"'Est leonis rugientisMarco vultus, resurgentisQuo claret potentia:Voce Patris excitatusSurgit Christus....'
"'Est leonis rugientis
Marco vultus, resurgentis
Quo claret potentia:
Voce Patris excitatus
Surgit Christus....'
"Again,De Resurrectione Domini, verse 54.:
"'Sic de Judâ Leo fortis,Fractis portis diræ mortisDie surgit tertiâ,Rugiente voce Patris....'
"'Sic de Judâ Leo fortis,
Fractis portis diræ mortis
Die surgit tertiâ,
Rugiente voce Patris....'
"Hugo de S. Victore (De Best., lib. ii. cap. 1.):
"Cum leæna parit, suos catulos mortuos parit, et ita custodit tribus diebus, donec veniens Pater eorum in faciem eorum exhalet, et vivificentur. Sic Omnipotens Pater Filium suum tertiâ die suscitavit a mortuis.
"Hildebert (De Leone):
"Natus non vigilat dum Sol se tertiògyrat,
Sed dans rugitum pater ejus suscitat illum:
Tunc quasi vivescit, tunc sensus quinque capescit."
C. P. PH***.
—The legend that I have heard in Devonshire differs from that quoted in Vol. ii. It ran thus:
"Friday cut hair, Sunday cut horn,Better that man had never been born."
"Friday cut hair, Sunday cut horn,
Better that man had never been born."
The meaning given to it was, that cutting horn was a kind ofwork, and therefore a breach of the Sabbath and that cutting hair on the Friday was, like a hundred other things, thought unlucky on a Friday, from some obscure reference to the great sacrifice ofGood Friday. Sir Thomas Browne shows that this was perhaps the continuation of ancient superstition; and it is peculiarly remarkable that amongst the Romans theDies Veneris(Friday) should have been thought unlucky forhair-cutting. His reference to the crime of Manasses, "of observing times," enters into no detail, and the text is evidently a general condemnation of superstitious observances. I may as well here remark that Browne's reference to Manasses, 1 Chron. xxxv., in my edition (1686), is erroneous: it should be 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6.
C.
—Your correspondent N. B., p. 283., has doubtless aptly illustrated Shakspeare's use of the wordgig, but not as a local name, where "there is no indication of anything in the land to warrant it;" but if your querist K., p. 222., will refer to Bailey'sDictionary, article "Gig Mill," "a mill for the fulling of woollen cloth," he will find the key to the local name; and full information as to the illegality and injurious tendency of Gig Mills, with an order for their suppression, &c., will be found in the statute 5 & 6 Edward VI., c. 22, intitled, "An Act for the putting down of Gig Mills." The presence of such mills previous to the suppression would give the name to the sites now known as "Gig's Hills."
BLOWEN.
—MR. BUCKMANcalls the Poplar and Lime native, and the Sycamore and Robinia foreign trees, and adds that the two latter are comparatively recently introduced.
Without doubt, all four are foreign, except the Asp among Poplars, which is a native tree. And the Sycamore was introduced into England long before the Lombardy, and I think before any of the Poplar tribe.
I have seen the Mistletoe propagated by seed inserted, with an upward cut of a knife, under the bark of an apple-tree.
On the Oak I have never seen the Mistletoe. The late Mr. Loudon, when shown it on an oak on the estate of the late Miss Woods, of Shopwyke, near Chichester, said he had only seen it in one other instance.
A. HOLTWHITE.
For much learned lore relating to this remarkable plant, see theEncyclopædia Metropolitana. Your querist ACHEmay be assured that the Mistletoe may be often found in the counties of Devon and Somerset growing on oaks, and frequently on old apple-trees in neglectedorchards.A specimen of it may also be occasionally found on other trees the bark of which is rough, such as the acacia and some species of willow, when of large size. I have heard of an instance of its growing in a furze-bush.
S. S. S.
—If R. W. C. will turn to Akerman'sCoins of the Romans relating to Britain, he will find, at p. 36., the description of a brass medallion of Commodus having on the reverse a legend commencing "BRITTANIAP. M. TR.," &c.
The author observes:
"The spelling of Britannia is worthy of observation. Dr. Charles Grotefend thinks it is from the Greek,Βρεττανια."
And in a Note to this adds:
"That in Horace and Propertius, the first syllable of Britannia is short, but in Lucretius, on the contrary, it is long."
I would further observe, that the same mode of spelling "Britannia," with twot's, obtains on the coins of Severus, Caracalla, and Geta.
J. COVEJONES.
Temple, April 17. 1851.
