"A Hint to a Young Person, for his better Improvement by Reading or Conversation."In reading authors, when you findBright passages that strike the mind,And which perhaps you may have reasonTo think on at another season,Be not contented with the sight,But take them down in black and white.Such a respect is wisely shown,As makes another's sense one's own.When you're asleep upon your bed,A thought may come into your head,Which may be useful, if 'tis takenDue notice of when you are waken.Of midnight thoughts to take no heedBetrays a sleepy soul indeed;It is but dreaming in the day,To throw our nightly hours away.In conversation, when you meetWith persons cheerful and discreet,That speak or quote, in prose or rhyme,Facetious things or things sublime,Observe what passes, and anon,When you get home think thereupon;Write what occurs; forget it not;A good thing sav'd is so much got.Let no remarkable eventPass with a gaping wonderment,A fool's device—'Lord, who would think!'Rather record with pen and inkWhate'er deserves attention now;For when 'tis gone you know not how,Too late you'll find that, to your cost,So much of human life is lost.Were it not for the written letter,Pray what were living men the betterFor all the labours of the dead?For all that Socrates e'er said?The morals brought from Heav'n to menHe would have carry'd back again;'Tis owing to his short-hand youthThat Socrates does now speak truth."Vol. i. p. 59. Edit. 1814.
"A Hint to a Young Person, for his better Improvement by Reading or Conversation.
"A Hint to a Young Person, for his better Improvement by Reading or Conversation.
"In reading authors, when you findBright passages that strike the mind,And which perhaps you may have reasonTo think on at another season,Be not contented with the sight,But take them down in black and white.Such a respect is wisely shown,As makes another's sense one's own.When you're asleep upon your bed,A thought may come into your head,Which may be useful, if 'tis takenDue notice of when you are waken.Of midnight thoughts to take no heedBetrays a sleepy soul indeed;It is but dreaming in the day,To throw our nightly hours away.In conversation, when you meetWith persons cheerful and discreet,That speak or quote, in prose or rhyme,Facetious things or things sublime,Observe what passes, and anon,When you get home think thereupon;Write what occurs; forget it not;A good thing sav'd is so much got.Let no remarkable eventPass with a gaping wonderment,A fool's device—'Lord, who would think!'Rather record with pen and inkWhate'er deserves attention now;For when 'tis gone you know not how,Too late you'll find that, to your cost,So much of human life is lost.Were it not for the written letter,Pray what were living men the betterFor all the labours of the dead?For all that Socrates e'er said?The morals brought from Heav'n to menHe would have carry'd back again;'Tis owing to his short-hand youthThat Socrates does now speak truth."Vol. i. p. 59. Edit. 1814.
"In reading authors, when you find
Bright passages that strike the mind,
And which perhaps you may have reason
To think on at another season,
Be not contented with the sight,
But take them down in black and white.
Such a respect is wisely shown,
As makes another's sense one's own.
When you're asleep upon your bed,
A thought may come into your head,
Which may be useful, if 'tis taken
Due notice of when you are waken.
Of midnight thoughts to take no heed
Betrays a sleepy soul indeed;
It is but dreaming in the day,
To throw our nightly hours away.
In conversation, when you meet
With persons cheerful and discreet,
That speak or quote, in prose or rhyme,
Facetious things or things sublime,
Observe what passes, and anon,
When you get home think thereupon;
Write what occurs; forget it not;
A good thing sav'd is so much got.
Let no remarkable event
Pass with a gaping wonderment,
A fool's device—'Lord, who would think!'
Rather record with pen and ink
Whate'er deserves attention now;
For when 'tis gone you know not how,
Too late you'll find that, to your cost,
So much of human life is lost.
Were it not for the written letter,
Pray what were living men the better
For all the labours of the dead?
For all that Socrates e'er said?
The morals brought from Heav'n to men
He would have carry'd back again;
'Tis owing to his short-hand youth
That Socrates does now speak truth."
Vol. i. p. 59. Edit. 1814.
M.
Dublin.
—A friend of mine has just informed me, on the authority of one of the principal members of the family, that at Nettlecombe Park, in Somersetshire, the seat of Sir John Trevelyan, Bt., there is now existing a stuffed specimen, entire, of the supposed extinct bird, the Dodo.
How is it that such an important fact should have escaped the notice of the principal naturalists of the country? At the Great Exhibition there was a manufactured specimen of this bird, which called forth, I believe, the encomium of Mr. Strickland and other well-known naturalists; but not a word was said about this alleged real specimen at Nettlecombe Park. There was in the same case which contained this fictitious Dodo, a cast of the head and leg from the remains now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford,—the only portions, I believe, that were rescued when the entire specimen of the bird, once in that collection, was destroyed. It is said, I think, there are other remains somewhere abroad; but that there is noentirespecimen of the Dodo now in existence anywhere, is, I imagine, the universal belief. I hope that you, or some of your correspondents, may be able to solve this mystery, or set my friends right should they be labouring under some mistake.
ROWLANDWINN.
—I lately came across the following curious piece of genealogical reasoning which I think originally appeared inHood's Magazine, and which I have endeavoured to illustrate by the annexed table:
George=12|||William=Anne=Henry|||||||David|||1 2||Thomas=Jane=
There was a widow (Anne) and her daughter-in-law (Jane), and a man (George) and his son (Henry). The widow married the son, and the daughter married the father. The widow was therefore mother (in-law) to her husband's father, and consequently grandmother to her own husband (Henry). By this husband she had a son (David), to whom she was great-grandmother. Now, as the son of a great-grandmother must be either a grandfather or great uncle, this boy (David) was one or the other. He was his own grandfather! This was the case with a boy at school at Norwich.
E. N.
For the Plays of Shakspeare, omitting the Historical English Dramas, "quos versu dicere non est."Cymbeline, Tempest, Much Ado, Verona,Merry Wives, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Errors,Shrew Taming, Night's Dream, Measure, Andronicus,Timon of Athens.Wintry Tale, Merchant, Troilus, Lear, HamletLove's Labour, All's Well, Pericles, Othello,Romeo, Macbeth, Cleopatra, Cæsar,Coriolanus.From a Common-place Book at Audley End.
For the Plays of Shakspeare, omitting the Historical English Dramas, "quos versu dicere non est."
For the Plays of Shakspeare, omitting the Historical English Dramas, "quos versu dicere non est."
Cymbeline, Tempest, Much Ado, Verona,Merry Wives, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Errors,Shrew Taming, Night's Dream, Measure, Andronicus,Timon of Athens.
Cymbeline, Tempest, Much Ado, Verona,
Merry Wives, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Errors,
Shrew Taming, Night's Dream, Measure, Andronicus,
Timon of Athens.
Wintry Tale, Merchant, Troilus, Lear, HamletLove's Labour, All's Well, Pericles, Othello,Romeo, Macbeth, Cleopatra, Cæsar,Coriolanus.From a Common-place Book at Audley End.
Wintry Tale, Merchant, Troilus, Lear, Hamlet
Love's Labour, All's Well, Pericles, Othello,
Romeo, Macbeth, Cleopatra, Cæsar,
Coriolanus.
From a Common-place Book at Audley End.
BRAYBROOKE.
—A writer in theWestminster Reviewfor the present quarter, on "The Early Quakers and Quakerism," says (p. 610.), respecting George Fox,—
"Portrait painters having been in his eyes panderers to the fleshly desires of the creature, we have no likeness of him."
Whether or not there is in existence anauthenticportrait of George Fox, I do not know; but I saw some time since, at the shop of Smith, the Quaker bookseller in Whitechapel, an engraved portrait of Fox, and another of his early coadjutor, James Nayler.
LLEWELLYN.
—George Crawfurd, who wrote aPeerage of Scotland, which was published in folio at Edinburgh in the year 1716, says, under the head of "Crawfurd, Viscount of Garnock," p. 159., that Malcolm Crawfurd, Esq., succeeded to the barony of Kilbirny in right of Marjory his wife, daughter and sole heir of John Barclay of Kilbirny; whereupon he assumed the coat of Barclay, and impaled it with his own:
"Here it may be remarked," he continues, "that all the estate the family ever had, or yet possesses, was acquired to them by marriage: or lands so obtained were exchanged for others lying more contiguous to the rest of their fortune; which gave occasion to a friend to apply to them the following distich:
'Aulam alii jactent, at tu Kilbirnie, nube:Nam quæ fors aliis, dat Venus alma tibi.'"
'Aulam alii jactent, at tu Kilbirnie, nube:
Nam quæ fors aliis, dat Venus alma tibi.'"
Which may be thus translated:
"Let others choose the dice to throw,Do you, Kilbirny, wed:On them what Fortune may bestow,On you will Venus shed."
"Let others choose the dice to throw,
Do you, Kilbirny, wed:
On them what Fortune may bestow,
On you will Venus shed."
C— S. T. P.
W—— Rectory.
