"Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly,I'll wear the willow garland for his sake."
"Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly,
I'll wear the willow garland for his sake."
As I find no note upon the willow garland in any edition of Shakspeare to which I have access, I should be obliged by having its meaning explained in your columns.
ARUN.
[The willow is considered as the emblem of despairing love, and is often associated with the yew and the cypress in the churchyard: hence, a garland made of the boughs of the willow was said to be worn by forlorn lovers. InMuch Ado about Nothing, Act II. Sc. 1., Benedick says,—"I offered him my company to a willow-tree, either to make him a garland, as being forsaken, or to bind him up a rod, as being worthy to be whipped."]
—Can any of your readers inform me on what principle it is that the name of Nun (כוּן), the father of Joshua, is expressed in the Septuagint byναυῆ? I cannot help regarding the substitution ofαυῆforוּןas a very singular circumstance, more especially as it seems impossible to account for it by the conjecture thatכhad been mistaken by the LXX for any letter that would be likely to be represented in Greek byῆ. There are but few proper names in the Hebrew Scriptures that terminate inוּן; and the way in which these are expressed in the Septuagint affords, I believe, no analogy to the above case.
QUIDAM.
Gillingham.
[The explanation usually given, after Gesenius, is that early copyists mistookΝΑΥΝforΝΑΥΗ; and as some MSS. haveΝαβίandΝαβή, it is supposed that later copyists thought that it was the Hebrewכביא.]
—Is there any printed account of this divine, or of a work on the Pelagian and Manichæan heresies which he published at Ghent in 1675?
S. W. RIX.
Beccles.
[The Bodleian Library contains a work by M. Lominus, entitled,Blakloanæ Hæresis Historia et Confutatio. 4to. Gandavi, 1675.]
1. Without wishing to protract the discussion abouteisell, let me tell the correspondent who questioned whether wormwood could be an ingredient in any palatable drink, thatcrême d'absintheordinarily appears with noyau, &c. in a Parisian restaurateur's list of luxurious cordials. Whilst thateisellwas equivalent to wormwood is confirmed by its being joined with gall, in a page of Queen Elizabeth's book of prayers, which caught my eye in one of those presses in the library of the British Museum, where various literary curiosities are now so judiciously arranged, and laid open for public inspection.
2. As a decisive affirmation of whatrackmeant, where the word was the derivative of the Saxon pecan, your correspondents may accept the following from our martyr, Frith's,Revelation of Antichrist. He renders the second clause of 2 Peter ii. 17., "And racks carried about of a tempest;" and he immediately adds, "Racks are like clouds, but they give no rain."
3. In answer to MR. BREEN'Sinquiry where there is any evidence from the writings of Gregory I., that he could be so shameless as to panegyrise that female monster Queen Brunéhaut, he may read some of that Pope's flattering language in his letter addressed to her on behalf of that Augustine whom he sent to England, as contained in Spelman'sConcilia. Epist. xvii. (Brunichildæ, Reginæ Francorum) begins as follows:
"Gratias omnipotenti Deo referimus, qui inter cætera pietatis suæ dona, quæ excellentiæ vestræ largitus est,ita vos amore Christianæ religionis implevit, ut quicquid ad animarum lucrum, quicquid ad propagationem fidei pertinere cognoscitis,devota mente et pio operari studionon cessetis.... Et quidem hæc de Christianitate vestra mirentur alii, quibus adhuc beneficia vestra minus sunt cognita; nam nobis, quibus experimentis jam nota sunt, non mirandum est, sed gaudendum."—Spelm.Concil.p. 82.
And in Epist. xi.:
"Excellentia ergo vestra,quæ prona in bonis consuevit esse operibus."—Id. p. 77.
4. The etymology of Fontainebleau (Vol. iv., p. 38.). I can only speak from memory of what was read long ago. But I think that in one of Montfaucon's works, probablyLes Monumens de la Monarchie Française, he ascribed the origin of that name to the discovery of a spring amongst the sandy rocks of that forest by a hound calledBleau, to the great satisfaction of a thirsty French monarch who was then hunting there, and was thereby induced to erect a hunting-seat near the spring.