—Thomas Gilbert, the author of the MS. treatise mentioned by your correspondent, was the son of William Gilbert, of Priss, in Shropshire. He was born in 1613, and at the age of sixteen entered the University of Oxford. He took the degree of M.A. in 1638, and was afterwards appointed minister of Upper Winchington, in Buckinghamshire. He joined the Puritan party at the beginning of the rebellion, and was made vicar of St. Lawrence, Reading. Wood says that he turned Independent, "was actually created Bachelor of Divinity in the time of the Parliamentarian visitation," and was preferred to the rich rectory of Edgmond, in his native county of Shropshire. Being very active against the Royalists, he was commonly called the "Bishop of Shropshire." After the Restoration he was, of course, ejected, when he retired to Oxford, and lived obscurely many years, with his wife, in the parish of St. Ebbs. He lived latterly upon charity, and died in the extreme of poverty, in the year 1694. For more minute particulars of the life of this person, and a catalogue of his writings, see Wood'sAthenæ Oxon., edit. Bliss, vol. iv. p. 406.
EDWARDF. RIMBAULT.
—I have seen this carved and gilt as the sign of R. O. Backwell, ironmonger, Devonport. A person now sitting by me recollects its being adopted there about forty years since. It is perhaps always the sign of an ironmonger, instead of a public-house, as suggested by your correspondent. The pot (as at Blackfriars) is the three-legged cast-iron vessel called in Devonshire a "crock."
K. TH.
—If the man who believes in this fable can be found in England, he will meet with the demonstration of its falsehood in the cotemporary chronicles of Galindo, Bishop of Troyes, otherwise called by his assumed name of religion, Prudentius Trecensis, or Trecassensis. (SeeMonumenta Germaniæ Historica, Hanover, 1826, vol. i. p. 449.) It there appears clearly that no Pope John VIII. succeeded Leo IV., or preceded Benedict III. Prudentius survived thembothby three years. His words are "Mense Augusto Leo apostolicæ sedis antistes defunctus est, eique Benedictus successit. Eodem mense duæ stellæ majoris et minoris quantitatis visæ sunt," &c. &c.
It seems to me that a just blindness fell upon men so evil-minded as to desire the falsification of chronology and history for polemical ends, that they should have utterly missed the moral principle by which they would be thought animated. No prelate ordaining a young person, unknown to himself, save by academical reputation, couldknowthat person's sex. The want of beard is no criterion; nor is the female lip in all instances very smooth. But if it were true that a person eminently distinguished by studies, and bringing from Athens a high reputation for merit, could upon those grounds alone obtain the suffrages of the Roman chapter, more honour would be conferred upon it than that chapter, or other dispensers of patronage, have usually merited. Instead of being unknown, the candidates in the days of Benedict III. were, if anything,too well known; for the jobbery and faction, of which this fable would indicate the entire, and almost unnatural, absence, were sufficiently at work.
A. N.
—Bishop Andrewes uses the phrase, "indockeoutnettle,innettleoutdocke," to denote unsteadiness. The passage occurs in Sermon I., "Of the Resurrection," folio, p. 391.:
"Now then that we bee not, all our life long, thus off and on, fast or loose,in docke out nettle, and in nettle out docke; it will behove us once more yet to looke back," &c. &c. &c.
REVERT. Wittingham, Easter Eve.
—This phrase was, I believe, originally "Mind yourtoupéesand yourqueues,"—thetoupéebeing the artificial locks of hair on the head, and thequeuethe pigtail of olden time.
There used to be an old riddle as follows:—Who is the best person to keep the alphabet in order?—Answer: A barber, because he ties up thequeue, and putstoupéesin irons.
NEDLAM.
—The BORDERER, with whom, I fancy, every one will fully agree, has himself been guilty ofincuriain charging it upon Walter Scott. The great festival at which Michael Scott marches off with the Goblin Page, was to celebrate, not thenuptials, but thebetrothal, of the hero and heroine. I do not think I have read theLaysince I was a boy; but yet I will bet five nothings to one, that the following lines are spoken by the Lady, when she gives way, as she says, to Fate:—
"For this is your betrothing day,And all these noble lords shall stayAnd grace it with their company."
"For this is your betrothing day,
And all these noble lords shall stay
And grace it with their company."
It would be an excellent thing if some of your correspondents would furnish you with materials for a corner, to be entitled, "The Prophecy of Criticism." It should give, by short extract, those presages in which criticism abounds, taken from the Reviews of twenty years or more preceding the current year. Thus, in this year of 1851, the corner should be open to any prophecy uttered in or before 1831, and palpably either fulfilled or falsified. In a little while, when the subject begins to cool, the admission should be restricted to prophecy of precisely twenty years of previous date. Such a corner would be useful warning to critics, and useful knowledge to their readers.
M.
—In reply to E.V.'s Query, if there is any place in the north of France bearing that name, I may inform him that Tingry is a commune near Samer, in the arrondissement of Boulogne. Tingry Hill is the highest spot in the neighbourhood. In the Boulogne Museum are several mediæval antiquities found at Tingry.