It is said in Miss Strickland'sQueens of England(iv. 203.), that there is a tradition at Salle in Norfolk that the remains of Anne Boleyn were removed from the Tower, and interred at midnight, with the rites of Christian burial, in Salle Church, and that a plain black stone without any inscription is supposed to indicate the place where she was buried. An account of Salle Church, with the inscriptions on the Boleyn monuments, is given in the 4th volume of Blomefield'sNorfolk(folio ed.), p. 421., but no allusion is made to any such tradition; and other parts of the same work, where the Boleyns (including the Queen) are referred to, are equally silent on the subject. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, in hisHistory of King Henry VIII., does not state how or where she was buried. Hollingshed, Stow, and Speed say, that her body, with the head, was buried in the choir of the chapel in the Tower; and Sandford, that she was buried in the chapel of St. Peter in the Tower.
Burnet (vol. i. p. 318.), who is followed by Henry, Hume, and Lingard, says that her body was thrown into a common chest of elm-tree that was made to put arrows in, and was buried in the chapel within the Tower, before twelve o'clock. Sharon Turner, in hisHistory of the Reign of King Henry VIII., vol. ii p. 464., cites the following passage from Crispin's account of Anne Boleyn's execution, written fourteen days after her death, viz.:
"Her ladies immediately took up her head and the body. They seemed to be without souls, they were so languid and extremely weak; but fearing that their mistress might be handled unworthily by inhuman men, they forced themselves to do this duty; and though almost dead, at last carried off her dead body wrapt in a white covering."
In a letter in theGentleman's Magazinefor October, 1815, signed "J. C.," it is said—
"But the headless remains of the departed Queen were said to be deposited in an arrow-chest, and buried in the Tower Chapel, before the High Altar. Where that stood, the most sagacious antiquary, after a lapse of less than three hundred years, cannot now determine; nor is the circumstance, though related by eminent writers, clearly ascertained. In a cellar the body of a person of short stature, without a head, not many years since was found, and supposed to be the reliques of poor Anna; but soon after re-interred in the same place, and covered with earth."
I am informed that the stone in Salle Church was some time since raised, but that no remains were to be found underneath it. Has the tradition referred to by Miss Strickland been noticed by any other writer? and upon what authority does Burnet say that her remains were placed in an arrow-chest? I may add that Miss S. states that a similar tradition is assigned to a black stone in the church at Thornden on the Hill: but Morant, in hisHistory of Essex, does not notice it.
J. H. P.
Can any correspondents of "N. & Q." who may have paid particular attention to natural history, throw any light or grounds for explaining the fact of there, I may almost say, never being instances of amale tortoiseshell cat? for though I have been very lately told that such a one was exhibited in the great display in Hyde Park, yet as I did not witness it myself, I can only use it as the exception which proves the general rule.
Having for the last fifty years been in the constant habit of keeping cats, and having frequently during that time possessed many of a rare and foreign breed, some of which were tortoise-shells of the most beautiful varieties, I have always endeavoured, by mixing the breeds in every way, to procure a male of this peculiar colour; but with the vast number of kittens that during this long period have fallen under my observation, I have invariably found that if there was the slightest appearance of a singleblack hairon one, otherwisewhite and orange, so sure would it prove a female; and thusvice versâ, an orange hair appearing on a black and white skin, even in the smallest degree, would immediately proclaim the sex.
I have asked for an elucidation of this curious fact from two of our greatest naturalists of the present day, but without any success; I have racked my own brain even for some plausible mode of accounting for it, but in vain; for it should be observed that this peculiarity or line of demarcation as to sexes does not obtain with other animals, for I have seen what may be called tortoiseshell horses and cows, that is, with the same admixture of colours, and yet they have been indiscriminately of both sexes.
Now it is true we hear occasionally of atortoiseshell tom catadvertised as having been seen or heard of, but in all these instances a solution of thenitrate of silverhas beenfreely used to aid the imposition, and with all the pains I have taken, I have never been fortunate enough to meet with abonâ fideocular demonstration.
Should any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." have it in their power to throw light on this curious fact in natural history, it will much gratify me, even if it should prove that I am making much about nothing.
W. R.
Surbiton.
—What is the proper pronunciation of this word? Ninety-nine people out of a hundred will say, asIsaid, "Oāsis, of course!" Let them, however, proceed to consult authorities, and they will begin to be puzzled. Its derivation from the Coptic "wáhe" (or "ouahe," the French way of expressing the Egyptian word wáhe.—Encycl. Metrop.) seems universally admitted. As to the pronunciation, the way in which the word is accented by the different authorities in which I have been able to find it is as follows:—
Ὄασις (πόλις).—Herodot.iii. 26. Larcher'sNotes, and Liddell and Scott'sGreek Lexicon, give no help as to the pronunciation.
Rees'sCyclopædia, and theEncyclopædia Britannica, do not accent the word at all. Brasse'sGreek Gradus, Ainsworth's and Riddle'sDictionaries, Yonge'sGradus, Walker'sRhyming Dictionary, Webster, Richardson, and Johnson, do not even contain the word.
The few authorities whichdoaccent the word, do it "with a difference." Ex. gr.:
O'asis.—Penny Cyclopædia.O'asis.—Imperial Dictionary.O'asis.—Spiers'English-French Dictionary.Oăsis.—Anthon'sLemprière.Oásis.—Brande'sDictionary of Science, &c.Oāsis.—Butler'sClassical Atlas. Index.
O'asis.—Penny Cyclopædia.
O'asis.—Imperial Dictionary.
O'asis.—Spiers'English-French Dictionary.
Oăsis.—Anthon'sLemprière.
Oásis.—Brande'sDictionary of Science, &c.
Oāsis.—Butler'sClassical Atlas. Index.
Who is right? I have searched all the Indices to the Delphin edition of the Latin poets, without finding the word at all. A Cambridge friend quoted at once "sacramque Ammonis oasim;" but, on being pressed, admitted, that if it were not the fag-end of some prize-poem line lurking in his memory, he did not know whence it came. I cannot get anybody to produce me an instance of the use of the word in English poetry. One says, "I am sure it's in Moore," and another, "You're sure to find it in Milton;" but our English poets lack verbal indices. Some such line as "Some green oasis in the desert's waste," haunts my own memory, but I cannot give it a "local habitation." Of course, two or three instances fromEnglishpoets would notabsolutelydetermine the question one way or the other, as we pronounce many words derived from Greek and Latin sources in defiance of their original quantity. Still they would not be without their value. Can any wise man of the East help?
HARRYLEROYTEMPLE.
—About fifty years ago there was an old ballad in praise of Shakspeare which used to be very popular in Warwickshire. All I remember is the following stanza, which, I remember, was the concluding one:—
"The pride of all nature is sweet Willy, O;The pride of our land was sweet Willy, O;And when Willy died, it was Nature that sighedAt the loss of her all—her sweet Willy, O."
"The pride of all nature is sweet Willy, O;
The pride of our land was sweet Willy, O;
And when Willy died, it was Nature that sighed
At the loss of her all—her sweet Willy, O."
Where can the rest of the ballad be obtained? and who was the author?
SAXONICUS.
—In Le Neve'sLives of the Protestant Archbishopsunder Dr. Toby Matthew, Archbishop of York, it is stated that he was appointed Bishop of Durham in 1595; and that on 7th April, Archbishop Whitgift granted a commission to Archbishop Hutton, "to confirm and consecrate this our bishop within the province of Canterbury, which," says Le Neve, "no doubt was done accordingly, though I cannot find, either in his diary or elsewhere, the time when, place where, or the names of the bishops who assisted at that solemnity," (vol. ii. pp. 105-6.). In Surtees'History of Durham, it is said that his consecration took place on "Palm Sunday." Palm Sunday fell on 9th April that year: the very Sunday, therefore, which followed the date of the licence mentioned by Le Neve. I believe Surtees refers toRot. Durhamas his authority. In theChurch of England Magazine, Jan. 1847, p. 13., there is a Life of Dr. T. Matthew, said to be "Abridged from a manuscript in the British Museum, entitled 'The Preaching Bishop,'" &c. Does this document supply the information which Le Neve sought in vain?[3]Can any reader ascertain from the diary, or elsewhere, what the bishop was doing on 9th April, 1595, or where he was; or give any information on the subject?
C. H. D.
[3][The MS. in the British Museum does not supply the information required; it merely corrects Bishop Godwyn's date of the consecration, viz. March, 1594: "but," says the writer, "he was mistaken; it was the year after, for he preached the first sermon after he was made bishop, May 11, 1595, as he himself sets down, being then forty-eight years of age." It is not given in Mr. Perceval's valuable list of the consecrations of English prelates in the Appendix to hisApology for the Apostolical Succession, so that we may conclude it is not to be found among the Lambeth records. It is possible it may be found in the document quoted by Surtees, viz. "Rot. Mathew, A."—ED.]
