. p. 59.) another application of the word, in the sense of a noun singular, which he does not remember to have seen noticed by others.

"Anon, the coach comes—in the meantime, there coming anewsthither, with his horse to come over."

In other parts of theDiary, the wordNews-bookis occasionally employed to signify what is now termed a newspaper, or, more properly, a bulletin. For instance (vol. iii. p. 29.), we find that—

"ThisNews-book, upon Mr. Moore's showing L'Estrange Captain Ferrers's letter, did do my Lord Sandwich great right as to the late victory."

And again (at p. 51.):

"I met this noon with Dr. Barnett, who told me, and I find in theNews-bookthis week, that he posted upon the 'Change,'" &c. &c.

Much has been lately written in the "NOTES AND QUERIES" respecting the "Family of Love." A sect of a similar name existed here in 1641, and a full and not very decent description of their rites and orgies is to be found in a small pamphlet of that date, reprinted in the fourth volume (8vo. ed.) of theHarleian Miscellany.

P.C.S.S.

Origin of Adur(Vol. ii., p. 71.).—A, derived from the same root as Aqua and the FrenchEau, is a frequent component of the names of rivers: "A-dur, A-run, A-von, A-mon," the adjunct being supposed to express the individual characteristic of the stream.A-durwould then mean theriver of oaks, which its course from Horsham Forest through the Weald of Sussex, of which "oak is the weed," would sufficiently justify. It is called in ancient geographyAdurnus, and is probably from the same root as the FrenchAdour.

The river Adur, which passes by Shoreham, is the same name as the Adour, a great river in the Western Pyrenees.

This coincidence seems to show that it is neither a Basque word, nor a Saxon. Whether it is a mere expansion ofydwr, the water, in Welch, I cannot pretend to say, but probably it includes it.

We have the Douro in Spain; and the Doire, or Doria, in Piedmont. Pompadour is clearly derived from the above French river, or some other of the same name.

C.B.

Meaning of Steyne(Vol. ii., P. 71.).—Steyne is no doubtstone, and may have reference to the original name of Brighthelm-stone: but what thestoneor "steyne" was, I do not conjecture; but it lay or stood probably on that little flat valley now called the "Steyne." It is said that, so late as the time of Elizabeth, the town was encompassed by a high and strongstone wall; but that could have no influence on the name, which, whether derived from BishopBrighthelmor not, is assuredly of Saxon times. There is a small town not far distant calledSteyning, i.e.the meadow of the stone. In my early days, the name was invariably pronounced Brighthamstone.

Sarum and Barum(Vol. ii., p. 21.).—As a conjecture, I would suggest the derivation ofSarummay have been this. Salisbury was as frequently written Sarisbury. The contracted form of this was Sap., the ordinary import of which is the termination of the Latin genitive pluralrum. Thus an imperfectly educated clerk would be apt to readSaruminstead of Sarisburia; and the error would pass current, until one reading was accepted for right as much as the other. In other instances we adopt the Law Latin or Law French of mediæval times; as the county ofOxonfor Oxfordshire,Salopfor Shropshire, &c., andDurhamis generally supposed to be French (Duresmm), substituted for the Anglo-Saxon Dunholm, in LatinDunelmum. I shall perhaps be adding a circumstance of which few readers will be aware, in remarking that the Bishops of Durham, down to the present day, take alternately the Latin and French signatures,DuresmandDunelm.

J.G.N.

"Epigrams on the Universities" (Vol. ii., p. 88.).—The following extract frown Hartshorne'sBook-rarities in the University of Cambridgewill fully answer the Query of your Norwich correspondent.

After mentioning, the donation to that University, by George I., of the valuable library of Dr. Moore, Bishop of Ely, which his Majesty had purchased for 6,000 guineas, the author adds,—

"When George I. sent these books to the University, he sent at the time a troop of horse to Oxford, which gave occasion to the following well-known epigram from Dr. Trapp, smart in its way, but not so clever as the answer from Sir William Browne:—

"The King, observing, with judicious eyes,The state of both his Universities,To one he sent a regiment; for why?That learned body wanted loyalty:To th' other he sent books, as well discerningHow much that loyal body wanted learning."The Answer."The King to Oxford sent his troop of horse,For Tories hold no argument but force:With equal care to Cambridge books he sent,For Whigs allow no force but argument.

"The King, observing, with judicious eyes,

The state of both his Universities,

To one he sent a regiment; for why?

That learned body wanted loyalty:

To th' other he sent books, as well discerning

How much that loyal body wanted learning."

The Answer.

"The King to Oxford sent his troop of horse,For Tories hold no argument but force:With equal care to Cambridge books he sent,For Whigs allow no force but argument.

"The King to Oxford sent his troop of horse,

For Tories hold no argument but force:

With equal care to Cambridge books he sent,

For Whigs allow no force but argument.

"The books were received Nov. 19, 20, &c., 1715."

G.A.S.

[J.J. DREDGE, V. (Belgravia), and many other correspondents, have also kindly replied to this Query.]

Dulcarnon(Vol. i., p. 254.)—Urrysays nothing, but quotesSpeght, andSkene, andSelden.

"Dulcarnon," says Speght, "is a proposition inEuclid(lib. i. theor. 33. prop. 47.), which was found out by Pythagoras after a whole years' study, and much beating of his brain; in thankfulness whereof he sacrificed an ox to the gods, which sacrifice he called Dulcarnon."

Neckamderived it fromDulia quasi sacrificiumandcarnis.

Skenejustly observes that the triumph itself cannot be the point; but the word might get associated with the problem, either considered before its solution, puzzling toPythagoras, or the demonstration, still difficult to us,—a Pons Asinorum, like the 5th proposition.

Mr.Selden, in his preface toDrayton's Polyolbion, says,—

"I cannot but digresse to admonition of abuse which this learned allusion, in hisTroilus, by ignorance hath indured.

"'I am till God mee better mind send,AtDulcarnon, right at my wit's end.'

"'I am till God mee better mind send,

AtDulcarnon, right at my wit's end.'

It's notNeckam, or any else, that can make mee entertaine the least thought of the signification ofDulcarnonto bePythagorushis sacrifice after his geometricall theorem in finding the square of an orthogonall triangle's sides, or that it is a word ofLatinededuction: but, indeed, by easier pronunciation it was made of D'hulkarnyan5, i.e.two-hornedwhich theMahometan Arabiansvie for a root in calculation, meaningAlexander, as that great dictator of knowledge,Joseph Scaliger(with some ancients) wills, but, by warranted opinion of my learned friend Mr.Lydyat, in hisEmendatio Temporum, it began inSeleucus Nicanor, XII yeares afterAlexander'sdeath. The name was applyed, either because after time thatAlexanderhad persuaded himself to beJupiter Hammon'ssonne, whose statue was withRam'shornes, both his owne and his successors' coins were stampt with horned images: or else in respect of his II pillars erected in the East as aNihil ultra6of his conquest, and some say because hee had in power the Easterne and Westerne World, signified in the two hornes. But howsoever, it well fits the passage, either, as if hee had personatedCreseideat the entrance of two wayes, not knowing which to take; in like sense as that ofProdicushisHercules,PythagorashisY., or the LogiciansDilemmaexpresse; or else, which is the truth of his conceit, that hee was at anonplus, as the interpretation in his next staffe makes plaine. How many of nobleChaucer'sreaders never so much as suspect this his short essay of knowledge, transcending the common Rode? And by his treatise of theAstrolabe(which, I dare sweare, was chiefly learned out ofMessahalah) it is plaine hee was much acquainted with the mathematiques, and amongst their authors had it."

D'Herbelotsays:

"Dhoul(orDhu)carnun,with the two horns, is the surname ofAlexander, that is, of an ancient and fabulous Alexander of the first dynasty of the Persians. 795. Article Sedd, Tagioug and Magioug. 993. Article Khedher. 395. b. 335. b. Fael."But 317. Escander, he says, Alexander the Great has the same title secondarily. The truth probably is the reverse, that the fabulous personage was taken from the real conqueror."Hofmann, in Seleucus, says that the area of Seleucus is called Terik Dhylkarnain,i.e.Epocha Alexandri Cornigen. Tarik means probably the date of an event."

"But 317. Escander, he says, Alexander the Great has the same title secondarily. The truth probably is the reverse, that the fabulous personage was taken from the real conqueror.

"Hofmann, in Seleucus, says that the area of Seleucus is called Terik Dhylkarnain,i.e.Epocha Alexandri Cornigen. Tarik means probably the date of an event."

There can be no doubt that the word in Chaucer is this Arabic word; nor, I think, that Speght's story is really taught by the Arabs, our teachers in mathematics. Whether the application is from Alexander, (they would know nothing of his date with regard to Pythagoras), or merely from two-horned, is doubtful. The latter might possibly mean the ox.

Mr. Halliwell gives a quotation from Stanyhurst, in which it means "dull persons"—an obvious misuse of it for Englishmen, and which Skene fortifies by an A.-S. derivation, but which is clearly not Cressida's meaning, or she would have said, "IamDulcarnon," not "Iam atDulcarnon;" and so Mrs. Roper.

It may seem difficult what Pandarus can mean:

"Dulcarnon clepid is fleming of wretches,It semith hard, for wretchis wol nought lereFor very slouthe, or othir wilfull tetches,This said is by them that ben't worth two fetches,But ye ben wise."

"Dulcarnon clepid is fleming of wretches,

It semith hard, for wretchis wol nought lere

For very slouthe, or othir wilfull tetches,

This said is by them that ben't worth two fetches,

But ye ben wise."

Whether he means that wretches call itflemingor not, his argument is, "You are not a wretch." Speght's derivation seems to mean, "Quod stultos vertit."Fleamas, A.-S. (Lye), isfuga,fugacio, fromflean, to flee. Pandarus, I think, does not mean to give the derivation of the word, but its application of fools, a stumbling-block, or puzzle.

C.B.

Footnote 5:(return)Speght gives it in English letters, but Selden in Arabic.

Speght gives it in English letters, but Selden in Arabic.

Footnote 6:(return)Christman,Comment. in Alfragan, cap. ii.LysimachiCornuum apud Cael. Rhodigin.Antiq. lect.10. cap. xii., hic genuina interpretatio.

Christman,Comment. in Alfragan, cap. ii.LysimachiCornuum apud Cael. Rhodigin.Antiq. lect.10. cap. xii., hic genuina interpretatio.

Dr. Maginn.—The best account of this most talented but unfortunate man, is given in theDublin University Mag., vol. xxiii. p. 72. A reprint of this article, with such additional particulars of his numerous and dispersed productions as might be supplied, would form a most acceptable volume.

F.R.A.

America known to the Ancients.—To the list of authorities on this subject given in Vol. i., p. 342., I have the pleasure to add Father Laffiteau; Bossu7, in hisTravels through Louisiana; and though last, not least, Acosta, who in hisNaturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies, translated by E.G. [Grimestone], 1604, 4to., devotes eighty-one pages to a review of the opinions of the ancients on the new world.

The similarity which has been observed to exist between the manners of several American nations, and those of some of the oldest nations on our continent, which seems to demonstrate that this country was not unknown in ancient times, has been traced by Nicholls, in the first part of hisConference with a Theist, in several particulars, viz. burning of the victim in sacrifices, numbering by tens, fighting with bows and arrows, their arts of spinning, weaving, &c. The arguments, multitudinous as they are, adduced by Adair for his hypothesis that the American Indians are descended from the Jews, serve to prove that the known or old world furnished the new one with men. To these may be added the coincidences noticed in "NOTES AND QUERIES;" burning the dead (Vol. i., p. 308.); the art of manufacturing glass (p. 341.); scalping (Vol. ii., p. 78.). Your correspondents will doubtless be able to point out other instances. Besides drinking out of the skulls of their enemies, recorded of the Scythians by Herodotus; and of the savages of Louisiana by Bossu; I beg to mention a remarkable one furnished by Catlin—the sufferings endured by the youths among the Mandans, when admitted into the rank of warriors,reminding us of the probationary exercises which the priests of Mithras forced the candidates for initiation to undergo.

T.J.

Footnote 7:(return)Forster, the translator of this work, annihilates the argument for the settlement of the Welsh derived from the word "penguin" signifying "white head," by the fact of the bird in question having ablack, not awhitehead!

Forster, the translator of this work, annihilates the argument for the settlement of the Welsh derived from the word "penguin" signifying "white head," by the fact of the bird in question having ablack, not awhitehead!

Collar of SS.(Vol. ii., p. 89.).—B. will find a great deal about these collars in some interesting papers in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1842, vols. xvii. and xviii., conmunicated by Mr. J.G. Nicholls; and in the Second Series of the Retrospective Review, vol. i. p. 302., and vol. ii. pp. 156. 514. 518. Allow me to add a Query: Who are the persons now privileged to wear these collars? and under what circumstances, and at what dates, was such privilege reduced to its present limitation?

[Greek: Phi.]

Martello Towers(Vol. ii., p. 9.).—A misspelling forMortellatowers. They are named after a tower which commands the entrance to the harbour of St. Fiorenzo, in Corsica; but they are common along the coasts of the Mediterranean. They were built along the low parts of the Sussex and Kent coasts, in consequence of the powerful defence made by Ensign Le Tellier at the Tower of Mortella, with a garrison of 38 men only, on 8th February, 1794, against an attack by sea, made by theFortitudeandJuno, part of Lord Hood's fleet, and by land, made by a detachment of troops under Major-General Dundas. The two ships kept up a fire for two hours and a half without making any material impression, and then hauled out of gun-shot, theFortitudehaving lost 6 men killed and 56 wounded, 8 dangerously. The troops were disembarked, and took possession of a height comnanding the tower; and their battering was as unsuccessful, till a hot shot fell and set fire to the bass-junk, with which, to the depth of five feet, the immensely thick parapet wall was lined. This induced the small garrison, of whom two were mortally wounded, to surrender. The tower mounted only one 6 and two 18-pounders, and the carriage of one of the latter had been rendered unserviceable during the cannonade. (See James'Naval History, vol. i. p. 285.) The towers along the English coast extend from Hythe to Seaford, where the last tower is numbered 74, at intervals of about a quarter of a mile, except where the coast is protected by the cliffs. The tower at Seaford is 32 feet high, with a circumference of 136 feet at the base, and gradually tapering to 90 feet at the top. The wall is 6 feet thick at the top next the sea, and 2 feet on the land side. The cost of each tower was very large,—from 15,000l.to 20,000l.I am not aware of any blue book on the subject; blue books were not so much in vogue at the time of their erection, or perhaps a little less would have been spent in these erections, and a little more pains would have been taken to see that they were properly built. Some have been undermined by the sea and washed down already; in others, the facing of brick has crumbled away; and in all the fancied security which the original tower taught us to expect would be probably lessened were the English towers subjected to an attack.

WM. DURRANT COOPER.

"A Frog he would a-wooing go" (Vol. ii., p. 75.).—I know not whether this foolish ballad is worth the notice it has already received, but I can venture to say that the supposed Irish version is but a modern variance from the old ballad which I remember above sixty years, and which began—

"There was a frog lived in a well,Heigho crowdie!And a merry mouse in a mill,With a howdie crowdie, &c. &c.This frog he would a-wooing go,Heigho crowdie!Whether his mother would let him or no,With a howdie crowdie," &c.

"There was a frog lived in a well,

Heigho crowdie!

And a merry mouse in a mill,

With a howdie crowdie, &c. &c.

This frog he would a-wooing go,

Heigho crowdie!

Whether his mother would let him or no,

With a howdie crowdie," &c.

Of the rest of the ballad I only remember enough to be able to say that it had little or no resemblance to the version in your last Number.

William of Wykeham(Vol. ii., p. 89.).—1. I believe that there is no better life of this prelate than that by Bishop Lowth.

2. The public records published since he wrote give several further particulars of Wykeham's early career, but a proper notice of them would be too extended for your columns.

3. When W.H.C. recollects that New College, Oxford, the first of the works he names, was not commenced till 1380, and that Wykeham had then enjoyed the revenues of his rich bishopric for nearly fourteen years, and had previously been in possession of many valuable preferments, both lay and ecclesiastical, for fourteen years more, he will find his third question sufficiently answered, and cease to wonder at the accumulation of that wealth which was applied with wise and munificent liberality to such noble and useful objects.

I am not able to answer W.H.C.'s 4th and 5th questions.

[Greek: Phi.]

Execution of Charles I.(Vol. ii., p. 72.).—The late Mr. Rodd had collected several interesting papers on this subject; and from his well-known acquaintance with all matters relating to English history, they are no doubt valuable. Of course they exist. He offered them to the writer of this note, on condition that he would prosecute the inquiry. Other engagements prevented his availng himself of this liberal offer.

J.M.

Woburn Abbey.

Swords(Vol. i., p. 415.).—Swords "ceased to be worn as an article of dress" through the influence of Beau Nash, and were consequently first out of fashion in Bath. "We wear no swords here," says Sir Lucius O'Trigger.

WEDSECUARF.

The Low Window(Vol. ii., p. 55.).—In Bibury Church, Gloucestershire, are several windows of unusual character; and in the chancel is a narrow, low window, called to this day "the Lepers' window," through which, it is concluded, the lepers who knelt outside the building witnessed the elevation of the host at the altar, as well as other functions discharged by the priest during the celebration of mass.

ROBERT SNOW.

Brasichelli's Expurgatory Index(Vol. ii., p. 37.).—Although unable to reply to MR. SANSOM's Query, by pointing out any public library in which he can find the Ratisbon reprint of Brasichelli'sExpurgatory Index, I beg to state that I possess it, the Bergomi reprint, and also the original, and that MR. SANSOM is perfectly welcome to a sight of either.

C.J. STEWART

11. King William Street, West Strand.

Discursus Modestus(Vol. i., pp. 142, 205.)—Crakanthorp, in hisDefens. Eccl. Angl., cap. vi. p. 27. (A.C.L. edition), refers toDiscur. Compen. de Jesuit. Angl., p. 15., and quotes from it the words, "Omnia pro tempore, nihil pro veritate." Is thisDiscur. Compen.theDiscurs. Modest.? and are these words to be found in Watson'sQuodlibets? This would fix the identity of the two books. It is curious that the only two references made by Bishop Andrews to theDiscurs. Modest.(Respons. ad Apol., pp. 7. and 117.) are to page 13., and both the statements are found in page 81. of Watson. Crakanthorp, however (p. 532.), quotes both the works,—Discurs. Modestus de Jesuit. Anglic., and Watson.

From the many different Latin titles given to this book, it seems certain that it was originally written in English, and that the title was Latinized according to each person's fancy. There is no copy in the Lambeth library.

J.B.

Melancthon's Epigram.—Melancthon, in the epigram translated by RUFUS (Vol. i., p. 422.), seems to have borrowed the idea, or, to use the more expressive term of your "Schoolboy", to leave cabbaged from Martial's epigram, terminating thus:—

"Non possunt nostros multæ Faustine lituræ,Emendare jocos: una litura potest."

"Non possunt nostros multæ Faustine lituræ,

Emendare jocos: una litura potest."

Martial, Book iv. 10.

NABOC.

Mr. Bohn has just published the second volume of his very useful and complete edition ofJunius' Letters. It contains, in addition to a new essay on their authorship, entitledThe History and Discovery of Junius, by the editor, Mr. Wade, the Private Letters of Junius addressed to Woodfall; the Letters of Junius to Wilkes; and the Miscellaneous Letters which have been attributed to the same powerful pen. Mr. Wade is satisfied that Sir Philip Francis was Junius; a theory of which it is said, "Se non e vero e ben trovato:" and, if he does not go the length of Sir F. Dwarris in regarding Sir P. Francis, not as the solitary champion, but the most active of the sturdy band of politicians whose views he advocated, he shows that he was known to and assisted by many influential members of his own political party. Some of the most curious points in the Junius history are illustrated by notes by Mr. Bohn himself, who, we have no doubt will find his edition of Junius among the most successful volumes of his Standard Library.

We have received the following Catalogues:—W.S. Lincoln's (Cheltenham House, Westminster Road) Fifty-eighth Catalogue of Cheap Books in various Departments of Literature; W. Straker's (3. Adelaide Street, West Strand) Catalogue No. 4. 1850, Theological Literature, Ancient and Modern; J.G. Bell's (10. Bedford Street, Covent Garden) Catalogue of Interesting and Valuable Autograph Letters and other Documents; John Miller's (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. 8. for 1850, of Books Old and New.

PULLEYNE'S ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. BARNABY GOOGE'S POPISH KINGDOM.

MILMAN'S EDITION OF GIBBON'S DECLINE AND FALL. Ed. 1838. Vols. 9, 10, 11, 12.

DUKE OF BEDFORD'S CORRESPONDENCE. Vols. 2 and 3.

ARNOLD'S HISTORY OF ROME. Vol. 3.

LE CLERC'S BIBLIOTHEQUE CHOISIE. Vol. 6.

AVELLANADA'S CONTINUATION OF DON QUIXOTE, translated by Barker, 12mo. 1760. Vol. 2.

TOUR THROUGH GREAT BRITAIN, 12mo. 1742. Vols. 1 and 2.

TRISTRAM SHANDY. Vols. 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Letters, stating particulars and lowest price,carriage freeto be sent to Mr. BELL, Publisher Of "NOTES AND QUERIES", 186. Fleet Street.

P.M.is referred to our27th No., p. 445.,where he will learn that the supposed French original of "Not a Drum was heard" was a clever hoax from the ready pen of Father Prout. The date whenP.M.read the poem, and not thedate it bore,is a point necessary to be established to prove its existence "anterior to the supposed author of that beautiful poem".

Will the Correspondent who wished for Vol. 8. of Rushworth, furnish his name and address, as a copy has been reported.

VOLUME THE FIRST OR NOTES AND QUERIES,with Title-page and very copious Index, is now ready, price 9s. 6d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all Booksellers and Newsmen.

Errata. In No. 34., p. 63., in reply to Delta, for "MRRIS," read "MARRIS"; and for "MRIE" read "MARIE." No. 36., P. 83., l. 40., for "prohibens" read "prohibente".

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