5. To A. B. C. (Vol. iv., p. 57.), your questionist about the marriage of bishops in the early ages of the Christian church, who has had a reply in p. 125., I would further say, that as we have no biographies describing the domestic life of any Christian bishop earlier than Cyprian, who belonged to the middle of the third century, it is only incidentally that anything appears of the kind which he inquires after. It would be enough for the primitive Christians to know that their scriptures said ofmarriage, that it washonourable in all;though such as were especially exposed topersecution, from their prominence as officers of the church, would also remember the apostle's advice as good for the present distress, 1 Cor. vii. As, however, your correspondent asks what evidence there is that Gregory Nazienzen's father had children after he was raised to the episcopate, this fact is gathered from his own poem, in which he makes his father say to him, "Thy years are not so many as I have passed in sacred duties." For though these sacred duties began with his admission into the priesthood, he was made a bishop so soon afterwards, that his younger son, Cæsarius, must at any rate be held to have been born after the elder Gregory became a bishop.
Curiously enough, however, good evidence appears in the papal law itself, that the marriages of ecclesiastics were not anciently deemed unlawful. In theCorpus Juris Canonici, orDecretum aureum, D. Gratiani, Distinctio lvi. canon 2., which professes to be a rescript of Pope Damasus (A.D. 366-84), says:
"Theodorus papa filius [fuit] Theodori episcopi de civitate Hierosolyma, Silverius papa filius Silverii episcopi Romæ—item Gelasius, natione Afer, ex patre episcopo Valerio natus est. Quam plures etiam alii inveniuntur: qui de sacerdotibus nati apostolicæ sedi præfuerunt."
To which Gratian attaches as his own conclusion:
"Hine Augustinus ait,Vicia parentumFiliis non imputentur."
Thereby throwing a slur on the said married bishops. But can. xiii., or Cænomanensem, of the same Distinctio, says:
"Cum ergo ex sacerdotibus nati in summos pontifices supra legantur esse promoti, non sunt intelligendi de fornicatione, sed de legitimis conjugiis."
I will only add that Athanasius mentions a Bishop Eupsychius (Primâ contra Arianos) who was martyred in the reign of Julian, and that the historian Sozomen says of him (Eccl. Hist., lib. v. ch. 11.), that when he suffered he had but recently married,καὶ οἷον ἔτι νυμφίον ὄντα.
H. WALTER.
As it is not to be met with in a regular way, your correspondent may be ignorant that Domingo Lomelyne was progenitor of theextinct baronetsLUMLEY, his descendants having softened or corrupted his name into an identity with that of the great northern race of the latter name. They, however, retained different coat-armour in the senior line, bearing in common with many other English families of Italian, Champaigne, and generally trans-Norman origin, "a chief." Guido de St. Leodigaro and one Lucarnalsus are the earliest heroes to whom I find it assigned; but Stephen, son of the Odo, Earl ofChampaigne(whence Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle), also brought it to England at a very early period; and thence from the Holderness annex of de Fortibus (in spite of the allegations in Wott.Bar., i. 189.), Worsley perhaps copied it. The old Lumley or Lomelyne accounts connect it with the city ofNaples. Your correspondent will find that Domingo Lomelyne was aGenoese, and of thebedchamberto Henry VIII.; that he maintained at his own cost, and commanded, a troop of horse at Boulogne in the same reign, and had a pension of 200l.per annum from Queen Elizabeth in 1560. If any of your corespondents can give me the junior ramifications of this family diverging from the son and grandson of Domingo, I shall feel much obliged, provided that James Lumley, living 1725, who married Catherine Hodilow, can be satisfactorily linked with James, the son of Domingo. James and Martin were the family names, and the family was settled in London and Essex.
WM. D'OYLYBAYLEY.
Having noticed in a recent number some rather various derivations of the name "Petty Cury," which one of the streets in Cambridge bears, I have been led to examine the word "Cury," and think that a meaning may be given to it, preferable to any of the three mentioned in your paper. The three to which I refer connect the word with "cook-shops," "stables," or some kind of a court-house ("curia"). The arguments brought forward in their favour either arise from the similarity of the words (as "Cury" and "écurie"), or from the probability that either cook-shops, stables, or a court-house existed in the vicinity of the street, whence it might derive its name. With regard to the name "Cury" being derived from the cook-shops in the streets, this seems to have little to do with the question; for supposing there are some half dozen such shops there (which I do not know to be the case), it proves little as to what was the number three or four centuries ago. Secondly, "Cury" derived from "écurie:" this seems unsatisfactory, for, as nothing whatever is known about our former fellows' horses, the argument in its favour simply consists in "Cury" being similar to "écurie." The third derivation is, that "Cury" is taken from "curia," a senate or court-house. This falls to the ground from the considerations, that if it were derived from it we might expect the name to be Parva Cury and not Petty Cury; and if it be derived from it, it implies that there was some larger court existing at that time, in contradistinction to which this was called "Parva Curia." But no larger one (as the advocate of the derivation allows) did exist, so that this derivation meets the fate of the former ones.
The most probable derivation of the word isfrom the French "curie," awardordistrict, which certainly possesses this advantage over the three former ones, that the word is exactly the same as that of the street. The arguments in its favour are these:—In referring to a map of Cambridge datedA.D.1574, I find the town divided intowards, with different names attached to them. These wards are all larger than "Petty Cury:" in the same map the name is spelt "Peti Curie" (i.e.small ward), both words being French or Norman ones, and the word "peti" being applied to it from its being smaller than any of the other wards. In former times it was not unusual to give French names to the wards and streets of a town, as may be seen any day in London, or even in Liverpool, which is comparatively a modern place. Thus the word from which I propose to derive the name "Cury" being the very same, and not requiring us to form any vague suppositions either about cook-shops, stables, or court-houses, I conclude, may be considered preferable to the three before mentioned.
W. F. R.
Trinity College, Sept. 1. 1851.
The communication of your correspondent ÆGROTUSrespecting the claims of an individual to be the Dauphin of France and Duke of Normandy, brought to my recollection pretensions of a similar nature made by a person who, about twenty years ago, was resident in London; and was a teacher of music, as I was informed. This person introduced himself to me, in a French house of business, as the genuine Dauphin of France, the second son of Louis XVI. In justice to thesoi-disantDauphin, I should state that he did not bring forward his claims abruptly, but in the course of a conversation held in his presence, relating to the claims of another pretender to the same honours. The communicator of this important intelligence of a new rival to the contested diadem, urged his claims with so much plausibility, and pressed me so earnestly to pay him a visit—seeing that I listened to his impassioned statement with decorous patience and real interest—in order that he might explain the matter more fully and at leisure—that I went to his house in the New Road, where I saw him more than once. He told me that the woman, who had all her life passed as his mother, informed him on her death-bed that he was the Duke of Normandy, and had been confided to her charge and care; and that she was told to make her escape with him by his true mother, Marie Antoinette, when that unfortunate queen eluded the murderous pursuit of her assailants in the furious attack made on the Tuileries on the 10th of August, 1792. So impressed was I by the earnestness of the narrator, and the air of truth thrown around his story—knowing also that some doubts had been started as to the death of the Dauphin in the Temple—that I offered, being then about to visit Edinburgh, which was at that time the residence of the exiled monarch Charles X. and his ill-starred family, to be the bearer to them of any memorial or other document, which the claimant to the rights of Dauphin might wish to submit to that illustrious body. A statement was accordingly drawn up, and sent by me when in Edinburgh, not to Charles X., but to her royal highness the Duchess of Angoulême; who immediately replied, requesting an interview on my part with one of the noblemen or gentlemen of her household, whom I met; and was informed by him from her royal highness, that such communications exceedingly distressed her, in recalling a past dreadful period of her life; for that there was no truth in them, and that her brother, the Duke of Normandy, died in the Temple. With deep and sincere protestations of regret at having been the cause of pain to her royal highness, and made the unconscious dupe of either a knave or a fool, instead of bringing forward an illustrious unknown to his due place in history, I took my leave; and think this account ought to scatter for ever to the winds all tales,in esseorposse, of pretended Dauphins of France and Dukes of Normandy.
I should mention, that in my interview with thesoi-disantDauphin, he showed me various portraits of Louis XVI., and then bade me look at his own features, in every attitude and form, and say if the likeness was not most striking and remarkable. I could not deny it; and in truth was so impressed with his whole account, that I began to look upon the humble individual before me with something of the reverence due to majesty, shorn of its glories.
J. M.
P.S.—I now recollect that the name of this pretended Dauphin was Mevis, and that he was said to have been seen in Regent Street by a friend of mine about five years ago; and may, for aught I know, be still living.
Oxford, Sept. 2.
Visiting Cards(Vol. iv., p. 133.).—In answer to your 87th Query, it may serve in part to help to show "when visiting cards first came into use," by informing you that about six or eight years ago a house in Dean Street, Soho, was repaired (I think No. 79.), where Allison and Co., the pianoforte makers, now of the Quadrant, formerly resided; and, on removing a marble chimney-piece in the front drawing-room, four or five visiting cards were found, one with the name of"Isaac Newton" on it. The names were allwrittenon the back of common playing cards; and it is not improbable that one or more may still be in the possession of Mr. Allison, 65. Quadrant. The house in Dean Street was the residence of either Hogarth or his father-in-law.
A. MITE.
—I beg to refer such of your readers as take an interest in the discussion of "Sardonic Smiles" to a treatise or memoir on the subject, by a learned scholar and antiquary in the St. Petersburgh Transactions for 1851. The title of the memoir is as follows:Die Talos-Sage und das Sardonische Lachen. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Griechischer Sage und Kunst, von Ludwig Mercklin.The memoir is also printed separately, from theMémoires des Savants Etrangers.
J. M.
Oxford, August 4.
—As no one has answered your correspondent by referring him to a copy of this ballad, I have great pleasure in calling his attention toA Collection of Songs, Moral, Sentimental, Instructive, and Amusing, 4to. Cambridge, 1805. At p. 152. of this volume, the "pleasant old ditty" of "Darby and Joan" is given at length, accompanied with the music. The editor, the Rev. James Plumptre, M.A., tells us that it is "attributed to Matthew Prior." As this book is somewhat difficult to procure, your correspondent is welcome to the loan of my copy.
EDWARDF. RIMBAULT.
—In reference to the inquiry of your correspondent A. B. C., for any instances of bishops and priests who, during the first three centuries, were married after ordination, I may suggest that the Council of Nice in 325 declared it to be then "an ancient traditionof the Church that they who were unmarried when promoted to holy orders should not afterwards marry."—Socrates,Hist. Eccl., lib. i. cap. ii.; Sozomen,Hist. Eccl., lib. i. c. xxiii.
May not the proper translation in the text which he quotes, 1 Cor. ix. 5., be "woman," instead of "wife;" and might not the passage be more accurately rendered by the expression "sister-woman?" Clemens Alexandrinus says (Stromat., lib. iii. edit. Poterii, Venet. 1757, tom. i. p. 526.): "Not as wives but as sisters did the women go round with the apostles:" and see also Matt. xxvii. 55., Mark xv. 41., and Luke viii. 3.
DORFSNAIG.
—LORDBRAYBROOKEhas furnished your readers with a very curious list of the various printed forms in which, at different times, this popular song has been given to the world; but he has omitted one which I think ought to be placed on record. I allude to a copy contained in the third number ofThe Foundling Hospital for Wit, a rare miscellany of "curious pieces," printed for W. Webb, near St. Paul's, 8vo. 1746 (p. 23.). This work was printed in numbers, at intervals, the first bearing date 1743; and the sixth, and last, 1749. My copy is particularly interesting as having the blank names filled up in a cotemporary hand, and the authors' names, in many cases, added. The song ofWinifredais assigned to "Mr. G. A. Stevens;" so that, after all, the Edinburgh reviewer may have confoundedGeorgeSteevens, the "commentator," with his earlier and equally facetious namesake,George Alexander.
George Alexander Stevens was born (if a MS. obituary in my possession may be relied on) "in the parish of St. Andrew's Holborn, 1710." He died (according to theBiographia Dramatica) "at Baldock in Hertfordshire, Sept. 6, 1784."
EDWARDF. RIMBAULT.
—The printed books and MSS. of the late George Chalmers were disposed of by auction in 1841 and 1842 by Mr. Evans of Pall Mall. The particular MS. inquired after by J. O. occurs in the third part of the printed sale catalogue, and is numbered 1891. It is thus described by Mr. Evans:
"CHALMERS'SBIBLIOGRAPHIASCOTICAPOETICA, or NOTICES OFSCOTTISHPOETS AND THEIRWORKS, from 1286 to 1806, 4 vols. Chalmers'sNotices of the Scottish Poetry, Drama, and Songs, 2 vols., together 6 vols.
***These Volumes contain a great fund of Information, and furnish very valuable Materials for a History of Scotch Poetry. They would also be very useful to Collectors."
Lot 1894. is also highly interesting. It is described as—
"RITSON'SBIBLIOGRAPHIASCOTICA, 2 vols. Unpublished.
***A very Valuable Account of Scottish Poets and Historians, drawn up with great care and indefatigable Research by Ritson. The Work was intended for Publication. These Volumes were purchased at the sale of Ritson's Library by Messrs. Longman and Constable for Forty-three Guineas, and presented to George Chalmers, Esq., who had edited Sir D. Lyndsay's Works for them gratuitously."
My catalogue of Chalmers's library, unfortunately, has not the prices or purchasers' names; and the firm of the Messrs. Evans being no longer in existence, I have no means of ascertaining the present locality of the above-mentioned MSS.
EDWARDF. RIMBAULT.
—W. FRASERis quite right in repudiating thecockneyerror of "Queen, Lords, and Commons" forming the "three estates of the realm." The sovereign isoverthe "realm;" a word which obviously designates the personsruled. W. F.however does not exactly hit the mark when he infers, that "the Lords, the Clergyin convocation, and the Commons" are the "three estates." The phrase "assembled in Parliament" has no application to the Convocation; which moreover does not sit at Westminster, and was not exposed to the peril of the gunpowder plot. The three estates of the realm are the three orders (états) into which all natural-born subjects are legally divided: viz. theclergy, thenobility, and thecommonalty. They are represented "in Parliament" by the "Lords Spiritual," the "Lords Temporal," and the "Commons" (elected by their fellows). The three estates thus meet their sovereign in the "chamber of Parliament" at the opening of every session; and there it was that the plot was laid for their destruction.
W. F. is no doubt aware that originally they alldeliberatedalso together, and in the presence of the sovereign or his commissioners: and though, for the freedom of discussion, the sovereign now withdraws, and the Commons deliberate in a separate chamber (leaving the chamber of Parliament to be used as "the House of Lords," both Spiritual and Temporal), yet to this day they all reassemble for the formalpassingof every act; and the authority of all three is recited by their proper names in the preamble.
The first and second estates are not fused into one, simply because they continue to deliberate and vote together as all three did at the first.
TheConvocationof the Clergy was altogether a different institution, which never met either the sovereign or the Parliament: but their order wasrepresentedin the latter by the prelates. It is another mistake (therefore) to think the Bishops sit in the House of Lords asBarons.
CANONICUSEBORACENSIS.
—When I was a boy, about sixty-five years ago, Mr. Holder (a surgeon of some eminence at that time) was a frequent visitor at our house, and much amused us by several catches in which (under his instruction) we delighted to join; and among which was—
"Ifriend, drink tothee, friend, asmyfriend drank tome;Ifriend, chargethee, friend, asmyfriend chargēdme;Sŏ dŏthou, friend, drĭnk tŏthyfriend, asmyfriend drank tome,For the more we drink liquor the merrier are we."
"Ifriend, drink tothee, friend, asmyfriend drank tome;
Ifriend, chargethee, friend, asmyfriend chargēdme;
Sŏ dŏthou, friend, drĭnk tŏthyfriend, asmyfriend drank tome,
For the more we drink liquor the merrier are we."
R. S. S.
56. Fenchurch Street.
—Broad halpeny, orbroad halfpenny, signifies to be quit of a certain custom exacted for setting up tables or boards in fairs or markets; and those that were freed by the King's charter of this custom, had this word put in their letters-patent: by reason whereof, the freedom itself (for brevity of speech) is calledbroad halfpenny. (Les Termes de la Ley.) Hence the origin of "Broad-halfpenny Down."
FRANCISCUS.
Whence the name I cannot say, but would just note the fact, that sixteen miles from London, on the Brighton railway, is a breezy upland calledFarthing Down. The country folk deem it a sufficiently famous place, and one told me "that was once London;" meaning, a town stood there before London was built. It is a locality well known to those who hunt with the Croydon pack.
P. M. M.
—Is it true that the following rhymes apply to one of the Horners of Mells?
"Little Jack HornerSat in a corner,Eating a Christmas pie,He put in his thumb,And pulled out a plum,And said what a good boy am I."
"Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said what a good boy am I."
The plum being 100,000l. I have been told a long story on the matter by Somersetshire people.
P. M. M.
—The lines so felicitously quoted by Mr. Serjeant Byles at a recent trial were thus given inThe Times:
"The man of law who never sawThe way to buy and sell,Wishing to rise by merchandise,Shall never speed him well."
"The man of law who never saw
The way to buy and sell,
Wishing to rise by merchandise,
Shall never speed him well."
This version is rather nearer the original than that of your correspondent MR. KING, who avowedly writes from memory. The author of the lines was Sir Thomas More. They are thus given in "A Mery Jest how a Sergeant would learn to play the Freere. Written by Maister Thomas More in hys youth:"
"A man of lawe that never saweThe wayes to bye and sell,Wenyng to ryse by marchaundyse,I praye God spede hym well!"
"A man of lawe that never sawe
The wayes to bye and sell,
Wenyng to ryse by marchaundyse,
I praye God spede hym well!"
My quotation is at second-hand from Warton'sHistory of English Poetry, sect. xliii.
C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge, August 30. 1851.
[We are also indebted to T. LAWRENCEand BARTANUSfor replying to this Query. The latter adds, "The poem is given at length in the History of the English Language prefixed to the 4to. edition of Johnson'sDictionary."]
—The riddle (queryrebus?) for the solution of which your correspondent A. W. H. inquires, may be found printed in vol. i. pp. 109, 110. of the poems of Dr. Byrom, well known as the author of the "Pastoral," inserted with much commendation by Addison inthe 8th volume of theSpectator, and the supposed inventor of the universal English short-hand. The author of the rebus seems to have been then unknown (1765), and it is said to have been "commonly ascribed to Lord Chesterfield." Whether this was asserted in jest, does not appear: but Dr. Byrom, to whom application for a solution had been made, in the course of his reply, given in his own peculiar style, has the following passage, which may be a guide to those who may now seek to arrive at the mystery:—
"Made for excuse, you see, upon the whole,The too great number of words, that pollFor correspondency to ev'ry line;And make the meant one tedious to divine:But we suspect that other points ambiguous,And eke unfair, contribute to fatigue us.For first, with due submission to our betters;What antient city would have eighteen letters?Or more?—for, in the latter lines, the clueMay haveonecorrespondent word or two:Clue should have said, if only one occurr'd,Not correspondentwordsto each, butword.From some suspicions of a bite, we guessThe number of the letters to be less;And, from expression of a certain cast,Some joke, unequal to the pains at last:Could you have said that all was right and clever,We should have try'd more fortunate endeavour.It should contain, should this sameJEU DE MOTS,Clean-pointed turn, short, fair, and>A PROPOS;Wit without straining; neatness without starch;Hinted, tho' hid; and decent, tho' tis arch;No vile idea should disgrace a rebus—SIC DICUNT MUSÆ, SIC EDICIT PHŒBUS."
"Made for excuse, you see, upon the whole,The too great number of words, that pollFor correspondency to ev'ry line;And make the meant one tedious to divine:But we suspect that other points ambiguous,And eke unfair, contribute to fatigue us.
"Made for excuse, you see, upon the whole,
The too great number of words, that poll
For correspondency to ev'ry line;
And make the meant one tedious to divine:
But we suspect that other points ambiguous,
And eke unfair, contribute to fatigue us.
For first, with due submission to our betters;What antient city would have eighteen letters?Or more?—for, in the latter lines, the clueMay haveonecorrespondent word or two:Clue should have said, if only one occurr'd,Not correspondentwordsto each, butword.
For first, with due submission to our betters;
What antient city would have eighteen letters?
Or more?—for, in the latter lines, the clue
May haveonecorrespondent word or two:
Clue should have said, if only one occurr'd,
Not correspondentwordsto each, butword.
From some suspicions of a bite, we guessThe number of the letters to be less;And, from expression of a certain cast,Some joke, unequal to the pains at last:Could you have said that all was right and clever,We should have try'd more fortunate endeavour.
From some suspicions of a bite, we guess
The number of the letters to be less;
And, from expression of a certain cast,
Some joke, unequal to the pains at last:
Could you have said that all was right and clever,
We should have try'd more fortunate endeavour.
It should contain, should this sameJEU DE MOTS,Clean-pointed turn, short, fair, and>A PROPOS;Wit without straining; neatness without starch;Hinted, tho' hid; and decent, tho' tis arch;No vile idea should disgrace a rebus—SIC DICUNT MUSÆ, SIC EDICIT PHŒBUS."
It should contain, should this sameJEU DE MOTS,
Clean-pointed turn, short, fair, and>A PROPOS;
Wit without straining; neatness without starch;
Hinted, tho' hid; and decent, tho' tis arch;
No vile idea should disgrace a rebus—
SIC DICUNT MUSÆ, SIC EDICIT PHŒBUS."
T.W. (1)
[We are also indebted to R. P. for a similar Reply.]
—As L. M. M. R. is not certain as to the title and author of the book he inquires about, perhaps he may find it under the title ofThe Semi-sceptic, or the Common Sense of Religion considered, by the Rev. J. T. James, M.A.; London, 1825. This is a very unpretending but very beautiful work, of some 400 pages. The author died Bishop of Calcutta.
O. T. DOBBIN.
—In answer to EMUN, allow me to name aLife of St. Paulby the Rev. Dr. Addington, an eminent dissenting minister of the close of the last century; a work on the life and epistles of St. Paul by Mr. Bevan, a member of the Society of Friends; and two books by Fletcher and Hannah More on the character of the same apostle.
O. T. D.
—I can give no information respecting the commission of July 27, 1733; but on June 2, 8 GEO. II. [1735], a commission issued to Sir William Joliffe, Knt., William Bunbury, Simon Aris, Thomas Brown, Thomas De Veil, Esquires, and others, for inquiring into the officers of the Court of Exchequer, and their fees, "and for the other purposes therein mentioned." I imagine this commission also extended to other courts. The names of the jurors impannelled and sworn as to the Court of Exchequer, July 9, 1735; their oath, presentment, and six schedules of fees, are given in Jones'sIndex to the Originalia and Memoranda Records(London, fo. 1793), vol, i. Preface, xxxiii.-xliv.
C. H. COOPER.
Cambridge.
—I can enumerate several old names, some Anglo-Saxon, in the parishes of Burghfield and Tylchurst, in Berks, belonging to the peasantry, many of whom may have been gentry in bygone years; such as Osborne, Osman, Seward, Wolford, Goddard, Woodward, Redbourne, Lambourne, Englefield, Gower, Harding, Hussey, Coventry, Avery, Stacy, Ilsley, Hamlin, Pigot, Hemans, Eamer, and Powel. A respectable yeoman's widow, whose maiden name was Wentworth, told me she was of the same family as Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, beheaded in Charles's reign.
JULIAR. BOCKETT.
Southcote Lodge.
—The meaning of this word is undoubtedly as D. X. surmises. The original term wasupholder, which is still in occasional use; nextupholster; and, thirdly,upholsterer. In Stowe'sSurvey of London, it appears in the second form: and so alsopoulter, which still exists as a surname. "Mr. Richard Deakes, Uphoulster," was buried at St. Dunstan's in the West, London, in 1630. (Collectanea Topog. et Geneal., v. 378.) It would be worth inquirywhenthe incorrect duplication of termination first produced our modern wordsupholstererandpoulterer? Mr. Pegge remarks, that "Fruitererseems to be equally redundant;" and that "cater-eris writtencaterin the margin of theLife of Gusmand de Alfarache, folio edition, 1622, p. 125. (Anecdotes of the English Language, edit. Christmas, 1844, p. 79.)"
J. G. N.
—Your correspondent. F. W. J., before he receives an answer to his Query, "When did the judges lose the title of Reverend and Very Reverend?" must first show that they ever bore it. By the example he quotes he might as well argue that they bore the title of "Très Sages," as that of "Très Reverend." The fact is, that,as a title, it was never used by them, the words quoted being nothing more than respectful epithets applied to eminent men of a past age, by the editors or publishers of the work.
I very much doubt also whether the style of "The Honorable" is properly given to the judges.
It would be curious to trace the commencement of the practice of addressing a judge on the bench as "My Lord." In the Year Books are numerous instances of his being addressed simply "Syr." Off the bench the chief alone is entitled to the designation "My Lord," and that address can be properly given to the puisne judges only when they are on the circuit, and then because they are acting under a special royal commission.
EDW. FOSS.
—In the ancient ritual of marriage, the ring was placed by the husband on the top of the thumb of the left hand, with the words "In the name of the Father;" he then removed it to the forefinger, saying, "and of the Son;" then to the middle finger, adding, "and of the Holy Ghost;" finally, he left it as now, on the fourth finger, with the closing word "Amen."
R. S. H.
Morwenstow.
The name of Dr. Freund is probably known to many of our readers as that of the most profound lexicographer of the present day, so far as the Latin language is concerned. His larger Latin-German Lexicon is as remarkable for its philosophical arrangement as for the philological acquirements of its author; and of that important and valuable work a translation, or rather an adaption, is now before us, in one handsome octavo volume, under the title ofA Copious and Critical Latin-English Lexicon, founded on the larger German-Latin Lexicon of Dr. William Freund: with Additions and Corrections from the Lexicons of Gesner, Facciolati, Scheller, Georges, &c. By E. A. Andrews. LL.D., &c. Dr. Andrews and his assistants have executed their respective portions of the work in a most able manner; and the book, which in its getting up is as creditable to American typography as its editing is to American scholarship, will, we have no doubt, meet, as it deserves, with a most extensive sale in this country.
The Churchyard Manual, intended chiefly for Rural Districts, by the Rev. W. H. Kelke, is a little volume published for the purpose of promoting the improvement of rural churchyards, by giving them a more truly Christian character. It is illustrated with some extremely pleasing and appropriate monumental designs, and contains a judicious selection of epitaphs, and is indeed altogether well calculated to accomplish the good end at which the author aims.
Archælogical Guide to Ely Cathedral; prepared for the Visit of the Bury and West Suffolk Archælogical Institute, Sept. 1851, is a most useful little tract, calculated not only to increase the interest of the members of the Bury Institute, in their visit to the venerable pile which it describes, but furnishing just the heads of information which future visitors will require, and therefore likely to outlast the temporary object for which it has been so ably compiled.
CATALOGUESRECEIVED.—C. Hamilton's (22. Anderson's Buildings, City Road) Catalogue of Books, Portraits, Original Drawings, Local, Historical, and other important Manuscripts; W. Miller's (3. Upper East Smithfield) Catalogue Part 38. of a Collection of Books in the various Branches of Literature.
***Letters, stating particulars and lowest price,carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.
C. W.If our correspondent lives, as we trust he will, to see our hundredth Volume, we feel assured that what he now considers a blemish he will then estimate very differently.
F. S.The allusion to which our correspondent refers, is to a well-known stanza:
"The Sun's perpendicular heatIllumines the depth of the sea,And the fishes, beginning to sweat,Cry, 'Bless us how hot we shall be.'"
"The Sun's perpendicular heat
Illumines the depth of the sea,
And the fishes, beginning to sweat,
Cry, 'Bless us how hot we shall be.'"
DESPECTUS.Such of the various matters suggested in our correspondent's voluminous communication as are calculated for insertion in our columns shall be introduced as opportunities offer.
RADIX.A diamond Latin Dictionary, by Riddle, has, we believe, been published by Messrs. Longman.
G. M. P.,who inquires as to the origin and proper name of the character"&" (and-per-se-and, and-by-itself-and),is referred to our2nd Vol. pp. 250. 284.
E. A. T. Das Knaben Wunderhornhas never been translated into English. We have no doubt, however, but that translations have been made of many of the pieces contained in it.
LLEWELLYNwill find a note addressed to him at our Publisher's.
REPLIESRECEIVED.—School of the Heart—John of Lilburne—Absalom's Hair—Ray and Wray Families—Meaning of Deal—Nightingale and Thorn—The Termination "-ship"—Repudiate—Swinhope—Unlucky for Pregnant Women to take an Oath—The Man of Law—Presteign—Queen's Messengers—Murderers buried in Cross Roads—Sword-blade Note—Petty Cury—Domesday Book of Scotland—Elision of letter V.—Names first given to Parishes—Dole-bank—The Dauphin—Agla—Coins of Constantius II.—Corpse passing makes a Right of Way—Poulster.
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