—Very little is known of these two old actors and managers. When were they born, and when did they die?
EDWARDF. RIMBAULT.
—In case of the friends of any person deceased either objecting to, or not wishing to compel the clergyman to use, the burial service, is there any law toforbidthe corpse being interred in the parish churchyardwithout any religious service at all? Suppose the deceased were a baptized dissenter, who had himself in his lifetime objected to, and whose surviving relatives also objected to the performance of the burial service, though they wished the body to be deposited in the churchyard; does a clergyman render himself liable to any penalty inpermittingthe body to be thus silently interred? Some years ago, at the Kensal Green cemetery the sons of Carlileprotested at the graveagainst the performance ofanyreligious service. The chaplain persisted in its performance in spite of their expressed wishes to the contrary! Was this right or wrong in a legal point of view?
C. H. D.
—Can any of your readers inform me who was the translator of the "Ganganelli (Pope) Bible," published in 1784 in folio, what is the merit of the translation, and who wrote the notes? If I mistake not, Evans, the auctioneer who sold the Duke of Sussex's library, puts in the catalogue that the notes are not the Pope's, it being "a scandalous imposture" in the title-page to say so, "for they have a free-thinking tendency."
The title-page of said Bible says that that Pope and the translator were liberals, and the author of the notes must have been a radical, all very intelligible in those days, but not without instruction to these.
The Duke's copy sold to the British Museum for 30l.May I ask why it is so rare?
J. D. G.
—Information is desired respecting the family of "Wherland," now of Cork, and whether they came from Scotland; and if so, whether the family still exists there? The crest of the Cork Wherlands is a demi-lion rampant out of a ducal coronet.
T. W. W.
—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q.," or, should I not rather say, of its Dutch ally, "DENAVORSCHER," point out the original of the old Flemish proverb,
"Soth play quod play,"
quoted by Chaucer in his Prologue to the "Cook's Tale;" and whether or not there is any history attached to it?
PHILO-CHAUCER.
—The word is not given in Bailey or Richardson. It appears in Holloway's and Halliwell'sProvincial Dictionariesin the plural, and is spelt "calasses." Each quotes Grose, who refers the word to theGentleman's Magazinefor May, 1784; but there the above question only is asked, and is unanswered. It has been suggested that the callis may be so called from its having been founded by some merchant of the Staple of Calais, or from its endowment being derived from donations to the chalice, made by persons to the priest administering extreme unction.Caliswas the old form ofchalice.—Vide Halliwell'sDictionary.
J. P. JUN.
—Can any correspondent oblige me with Notes, critical, philological, or otherwise, illustrative of the subjoined passages, which occur, among many others scarcely less curious, in the above rare tract, of which I am fortunate enough to possess a (not quite perfect) copy? Speaking of Iceland, he says,—
"It is reported, that the Pope long since gaue them a dispensation to receiue the Sacrament in ale, insomuch as for their vncessant frosts there, no wine but was turned to red emayle as soone as euer it came amongst them."
D.iii.
"Other spirits like rogues they have among them, destitute of all dwelling and habitation; and they chillingly complayne if a constable aske themCheuelain the night, that they are going vnto Mount Hecla to warme them."
D.ii.
What isemayle? and isCheuelaforQui va là?
Speaking of a vision of devils, he mentions some with
"Great glaring eyes, that had whole shelues of Kentish oysters in them; and terrible wide mouthes, whereof not one of them but would well haue made a case forMolenax'great gloabe of the world."
D.iii.
Is, then, Wyld's great Globe only a plagiarism from Molenax?
J. EASTWOOD.
—In the second volume, p. 38., of Prescott'sFerdinand and Isabella, are given some lines from Hyta,Guerras de Granada, &c., descriptive of the departure of Abdallah Chico on his fatal expedition against Lucena. These, enumerating all the braveries of the cortège, amongst others, mention
"Cuánto de Espuela de Oro,Cuánta Estribera de Plata."
"Cuánto de Espuela de Oro,
Cuánta Estribera de Plata."
Now, unless this be an oversight of Hyta, his spurs of gold and stirrups of silver require some explanation, since the specification of both does not leave us the alternative of supposing that the former merely meant the sharp corners of the shovel-stirrup, which we all know serve the Oriental horseman of the present day as spurs.
Was Hyta a Spaniard or a Moor?
A. C. M.
—What were the customary badges or cognizances of De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, executed 1450; Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, and John Duke of Bedford, Protectors, temp. Henry VI.; Cardinal Beaufort; the Earls of Somerset, Salisbury, and Arundel, temp. Henry VI.; and Sir John Fastolfe?
BURIENSIS.
—In the first article of the Number of theQuarterly Reviewjust published, onSir Roger de Coverley, by the Spectator, with Notes and Illustrations, by W. Henry Wills, it is stated,—
"At the suggestion of Swift they took advantage of a popular name, and derided the Knight's descent from the inventor of the celebrated country-dance," &c.
I should like to know the authority for this statement respecting Swift, as, at the time of theSpectatorfirst appearing, he was certainly not on good terms with either Addison or Steele. The first Number of theSpectatorwas published on the 1st of March, 1710-11. In Swift's journal, sent to Stella, he says, March 6th,—
"I have not seen Mr. Addison these three weeks: all our friendship is over."
On the 16th he says,—
"Have you seen theSpectatoryet? a paper that comes out every day. 'Tis written by Mr. Steele, who seems to have gathered new life, and have a new fund of wit; it is in the same nature as hisTatlers, and they have all of them had something pretty. I believe Addison and he club. I never see them," &c.
C.DED.
—No doubt some of your readers will be able to tell me where I may find these verses:—
"Princeps Elizabetha tuis Dea magna Britannis."
which is fathered upon Ascham; and the following, which report gives to Camden:—
"Elizabetha suis Diva et Dea sola Britannis."
PETROS.
—Simeon of Durham relates the history of the acts of a council heldA.D.684, in the presence of King Egfrid, and presided over by Archbishop Theodore, at a place calledTwyford, near the river Alne [Ættwyforda, quod significat ad duplex vadum.]—Libellus, &c., p. 44. Is there any vestige or record of the site of Twyford? Camden mentions it when speaking of the Northumberland coast:
"The shore afterwards opens for the river Alaun, which, still retaining the same name it had at Ptolemy's time, is called by contraction Alne, on whose bank isTwifford, q. d.Two-fords, where was held a synod under King Egfrid; and Eslington, Alnwick," &c.
CEYREP.
—Will somebody explain for me the origin of, and right to, these titles, which do not receive the honourof any mention in the ordinary "Baronetages, Knightages," &c. &c.; as also the mode in which the individuals who claim them are addressed in ordinary conversation.
HARRYLEROYTEMPLE.
—A common term for a lad between boyhood and manhood is ahobbledehoy. I find an early use of this word in Tusser'sHundred Points of Husbandry,A.D.1557, in his verses entitledMan's age divided here ye have, By Prenticeships from birth to grave.
"The first seven years bring up as a child,The next to learning, for waxing too wild;The next keep underSir Hobbard de Hoy,The next a man, no longer a boy," &c.
"The first seven years bring up as a child,
The next to learning, for waxing too wild;
The next keep underSir Hobbard de Hoy,
The next a man, no longer a boy," &c.
Can you tell me the origin of this curious term?
W. W. E. T.
Warwick Square, Belgravia.
—Can any of your readers inform me of books treating, scientifically, or giving traditional notices, about the supposed influences of the moon; for instance, on the tides, on lunatics, on timber felled during the wane, on fish taken by moonlight in the tropics?
Also can any account be given of the origin of the tradition that connects "the man in the moon" with the history given of the "man gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day" (Numbers, xv. 32-36.)?
W. H.
—In Pugin'sGlossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament, the author refers to a book containing an account, with illustrations, of the Trésor of the church of St. Ulrich at Augsburg; he also adds, "this book is now very rare." Could any of your correspondents inform me who is the author; for I have searched the Museum catalogue under the names "Augsburg and Ulric, or Udalric," without any success? Probably, if I had the author's name, I might run some chance of finding it.
W. B.
—I should be glad if any of your Edinburgh or other correspondents could favour me with any particulars relating to the above gentleman. He was a well-known book collector, and in the spirit of his purchases the legitimate successor of Richard Heber. He bequeathed his noble collection of books to the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh. In early English poetry the collection is almost unrivalled. Mr. Miller was the purchaser of theHeber Ballads. The collection, in money market value, is nearly equal to the Grenville gift to the British Museum. I have heard the title to the property of Craigentinny was in dispute.
PETROPROMONTORIENSIS.
—Will any correspondent of "N. & Q." inform me when ceased the custom of male heirs apparent to the throne of England having whipping boys? when and why it originated? what remuneration such boys received? and whether our queens had during their state of pupillage any such kinds of convenience. I have only met with the names of two whipping boys; Brown, who stood for Edward VI., and Mungo Murray, who did the like for Charles.
THOS. LAWRENCE.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
—This family can be traced to Anstey from 1700. A descendant in New York has the arms: Argent, a fess ermines between 3. martlets (2. and 1.) sable. Can any correspondent find him any old branches of his family tree?
E.
New York.
—Where could I obtain Testaments in the various languages of Polynesia, more especially in the Feejeean and Samoan? I have applied at the British and Foreign Bible Society without success. These Testaments have been published by this society.
EBLANENSIS.
[Our correspondent should consultThe Bible of every Land, lately published by Bagster and Sons, which gives some account of the different Polynesian and Malayan versions.—See Class V., pp. 299-312.]
—Will any of your Lancashire correspondents be kind enough to inform me whether they have ever met with the following arms in connexion with the name of Thompson in any work on the history of Lancashire, or on any monument in that county, namely, "Per pale, argent and sable, a fess embattled between three falcons, countercharged, belled or?" I believe a family of the name to which the arms are attributed held landed property in the neighbourhood of Hornby and Gressingham.
JAYTEE.
[We know nothing beyond the fact of such a coat being described in an ordinary of arms for Thompson of Lancashire, without any particular locality.]
—What is the origin of the old sign-board "The Silent Woman?" She is represented headless, holding her head under her arm. There is, or was, a sign of this at a small ale-house not far from Ledbury, in Herefordshire, and I was told it was not an uncommon sign in these parts.
F. J. H.
Edinburgh.
[Has not this sign, which we have seen also described as that ofThe Good Woman, its origin in the satirical spirit which prompted the Dutch epigrammist to write,—
"A woman born without a tongue,I can conceive it;But silent, with a tongue in her head,I'll ne'er believe it."]
"A woman born without a tongue,
I can conceive it;
But silent, with a tongue in her head,
I'll ne'er believe it."]
—In what literary paper can I find review of Mr. Hewett'sMemoirs of Tobias Rustat?
C. W.
[A review of this work will be found in theGentleman's Magazineof June, 1850, pp. 638-640.]
—Can any of your readers inform me whether Robert Recorde, who in 1549, or possibly some years later, was Comptroller of the Mint at Bristol, was the same person as the author ofThe Whetstone of Wit, and other mathematical works? Also, whether there is any fuller account of his life to be met with than that given by Hutton?
J. E.
[It does not appear that Robert Recorde, the celebrated mathematician, was ever connected with the Bristol mint. The best account we have met with of the author ofThe Whetstone of Wit, is in Mr. Halliwell's pamphlet onThe Connexion of Wales with the Early Science of England, 8vo., 1840. Consult also a very able and learned article in theCompanion to the British Almanackfor 1837, pp. 30-37., by Professor De Morgan.]
—I shall be obliged to any of your correspondents who can give me references to the following quotations from the works of two great divines:
(1.) "I would that we were well rid of this [the Athanasian] Creed."
(2.) "The Apocalypse either finds a man mad, or leaves him so."
C. MANSFIELDINGLEBY.
[1. The first quotation will be found in a letter of Archbishop Tillotson's to Bishop Burnet, dated Oct. 23, 1694. The archbishop says, "The account given of Athanasius' Creed (i.e.in Burnet'sExposition of the Thirty-nine Articles) seems to me no-wise satisfactory. I wish we were well rid of it." Dr. Birch adds, "The archbishop did not long survive the writing of this letter."—See Birch'sLife of Tillotson, edit. 1752, p. 343.; ed. 1753, p. 315. Consult alsoRemarks upon Dr. Birch's Life of Tillotson, 8vo., 1753, p. 53., anonymous, but attributed to George Smith, a Nonjuror.
2. The second quotation is probably the following, which occurs in Dr. South's Sermon on the Nature and Measures of Conscience (Serm. XXIII.): "Because the light of natural conscience is in many things defective and dim, and the internal voice of God's Spirit not always distinguishable, above all, let a man attend to the mind of God, uttered in Hisrevealed Word: I say, His revealed Word; by which I do not mean that mysterious, extraordinary (and of late so much studied) book called 'The Revelation,' and which, perhaps, the more it is studied, the less it is understood, as generally either finding a man cracked, or making him so; but I mean those other writings of the prophets and apostles, which exhibit to us a plain, sure, perfect, and intelligible rule; a rule that will neither fail nor distract such as make use of it."]
—What are these, extending to seven volumes, regularly paged, and coming down to 1656, referred to in Oldfield'sHistory of Wainfleet? Are they printed works? It is quite a different publication to theCalendarium, &c. in four volumes.
When did the Post Mortem Inquisitions cease?
W. H. L.
[TheInquisitionesquoted by Oldfield are sometimes called Cole'sEscheats, and will be found in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum, the first five volumes in Nos. 756. to 760., and the sixth and seventh, Nos. 410, 411.]
—What is the derivation of this wordCarmarthen?
LLEWELLYN.
[Caermarthen appears to have been theMaridunumof Ptolemy, and theMuridunumof Antoninus, one of the principal stations in the country of the Dimetæ, situated on the Via Julia, or great Roman road. Its modern name of Caermarthen, orCaer Fyrdden, as it is called by the Welsh (by a change of the convertible consonantsfandm, common in their language), implies "a military station fortified with walls," and perfectly agrees with the description given by Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls it, "Urbs antiqua coctilibus muris."]
—These terms are now in constant use, and very differently and vaguely defined. Will any of your correspondents, antiquaries or historians, say what period is comprehended in these terms, and give the date when it should commence, and when terminate?
L. T.
[The late lamented Rev. J. G. Dowling, in hisIntroduction to the Critical Study of Ecclesiastical History, fixes upon the Council of Chalcedon,A.D. 451, as the commencement of the Mediæval, or Middle Ages, which he thinks ended with the revival of classical literature in the fifteenth century, "that age of transition and revolution, combining in itself several of the most striking characteristics of the two states of society between which it forms the interval." This able work ought to find a place in the library of every ecclesiastical student.]
—It is said that the pretty wild flower, the small Woodruff (Asperula Cynanchica), was formerly employed in adorning the walls of churches. Is this true? If so, what was the origin of the custom? Was this particular flower thus used for the reason that it long preserves its scent? Is it mentioned by any early poet in connexion with the decoration of churches?
R. VINCENT.
[Garlands of Rosemary and Woodroof were formerly used to decorate the churches on St. Barnabas' day, as appears by many old entries and church-books;e.g.in the churchwardens' accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, in the city of London, 17 and 19 Edward IV., the following entry occurs: "For Rose garlondis and Woodrove garlondis on St. Barnebe's daye, xjd." The reason Woodroof was used, Gerard tells us in hisHistorie of Plants, p. 965.: "It doth very well attemper the aire, coole and make fresh the place, to the delight and comfort of such as are therein."]
MR.PARKERmakes some inquiries relative to the ancient town-halls of our country towns; and should the following particulars of some still in existence be of service, I shall feel a pleasure in having been the means of gratifying his curiosity.
The town-hall in the city of Hereford is a timber structure built upon twenty-seven pillars, and was originally a very handsome building, but was many years since denuded of its upper story, in which the fourteen different trading companies of the city transacted their business. It was erected by the celebrated John Abel, in the reign of James I. Prior to the erection of the present county hall, the assizes were held in this building.
The town-hall at Leominster, or Butter-cross as it is frequently called by the inhabitants, was erected in the year 1633, by the above-named architect; it stands upon twelve oak pillars, and was originally ornamented with a variety of curious carvings, and the shields of arms of those who contributed towards the expense of its erection, but which have long since vanished. Around the building, just above the pillars, was inscribed the following sentences, but portions of which only now remain. On the south side:
"Vive Deo gratus, toti mundo tumulatus, crimine mundatus, semper transire paratus."
On the east side:
"Where justice reigns, there virtue flows. Sat cito, si sat bene vive ut post vivas. As columns do support the fabric of a building, so noble gentry do subprop the honour of a state."
On the north side:
"In memoriâ æternâ erit Justus, 1663."
In the year 1793, this hall underwent very considerable repairs, more properly called spoliation, by taking down the gables, and with them the curious carvings, shields of arms, &c., which must have greatly destroyed its picturesque effect. It contains a clock, and is surmounted by a cupola, in which is a bell, whereon the hours strike.
The town-halls of Brecon, Kington,[4]and Weobly, and probably others of which at present I can give no particulars, were built by the same person. Mr. Abel being in Hereford when that city was besieged in 1645, was of great service by constructing mills to grind corn for the use of the inhabitants and soldiers confined therein, for which Charles I. afterwards conferred upon him the title of one of his majesty's carpenters.
[4]This hall had similar inscriptions to those of Leominster.
In Sarnesfield churchyard, in the county of Hereford, is a monument consisting of the effigies of himself and his two wives, with the emblems of his profession, executed by his own hands after he reached the patriarchal age of ninety years; it has the following inscription, being his own composition: