"Fat geese unto the rich I sell."
"Fat geese unto the rich I sell."
And in the curious old Story Book of Peter Leu, reprinted by von der Hagen in hisNarrenbuch, one of the adventures commences:
"It fell upon St. Martin's Day,When folks are wont goose-feasts to keep."
"It fell upon St. Martin's Day,
When folks are wont goose-feasts to keep."
A learned German, however, Nork (Festkalender, s. 567.), sees in our Michaelmas Goose the last traces of the goose offered of old to Proserpina, the infernal goddess of death (on which account it is that the figure of this bird is so frequently seen on monumental remains); and also of the offerings (among which the goose figured) formerly made to Odin at this season, a pagan festival which on the introduction of Christianity was not abolished, but transferred to St. Michael.
WILLIAMJ. THOMS.
—In a letter from Sir Thomas Heneage to Sir Christopher Hatton, dated 2nd May, 1585, given in Nicolas'sMemoir of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton(p. 426.), is this passage:
"Her Highness thinketh your house will shortly be like a Gravesend barge, never without a knave, a priest, or a thief," &c.
"Her Highness" was Queen Elizabeth, and the purport of the letter was to convey "her Highness'spleasure" touching one Isaac Higgins, then in the custody of Sir Christopher Hatton.
C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge, Sept. 19. 1851.
—There are so very few consecutive and methodical readers left, that it is not surprising that Mr. Blackwell, the editor of Bohn'sMallet, should have adopted the groundless charge of one Magnusen against Olaus Wormius, who understood Ragnar's death-song much better than certain ironical dilettanti of Cockneyland. Charlemagne's secretary, Paul Warnefrid, the Lombard deacon of Aquileia, swears that, about 200 years after the event, King Ratchis had shown himthe cup made out of Cunimund's skull, in which Queen Rosamund, his daughter, refused to drink, in the year 574.[15](Paul. Diac.ii. 8.) Open theActa Sanctorumfor the 1st of May, and they will tell you that the monks of Triers had enchased in silver the skull of St. Theodulf, out of which they administered fever-drink to the sick. Moreover, when, in the year 1465, Leo von Rozmital came to Neuss, he saw a costly tomb wherein lay the blessed Saint Quirinus, and he drank out of his skull-cup. St. Sebastian's skull at Ebersberg, and St. Ernhart's at Ratisbonne, had also been converted into chalices.
[15]See Grotius's valuable Collection of Gothic and Lombard Historians.
I refer the reader to Jacob Grimm'sGeschichte der Deutschen Sprache, pp. 143. 146., for further details: he shows that to drink ale out ofbuigvîdum hausa, can only mean out of "hollow skulls," literally "vacuitascurva."
To prove the antiquity of the custom, Grimm alleges likewise a passage of the Vilkinasaga, in which Völundr, the smith, our Belenger,[16]or Will o' the Wisp, enchases in silver the amputated skulls of Nidads' two boys.
[16]FœuBélenger, in one of the dialects of the Low-Norman Isles.
GEORGEMÉTIVIER.
—Doubtless many of your readers have seen in the Exhibition a large equestrian figure of Elizabeth; it is in the N.W. gallery, in one of the large plate cases. Now the horse is described as pacing, which the explanation states was a step taught the horses belonging to the ladies of that period. Query, where a description of pacing, or rules for teaching horses to pace, amble, &c., may be found? for what appears so extraordinary in the figure is that the fore and hind legs of the same side of the horse are extended together, or simultaneously. I have in theGraphic Illustratora picture of Elizabeth hawking (the figure in the Exhibition may have been copied from the original), where the horse is in the same attitude. I feel anxious to know if that unnatural gait is possible, or whether it is a part or the whole of the pacing step.
THOS. LAWRENCE.
Ashby de la Zouch.
—Is there any foundation for Pliny's account of the Indian ants, which were, according to Herodotus, "not so large as a dog, but bigger than a fox?"
A. C. W.
—What is the meaning of the following? (Herbert'sPoems, "Charms and Knots," ver. 8.):—
"Take one from ten, and what remains?Ten still: if sermons go for gains."
"Take one from ten, and what remains?
Ten still: if sermons go for gains."
H. T. G.
—Mention of this road, in the neighbourhood of Malmsbury, occurs in two charters of the Saxon kings Athelstan and Eadwig, Nos. 355. & 460. Cod. Dipl. Aevi. Sax. The road is said to be known in Wiltshire as King Athelstan's Way. Can any of your correspondents oblige me by pointing out its course, and the immediate purpose for which it was constructed? There is a King's-way Field (Cyngwey-ffeld) mentioned in the ancient terriers of Bampton, Oxon, and still known there.
B. W.
—I have heard of marriages solemnized withinruinedchurches in Ireland within the last twenty years. What is the origin of this custom; was it general, and is it still observed?
R. H.
—In an old Account Book of a Sussex county gentleman I find the following items:—
"1780. I paid for the inoculation of William and Polly Parker, £5 15s.6d."
and again in 1784:
"Paid towards R. Stephen's inoculation, £1 11s.0d."
from which it would appear that the process was a very expensive one in those days. I should feel obliged to any of your correspondents to give me some information on this point.
R. W. B.
—Can any of your readers explain the allusion contained in the following extract from Sir Thomas Browne?
"I was born in the eighth climate, but seem for to be framed and constellated unto all."—Religio Medici, ii. 1.
Will the notions of astrology throw any light upon it?
N. H.
—Who was the King of France that subjected the Chevalier Macaire to the ordeal by combat with this famousdog? In some of the authorities it is said to be Charles VI., and in others "Le Roi Jean," meaning, I presume, John II.
HENRYH. BREEN.
St. Lucia.
—Can any of your correspondents say if Sanford'sDescensushas ever been published separately? It is spoken of in the 2nd vol. of Gale'sCourt of the Gentiles, and was published in the works of a bishop who survived him. A copy of that prelate's works is in the Bodleian Library, and contains theDescensus. What is the bishop's name?
ÆGROTUS.
—What acts of parliament since the reign of George I. affect parish registers?
On what authority were collections made in churchesby brief; in what year was that mode of collection decreed; and when did it cease?
J. B. (A Subscriber.)
—I am a compositor, and have read with great interest the "Notes" on Caxton and Printing in your valuable publication. May I venture to put a Query which has often crossed my mind, especially when I went to see Mr. Maclise's great painting at the Royal Academy. What kind of press did Caxton and his successors use? Also, is anything known of the shape of their "sticks" and "chases?" Mr. Maclise seems to have taken a modern pattern for all of these, especially the two last.
EMQUAD.
—Horace Walpole speaks in many of his letters of the great benefit he had experienced from the use ofbootikinsin his attacks of gout. In a letter to George Montagu, Esq., dated July 31, 1767, he says:
"Except one day's gout, which I cured with thebootikins, I have been quite well since I saw you."
Eight years afterwards his expectations ofcurefrom them were not so high. In a letter to the Rev. Mr. Cole, dated June 5, 1775, he remarks:
"I am perfectly well, and expect to be so for a year and a half. I desire no more of mybootikinsthan to curtail my fits."
Dr. E. J. Seymour (Thoughts on the Nature and Treatment of several severe Diseases of the Human Body, i. 107.: London, 1847), says that—
"Thebootikinswere simply a glove, with a partition for the thumb, but no separate ones for the fingers, like an infant's glove, made of oiled silk."
Can any of your readers shed light on this matter?
R. D.
Philadelphia.
—I have heard it confidently stated that printers have the privilege, if they are disposed to use it, to wear on all occasions a sword dangling at their sides. If it be so, whence does it arise? I have heard two explanations, one, bearingprimâ facieevidence of incorrectness, a special grant as a mark of favour; the other, which is the only reasonable way of accounting for such a totally unsuitable privilege, that when the act passed forbidding arms to be commonly worn, all kinds and manner of people were mentioned by the name of their trades, businesses, &c., except printers, who were accidently omitted. How much of truth might there be in all this? What is the act alluded to?
TEEBEE.
—What authority is there for the accompanying statement respecting the death of Mr. Pitt?
"Among the anecdotes of statesmen few are more interesting than that which records the death of Pitt. The hand which had so long sustained the sceptre of this country found no hand to clasp it in death. By friends and by servants he was alike deserted; and a stranger wandering on from room to room of a deserted house, came at last by chance to a chamber untended but not unquiet, in which the great minister lay, alone and dead."—SeeEdinburgh Reviewfor July, 1851, p. 78., on thePoems and Memoir of Hartley Coleridge.
NATHANIELELLISON.
—C. W. wishes to know if any of the readers of "NOTES ANDQUERIES" can tell him the origin of the proverb, "A little bird told me."
C. W. has an idea that the origin is from theKoran, where is an account of all the birds being summoned before Solomon. The lapwing absents himself. Upon being questioned why he did not immediately obey, he says he has been at the court of the Queen of Sheba, who has resolved upon visiting Solomon. On the hint, Solomon prepares for the queen's reception. The lapwing sets off to Ethiopia, and tells the Queen that Solomon wishes to see her. The meeting, as we know, took place.
Not having theKoran, C. W. cannot refer to it to see if it is right or wrong.
—At page 105. of the volume ofBury Willspublished by the Camden Society, is the will of William Place, priest, Master of the Hospital of St. John Evangelist without the south gate of Bury St. Edmunds, dated 21st July, 1504, whereby he willed that "Damp" William Carsey (elsewhere in the same will called Karsey), "Baroner" of the Monastery of Bury St. Edmunds, should assign two children to sayDe profundisat his grave for his soul every day from his burying day till his thirtieth day be past, and they to have each day for their labour one penny betwixt them. Mr. Tymms's notes to the above publication are copious and valuable, but he omits to explain the term "Baroner;" and the object of this Query is to ascertain if he, or any of your numerous correspondents, can do so. I conjecture that theBaroner was the master of the children (or song school), but I am not aware of any other instance of the use of the word as denoting a monastic officer.
C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge, Sept 19. 1851.
—1. Mr. Macaulay, in describing the entrance of William of Orange into Exeter, mentions that he was preceded, amongst others, by three hundred gentlemen of English birth. Can any of your correspondents inform me whether the names of these gentlemen are known, and, if so, where the roll may be met with?
2. I remember to have read an extract from a work called theHistory of Hawickin Teviotdale, but I have never met with any one acquainted with the work. Is the book now extant, and, if so, where can it be seen? If any of your correspondents should have seen this volume, perhaps he can inform me whether it narrates an altercation between the abbot of Melrose and a neighbouring baron, which ended in the death of the former?
H. L.
Maen-twrog, North Wales.
—The "Pronosticatio," or "prophecies," which bear this name, have been often reprinted since what I believe to be the first edition was published in the year 1488. In giving an account of the copies of it in the Lambeth Library, I stated that I knew of no other copy of this edition, except one in the Douce collection in the Bodleian. Eight years have elapsed since that time, and I have not heard of any; and as circumstances have lately led to my being engaged about the book, I shall be glad if you will allow me to ask whether any of your many learned correspondents know of aprioredition, or of any other copies ofthisone of 1488?
S. R. MAITLAND.
Gloucester.
—I have in my possession an apparently very old, though very elegant and very excellent, eight-day clock, with the maker's name on its face,Thomas Lestourgeon, London. Some years ago there was found among the apparatus of the Natural Philosophy class, in the University of Edinburgh, what is called in the inventory "an old watch, maker's name Lestourgeon, London." Can any of your readers tell me when that excellent horologist flourished? I know the history of the clock for about a century, but how much older it may be I should like to know.
JAMESLAURIE.
—Can any of your correspondents mention the work of any physiologist in which thecauseis given why all herbivorous animals suck in what they drink, and all carnivorous animals lap it up by the action of the tongue? Also, what naturalists have specified that broad distinction, and whether it has been mentioned in any other work?
ÆGROTUS.
—Is there an earlier edition of De Grammont'sMemoirsthan that in 12mo. printed at Cologne in 1713?
PETERCUNNINGHAM.
—Can this expression be met with in any author; or what is its origin?
Is it simply synonymous to the more usual phrase, "To be frightened out of one's wits?"
Is there any other passage in the language where the possession of more thanfivesenses is implied?
G. T. H.
Acton.
—What is theoriginof a phrase known to readers of a certain Latinity, "Fides Carbonaria?" The French have an expression apparently equivalent, "Foi de Charbonnier;" butwhatoriginated either?
A QUERIST.
—I would be very much obliged to any correspondent who could tell me either the inscriptions on any monuments to the "Bourchier" family, or in what church they are to be found. I believe there are some in Northamptonshire.
L. M. M.
Dublin.
—"Warnings to Scotland, of the Eternal Spirit, to the City of Edinburgh, in Scotland, by the mouths of Thomas Dutton, Guy Nutt, John Glover, in their Mission by the Spirit to the said City, as they were delivered in the year 1709, and faithfully taken down in writing as they were spoken. London printed in the year 1710."
The trio also gave "warnings" to the sinful city of Glasgow, &c.
I would be glad if any of your correspondents could give me any information regarding thisagitation, and if it produced any sensation at the time?
ELGINENSIS.
—Can one of your correspondents mention the name, and any other particulars, of the man who anticipated Herschel relative to the sun's motion; and was declared to be mad for entertaining such opinions?
ÆGROTUS.
—Where can a copy of the petition, presented by the Lord Mayor and Common Council, setting forth the insufficiency of the Duke of Wellington as a general, and his obvious incapacity, and begging his immediate recall, be obtained, and the date of it? It is a droll historical document, which should not sink into oblivion.
ÆGROTUS.
—I have seen an old black-letter book of homilies in Latin, with the following imprint:—
"Sermones Michaelis de Ungaria prædicabiles per totū annum licet breves. Et sic est finis sit laus et gloria trinis Impressū suburbiis sācti germani de praetis per Petrū Leuet, anno dn̅i millesimo quadringēte sino nonagesimo septimo primo die vero. xiij. Novembris."
I should be glad if any of your correspondents could furnish any information regarding the printer.
ABERDONIENSIS.
[Petrus Levet was one of the early Paris printers, and several of the works printed by him are noticed in Gresswell'sAnnals of Parisian Typography, pp. 96. 100. 104. At p. 178. will be found his device, copied from theDestructorium Vitiorum, anno 1497.]
—What is the origin of this expression?
P. S. KG.
["A nimble ninepence is better than a slow shilling."—Old Proverb.]
—Why are the glass balls filled with floating bubbles called Rupert balls? Was the prince a glass-blower?
↗
[The earliest experiments upon glass tears were made in 1656, both in London and Paris; but it is not certain in what country they were invented. They were first brought to England by Prince Rupert, and experiments were made upon them by the Right Hon. Sir Robert Moray, in 1661, by the command of his Majesty. An account of these experiments is to be found in the Registers of the Royal Society, of which he was one of the founders. SeeEdinburgh Encyclopædia, vol. x. p. 319.]
—Toknock under, in the sense of succumb, yield:unde derivatur?
NOCAB.
["From the submission expressed among good fellows by knocking under the table."—Johnson.]
—Where can be found a good account of the origin of freemasons? And is there any truth in the story that Lord Doneraile made his daughter, the Honorable Miss E. St. Leger, a freemason?
↗
[For a circumstantial account of the origin of Freemasons, see a curious pamphlet published in 1812, entitledJachin and Boaz; or an authentic Key to the Door of Freemasonry, both Ancient and Modern, &c.; also, Oliver'sAntiquities of Freemasonry. A very interesting historico-critical inquiry into the origin of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons, from the pen of the English Opium-eater, who in it has abstracted, arranged, and in some respects re-arranged the German work of J. G. Buhle,Ueber den Ursprung und die vornehmsten Schicksale der Orden der Rosenkreuzer und Freymaurer, will be found in theLondon Magazinefor January and February, 1824.
We believe it is perfectly true that the Hon. Miss E. St. Leger was made a mason, and that she always accompanied her lodge in its processions.]
In an article of A. C. in "NOTES ANDQUERIES" for 30th August last, under the head "Plowden of Plowden" from Burke'sLanded Gentry, I find this paragraph:
"The names of the followers of William the Conqueror are often alluded to; but the 'comers over' at the CONQUESTof Wales, SCOTLAND, and Ireland are but seldom thought of, though they lend to their descendants' pedigree a degree of historical interest."
I do not read this paragraph without pain, mingled with indignation. Who ever before heard of the conquest of Scotland? It is true, that, on repeated occasions, the English made successful inroads into that kingdom, sometimes of a larger, sometimes of a less extensive character; but the Scottish nation never did "lie at the proud foot of a conqueror."
Though Edward I., by means of intrigues unworthy of his high character, did for a short period, during the interregnum consequent on the death of the Maid of Norway, assume the government of the Scottish realm, and put to death some of the most distinguished of her defenders, yet his successor paid the penalty of this unjust assumption in the battle of Bannockburn; a battle having justice on the side of the victorious party, and regarded by all Scotsmen as to be ranked in military prowess with those of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt.
It is not generally known, that upon the marriage of Mary to the Dauphin in 1558, Scotsmen were naturalised in France by anordonnanceof Henry II.; and that, in like manner, by an act of the parliament of Scotland, all Frenchmen were naturalised in that country. The ordonnance granting these privileges to Scotsmen within the realm of France, is printed in the Scottish statute-book along with the Scottish act granting similar privileges to Frenchmen within Scotland.
One of the most distinguished writers on the law of Scotland, when dedicating his work to King Charles II., reminds him of the inscription on the palace of Holyrood: "Nobis hæc invicta miserunt centum sex Prouvi."
When, in 1707, Scotland treated of an incorporating union with the realm of England, she treated as an independent and sovereign power, and the Treaty of Union was concluded with her in that character: a treaty which was at least as beneficial to England as it was to Scotland, by precluding in all time to come the intrigues of France with the Scottish sovereign and nation.
That Scotland was able for so many centuries to defend her liberties and independence against the powerful kingdom of England, does her great honour. There is no problem of more difficult solution than this: What might have happened, if some other great event had happened otherwise than it did? When England had overcome the kingdom of France, if Scotland had not afforded the means of annoyance to England, the seat of government might have been removed to France, and the great English nation have been absorbed in that country: but Providence ruled otherwise; England lost her dominion in France, and Scotland remained independent.
SCOTUSOCTOGENARIUS.
W. FRAZER'SQuery, which are the towns or districts in England in which Borough-English prevails, or has prevailed, and whether there are any instances on record of its being carried into effect in modern times, would require more knowledge than any individual can be expected to possess of local customs throughout the country to give a full answer to; but if all your legal correspondents would contribute their quotas of information on the subject, a very fair list might be made, which would not be uninteresting as illustrative of this peculiar custom. I do not know any work in which the places where the custom prevails are collected together. But I send you a short list of such manors and places as I know of and have been able to collect, in which the custom of Borough-English is the rule of descent, hoping that other correspondents will add to the list which I have only made a commencement of:—
Reve v. Maltster, Croke'sReports, Trin. Term, 11 Chas. I.
Termes de la Ley, Kitchin, fo. 102.
Forester'sEquity Reports, 276.
Co. Litt.Sec. 211.
I am informed that the custom also prevails in some of the Duchy manors in Cornwall, but I cannot at present give you the names.
I may be able to add to this list in a future communication, and I hope to see in your pages some considerable additions to this list from other correspondents.
As to the continuance of the custom to modern times, nothing can alter it but an act of parliament; so that where the custom has prevailed, it is still the law of descent: and I have had under my notice a descent of copyhold property, in the manors of Lambeth and Kennington, to the youngest brother within the present century.
G. R. C.
There is a farm of about a hundred acres in the parish of Sullescombe in Sussex, which is held by this tenure; but whether the adjoining land is so, I am not aware. In case of the owner dying intestate, the land would go to the younger son; but I am not aware of an instance of this having occurred.
E. H. Y.
Your correspondent A. E. B. appears, by his suggestion regarding Foucault's theory, to have rendered confusion worse confounded, mystery more mysterious. He says:
"If the propounders of this theory had from the first explained, that they do not claim for the plane of oscillation an exemption from the general rotation of the earth, but only the difference of rotation due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other, it would have saved a world of fruitless conjecture and misunderstanding."
This supposition makes an effect, which it is difficult to believe in, into one utterly impossible to conceive. It is hard enough to credit the theory, that the plane of oscillation of a pendulum is partially independent of the rotatory motion of the earth, but still not impossible, considering that the effect of the presumed cause is not inconsistent with the results ofà prioricalculation. For instance, during the swing of a two-seconds pendulum, the angular motion of the earth will have been 1', or thereabouts, which, supposing the oscillation to be independent, would produce an appreciable angle on an index circle placed concentric with the pendulum, and at right angles to its plane of oscillation.
But as to A. E. B.'s theory, which supposes the variation of the pendulum's plane to be "due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other," it appears to me quite untenable for a moment. Let him reduce it to paper, and find what difference of velocity there is on the earth's surface at the two ends of a line of ten feet, the assumed length of the arc of a two-seconds pendulum,—a larger one, I presume, than that used byFoucault in his cellar,—and I believe he will find it to be practically nothing.
I confess I have had no faith in this theory from the first; the effect, if any and constant, I believe to be magnetic. The results of experiments have been stated from the first very loosely, and the theory itself has been put forth very indistinctly, and not supported by any name of eminence, except that of Professor Powell.
In the meantime, and until some competent authority has pronounced on the point, I propose that such of your readers as are interested in the question make experiments for themselves, dividing them into four classes, viz., with the plane of oscillation E. and W., N. and S., N.E. and S.W., N.W. and S.E.; take the mean of a great many, and communicate them to the editor of "NOTES ANDQUERIES;" and I venture to say that such a collection will do more towards confirming or disproving the theory absolutely, than all the papers we have yet seen on the subject.
I am myself about to make experiments with a twenty-five feet pendulum.
H. C. K.
—— Rectory, Hereford, Sept. 8. 1851.
In p. 180. I find some observations respecting the rank of the Lord Mayor of London, which seem to require further elucidation. But I should not trouble you except for one passage, which leads me to think that the writer is under some little mistake. He seems to think that upon the occasion of a new king's accession, only Privy Councillors are summoned. This is not so. I remember upon the accession of George IV., that I received a summons, being then a member of the House of Commons and holding an official appointment; and some other private gentlemen were also summoned. Ithinkthat the summonses were issued from the Home Office, but of this I am not certain; nor do I know if the same practice has been adopted upon the subsequent accessions. I remember that we all met at Carlton House; that we all signed some document, recognising the new sovereign, which I apprehend to be the authority for the proclamation; but that thePrivy Councillors onlywent in to the presence.
I understand that the theory for summoning me and others was that some persons of various ranks and grades of society should concur in placing the new king upon the throne.
All this is, however, mere speculation of my own. Thefactof my summons is certain. As to the Lord Mayor being Right Honorable, why need we look for other authority than usage? Usage only gives the title of Right Honorable to a Privy Councillor being a Commoner. Usage only gives that title to a Peer. Excuse this gossip.
DN.
I have the pleasure to add to the early examples of the collar of SS. given by MR. EDWARDFOSS, the names of some personages whose monuments are either represented or described in Blore'sMonumental Remains, Dugdale'sHistory of St. Paul's, Gough'sSepulchral Monuments, and Stothard'sMonumental Effigies.
1. On the effigy of Sir Simon Burley, engraved by Hollar for Dugdale, is a collar apparently marked, but very indistinctly, with SS. Sir Simon was a Knight of the Garter, Chamberlain to Richard II., and was beheaded in 1388.
2 and 3. Sir Robert Waterton and his wife, in Methley church, Yorkshire. The collar was issued to this knight, when he was an esquire, out of the great wardrobe of Henry Earl of Derby, in the 20th year of Richard II.
4. Sir William Ryther, in Harwood church, Yorkshire: he lived in the time of Richard II.
5. John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, in the cathedral at Canterbury. He was Chamberlain of England, and Captain of Calais in the reign of Henry IV., and died in 1410.
6. Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, in Arundel church, Sussex; Chief Butler of England at the coronation of Henry IV., who with his queen was present at the earl's wedding in 1404; temporary Marshal of England in 1405. Died in 1416, the 4th of Henry V.
7 and 8. Sir Edmund de Thorpe and his wife, in Ashwell-Thorpe church, Norfolk. Two persons of this name, Mon' Esmond Thorp and Mon' Esmon de Thorp̃, were summoned to a great council held at Westminster in the 2nd of Henry IV. It is considered that this Sir Edmund is the person called Lord Thorpe, who was slain in Normandy in 1418; that his wife is Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Norwood, and widow of Roger Lord Scales; and that she is the Lady Thorpe who died in 1415.
9. Thomas Duke of Clarence, second son of Henry IV., President of the Council, and Lieutenant General of the Forces. He died in 1421. Monument in Canterbury cathedral.
10, 11, and 12. Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland, and his two wives, in Staindrop church, co. Durham. He was created Earl of Westmorland by Richard II., made Earl Marshal of England by Henry IV., present at the battle of Agincourt with Henry V., and died in the 4th of Henry VI., 1425.
Margaret, his first wife, was the daughter of Hugh Earl of Stafford; and his second wife was Joan de Beaufort, only daughter of John of Ghent, Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine Swinford.
13. John Fitz-Alan, Lord Maltravers and Earl of Arundel, in the church at Arundel, Sussex. He distinguished himself by the capture of many towns and fortresses in Normandy in the year of his death, 1434.
14. William Phelip Lord Bardolf, in Dennington church, Suffolk. Treasurer of the household of Henry V., Knight of the Garter, and Chamberlain to Henry VI. Died in the 19th year of this reign, 1440.
15 and 16. John Beaufort Duke of Somerset, and his wife, in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, Knight of the Garter, created Duke of Somerset and Earl of Kendal, and at the same time made Lieutenant and Captain-General of Aquitaine, France and Normandy. Died in 1444.
17. Robert Lord Hungerford, who served in the wars in France and Guienne, and died in 1453. His effigy is drawn by Stothard (Mon. Eff.p. 98.).
18. Sir John Nevill, in Harwood church, Yorkshire. Died 22nd Edward IV., 1482.
I presume that MR. EDWARDFOSSwould refer to the curious passage in the printedRolls of Parliament, vol. iii. p. 313., wherein it appears that Richard II., in the 20th year of his reign, formally declared that heassumed, bore, and used, and that by his leave and wish persons of his retinue also bore and used, the livery of the collar of his uncle, the Duke of Lancaster.
Mr. John Gough Nichols, in theGent. Mag.for 1842, quotes the principal part of this passage, and produces some interesting evidence in favour of the view that the livery of the collar of the Duke of Lancaster was the collar of SS.
LLEWELLYN.
The statement that the reading of sermons did not prevail in the early ages of Christianity not having been called in question, although irreconcileable with the practice of the Fathers, as ascertained from their own writings, I am induced to observe that inFerrarius de Ritu Sac. Concionum, evidence is adduced that extemporaneous preaching was occasionally superseded by more elaborate and written discourses, sometimes committed to memory, sometimes recited, that is, read.
"Narrat Gregorius (Hom. 21. ex Libro Quadraginta Homiliarum) solemne ibi fuisse dum Concionem haberet, per Dictatum loqui; additque, Ob languentem stomachum jamlegerese non posse quæ dictaverat; ac proinde velle se Evangelicæ Lectionis explanationem non amplius per Dictatum, sed per familiares collocutiones pronunciare. Per Dictatum autem loqui nihil aliud fuit Gregorio quam de scripto dicere ex eo perspicuum fit, quod verbo Dictare pro Scribere passim usi sunt Veteres Auctores, Sidonius Epistola septima Libri primi, undecima quarti, ultima septimi, sexta octavi, tertia noni; Aldhelmusde Laudibus Virginitatis, cap. vii., Gregorius Magnus, lib. x.Epistolarum, Ep. xxii. "ad Joannem Ravennæ Subdiaconum," et "Epistola ad Leonardum;" quæ præmittitur Expositioni in Job, et alii: usu nimirum ex prisco more petito quo Auctores olim, ut est apud Plinium in Epistolis non uno loco, Notariis dictare consueverant. Vox præterea Legere qua usus est Gregorius hoc ipsum aperte confirmat; ea enim dumtaxat legere possumus quaæ scripta sunt et ante oculos posita."—Ferrarius,ut suprà, lib ii. 15.
Fabricius, in hisBibliothecaria Antiquaria(cap. xi., De Concionibus Christianorum), thus refers to this passage:
"Conciones plerasque dictas ex memoria, quasdam etiam de scripto recitatas, observatum Ferrario, lib. ii. cap. 15."
It may therefore be inferred that he knew of no other testimony equally pertinent, but surely we may surmise that other fathers,e.g.Gregory Nazianzen (who, in the words of Bellarmine, "sapientiam mirificè cum eloquentia copulavit") occasionally were unable to commit to memory the numerous discussions which they had so diligently prepared.
I have been requested by the Rev. Richard Bingham, Jun., to state that he has in his possession autograph sermons by his illustrious ancestor, in some of which are notes only or heads of subjects, and which are therefore unfavourable to the suspicion expressed (p. 42.), that the author of theAntiquities of the Christian Churchwas prejudiced against extempore preaching.
BIBLIOTHECARIUSCHETHAMENSIS.
—As in a publication such as "NOTES ANDQUERIES" the most precise correctness, even in matters of secondary importance, is, above all things, to be desiderated, I am sure J. R. will be glad to be corrected in a statement made by him, in the concluding sentence of his interesting communication, "Traditions from remote Periods through few Hands," concerning the above accomplished lady. This elegant writer was not "one offourcongenital children," though it is quite true that such a birth occurred in her family. The following account of so unusual an occurrence is taken from Matchett'sNorfolk and Norwich Remembrancer and Vade Mecum, a work compiled principally from the columns ofThe Norfolk Chronicle, of which Mr. Matchett was for many year a co-proprietor and assistant editor:—
"August 15, 1817. At Dr. R.'s house, at Framingham (a small village four miles from Norwich), Mrs. R., who in 1804 had first brought him twins, was safely delivered of four living children, three sons and a daughter, who were privately baptized by the names of Primus John, Secundus Charles Henry, Tertius Robert Palgrave, and Quarta Caroline. They were weighed with their shirts on by Dr. Hamel, physician to the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia, who paid Dr. R. a visit a few days after the quadruple birth, and were found to be 21 lbs. 2 oz. One lived eighteen days; the other three from eight to ten weeks. Dr. R. being a grandfather at the time, the children were born great-uncles and a great-aunt."
They are buried in Framingham Earl churchyard, where is a table monument over their remains, setting forth the above particulars in full, with the respective periods of their deaths.
Dr. R. was Mayor of Norwich in 1805, and, as J. R. states, an eminent physician of that city. He was the author ofAn Essay on Animal Heat,On the Agriculture of Framingham and Holkham, and of other works on Midwifery, Medicine, and Agriculture. He died Oct. 27, 1821, aged seventy-three years.
COWGILL.
—Notwithstanding the MS. note referred to by DR. RIMBAULTin a recent number, I cannot think that G. A. Stevens was the author of "Winifreda," as he had barely attained his sixteenth year when that song was first printed in 1726. Neither is it easy to imagine that the commonplace lines quoted in Reed'sBiographia Dramatica, vol. i. p. 687., from Stevens's poem called "Religion, or the Libertine Repentant," and "Winifreda," could have been the production of the same person. We learn also from Reed, that, owing to a pirated edition of Stevens's songs being published at Whitehaven, he in 1772 printed a genuine collection of them at Oxford. This book I never met with. Should it contain Winifreda, I shall be satisfied: if not, we may still say of the mysterious author, "Non est inventus."
BRAYBROOKE.
notd'Allemand, as your correspondent MR. BREENhas written it; this saying deriving its origin from theAllemans, a powerful family of the Dauphiné, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and having no reference whatever to the national character of the Germans, as will appear by the following extract from theRevue Historique de la Noblesse, voceALLEMAN:—
"Durant le 13eet le 14esiècle, la région montagneuse qui s'élève entre le Drac et l'Isère était presque en totalité le domaine d'une immense famille de seigneurs qui portaient tous le nomd'Alleman.... Jamais souche féodale ne produisit plus de rameaux, et nulle part les membres d'une même famille ne se groupèrent autour de leurs chefs avec un soin plus jaloux.... Ils se mariaient entre eux, jugeaient entre eux leurs différends, et en toute circonstance se pretaient les uns aux autres un infaillible appui. Malheur à l'imprudent voisin qui eût troublé dans son héritage ou dans son honneur le plus humble desAlleman. Sur la plainte de l'offensé, un conseil de famille était réuni, la guerre votée par acclamations, et l'on voyait bientôt déboucher dans la plaine de Grenoble les bandes armées qui guidaient au châtiment de l'agresseur les bannières d'Uriage et de Valbonnais."
Hence, from the ardour with which this family avenged the smallest injury, came the saying, "Faire une querelle d'Alleman;" to which Oudin, in hisCuriosités Françoises, gives the following interpretation:—
"Querelle d'Alleman, fondée sur peu de sujet et facile à appaiser."
Having reference to the same family was also the proverb, known in the Dauphiné, "Gare la queue des Alleman," applied to those entering upon some difficult enterprise; in other words, "mind the consequences."
In Le Roux de Lincy'sLivres des Proverbes Français, vol. ii. p. 15., I find the following: