"Me veram pictor divinus mente recepit.Admota est operi deinde perita manus.Dumque opere in facto defigit lumina pictor,Intentus nimium, palluit et moritur.Viva igitur sum mors, non mortua mortis imagoSi fungor, quo mors fungitur officio."
"Me veram pictor divinus mente recepit.
Admota est operi deinde perita manus.
Dumque opere in facto defigit lumina pictor,
Intentus nimium, palluit et moritur.
Viva igitur sum mors, non mortua mortis imago
Si fungor, quo mors fungitur officio."
Which may be thus translated:—
Me with such truth the painter's mind discerned,While with such skilful hand the work he plied,That when to view his finished work he turned,With horror stricken, he grew pale, and died.Sure I am living Death, not Death's dead shade,That do Death's work, and am like Death obeyed.
Me with such truth the painter's mind discerned,
While with such skilful hand the work he plied,
That when to view his finished work he turned,
With horror stricken, he grew pale, and died.
Sure I am living Death, not Death's dead shade,
That do Death's work, and am like Death obeyed.
Can you refer me to any authority for the story?
J. C. H.
Finsbury.
—I have been some years collecting book plates with a view latterly of writingA History of Book Plates, if I can find time to do so. Several years ago, in a paper which was printed in theOxford Heraldic Society's Report, I suggested 1700 as their earliest known date. I am glad to have an opportunity of mentioning that paper for the sake of saying, that I made some mistakes in it. Mr. Burgon on seeing it said, in a following report, that he had seen a book plate dated 1698. I have since obtained one or two dated in that year. I am anxious to know from any of your readers whether they have seen any English book plate dated before 1698. I am inclined to think that foreign book plates are to be found of an earlier date. I have some, unfortunately not dated, which I think are earlier. There is no doubt, however, that in this country at least they did not become general till after that date. If I live to publish the little work which I meditate, I will give all the information which I can produce on the subject.
DANIELPARSONS.
—The phrase, "faire une querelle d'Allemand," means, as your readers are aware, to pick a quarrel with a person for the mere pleasure of quarrelling: and the earliest instance of its application, that occurs to me, will be found in one of Du Vair's essays, where speaking of the virtues of some of his predecessors in the office of "chancelier", he says:
"Après avoir longuement et fidèlement servi la patrie, on leur dresse des querelles d'Allemand, et de fausses accusations pour les bannir des affaires."
Is the origin of this expression connected with any particular occurrence in history; or has it arisen from any proneness to quarrel, which might be said to be inherent in the national character of the Germans?
HENRYH. BREEN.
St. Lucia, May, 1851.
—Edward Bassenet, the first married Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and who in the words of Swift, "surrendered the deanery to that beast Hen. VIII.," was of a family seated at Eaton, in Denbighshire. He had four sons, Richard, William, John, and George; on whom he settled the Irish property which he acquired at the surrender, and probably what he held at Eaton. (See Mason'sSt. Patrick's, p. 151.)
Can any of your correspondents inform me if this family be still in existence, and in possession? or if not, how soon it failed? From the notices given by Mason, it seems probable that the eldest son died without issue; but even this is not certain, and beyond this I have no clue.
D. X.
—Can any of your valued contributors trace the origin of this ancient fortress, which is situated on a peak of the Grampian Hills, seven miles north-east from Crieff, immediately above the romantic glen of Almond, so much spoken of in Wordsworth's poems as the burial-place of Ossian. The fort has the appearance of a large circus ring, around which are scattered the remains of this once remarkable stronghold, and which to every appearance have been burned to an extensive degree. Tradition assigns it to be the spot in which the Caledonians so nobly defended the further progress northward of the Romans; and also that it was the custom in those days, for the purpose of making their places of defence more secure, tobuilda double wall, in which all manner of combustibles were put, which they kindled, and let burn for the space of a few days. Being peculiarly attached to this romantic spot, and anxious to have any particulars regarding its history, perhaps you would be so kind as give it a corner in your valuable "NOTES ANDQUERIES;" whereby it may be the means of gaining an answer to my Query.
JAMESC.
—The catalogue of the Bodleian Library asserts that this author's real name is Hugh Tootle. I should like to know the authority for this statement?
TYRO.
Dublin.
—If you, or any of your correspondents, can inform me when the remaining volume of the new edition of Archbishop Ussher's works by Dr. Elrington, is likely to be published, I shall esteem it a favour, as I am unable to learn from the booksellers.
C. PAINE, Jun.
—In theDiaryof Ralph Thoresby, F. R. S., 1702, vol. i. p. 366., occurs the following passage:—
"Evening sat up too late with a parcel of artists I had got on my hands; Mr. Gyles, the famousest painter of glass perhaps in the world, and his nephew, Mr. Smith, the bell-founder (from whom I received the ringing or gingling spur, and that most remarkable, with a neck six inches and a half long); Mr. Carpenter the statuary, and Mr. Etty the painter, with whose father, Mr. Etty, senr, the architect, the most celebrated Grinlin Gibbons wrought at York, but whether apprenticed with him or not I remember not well. Sate up full late with them."
Thoresby at this time was at York. Were these Ettys ancestors of the late William Etty? In the "Autobiography" published in theArt Journal, it is stated that his father was a miller at York, but the account goes no farther back. It would be interesting to ascertain how far this was a case of hereditary genius. Is anything known of the "Etty the Painter," and "Etty, Sen., the architect," to whom Thoresby alludes? and are any of their works extant?
G. J. DEWILDE.
—Who was St. Hibbald, and where is some account of him to be found? He is reported to have been buried at Hibbaldstowe, near Kirton, in Lindsey.
K. P. D. E.
—I have heard some wild guesses on this subject; the most preposterous, perhaps, being that which would connect the term with gooseberryfood.
Has not the French wordfouler, "to press," or "squeeze," something to do with the matter?
T. J. T.
Cheltenham, May 6. 1851.
[Our correspondent will find ample confirmation of the accuracy of his derivation in Tarver'sPhraseological Dictionary, where, underFouler, he will find the examples, "Fouler des pommes, du raisin, to press, to crush, to squeeze apples, grapes."]
—The longest biographical sketch I remember to have seen of the late Bishop Hurd, the friend and biographer of Bishop Warburton, was in a work called theEcclesiastical Register, or some such name, I suppose of the date of 1809 or thereabouts. Can any correspondent of "NOTES ANDQUERIES" direct me to the precise title and date of the work, or point out any better sketch of the Bishop's life?
F. K.
[In the collected Works of Bishop Hurd, 8 vols. 8vo., edit. 1811, will be found an autobiographical sketch of the Bishop, entitled "Some Occurrences in my Life," discovered among his papers after his decease. Nichols'Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. vi. pp. 468-512., contains a long and interesting account of the Bishop. See also theAnnual Register, vol. 1. p. 155.]
—Can any of your readers tell me why Friday is considered an unlucky day?
E. N. W.
[There is no doubt the belief of Friday being an unlucky day originated in its being the day of the Crucifixion. A very early allusion to this superstition, and which has not we believe been recorded by Brande, will be found in Geoffrey de Vinsauf's "Lament for Richard Cœur de Lion," who was killed on a Friday:
"O Veneris lacrymosa dies, O sidus amarum!Illa dies tua nox fuit, et Venus illa venenum."
"O Veneris lacrymosa dies, O sidus amarum!
Illa dies tua nox fuit, et Venus illa venenum."
It is to this passage Chaucer refers in hisNonnesPreeste's Tale, v. 15, 353.,et seq., when he says:
"O Gaufride, dere maister soverain,That, whan thy worthy King Richard was slainWith shot, complainedest his deth so sore,Why ne had I now thy science and thy lore,The Friday for to chiden, as did ye?For on a Friday sothly slain was he."]
"O Gaufride, dere maister soverain,
That, whan thy worthy King Richard was slain
With shot, complainedest his deth so sore,
Why ne had I now thy science and thy lore,
The Friday for to chiden, as did ye?
For on a Friday sothly slain was he."]
—Can any of your contributors inform me whether the prefix "Right Honourable" is accorded to the title of the Lord Mayor of London as a mere matter of courtesy, or whether our Chief Magistrate is for the time beingex officioa Privy Councillor, and consequently "Right Honourable?"
If any authority for either position can be cited, so much the more satisfactory.
LEGALIS.
[The Lord Mayor is never sworn as a Privy Councillor; but on the demise of the Crown attends the meeting, of the Privy Council held on such occasion, and signs the proclamation of the new Sovereign.Onthe accession of William IV., some objection was, we believe, made to the admission of the Lord Mayor into the Council Chamber, which was, however, abandoned on an intimation that if the Lord Mayor was not admitted, he would retire, accompanied by his officers and the aldermen who were present.]
—In the Bishop of Exeter's celebratedPastoral Letter, p. 44., the Archbishop of Canterbury is styled—
"The second spiritual chief of Christendom,alterius orbis Papa."
In conversation a few days since I heard these expressions objected to, when a gentleman present observed that the title "Alterius orbis Papa" was conferred by the Bishop of Rome, or Pope of Christendom, on his confrère of Canterbury, at a very early period. His memory did not furnish him with the precise date, but he was convinced that such was the fact as reported in Collier'sEcclesiastical History, and seemed inclined to refer it to a period not long subsequent to the mission of Augustine.
Is such the fact? or, if not, to whom may the words be ascribed?
A. B.
Redland, June 5.
[Carwithen, in hisHistory of the Church of England, vol. i. p. 40., speaking of Wolsey's attempt to gain the popedom, says, "His aim was the chair of St. Peter, and to the attainment of his wishes he rendered subservient both the alliances and the enmities of his own country. At home, even the papacy could confer on him no accession of power: he was indeedpapa alterius orbis."]
—Mrs. Elstob, the Anglo-Saxon scholar, is stated by a recent reviewer to have passed the period of her seclusion in a village in Wiltshire, until taken notice of by a neighbouring clergyman. What village was this, and who was the clergyman? for other authorities place her at Evesham in Worcestershire.
J. W.
[We are inclined to think thatWiltshiremust be a misprint forWorcestershirein the Review, as the notices of Miss Elstob in Kippis'Biographia Britannica, and Nichols'Anecdotes of Bowyer, only speak of her retirement in distressed circumstances to Evesham, where she attracted the notice of Mr. Ballard, author ofMemoirs of British Ladies, and of Mrs. Capon, wife of the Rev. Mr. Capon, of Stanton, in Gloucestershire.]
—I find the following passage in D'Israeli'sCuriosities of Literature:—
"Bellarmin was made a Cardinal for his efforts and devotion to the Papal cause, and maintaining this monstrous paradox—that if the Pope forbid the exercise of virtue and command that of vice, the Roman Church, under pain of sin, was obliged to abandon virtue for vice, if it would not sin against conscience."
Can any of your readers favour me with the text in Bellarmin, which contains this "monstrous paradox?"
HENRYH. BREEN.
St. Lucia, May, 1851.
[The passage will be found inDisputationum Roberti Bellarmini, de Controversiis Christianæ Fidei: De Summo Pontifice, lib. iv. cap. v. sect. 8.: Pragæ, 1721, fol., vol. i. p. 456.:
"8. Secundò, quia tune necessariò erraret, etiam circa fidem. Nam fides Catholica docet, omnem virtutem esse bonam, omne vitium esse malum: si autem Papa erraret præcipiendo vitia, vel prohibendo virtutes, teneretur Ecclesia credere, vitia esse bona, et virtutes malas, nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare. Tenetur enim in rebus dubiis Ecclesia acquiescere judicio summi Pontificis, et facere quod ille præcipit; non facere, quod ille prohibet; ac nè fortè contra conscientiam agat, tenetur credere bonum esse, quod ille præcipit: malum, quod ille prohibet."]
This is another discussion in which Shakspeare's love of antithesis has not been sufficiently recognised.
The contrast in this case is in the ideas—ever receiving, never retaining: an allusion to the hopeless punishment of the Danaïdes, so beautifully appropriate, so unmistakeably apparent, and so well supported in the context, that I should think it unnecessary to offer a comment upon it had the question been raised by a critic less distinguished than MR. SINGER; or if I did not fancy that I perceive the origin of what I believe to be his mistake, in the misreading of another line, the last in his quotation.
The hopelessness of Helena's love is cheerfully endured; she glories in it:
"I know I love in vain—strive against hope—Yet still outpour the waters of my love,And lack not to lose still."
"I know I love in vain—strive against hope—
Yet still outpour the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still."
This last line MR. SINGERreads, "and fail not to lose still;" but surelythatis not Helena's meaning? She means that her spring of love is inexhaustible; that, notwithstanding the constant, hopeless waste, there lacks not (a supply) "to lose still!"
Johnson was one of those commentators enumerated by MR. SINGER, of whom he observes, as a matter of surprise, "that none of them should have remarked that the sense of the Latin 'captiosus,' and of its congeners in Italian and French, is deceitful, fallacious;" "and," he adds, "Bacon uses the word for 'insidious,' 'ensnaring.'" But surely Johnson the commentator was no other than Johnson the lexicographer; and yet, for these precise definitions of "captious," which J. S. W. thinks "too refined and recondite" for Shakspeare's "small Latin," we need apply tonohigher source than to that familiar household companion—Johnson's Dictionary, wherein is anticipated the citation of Bacon, and even of the French word "captieux."
It could not therefore be from ignorance that Johnson failed to propose this recondite sense, but from a conviction that it would not represent the true meaning of Shakspeare.
It will be perceived that, in appreciation of "captious," I side with Steevens, Malone, Knight, Collier, and even with J.S.W.; in whom, however, with his irreverent allusion to "a manwho had small Latin," I can recognise no true worshipper of Shakspeare.
Why should Shakspeare be constantly twitted with this "small Latin," as if the "school-like gloss" of a hundred Porsons could add one scintilla to the glory of his name? His was the universal language of nature; and well does MR. SINGERremark that "We all know, by intuition as it were, what Shakspeare meant." It is true that we discuss his mere words in the endeavour to school our understandings toHISlevel; but he, hedged by the divinity of immeasurable genius, must, himself, be sacred;—to attempt to measure his attainments by our finite estimation, is indeed sacrilege!
In retailing Ben Jonson's unluckily chosen expression, J.S.W. does not seem to be aware that it has been doubted, and ably doubted, by Mr. Knight, in hisHistory of Opinion, that Jonson himself used it by any means in the pedagogue sense usually adopted. And it does seem scarcely credible that Jonson would give utterance to a puff so miserably threadbare, so absurd too on the very face of it; for in what possible way could an alleged deficiency of Greek and Latinin Shakspeare, affect a comparison,made by Jonson, between Shakspeare and the poets of Greece and Rome? As well might it be said that ignorance of the Greek language, in Napoleon Buonaparte, would prevent a parallel between him and Alexander the Great! What if Ben Jonson meant his fifth line to continue the supposition of the first?—"though" is a word which has a hypothetical, as well as an admissive meaning; and there is no difficulty in reading his lines in this way:
"IfI thought my judgment were of yours, andthoughthy learning were less; still I would not seek to compare thee with modern men, but call forth thundering Eschylus," &c.
But I should like to ask J. S. W., as the nearest example from the same play, which does he really think would require thelargerLatin,—to discover the trite and only meaning of "captiosus," or to usetriplein the sense conferred upon it in Helena's description, to the King, of her father's legacy? We have not at present in the English language any equivalent for that word as Shakspeare used it, and of which he has left us another example inAntony and Cleopatra, where the triumvir is called "the triple pillar of the world." We have failed to take advantage of the lesson given us by our great master, and consequently our language is deprived of what would have been a most convenient acquisition.
It is true that Johnson gives a definition of "triple," in reference to its application to Antony, viz., "consisting of three conjoined;" but that meaning, however it might be applicable to the triumvirate collectively, is certainly not so to the members individually. To meet Shakspeare's use of the word, the definition must be extended to "consisting of,or belonging to, three conjoined:" a sense in which "triplex" was undoubtedly used by the Latins. Ovid would call the triumvirate "viri triplices," and of course each one must be "vir triplex;" but perhaps the clearest instance of the triune application is where he addresses the Fates (inIbin.76.) as spinning out "triplici pollice" (with triple thumb) the allotted task. Now as only one of the sisters held the thread, there could be but one individual thumb engaged (although with a sort of reflective ownership to all three); and there can be no question that Ovid would apply the same term to the shears of Atropos, or the distaff of Clotho.
Here, then, is areally reconditemeaning, fairly traced to Shakspeare's own reading; for had he borrowed it from any one else, some trace of it would be found, and Warburton need not have stultified himself by his sapient note—"IMPROPERLY USED FOR THIRD!"
But to return to "captious," there is, after all, no such great difference whether it be one's goods, or one's wits, that are taken possession of; or whether the capture be effected by avidity or fraud; both meanings unite in our own word "caption:" and there seems no good reason why "captious" should not derive from "caption," as readily as "cautious" from "caution." It is for the antithesis I contend, as a key to the true sense intended by Shakspeare: the whole play is full of antitheses, uttered especially by Helena;—and certainly, if we recognise the allusion to the Danaïdes (as who will not?), we cannot, without depriving it of half its force and beauty, receive "captious" in the sense of "deceptious." The Danaïdeswere notdeceived—the essence of their punishment was utter absence of hope; Tantaluswasdeceived—the essence ofhispunishment was hope ever recurring.
With respect to the suggestion of "capacious" by W.F.S. (p. 229.), he could not have read MR. SINGER's paper with attention, or he would have perceived that he had been anticipated by Farmer, who, by elision, had obviated the metrical objection of J.S.W. (p. 430.). But the meaning of "capacious" is "capable of containing," and, as such, it would be more than antithetical, itwouldbe contradictory, to "intenible." Ifcapaciousbe consistent withleaky, then the "uxor secreti capax" must have been rather an unsafe confidante.
A. E. B.
Leeds, June 5. 1851.
The origin of this ceremony must undoubtedly be sought in man's natural desire to cover a dead body from the public view. The casting a handful of soil on the coffin is emblematic of the complete inhumation. The most ancient writings have allusions to the shamefulness of a corpse lying uninterred. Being thrown outside the walls of Jerusalem, with the burial of an ass (Jeremiah xxii. 19.), was regarded as the worst possible fate.
Wheatly's observations upon this point, in his annotations on the burial service in the Prayer Book, are as follows:
"The casting earth upon the body was esteemed an act of piety by the very heathens (Ælian,Var. Hist., l. v. c. 14.), insomuch that to find a body unburied, and leave it uncovered, was judged amongst them a great crime (Hor. l. i. od. 28. v. 36.). In the Greek Church this has been accounted so essential to the solemnity, that it is ordered to be done by the priest himself (Goar,Eucholog. Offic. Exeq., p. 538.); and the same was enjoined by our own rubric in the first Common Prayer of King Edward VI.: 'Then the priest casting earth upon the corpse,' &c. But in our present Liturgy (as altered in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 1559), it is only ordered that it 'shall be cast upon the body by some standing by:' and so it is generally left to one of the bearers, or sexton, who, according to Horace's description (injecto ter pulvere, vid. supra), gives three casts of earth upon the body or coffin, whilst the priest pronounces the solemn form which explains the ceremony, viz. 'earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.'"
The note in Horace upon the three words above quoted is very much to the point:
"In sacris hoc genus sepulturæ tradebatur, ut si non obrueretur, manu ter jacta terra, cadaveri pro sepultura esset." (Vet. Schol.)
The ancients thought that the spirit of an unburied corpse could not reach the Elysian fields, but wandered disconsolate by the Styx, until some pious hand paid the customary funeral rites. See the case of Patroclus (Iliad, xxiii. 70, et seq.). To lay the unquiet ghost, a handful of earth on the bodily remains would suffice:
"Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescent."
"Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescent."
The indignity of a public execution is much aggravated by allowing the body of the criminal to remain exposed, as in the case of the five sons of Saul whose corpses were guarded by Rizpah (2 Sam. xxi.); and in our own recent custom of ordering pirates and the worst kind of murderers, to be gibbeted in chains, as a monumental warning.
Three or four summers ago I buried an Irish reaper, who had suddenly died in the harvest-fields. About half a dozen fellow-labourers, Irish and Roman Catholics like himself, bore him to the grave. At the wordsearth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, they threw in handfuls of soil; and, as soon as the service was over, they filled up the grave with spades which they had brought for the purpose. No doubt, there was religious prejudice in all this; but their behaviour was most reverent, and what they did seemed to arise from the generousinstinct to cover the dead bodyof a comrade.
ALFREDGATTY.
Wheatly on the Common Prayer(ch. xii. §5.) derives this custom from the ancients, and adds that—
"In the Greek Church, the casting earth upon the body has been accounted so essential to the solemnity, that it is ordered to be done by the priest himself. And the same was enjoined by our own rubric in the first Common Prayer of King Edward VI."
For the Greek Church Wheatly refers to GoarRituale Græcorum, p. 538. The passage, which I transcribe from Goar, runs as follows:—
"Et cadaver in monumento deponitur. Sacerdos vero terram batillo tollens superinjecit cadaveri, dicens, 'Domini est terra et plenitudo ejus: orbis terrarum et qui habitant in eo.' His peractis cadaveri superinfundunt lampadis oleum, aut e thuribulo cinerem. Atque ita ut moris est, sepulchrum operiunt dum dicuntur moduli," &c.
The following reference may also be added, Goar, 556., "Officium funeris monachorum," where the earth is directed to be thrown "in crucis modum."
N. E. R. (a Subscriber.)
"The first folio," says Dr. Johnson, "has in both placesprenzie, from which the other folios madeprincely, and every editor may make what he can." It will not be difficult, I conceive, to find out what sense Shakspeare meant to convey by this word, and to show that what he meant he has expressed with sufficient accuracy, though his meaning was soon after misunderstood. Our language owes much of its wealth of words to the talent which our great poet possessed for coining them—a talent which he exercised with marvelous tact: and if now and then some of them failed for want of being properly printed, we may rather wonder that so many obtained currency, than that a few ceased to circulate soon after they were first introduced.
The idea intended to be conveyed by thewordprenzie, is that which is expressed in the following passages:
"All this I speakin print; forin printI found it."Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II. Sc. I.
"All this I speakin print; forin printI found it."
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II. Sc. I.
"I will do it, Sir,in print."Love's Labour's Lost, Act III. Sc. I.
"I will do it, Sir,in print."
Love's Labour's Lost, Act III. Sc. I.
on which Steevens remarks:
"In printmeanswith Exactness—with theutmost Nicety."
He supports this meaning by quotations from other dramatic writers of the same age:
"Not a hair about his Bulk, but it standsin print." (1605)"I am sure my husband is a Manin print, in all things else." (1635.)
"Not a hair about his Bulk, but it standsin print." (1605)
"I am sure my husband is a Manin print, in all things else." (1635.)
When, therefore, Claudio, who, as your correspondent LEGESobserves, is aware of Angelo's reputation for sanctity, exclaims in astonishment:
"TheprenzieAngelo?"
"TheprenzieAngelo?"
he means the same as if he had said:
"What! that Manin print?""TheprintsyAngelo?"
"What! that Manin print?"
"TheprintsyAngelo?"
Butprenzieis a term applied toapparelas well us tocharacter; and how does this accord with the interpretation here given?
"O 'tis the cunning livery of hell,The damned'st body to invest and coverInprenzieguards!"
"O 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
Inprenzieguards!"
Here again we are supplied by Steevens with apt quotations in illustration from other writers of the same age:
"Next, your Ruff must standin print." (1602.)
"Next, your Ruff must standin print." (1602.)
and
"This Doublet sitsin print, my Lord!" (1612.)
"This Doublet sitsin print, my Lord!" (1612.)
"Inprintsyguards" means the same, therefore, as "Guardsin print," or,robesput on "withexactness—with theutmost nicety."
Printsyis a word of the same formation withtricksy; and the phrase, "TheprintsyAngelo!" is as good English as "MytricksyAriel!" It was probably pronouncedprentsy(prenzie) in the time of Shakspeare; the wordprintbeing derived fromempreinte. Sir W. Scott speaks of "aprentbook," for a printed book.Besprentis the participle ofbesprinkle. Of similar formation withprintsyandtricksy, arelinsy,woolsy, andfrowsy; but as all these adjectives, except the first, are derived from nouns representing natural or familiar things, whileprintsyis founded on a word having no connexion with any obvious idea, it is probable that this difference may account for the fact thatprintsyso early fell into disuse, while the rest were retained without difficulty.
By the wordprintsy, those four conditions are fulfilled for which your correspondent so properly contends:—1. the word is "suitable to the reputed character of Angelo." 2. It is "an appropriate epithet to the wordguards." 3. It supplies "the proper metre in both places." 4. It is "similar in appearance to the wordprenzie."
No other word has been produced which so fully represents the formality and hypocrisy of Angelo, as described in the quotations so conveniently brought into one view by your correspondent, though one of the epithets made use of comes very near the mark: "Lord Angelo isprecise!"
JOHNTAYLOR.
I would refer your correspondents H. B., H. I. (p. 372.), and PHILOBODIUSand MR. JERDAN(p. 406.), to the following volumes:The Last Battle of the Soule in Death, by Mr. Zacharie Boyd, Preacher of God's Word in Glasgow, edited by Gabriel Neil, Glasgow, 1831; McUre'sHistory of Glasgow, with Appendix, Glasgow, 1830.
As the first of these vols. is now very scarce (a limited number being printed by subscription), the following extracts may be interesting to some of your readers, and at the same time correct some errors of our correspondents:—
"Mr. Zacharie Boyd was descended from the family of the Boyds of Pinkill (Carrick, Ayrshire). He was cousin to Mr. Robert Boyd, of Trochrigg, who was appointed Principal of the University of Glasgow in 1615. The date of his birth is not exactly known; some time previous to 1590. He received his education at the school of Kilmarnock. The first notice we have of him is in a letter to Principal Boyd, from David Boyd, in 1605, wherein he says, 'There is a friend of yours, Zacharie Boyd, who will pass his course at the colledge within two years.' After having finished his course at the University of Glasgow, he studied at the College of Saumur, in France, under his relation, Robert Boyd: he returned to his native county in 1621. In 1623 he was ordained Minister of the Barony Parish of Glasgow, in which situation he continued till his death in 1653-1654."
Mr. Zacharie Boyd was never Principal or a Professor in Glasgow College: the only office he ever held in the college was that of Lord Rector (an honorary office annually elected), which he held in the years 1634, 1635, 1645. He was a great benefactor to the college, to which he left 20,000l.Scots, for buildings and bursaries.
The crypt below Glasgow Cathedral, called St. Mungo's Crypt, was the barony church in Zacharie's time, and where he preached; it is this same place which Sir Walter Scott so well describes inRob Roy(vol. ii. chap. 3., edition in 48 vols.), where Francis Osbaldistone heard sermon. Z. Boyd was, both in prose and verse, a very voluminous writer; his works, however, are chiefly in MS. in the library of Glasgow College.
In addition to editingThe Last Battle, Mr. Neil has examined the "Poetical Works" in MS.; and has given a summary of the whole in theAppendixto theBiographical Sketch; and has printed for the first time upwards of 3000 lines from the poetical MSS.
With regard to Mr. Boyd's poetry, the following account from Neil'sBiographical Sketchmay be accounted satisfactory, with reference to the lines often quoted as from Zacharie Boyd's Bible:
"The work, however, which has given the greatest public notoriety to his name as a poetical writer, is that generally called 'Zacharie Boyd's Bible,' said to be a metrical version of the whole Scriptures—an arduous task indeed, if ever he contemplated the undertaking. But such a book as this has existed only in name, not in reality;at least, it is nowhere to be found among his works. The only one approaching to it is a metrical version of the 'Four Evangels,' which proceeds through the Gospels of the New Testament by chapter and verse.... And, among other works, he produced two volumes under the title of 'Zion's Flowers,'and it is thesewhich are usually shown as his Bible, and have received that designation. These volumes consist of a collection of Poems from select subjects in Scripture History, such as Jonah, Jephtha, David and Goliath, &c., &c., rendered into the dramatic form, in which various 'Speakers' are introduced, and where the prominent parts of the Scripture narrative are brought forward and amplified. We have a pretty close parallel to these in the 'Ancient Mysteries' of the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries, and in the Sacred Dramas of more modern writers.
"It is from this work,Zion's Flowers, that the various quotations which have occasioned so much mirth to the public are said to have been made,but not one of these which are in circulationare to be found there: the only 'genuine extractfrom these MSS. is that printed by Pennant.'"—Biog. Sketch, p. 14.et seq.
The "genuine extract" will be found in Pennant'sTour in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 156.
PHILOBODIUS, "NOTES ANDQUERIES," Vol. i., p. 406., will find the four lines he quotes given differently there.
S. WMSON.
P.S. To show the extent of Mr. Boyd'spoetical perseverance, I subjoin a note of the contents of one of his poetical MSS.:—theFlowers of Zion, generally called Zacharie Boyd's Bible.
David and Goliath contains about850lines.Historie of Jonah1130"—— of Samson2100"—— of Jephtha720"The Flood of Noah860"The Tower of Babylon930"The Destruction of Sodom2000"Abram commanded to sacrifice Isaac840"Historie of the Baptist800"The Fall of Adam900"Abel murdered900"Pharaoh's Tyranny and Death2480"Historie of Jacob and Esau750"—— of Jacob and Laban1400"Jacob and Esau reconciled720"Dinah ravished by Shechem440"Joseph and his Brethren}1615"Joseph tempted to AdulteryNebuchadnezzar's Fierie Furnace3280"Also at the end—The World's Vanities (Divided into 8 Branches:—1st.Strength, 2nd.Honour, 3rd.Riches, 4th.Beautie, 5th.Pleasure, 6th.Wisdom, 7th.Children, 8th.Long Life) contains about550lines.The Popish Powder Plot (The Speakers—Christ—King James—Elizabeth—Peeres of England—The Lords appointed to trye the Traitors—The Earls of Nottingham, Suffolke, the Lord Monteagle—The Sherriffe of Worcester—The Devill—the Jesuit Gerrard—Robert Catesby—Thomas Percy, Guy Faux, &c. &c. &c.) contains about1560lines.
—I beg to inform your correspondent S. T. D., that in an old 4to. volume in my possession, which treats principally of the topic about which he is inquiring, there are several engravings of Death as a skeleton. In one he is armed with a bow and arrow, an axe, and a scythe notched as a saw. In another he has an axe only: while in a third, in which he is announcing his dissolution to a man on his deathbed, he has a spade in his left hand, while with his right he points upwards; and on his head is a wreath of thorns with flowers standing up out of it. I do not know whether the book is a rare one or not. It is in black letter, and at the end is the date 1515. The title, which is a woodcut, rather curious, is—Sermones Johannis Geilerii Keiserspergii, &c., &c.There are also six other woodcuts, after the manner of Albert Durer, very quaint and curious. The volume is in its original vellum, over oak boards, finely tooled, and has once been bound at the corners and clasped with metal. In MS. on the top of the title are the words "Monast. S. Udalrici Augæ." Though in very good condition, the black-letter type is so curiously crabbed and abbreviated that I have not had time to do more than ascertain that it seems a very singular and a learned work.
H. C. H.
Rectory, Hereford, June 8. 1851.
[The author of the curious work in the possession of our correspondent is John Geiler, called also Gayler, Keiserspergius, an eminent Swiss divine, who was born in 1445, and died in 1510. His works in German and Latin are books of rare occurrence, and consist principally of Sermons. Oberlin published in 1786 a curious life of Geiler. For the titles of his various works, consult Panzer'sAnnales Typographici, vol. vi.]
Death(Vol. iii., p. 450.).—Has S. T. D. consulted the excellent treatise of Lessing, "Wie die Alten den Tod gebildet?" It is illustratedwithmany engravings. (See Lessing'sSämmtliche Schriften, 1839, vol. viii.)
C. P. PH***.
Oxford, Whit-Monday.
—If DR. RIMBAULTwill turn to vol. i., p. 10. of Campbell'sLife of Mrs. Siddons, he will find that the Kemble of smoking notoriety alluded to in the proverb, met his fate at a date long subsequent to the Marian persecution. He was apprehended on a charge of implication in Titus Oates's plot, and executed at Hereford, August 2d, 1679, being one of the last persons who suffered death for their religious opinions in England. He was hung, not burnt, and his hand is still preserved in the Reliquary of the Roman Catholic Chapel at Worcester. "On his way to execution," says Mr. Campbell,
"He smoked his pipe and conversed with his friends; and in that county it was long usual to call the last pipe that was smoked in a social company, a Kemble's pipe."
SPERIEND.
—Your correspondent JARLTZBERGmay find a copy of theWyngaertin the library of theMaatschappij van Letterkunde(Lit. Soc.) in Leyden, and may read an account of the work in vol. ii. pp. 151, 152. of theSociety's Transactions. The copy in my possession is entitledDen Wyngaert van Sinte Franciscus vol[notvan]schoone historien, legenden en deuchdelycke leeringhen allen menschen seer profytelyck. Like most of the works issued from the press of Eckert van Hombach, it is well printed on good paper; the leaves (not thepages) are numbered up to 418, and besides there are six leaves without pagination for the index, as well as three for the prologue, in which we learn why the work was calledWyngaert. All the copies I have met with bear the date 1518, though in Hultman'sCatalogue, p. 20. No. 92., we find 1578, probably an error of the printer. In J. Koning'sCatalogue, 1833, p. 17. No. 59., we are referred to Bauer,Bibl. libr. rar., vol. iv. p. 301.; and to theCatalogue raisonnéde Crevenna, vol. v. p. 85., where we read:
"Ce volume contient les vies des Saints de l'ordre de St. Franciscus, précédées de celle de son instituteur,et n'est point une traductiondu Livre des Conformités (Liber Conformitatum), quoiqu'il est probable qu'on ait pris beaucoup de ce livre."
Van Bleyswijk, in hisDescription of Delft, vol. i. p. 339., says,—
"The Franciscans bought up the work, in order to suppress and destroy it: it is therefore no wonder that copies of it are scarce."
Unless you read it, says Professor Ackersdijck, in hisArchief voor Kerk. Gesch., you will hardly conceive it possible for any one to write such a mass of folly and absurdity.
V. D. N.
NAVORSCHER, p. 179. June, 1851.
—The following anecdote, as characteristic of the individual as illustrative of the above Query, may perhaps be considered deserving a corner in your Journal:—
"A well-meaning friend calling one morning on Richard B. Sheridan, wound up a rather prosy exordium on the propriety of domestic economy, by expressing a hope, that the pressure of some difficulties from which he had been temporarily removed, would induce a more cautious arrangement in future.
"Sheridan listened with great gravity, and thanking his visitor, assured him that he never felt so happy, as all his affairs were now proceeding with theregularity of clockwork, adding (with a roguish twinkle of the eye, and giving his arm the oscillating motion of a pendulum), 'Tick, tick, tick!' It is needless to add, the Mentor took a hasty leave of his witty but incorrigible companion."
M. W. B.
—I believe that there is no mistake as supposed in the inscription on the Geo. III. shilling. The double "T" is expressive of the plural "Britt." for "Britanniarum". Have we not many similar instances,e. g."codd." for "codices," "libb." for "libri;" or, one of every-day occurrence, "pp." for "pages?"
W. M. N.
—W. R. C. (a Subscriber) will find some very interesting accounts of this creature in Boate and Molyneux'sNatural History of Ireland, p. 137.; and in an excellent paper by Dr. Cane, in theTransactions of the Kilkenny Archæological Society for the Year 1850, where several works containing accounts of the animal are referred to. An interesting memoir by Dr. Hibbert on the discovery of theMegaceros Hibernicus, or fossil elk, in the Isle of Man, will be found in the fifth number of theEdinburgh Journal of Science, publishedin 1826.[1]
[1]Errata.—Query, should not the word "Rochenon," in Vol. i., p. 380. col. 1., be "Rosbercon?" and should not "D. H. M‛Carthy," in Vol. ii., p. 348. col. 1., be "D. F. M‛Carthy" (Denis Florence M‛Carthy)? Such errors, however trifling they may now appear, may hereafter confuse.
R. H.
—The quotation—