P. S. KG.
—You must find it difficult to know what to do when a correspondent obtains admission into your columns who absolutely requires to be sent back to elementary books. On the one hand, care must be taken not to discourage communication: on the other hand, there is a species of communication which must be gently discouraged. Nothing has ever appeared in your columns which makes this remark more necessary than the communication headed as above, and signed by the venerable name of HIPPARCHUS. Your well meaning, but hitherto not sufficiently instructed, correspondent, seems to imagine either that the Jewish year was wholly lunar, or that a solar year may consist of a fixed number of (wrong) lunar months. Now, the lunar month isnot29 days, but 29-½ days; and the Jews, whom he calls ignorant of astronomy (which they were, compared with Hipparchus of Rhodes), met this, as most know, by using months of 29 days and of 30 days in equal numbers. And surely every one must know that the Jewish year was regulated, as to its commencement, by the sun and the equinox. The year opened just before the Passover, which required a supply of lamb. Unless lamb had been obtainable all the solar year round, a regular lunar year (such as the Mahometans have) would have made a due observance of the Passover impossible. I hope your correspondent can bear to be told, good-humouredly, that it passes all reasonable permission that he should speculate on chronological questions as yet.
M.
—I cannot help doubting this derivation; and I suspect that the true meaning of the word is, a piece, or slice (orvulgo, a "hunch") of bread. When people who dined early, and breakfasted comparatively late, wanted any intermediate refreshment, "a luncheon" (or, as we should now say, "just a crust of bread") was sufficient. The Query brought to my mind some verses of the younger Beattie, which were published with his father'sMinstrel, &c., in which he uses the word "luncheon" for the piece of bread placed beside the plate at dinner. I have no doubt of the fact, though I cannot recollect the lines, or find the book. But after searching in vain for it, I took down Johnson'sDictionary; and under the word I found this couplet by Gay, which is perhaps a better authority:
"When hungry thou stood'st staring like an oaf,I sliced theluncheonfrom the barley loaf."
"When hungry thou stood'st staring like an oaf,
I sliced theluncheonfrom the barley loaf."
S. R. M.
—Your correspondent C. quotes the following passage from Seneca:
"Venient annis secula seris,Quibus Oceanus vincula rerumLaxet, et ingens pateat tellus,Tethysque novos detegat orbes;Nec sit terris ultima Thule."Medea, Act II., ad finem, v. 375.
"Venient annis secula seris,
Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum
Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus,
Tethysque novos detegat orbes;
Nec sit terris ultima Thule."
Medea, Act II., ad finem, v. 375.
and he says that some commentator describes these lines as "a vaticination of the Spanish discovery of America." I believe, however, that Lord Bacon may claim the merit of having been the first to notice this vaticination. In his essay "Of Prophecies" he says:
"Seneca, the tragedian, hath these verses:—
'Venient annisSæcula seris, quibus OceanusVincula rerum laxet, et ingensPateat tellus, Tiphysque novosDetegat orbes; nec sit terrisUltima thule.'
'Venient annis
Sæcula seris, quibus Oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
Pateat tellus, Tiphysque novos
Detegat orbes; nec sit terris
Ultima thule.'
"'A prophecy,' he adds, 'of the discovery of America.'"
I have quoted this from an edition of Bacon'sEssays, printed at the Chiswick Press, by C. Whittingham, for J. Carpenter, Old BondStreet,London, 1812: and not the least curious circumstance is the curious form which Bacon, evidently quoting from memory, has given to the passage.
HENRYH. BREEN.
St. Lucia, March, 1851.
—I fully agree with your correspondent S. W. SINGERthat an imperfect acquaintance with our older language has been the weak point of the commentators, but at the same time I think they have been equally guilty of an imperfect acquaintance with the history and character of Cleopatra, and one at least of a careless reading of the text; otherwise it appears incomprehensible how, on the one hand, the words of the great poet could have been so distorted; on the other hand, how Scarus could be thought to allude, by the word "ribald," to Antony. On reference to Rider'sDictionary, published in 1589, the very year in which Malone places Shakspeare's first play,First Part of Henry VI., may be found the wordRibaud, leno, a bawd, a pander;Ribaudrie, lascivia, obscœnitas, impudicitia, Venus; andRibaudrous, obscœnus, impudicus, impurus.
Hagge, doubtless the word of Shakspeare, also may be found in Rider, answering to the Latinlamia,fascinatrix,oculo maligna mulier.
Arguing from the above, what more appropriate term than "ribaudred hagge" could be applied to Cleopatra, a queen celebrated for her beauty, her cunning, her debauchery, nay, even adultery. The sister and wife of Ptolemy Dionysius, she admitted Cæsar to her embraces, and by him had a son called Cæsarion, and afterwards became enamoured of Antony, who, forgetful of his connexion with Octavia, the sister of Cæsar, publicly married her; thus causing the rupture between him and Cæsar, who met in a naval engagement off Actium, where Cleopatra, "when 'vantage like a pair of twins appeared," by flying with sixty sail, ruined the interest of Antony, and he was defeated; and so were called forth the imprecatory words of Scarus.
"Yond ribaudred Hagge of Egypt,Whom leprosy o'ertake."FRANCISCUS.
"Yond ribaudred Hagge of Egypt,
Whom leprosy o'ertake."
FRANCISCUS.
—The origin of the wordhellequin, unknown to M. Paul Paris, is to be sought in Scandinavia, especially Norway, whence so many swarms of fierce Pagan settlers rushed into Normandy and other parts of France. Thehelle-quinnaorhell-queanwas the famoushelaorhel, thedeath-goddess(whence our wordhell, thedeath-realm, as still used in the Creed, &c.), so well known also to our own West Scandinavian (commonly called Anglo-Saxon) forefathers. The Wild Hunt of the Helle-quinna (the Death-quean and her Meynie) was therefore soon easily synonymous with that ofLa Mort, and, as M. Paris has well observed, naturally led to the grotesque mummeries ofnotre famille d'Arlequin.
GEORGESTEPHENS.
Stockholm.
—Quarles, in hisEmblems, b. 2. 12, p. 124., edition 1812, has the following passage: "Christ's cross is the christ-cross of all our happiness,"i. e.the alphabet, the beginning, perhaps the alpha and omega. Grose, in hisOlio, p. 195., 1796, relates the following story:
"An Irishman explaining the reason why the Alphabet is called the Criss-cross-Rowe, said it was because Christ's cross wasprefixedat the beginning and end of it."
W. B. H.
Manchester.
—The gentlemen who have hitherto attempted to explain this term are very evidently unacquainted with the subject on which they write; with the exception, however, of MR. CROSSLEY, whose quotation from theMerchant's Mirrourconfirms what I am about to say. To the clerk in a merchant's counting-house, like him
"Who pens a stanza when he should engross,"
"Who pens a stanza when he should engross,"
the waste-book may indeed be a weary waste; but he does not call it so for that reason, any more than he gives poetical names to the day-book or ledger. In short, we must not go to the merchant's counting-house at all to discover its meaning; or, if we do, "the book-keeper and cashier" who makes the Query may refer us to one of the elders, or head of the firm, who, if he be not too proud to own it, may just recollect that his progenitors or predecessors in thechandler's shopmade their rough entries in a book which was literally waste. For origins we must look to the lowest forms or types existing. The merchant's system of book-keeping was not invented perfect; and we may see its various stages in the different gradations of trade at the present day. In many respectable shops, in the country especially, the waste-book is formed by a quire or two of the commonest paper used in the particular trade, that will bear pen and ink, sown together. An advance upon this is the waste-book as a distinct book, bound and ruled, of which the day-book or journal is merely a fair copy; and this being made, the former is held of no account. The importance, however, of reference to original entries has no doubt led to the preservation of the "Waste-book" in regular book-keeping, and a modification of its character.
S. H.
St. John's Wood, April 22. 1851.
—May I ask your correspondent whether the following linesin the"Georgics" (iii. 284.), the most exact composition in existence, prove thattheywere first delivered by word of mouth, from notes only:—
"Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus,
Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore."
I might add the passage in Pindar, 4th Pythian, 439.:
"Μακρά μοι νεῖσθαι κατ' ἀμαξιτὸν· ὥρα γὰρ συνάπτει· καί τινα οἶμον ἴσαμι βραχύν."
Such passages are common in all authors.
C. B.
—With reference to B.'s remark on the Host beingoftenpreceded by a hand-bell, it may more correctly be stated, that the Host, when carried in procession to the sick, is in all Catholic countriesuniformlypreceded by a bell, in order to warn all persons of its approach, that they may be ready to pay all due reverence as the procession passes. The ringing of the bell on this occasion was first instituted by the Cardinal Guido, who was sent Legate to Germany, to confirm the election of the Emperor Otto.
R. R. M.
[Query, May not this have been the originalpassingbell?]
—There is the following allusion to these lines by Question and Answer in theNew Help to Discourse, published about 1670, p. 102.:
Q. "How came the famous Buchanan off, when travelling into Italy, he was, for the freeness of his writing, suspected of his religion, and taken hold of by some of the Pope's Inquisitors?"
A. "By writing to his Holiness this distich:
'Laus tua, non tua fraus, virtus, non copia rerum,Scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium.'"
'Laus tua, non tua fraus, virtus, non copia rerum,
Scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium.'"
For which encomium he was set at liberty; and being gone out of the Pope's jurisdiction, he sent to his Holiness, and desired, according to his own true meaning, to read the self-same verses backward.
If George Buchanan, born 1506, was indeed the author of them, it is certain that no Pope Alexander could have been the subject of them, when written, I presume, in 1551, that being the year in which he obtained his liberty. And now to J. F. M.'s Query p. 290.—If he has transcribed Puttenham aright, he might justly condemn them as very bad "verse Lyon," if that be Leonine; but I take it that he has condemned what is worthy of some praise, and of being "called verse Lyon," for Lyric.
It would lose nothing of the lyrical by translation, but your readers being all classical I forbear.
BLOWEN.
—Francis Moore, physician, was one of the many quack doctors who duped the credulous at the latter period of the seventeenth century; he practised in Westminster: in all probability then, as in our own time, the publication of the almanac was to act as an advertisement of his healing powers, &c. Cookson, Salmon, Gadbury, Andrewes, Tanner, Coley, Partridge, &c. &c., were all his predecessors, and were students in physic and astrology. Moore'sAlmanacappears to be a perfect copy of Tanner's, which was first published in 1656, forty-two years prior to the appearance of Moore's. The portrait in Knight'sLondonis certainly imaginary. There is a genuine and very characteristic portrait,now of considerable rarity, representing him as a fat-faced man in a wig and large neck-cloth, inscribed "Francis Moore, born in Bridgnorth, in the county of Salop, the 29th of January, 1656/7.—JOHNDRAPENTIER, delin. et sculp."
I may mention it as a curious fact, that the portraits of these quack doctors, when in a good state, are frequently of great rarity. I possess one which was in the Stow collection, being a fine impression of the following print by Drapentier, for which the sum of five guineas had been paid:
"The effigies of George Jones, whom God hath blessed with greate success in healing."—"Student in the art of physick and chirurgery for about thirty years in the Upper More Fields, two golden balls on the tops of the two posts of the portel before my door."
W. W. C.
—A description of the foundation of a "national debt" in Florence in the years 1344-45 is to be found in theFlorentine History, by Henry Edward Napier, R. N. (published by Edward Moxon, Dover Street), chap. xxi. p. 125.
FIRENEYE.
—I beg to send a copy of a Latin inscription discovered some years since over the west door inside the great nave of St. Alban's Abbey. It may possibly prove to be a record of some historical value, and at all events furnishes a partial reply to the Query ofΣ.in your First Volume:—
"Propter vicinii situm, et amplum hujus Templi spatium ad magnam confluentium multitudinem excipiendam opportunum, temporibus R. H. VIII. et denuo R. Elizabethæ, peste Londini sæviente, Conventus Juridicus hic agebatur."
Underneath this is written,—
"Princeps Dei Imago Lex Principis opusFinis Legis Justitiâ."
"Princeps Dei Imago Lex Principis opus
Finis Legis Justitiâ."
Can any of your learned correspondents clear up the nature and extent of these fear-stricken flights to the old abbey? Was it the Commons, or Westminster Hall, or the Convocation, or all together, avoiding the plague? I may observe that our ancestors seem to have put to somepracticaluse the vast space of an abbey-church on extraordinary occasions; and I would humbly suggest that we too of the nineteenth century mighttakethe hint, and employ the many unoccupied naves of our ecclesiastical buildings forreligiouspurposes on ordinary occasions.
W. M. K.
—They are sometimes calledSt. Bridget's Prayers. I have a very small volume entitled:
"¶ A breefe Directory and playne way how to say the Rosary of our blessed Lady: with Meditations for such as are not exercised therein. Whereunto are adioyned the prayers of S. Bryget with others. Bruges Flandrorum, excudebat Hu. Holost. 1576."
At the end (beginning with fresh signature A i.) are—
"¶ Fifteene Prayers, righte good and vertuous, vsually called the XV Oos, and of diuers called S. Briget's prayers, because the holye and blessed Virgin vsed dayly to say them before the Image of the Crucifix in S. Paules Church in Rome."
Of this diminutive volume I never saw another copy. It was published by J. M., who dates his dedication to his dear sister A. M., "from the Englishe Charter House in Bridges (sic), the vigil of the Assumption of Our Lady, 1576." It seems that the sister was resident in England, and had, previously to her brother's departure for Bruges, requested him to send her a translation of theRosary, which having obtained, his cousin and friend J. Noel procured it to be printed. J. M. willingly confessing "for that I know there be many good women in Englande that honour Our Lady, but good bookes to stirre vp deuotion in them are scarse." Would not a list of English books printed abroad be an interesting subject for some bibliographical antiquary, and an acceptable addition to our literary antiquities?
P. B.
—MR. OFFORhas very satisfactorily shown that Bunyan could not, from its grandiloquent style, have been the author of theVisions of Heaven and Hell, attributed to him in an edition of that work published in the reign of George I., entitled,The Visions of John Bunyan, being his last Remains.
This title must have been a surreptitious one, for, since MR. OFFORmade the above communication, I have obtained a copy of this scarce book publishedin the previous reign, under its legitimate title (as in the Sunderland copy of 1771, mentioned at p. 70.supra), and said to be "By G. L.φιλανθρωποLondon, printed forJohn Gwillim, againstCrossby Squarein Bishopsgate-street, 1711."
In his address "To the Reader" (also signed G. L.), the author even makes the following direct allusion to Bunyan's allegory:
"And since theWayto Heaven has been so taking under the similitude of adream, why should not theJourney's Endbe as acceptable under the similitude of avision? Nay, why should it not be more acceptable, since the end is preferable to themeans, andHeavento theWaythat brings us thither?The Pilgrimmet with many difficulties; but here they are all over. All storms and tempests here are hush'd in silence and serenity."
It will therefore, I think, be admitted that the name of Bunyan ought no longer to be associated with this work, and that all inferences drawn from the fallacy of his having been the author of it should henceforth be disregarded.
It would, however, be desirable, if possible, to ascertain who G. L. really was, and how the spurious title-page came to be affixed by "Edward Midwinter, at the Looking-Glass upon London Bridge," to his edition of this allegory?
N. H.
—Your Querist asks, "Has the word Mazer any signification in itself?" It signifiesMaple, being a corruptions of the Welsh wordMasarn—the maple-tree. Probably, therefore, the use of the wood of the maple for bowls and drinking-cups prevailed in this country many centuries before the times of Spenser and Chaucer, in whose works they are mentioned. In Devonshire the black cherry-tree, which grows to a large size in that county, is called the mazer-tree. From this circumstance I conjecture that this wood has been used there in former times for bowls and drinking-cups as a substitute for maple. That the original word,mazer, should have been retained, is not to be wondered at. It is known that when the mazer bowl was made of silver, the old name was retained. The name of the maple-tree, in the Irish language, iscrann-mhalpais; therefore the name of the Irish wooden drinking-cupmaedhercannot be derived from it.
S. S. S.
—Any of your readers who are curious in natural history will find, in thePharmaceutical Journal, vol. ii. p. 591., a very full description of this extraordinary production, by Dr. Pereira. It is used as a medicine by the Chinese, by whom it is called the "summer-plant-winter-worm," and who attribute to it great cordial and restorative powers. The mode of employing it is curious. A duck is stuffed with five drachms of the insect fungus, and roasted by a slow fire; when done, the stuffing is taken out, the virtue of which has passed into the duck, which is to be eaten twice a day for eight or ten days. In the same work, vol. iv. p. 204., Dr. Pereira gives a further account of the moth on whose larva the fungus grows.
E. N.
Southwark, May 19. 1851.
—I notice a slight inaccuracy in MR. SINGER'Sreference to the author ofVoyage autour de ma Chambre. He gives the name as "Jean XavierMaitre;"whereas the correct designation is "Count Xavier de Maistre;" thesin the patronymic being distinctly pronounced. Such trifling errors are only worth noticing because they appear in a work, one of the main features of which is the correctness of its references to authors and books. No doubt it is his extensive acquaintance with both that induced MR. SINGER, on this occasion, to trust to his memory, rather than turn to a biographical dictionary.
HENRYH. BREEN.
St. Lucia, April, 1851.
—The origin of the sentiment, "Amicus Plato," &c., seems to be Aristot. Eth. Nicom. c. iv., where he disputes against Plato, and says: "Both being dear to me, it is right to prefer truth:
"Ἀμφοῖν φίλοιν ὄντοιν, ὅσιον προτιμᾶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν."
C. B.
—The reply of HERMAPIONto the questions put by J. E. is scarcely satisfactory. I will endeavour to answer then more directly. The Coptic language is not an inflected one; and it has very few affixes. There are many prefixes to its nouns and verbs, which before the former are articles or demonstrative pronouns. Between these prefixes and the noun or verb, pronominal infixes are introduced, by which possession is denoted in the case of a noun, and the subject in that of a verb. Thus,ranis "a name;"pi-ran, "the name;"pe-v-ran, "his name;"i, is the verbal root, "come;"a, the prefix of the past tense; anda-v-i, "he came." Some nouns take affixes, asjo-v, "his head." Pronominal affixes are also joined to verbs to express their objects, and to prepositions. In the old Egyptian language, from which the Coptic is derived, there were more affixes. I am not aware that infixes have been met with in inscriptions prior to the eighteenth dynasty; and those which are in use are the same as the affixes which annexed to nouns denote possession, and to verbs the subject. The old Egyptian affixes which denoted the object of the verb, are in general different.En-v-tuwould be "he bringeth thee;" anden-ka-su, "thou bringest him." In Coptic, the former would bee-o-en-k;the latter,e-k-en-v. Probably the Coptic prefixes were originally auxiliary verbs, or prepositions. The old Egyptian affixes greatly resemble the Hebrew ones, especially ifsbe substituted for the Hebrewh; and it is very remarkable that the Assyrio-Babylonian affixes differ from the Hebrew principally in this same respect. In like manner, the causative conjugation is formed from the simple one by prefixinghin Hebrew, but by prefixingsin both Assyrio-Babylonian and Egyptian. No doubt can then exist as to the old Egyptian language being Semitic; but the opposition between the Semitic languages and the Indo-European ones is by no means so great as was formerly supposed. Relations between them are now clearly to be traced, which prove that they had a common origin, and that at no distant period.
E. H. D. D.
— is, I believe, two words—benedici te—"that you may be blessed;" and not a single word, as PETERCORONAsupposes. The ellipsis is ofjubeo, or some similar word.
D. X.
—I find, on further inquiry, that my account of theporci solidi-pedesis correct; and I can now add the following: that under the eye there was a small protuberance, not, I believe, found in our ordinary English pigs, but which forms a remarkable characteristic of the African wild boar. In the African species it is large; in the Chinese, if it be rightly so called, it is about half the length of a forefinger, and a quarter of an inch in height. I have no doubt that Mr. Ramsden, of Carlton Hall, Notts, would furnish additional information concerning these pigs, should it be required; and the publication of it would perhaps be interesting to many.
E. J. SELWYN.
Blackheath.
—F. C. B. says, "I know not how old may be, 'to put the cart before the horse.'"Lucianquotes the proverbἡ ἅμαξα τὸν βοῦν [scil. ἕλκει]to illustrate the case of the young dying before the old; it is an exact equivalent to the English proverb. (Lucian. Dial. Mortuor.vi. 2.)
C. P. PH***.
—I beg to refer MR. SIMPSONto the Rev. R. C. Trench'sSacred Latin Poetry Selected, London, 1849, pp. 270-277. The account of Wadding, historiographer of the Franciscan Order, is there adopted, who names Thomas of Celano as the author. The question has been thoroughly discussed by Mohnike,Hymnologische Forschungen, vol. i. pp. 1-24. See also Daniel,Thesaur. Hymnolog., vol. ii. p. 103.
C. P. PH***.
—If MR. SNEAKwill consult a work—viz. Mrs. Glasse's (or rather Dr. Hill's) volume of cookery, which may possibly be in his lady's library—he will find a receipt for making a Devonshire squab pie. This is to be formed "byalternate layersof sliced pippins and mutton steaks," to be adjusted in the most orderly manner. Now, from the nicety and care requisite in this arrangement, may we not "surmise," though, with Sir Walter Raleigh in theCritic, I may add, "forgive, my friend, if the conjecture's rash," that the expression "Apple-pie order" has sprung from the dish in question?
J. H. M.
—Thereseems to be no doubt that this curious book, respecting which DR. RIMBAULTinquires, was written by Dr. Matthew Pattenson, or Patteson (not Paterson). Gee, in hisFoot out of the Snare, published in 1624, the year after the publication ofThe Image of both Churches, in his Catalogue of "English Bookes," mentions "The Image of both Churches, by M. Pateson, now in London, a bitter and seditious book." The author is subsequently referred to as "F.(ather) Pateson, a Jesuit, lodging in Fetter Lane."
See also the Preface to Foulis'sHistory of the Romish Treasons and Usurpations, 1671, fol., and Wood'sAthenæ, edit. Bliss, vol. iv. p. 139., in which it is stated to have been mostly collected from the answers of Anti-Cotton and Joh. Brierley, Priest. In Dodd'sCatholic Church History, vol. ii. p. 427., folio edit., it is also attributed to Dr. M. Pattenson, of whom some account is given, and who is mentioned to have been Physician in Ordinary to Charles I.
JAS. CROSSLEY.
—Your correspondent S. T. D. will find in the "Prefatory Notice to the Synagogue," printed with Herbert'sTemple, edit. Pickering, an account of Christopher Harvey and his works; also in Walton'sAngler, edited by Sir H. Nicolas.
ϖ.
—The breast-plate of the Jewish High Priest, as commanded byMoses, was to be four square, and that divided into twelve squares, to designate the twelve tribes of Israel: from this circumstance, the wordMosaicwas derived as a term of Art, being a series or congregate of small squares of different coloured stones, applicable to the formation of any tesselated figure.
Vide 39th chap. of Exodus, from verse 8. to 14, inclusive.
JOHNKENTOR.
Glyn y mêl, May 21. 1851.
Mosaic.—This word would appear to be derived from the Greek,μοῦσα ἐκ μύω,to close by pressure; Latin,musavelmusivum, that is, "opus eximia compositione tessellatum," a piece oftesselatedorchequeredwork of superior manufacture, in regard to the manner in which the small stones or pieces of wood areclosedorjoinedtogether.
FRANCISCUS.
—In common with several of your correspondents, I have for some time past taken great interest in the Tradescants, and have read with much pleasure the letters of DR. RIMBAULT, MR. SINGER, and MR. PINKERTON.
I have hitherto been unsuccessful in discovering any further particulars of the family of the Tradescants; but a few days since, in looking into a copy of Dr. Ducarel's tract on the subject, preserved among the books in the Ashmolean Museum, I found the following note in pencil, not very legibly written in the margin of the tract, where Dr. Ducarel says he has not been able to find any account in the Lambeth Register of the death of the elder Tradescant. "Consult (with certainty of finding information concerning the Tradescants) the Registers of ——apham, Kent." Since this note was written, the tract has been bound and the commencement of several words cut off. Amongst them is the name of the place of which the registers are to be consulted. I imagine it to beMeapham(aphamis all that can be read).
Perhaps some of your correspondents may have an opportunity of consulting the registers of Meapham, and should any information respecting the Tradescants be found there, the marginal note will not have been without its use.
I am looking forward with great interest to the information which MR. PINKERTONpromises us on the subject; and should this letter be the means of directing him to a new source of information, it will be a matter of great satisfaction to me.
C.C.R.
Linc. Coll., Oxon.
—Having received the last polish at Peterborough Grammar School in 1840, and from a three years' residence off and on, I am enabled to speak to the fact of there being two fairs held at Peterborough.
One, commonly called St. John's Fair, is usually held on the 18th July; but whether it is also calledSt. John's Bridge FairI am unable to say, as this fair was always held in our holidays, although it might be so termed.
The other, commonly called "Bridge Fair," is held in the early part of October, and is so called from its proximity to the bridge. The piece in which the fairs are held is called the Bridge Close. Indeed I believe both these fairs were held in the same piece, or at least close by each other, although held at different times.
I hope this may assist, but whether it is the same spoken of at p. 88. I cannot say.
J. N. C.
is described by your correspondent as a place where three roads meet. Perhaps he means a place where one road divides intotwo. The nucleus of old English towns will be almost always found to consist of such a fork of one road into two, requiring three principal gates or entrances, and distinguishing the plans of towns from those of cities, in which four roads meet, forming the Carfoix, and requiring four principal gates. Is there any affinity of the wordstwo,tye, andtown? The parallel case of the junction of two rivers into one affects the names of places situated there, asTiverton.
K. TH.
—Inreferenceto the subject of the name "Vineyard" being still applied to certain places in England, it may be curious to note that the little village ofFingest, on the borders of Oxon and Bucks, was formerly calledVingest; and a farm in the same parish, now known as theFineing, appears on an old tablet in the church as "the Vineing." I should add that the country around is full of steep sunny slopes; and would be, in a warmer climate admirably adapted for vines.
G. R. M.
—Your Cambridge correspondent C. J. E. will do well to refer to theActa Sanctorumof the Bollandists, "June 25, St. Eloy,"—or to any of the numerous biographical notices of that saint, so dear to the French, especially to the Limousins; and he will find, if not the identical legend represented in Frettenham Church, the one which probably suggested it.
A. B.
—In answer to the inquiry of TEEBEE, I beg to refer him to vol. iii. No. 10., pages 225. to 231. of theAntiquarian Repertory, where he will find the will of Sir Thomas Rowe of the 2d May, 1569; of his wife Dame Sarah Rowe of the 21st March, 1579; and of Sir Thomas Rowe of Woodford. They were communicated to the publishers by T. Astle, Esq., as well worthy of publication, and containing many pious and charitable bequests, particular directions for their funerals, and the price of wearing apparel in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
I have been unable to learn in whose possession the original "MS. Extractsof Wills" now remain.
J. R. D. T.
It having occurred to Mr. Hudson Turner that our national records might be made available to illustrate the history of architecture in England, he has for the last sixteen years "made a brief in his note-book" of every fact bearing on the subject which came under his notice in the course of his daily reference to those documents for professional objects and he has now given to the world some portions of the valuable materials thus collected in a handsome volume published by Mr. Parker, of Oxford, under the title ofSome Account of Domestic Architecture in England, from the Conquest to the end of the Thirteenth Century, with numerous illustrations of existing Remains from original Drawings. It is not, of course, within our limits to trace even briefly the results of Mr. Turner's labours, or to point out how much light he has thrown upon a branch of architectural study which, although involved in great obscurity, has hitherto received but little attention. But we may remark that its perusal shows, that to an intimate acquaintance with the invaluable materials for elucidating every department of historical or antiquarian knowledge to be found in our records, Mr. Turner adds considerable tact in the employment of his materials, and has endeavoured therefore, and very successfully, to make his history of domestic architecture an important contribution towards that of our social progress. The consequence is, that while, thanks to the valuable assistance of Mr. Parker, the architectural student will find in this handsomely illustrated volume much to instruct and delight him, it may be read with interest by those who are altogether indifferent to the subject to which it is more immediately devoted.
Our able and indefatigable contributor, Dr. Rimbault, has put forth for the especial delight of those who, like Mopsa, "love a ballad in print,"A Little Book of Songs and Ballads gathered from Ancient Musick Books MS. and Printed. The various pieces contained in it have been selected from many volumes of considerable rarity, and are illustrated by numerous notes, which are characterised by Dr. Rimbault's accustomed ability and industry.
Mr. Delf has received from America some copies of an octavo volume bearing the title ofA Library Manual, containing a Catalogue Raisonnée of upwards of Twelve Thousand of the most important Works in every Department of Knowledge. Although very imperfectly executed (and the circumstances under which we are informed it was executed may perhaps be pleaded as some excuse for such imperfections), it is still a book which might with advantage be placed on the shelves of newly formed literary societies, as a means of informing the members as to the principal works existing in the various departments of learning. The idea upon which the book is founded is so good, and its object one of such obvious utility, that we have little doubt but it will ere long be much more successfully carried out.
CATALOGUESRECEIVED.—J. Russell Smith's (4. Old Compton Street, Soho) Catalogue Part 4. for 1851 of Choice, Useful, and Curious Books; W. S. Lincoln's (Cheltenham House, Westminster Road) Sixty-ninth Catalogue of Cheap Miscellaneous English and Foreign Books; J. Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue Part 123., No. 4. for 1851 of Oldand New Books.
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