NOTES AND QUERIES:

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

CONTENTS.

NOTES.

TRANSLATIONS OF JUVENAL—WORDSWORTH.

Mr. Markland's ascertainment (Vol. i., p. 481.) of the origin of Johnson's "From China to Peru," where, however, I sincerely believe our great moralist intended not so much to borrow the phrase as to profit by its temporary notoriety and popularity, reminds me of a conversation, many years since, with the late William Wordsworth, at which I happened to be present, and which now derives an additional interest from the circumstance of his recent decease.

Some mention had been made of the opening lines of the tenth satire of Juvenal:

"Johnson's translation of this," said Wordsworth, "is extremely bad:

"And I do not know that Gifford's is at all better:

"But", he added, musing, "what is Dryden's? Ha! I have it:

"This is indeed the language of a poet; it is better than the original."

The great majority of your readers will without doubt, consider this compliment to Dryden well and justly bestowed, and his version, besides having the merit of classical expression, to be at once concise and poetical. And pity it is that one who could form so true an estimate of the excellences of other writers, and whose own powers, it will be acknowledged, were of a very high order, should so often have given us reason to regret his puerilities and absurdities. This language, perhaps, will sound like treason to many; but permit me to give an instance in which the late poet-laureate seems to have admitted (which he did not often do) that he was wrong.

In the first edition of the poem of Peter Bell (the genuine, and not the pseudo-Peter), London, 8vo. 1819, that personage sets to work to bang the poor ass, the result of which is this, p. 36.:

After remarks on Peter's strange state of mind when saluted by this horrible music, and describing him as preparing to seize the ass by the neck, we are told his purpose was interrupted by something he just then saw in the water, which afterwards proves to be a corpse. The reader is, however, first excited and disposed to expect something horrible by the following startling conjectures:—

This last stanza was omitted in subsequent editions. Indeed, it is not very easy to imagine what it could possibly mean, or how any stretch of imagination could connect it with the appearance presented by a body in the water.

To return, however, from this digression to the subject of translations. In the passage already quoted, the reader has been presented with a proof how well Dryden could compress the words, without losing the sense, of his author. In the following, he has done precisely the reverse.

In the year 1801 there was published at Oxford, in 12mo., a translation of the satires of Juvenal in verse, by Mr. William Rhodes, A.M., superior Bedell of Arts in that University, which he describes in his title-page as "nec verbum verbo." There are some prefatory remarks prefixed to the third satire in which he says:

"The reader, I hope, will neither contrast the following, nor the tenth satire, with the excellent imitation of a mighty genius; though similar, they are upon a different plan. I have not adhered rigidly to my author, compared with him; and if that were not the case, I am very sensible how little they are calculated to undergo so fiery an ordeal."

And speaking particularly of the third satire, he adds:

"This part has been altered, as already mentioned, to render it more applicable to London: nothing is to be looked for in it but the ill-humour of the emigrant."

The reader will perhaps recollect, that in the opening of the third satire, Juvenal represents himself about to take leave of his friends Umbritius, who is quitting Rome for Canæ: they meet on the road (the Via Appia), and turning aside, for greater freedom of conversation, into the Vallis Egeriæ, the sight of the fountain there, newly decorated with foreign marbles, leads to an expression of regret that it was no longer suffered to remain in the simplicity of the times of Numa:

In imitating this passage, Mr. Rhodes, finding no fons Egeriæ, no Numa, and perhaps no Muses in London, transfers his regrets from a rivulet to a navigable stream; and makes the whole ridiculous, by suggesting that the Thames would look infinitely better if it flowed through grass, as every ordinary brook would do.

W (1.)

DEDICATION TO MILTON BY ANTONIO MALATESTI.

Dr. Todd, in his Life of Milton, ed. 1826, mentions the accidental discovery of a manuscript by Antonio Malatesti, bearing the following title:

"La Tina Equivoci Rusticali di Antonio Malatesti, c[=o]posti nella sua Villa di Taiano il Settembre dell' Anno 1637. Sonetti Cinqu[=a]nta. Dedicati al' III'mo Signore et Padrone Oss'mo Signor Giovanni Milton, Nobil' Inghilese."

It seems that this MS. had been presented, together with Milton's works, to the Academy della Crusca, by Mr. Brand Hollis, but had by some chance again found its way to England, and was sold by auction at Evans's some short time before Mr. Todd published this second edition of Milton's Life.

I know not if there has been any further notice of this MS., which is interesting as a monument of the respect and attention our great poet received from the most distinguished literary men of Italy at the time of his visit, and I should be glad if any of your correspondents can indicate its existence, {147} and the place where it is now preserved. When it was on sale, I had permission to copy the title and a few of the sonnets, which were such as we could not imagine would have given pleasure to the chaste mind of Milton; each of them containing, as the title indicates, an équivoque, which would bear an obscene sense, yet very ingeniously wrapped up. The first sonnet opens thus:—

The second may serve to show the nature of the équivoque:—

Antonio Malatesti was a man of mark in his time, being distinguished for his talent as an improvisatore. Among his friends were Galileo, Coltellini, and Valerio Chimentelli, who have all commendatory poems prefixed to Malatesti's "Sphinx," a collection of poetical enigmas, which has been frequently reprinted. Beside his poetical talent, he studied astronomy, probably under Galileo; and painting, in which he was a pupil of Lorenzo Lippi, author of the "Malmantile Raqquistato," who thus designates him under his academical name of Amostante Latoni (canto i. stanza 61.):—

Malatesti was a member of the Academy degli Apatisti, of which Milton's friends Coltellini and Carlo Dati had been the principal founders. The house of the latter was a court of the Muses, and it was at the evening parties there that all who were distinguished for science or literature assembled: "Era in Firenze la sua Casa la Magione de' Letterati, particolarmente Oltramontani, da lui ricevuti in essa, e trattati con ogni sorta di gentilezza."¹ Heinsius, Menage, Chapelain, and other distinguished foreigners were members of this academy; and it is more than probable that, were its annals consulted, our poet's name would also be found there.

S.W. SINGER.

Mickleham, July 15, 1850.

Footnote 1:(return)

Salvino Salvini Fasti Consolari dell' Academia Fiorentina, 1717, p. 548. Milton's stay of two months at Florence must have been to him a period of pure enjoyment, and seems to have been always remembered with delight:—"Illa in urbe, quam prae ceteris propter elegantiam cum linguæ tum ingeniorum semper colui, ad duos circiter menses substiti; illie multorum et nobilium sanè et doctorum hominum familiaritatem statim contraxi; quorum etiam privatas academias (qui mos illie cum ad literas humaniores assiduè frequentavi). Tui enim Jacobe Gaddi, Carole Dati, Frescobalde, Cultelline, Bonmatthaei, Chimentille Francine, aliorumque plurium memoriam apud me semper gratam atque jucundam, nulla dies delebit."—Defensio Secunda, p. 96., ed. 1698.

PULTENEY'S BALLAD OF "THE HONEST JURY."

On the application for a new trial, in the case of The King against William Davies Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph (1784), wherein was raised the important and interesting question, whether in libel cases the jury were judges of the law as well as the fact, Lord Mansfield, in giving judgment, remarked in reference to trials for libel, before Lord Raymond:

"I by accident (from memory only I speak now) recollect one where the Craftsman was acquitted; and I recollect it from a famous, witty, and ingenious ballad that was made at the time by Mr. Pulteney; and though it is a ballad, I will cite the stanza I remember from it, because it will show you the idea of the able men in opposition, and the leaders of the popular party in those days. They had not an idea of assuming that the jury put it upon another and much better ground. The stanza I allude to is this:—

"It was the admission of the whole of that party; they put it right; they put it upon the meaning of the innuendos; upon that the jury acquitted the defendant; and they never put up a pretence of any other power, except when talking to the jury themselves."

In Howell's State Trials (xxi. 1038.) is a note on this passage. This note (stated to be from the Speeches of Hon. Thomas Erskine) is as follows:—

"It appears by a pamphlet printed in 1754, that Lord Mansfield is mistaken. The verse runs thus:—

Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chancellors (v. 25.) and Lives of the Lord Chief Justices (ii. 543.), and Mr. Harris, in his Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke (i. 221.), give the lines as quoted by Lord Mansfield, with the exception of the last and only important line, which they give, after the note to Erskine's speeches, as

And Lord Campbell (who refers to State Trials, xxi.) says that Lord Mansfield, in the Dean of St. Asaph's Case, misquoted the lines "to suit his purpose, or from lapse of memory."

I know not what is the pamphlet referred to as printed in 1754; but on consulting the song itself, as given in the 5th volume of the Craftsman, 337., and there entitled "The Honest Jury; or, Caleb Triumphant. To the tune of 'Packington's Pound,'" I find not only that Lord Mansfield's recollection of the stanza he referred to was substantially correct, but that the opinion in support of which he cited it is expressed in another stanza besides that which he quoted. The first verse of the song is as follows:

In the third verse are the lines Lord Mansfield cited from memory:—

Lord Campbell and Mr. Harris both make another mistake with reference to this ballad which I may perhaps be excused if I notice. They say that it was composed on an unsuccessful prosecution of the Craftsman by Sir Philip Yorke, and that this unsuccessful prosecution was subsequent to the successful prosecution of that paper on December 3rd, 1731. This was not so: Sir Philip Yorke's unsuccessful prosecution, and to which of course Pulteney's ballad refers, was in 1729, when Francklin was tried for printing "The Alcayde of Seville's Speech," and, as the song indicates, acquitted.

C.H. COOPER.

Cambridge, July 29. 1850.

NOTES ON MILTON.

(Continued from Vol. ii., p. 115)

Comus.

On l. 8. (G.):—

Macbeth, iii. 2.

On l. 101. (M.):—

Fletcher's Purple Island C. ix. St. 1.

On l. 102. (M.):—

On l. 155. (D.):—

Sylvester's Du Bartas. Week i. Day 1.

On l. 162. (G.):—

Warners Albion's England, p. 155. ed. 1612.

On l. 166. (G.):—

Beaumont and Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 5.

On l. 215. (G.) "Unblemished" was originally (Trin. Coll. Cam. MSS.) written "unspotted," perhaps from Drayton:—

On l. 254. (G.) Add to Mr. Warton's note, that after the creation of Sir Robert Dudley to be Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth in 1564, "He sat at dinner in his kirtle." So says Stow in Annals, p. 658. edit. 1633.

On l. 290. (G.):—

Randolph's Aristippus, p. 18. 4to. ed. 1630.

On l. 297. (G.):—

Fletcher's Purple Island, C. 6. S. 28. p. 71. ed. 1633.

On l. 331. (G.):—

Wither's Mistresse of Philarete.

On l. 335. (G.):—

Cartwright's Poems, p. 220. ed. 1651.

On l. 345. (G.):—

Drummond, p. 128.

On l. 373. (G.):—

Spenser's F. Queene.

(D.) For what is here finely said, and again beautifully expressed (v. 381.), we may perhaps refer to Ariosto's description of the gems which form the walls of the castle of Logistilla, or Reason:—

Orl. Fur. x. 60.

On l. 404. (G.):—

Hamlet> i. 3.

On l. 405. (G.):—

All's Well that ends Well, iii. 4.

On l. 421. (M.):—

2 Henry IV., iii. 2.

On l. 424. (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Eclog., i. p. 4. ed. 1633.

On l. 494. (G.) The same sort of compliment occurs in Wither's Sheperd's Hunting. (See Gentleman's Mag. for December 1800, p. 1151.)

He adds:—

Juvenilia, p. 417. ed. 12mo. 1633.

On l. 535. (M.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Poetical Miscellanies, p. 65. ed. 1633.

On l. 544. (D.):—

Herrick's Hesperides, p. 223.

On l. 554 (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Purple Island, p. 112. ed. 1633.

On l. 635. (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Purple Island, p. 113.

On l. 707. (G.) A passage in the Spanish Tragedy confirms Mr. Warton's reasoning—

Old Plays, vol. iii. p. 214. ed. 1780.

On l. 734. (G.):—

Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, Act iv.

On l. 752. (G.):—

Quarles' Argalus and Parthenia, p. 118. ed. 1647.

On l. 812. (G.):—

Drayton, p. 586. ed. 1753.

E. of Sterline's Works, p. 251. ed. 1637.

On l. 834. (D.):—

The Country Life, Herrick's Hesperides, p. 269.

(G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Purple Island, p. 117.

On l. 853. (G.) Compare this line of Drayton in his Baron's Warrs:—

Vol. i. p. 110. ed. 1753.

On l. 861. (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Pur. Island, C. 5. St. 31. p. 54.

On l. 862. (M.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Poet. Miscell., p 67. ed. 1633.

On l. 863. (G.) The use of Ambergris, mentioned in Warton's note, appears from Drayton, v. ii. p. 483.:—

On l. 886. (G.):—

Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, Act iv.

On l. 894. (G.):—

Lingua iv. 4. Old Plays, v. 5. p. 202. ed. 1780.

On l. 924. (M.) Mr. Warton says this votive address was suggested by that of Amoret in the Faithful Shepherdess; but observes that "the form and subject, rather than the imagery, is copied." In the following maledictory address from Ph. Fletcher's 2nd eclogue, st. 23., the imagery is precisely similar to Milton's, the good and evil being made to consist in the fulness or decrease of the water, the clearness or muddiness of the stream, and the nature of the plants flowing on its banks:—

P. 13. ed. 1633.

See also the "Masque," in Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy, Act I. vol. i. p. 17. edit. 1750.

On l. 936. (G.):—

Spenser's F. Queen, vol. ii. p. 146. ed. 1596.

On l. 958. (G.):—

As You Like It, iii. 2.

On l. 989. (D.) See Bethsabe's address to Zephyr in tire opening of Peele's David and Bethsabe:—

On l. 995. (D.):—

Robert Henryson's Garment of Good Ladies. See Ellis' Spec. of Early Eng. Poets, i. 362.

J.F.M.

FOLK LORE.

High Spirits considered a Sign of impending Calamity or Death (Vol. ii., p. 84.).—

Second Part of King Henry IV., Act iv. Sc. 2.

In the last act of Romeo and Juliet, Sc. 1, Romeo comes on, saying,—

Immediately a messenger comes in to announce Juliet's death.

In Act iii. Sc. 2., of King Richard III., Hastings is represented as rising in the morning in unusually high spirits. This idea runs through the whole scene, which is too long for extraction. Before dinner-time he is beheaded.

X.Z.

Norfolk Popular Rhymes.—On looking over an old newspaper, I stumbled on the following rhymes, which are there stated to be prevalent in the district in which these parishes are situated, viz. between Norwich and Yarmouth:—

They seem to proceed simply on the alliterative principle mentioned by J.M.B. (Vol. i., p. 475.) as common to many popular proverbs, &c. Two others I subjoin from my own recollection, which differ in this particular:—

These are four villages on the road between Norwich and Cromer. A third couplet alludes merely to the situation of a group of villages near the sea-coast,—

E.S.T.

Throwing Salt over the Shoulder.—This custom I have frequently observed, of taking a pinch of salt without any remark, and flinging it over the shoulder. I should be glad to know its origin.

E.S.T.

Charming for Warts.—In Vol. i., p. 19., a correspondent asks if the custom of "charming for warts" prevails in England.

A year or two ago I was staying in Somersetshire, and having a wart myself, was persuaded to have it "charmed." The village-charmer was summoned; he first cut off a slip of elder-tree, and made a notch in it for every wart. He then rubbed the elder against each, strictly enjoining me to think no more about it, as if I looked often at the warts the charm would fail.

In about a week the warts had altogether disappeared, to the delight of the operator.

N.A.B.

NOTES ON COLLEGE SALTING; TURKISH SPY; DR. DEE; FROM "LETTERS FROM THE BODLEIAN, &c." 2 VOLS. 1813.

Having been lately reading through this interesting collection, I have "noted" some references to subjects which have been discussed in your columns.

1. College Salting. Salt at Eton Montem (Vol. i., pp. 261. 306. 321. 384. 390. 492.).—I am not quite clear as to the connection between these two subjects: but an identity of origin is not improbable. A letter from Mr. Byrom to Aubrey, "On the Custom of Salting at Eton," Nov. 15. 1693, is in vol. ii. p. 167.:

"I could send you a long answer to your queries, but have not the confidence to do it; for all that I can say was only heard from others when I was at school at Eton, and if I should depend upon that, perhaps I should make too bold with truth. 'Twas then commonly said that the college held some lands by the custom of salting; but having never since examined it, I know not how to account for it. One would think, at first view, considering the foundation was designed for a nursery of the Christian religion, and has not been in being much above 250 years, that it is not likely any remains of the Gentiles, relating to their sacrifices, should in so public a manner be suffered in it; however, I cannot but own with those that understand anything of antiquity, that the Christians very early assumed some rites of the heathens; and probably it might be done with this design,—that the nations, seeing a religion which in its outward shape was something like their own, might be the sooner pursuaded to embrace it. To be free, sir, with you, I am apt to believe, for the honour of that society of which I was once an unworthy member, that the annual custom of salting alludes to that saying of our Saviour to His disciples, 'Ye are the salt of the earth;' for as salt draws up all that matter that tends to putrefaction, so it is a symbol of our doing the like in a spiritual state, by taking away all natural corruption.... If this will not please, why may it not denote that wit and knowledge by which boys dedicated to learning ought to distinguish themselves. You know what sal sometimes signifies among the best Roman authors: Publius Scipio omnes sale facetiisque superabat, Cic.; and Terent, Qui habet salem qui in te est."

The Editor has a note on this letter:—

"There have been various conjectures relative to the origin of this custom. Some have supposed that it arose from an ancient practice among the friars of selling consecrated salt and others, with more probability, from the ceremony of the bairn or boy-bishop, as it is said to have been formerly a part of the Montem-celebration for prayers to be read by a boy dressed in the clerical habit."

A letter from Dr. Tanner to Mr. Hearne on Barne or Boy-bishops, is in vol. i., p. 302.

2. The Turkish Spy (Vol. i., p. 324.; vol. ii., p. 12.).—The letter or the authorship of this work quoted by DR. RIMBAULT from the Bodleian MSS., is printed in vol. i. p. 233.; and I observe that DR. R. has incorporated in his communication the Editor's note on the passage.

3. Dr. Dee (Vol. i., pp. 216. 284.).—A letter about Dr. Dee from Mr. Ballard to T. Hearne occurs in vol. ii. p. 89. It does not throw light on the question of why Dr. Dee left Manchester College? There are also notes for a life of Dee among Aubrey's Lives, appended to these Letters (vol. ii. p. 310.) Both letters and notes refer to original sources of information for Dee's Life.

CH.

MINOR NOTES.

Alarm.—A man is indicted for striking at the Queen, with intent (among other things) to alarm her Majesty. It turns out that the very judge has forgotten the legal (which is also the military) meaning of the word. An alarm is originally the signal to arm: Query, Is it not formed from the cry à l'arme, which in modern times is aux armes? The judge said that from the courage of her family, most likely the Queen was not alarmed, meaning, not frightened. But the illegal intent to alarm merely means the intent to make another think that it is necessary to take measures of defence or protection. When an alarm is sounded, the soldier who is not alarmed is the one who would be held to be frightened.

M.

Taking a Wife on Trial.—The following note was made upon reading The Historical and Genealogical Account of the Clan of Maclean, by a Seneachie, published by Smith, Elder, and Co., London, 1838. It may be thought worthy of a corner amongst the Notes on Folk Lore, which form so curious and entertaining a portion of the "NOTES AND QUERIES."

In the beginning of the year 1608 a commission, consisting of the Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of the Isles (Andrew Knox), Andrew Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, and Sir James Hay of Kingask, proceeded to the Isles with power to summon the chiefs to a conference, for the purpose of intimating to them the measures in contemplation by the government. A meeting for this purpose was held at Aross Castle, one of the seats of Maclean, in Mull, at which the principal barons and heads of houses attended.

The regulations contemplated had for their object the introduction of an additional number of pious divines, who were to be provided for out of the lands of the great island proprietors; the abolishing a certain remarkable custom which till then prevailed, namely, that of taking a wife on approbation, or, in plain intelligible terms, on trial!

The following are two examples recorded of this singular custom.

John Mac-Vic Ewen, fourth laird of Ardgour, had handfasted (as it was called) with a daughter of Mac Ian of Ardnamurchan, whom he had taken on a promise of marriage, if she pleased him. At the expiration of two years he sent her home to her father; but his son by her, the gallant John of Invorscaddel, a son of Maclean of Ardgour, celebrated in the history of the Isles, was held to be an illegitimate offspring by virtue of the "handfast ceremony."

Another instance is recorded of a Macneil of Borra having for several years enjoyed the society of a lady of the name of Maclean on the same principle; but his offspring by her were deprived {152} of their inheritance by the issue of his subsequent marriage with a lady of the Clanrannald family.

These decisions no doubt tended to the abolition of a custom or principle so subversive of marriage and of the legitimacy of offspring.

J.M.G.

Worcester, July 19.

Russian Language.—A friend of mine, about to go to Russia, wrote to me some time since, to ask if he could get a Russian grammar in English, or any English books bearing on the language. I told him I did not think there were any; but would make inquiry. Dr. Bowring, in his Russian Anthology, states as a remarkable fact, that the first Russian grammar ever published was published in England. It was entitled H.W. Ludolfi Grammatica Russica quæ continet et Manuductionem quandum ad Grammaticam Slavonicam. Oxon. 1696. The Russian grammar next to this, but published in its own language, was written by the great Lomonosov, the father of Russian poetry, and the renovator of his mother tongue: I know not the year, but it was about the middle of the last century. I have a German translation of this grammar "Von Johann Lorenz Stuvenhagen: St. Petersburgh, 1764." Grotsch, Jappe, Adelung, &c., have written on the Russian language. Jappe's grammar, Dr. Bowring says, is the best he ever met with. I must make a query here with regard to Dr. Bowring's delightful and highly interesting Anthologies. I have his Russian, Dutch, and Spanish Anthologies: Did he ever publish any others? I have not met with them. I know he contemplated writing translations from Polish, Servian, Hungarian, Finnish, Lithonian, and other poets.

Jarltzberg.

Pistol and Bardolph.—I am glad to be able to transfer to your pages a Shakspearian note, which I met with in a periodical now defunct. It appears from an old MS. in the British Museum, that amongst canoniers serving in Normandy in 1436, were "Wm. Pistail—R. Bardolf." Query, Were these common English names, or did these identical canoniers transmit a traditional fame, good or bad, to the time of Shakspeare, in song or story?

If this is a well-known Query, I should be glad to be referred to a solution of it, if not, I leave it for inquiry.

G.H.B.

EPIGRAM FROM BUCHANAN.

Doletus writes verses and wonders—ahem—When there's nothing in him, that there's nothing in them.

J.O.W.H.

QUERIES.

CALVIN AND SERVETUS.

The fate of Servetus has always excited the deepest commiseration. His death was a judicial crime, the rank offence of religious pride, personal hatred, and religious fanaticism. It borrowed from superstition its worst features, and offered necessity the tyrant's plea for its excuse. Every detail of such events is of great interest. For by that immortality of mind which exists for ever as History, or through the agency of those successive causes which still link us to it by their effects, we are never separated from the Past. There is also an eloquence in immaterial things which appeals to the heart through all ages. Is there a man who would enter unmoved the room in which Shakspeare was born, in which Dante dwelt, or see with indifference the desk at which Luther wrote, the porch beneath which Milton sat, or Sir Isaac Newton's study? So also the possession of a book once their own, still more of the MS. of a work by which great men won enduring fame, written in a great cause, for which they struggled and for which they suffered, seems to efface the lapse of centuries. We feel present before them. They are before us as living witnesses. Thus we see Servetus as, alone and on foot, he arrived at Geneva in 1553; the lake and the little inn, the "Auberge de la Rose," at which he stopped, reappear pictured by the influence of local memory and imagination. From his confinement in the old prison near St. Peter's, to the court where he was accused, during the long and cruel trial, until the fatal eminence of Champel, every event arises before us, and the air is peopled with thick coming visions of the actors and sufferer in the dreadful scene. Who that has read the account of his death has not heard, or seemed to hear, that shriek, so high, so wild, alike for mercy and of dread despair, which when the fire was kindled burst above through smoke and flame,—"that the crowd fell back with a shudder!" Now it strikes me, an original MS. of the work for which he was condemned still exists; and I, thinking that others may feel the interest I have tried to sketch in its existence, will now state the facts of the case, and lay my authorities before your readers.

"We condemn you, said the council, Michael Servetus, to be bound and led to Champel, where you are to be fastened to a stake, and burnt alive together with your book, as well the printed as the MS."

"About midday he was led to the stake. An iron chain encompassed his body; on his head was placed a crown of plaited straw and leaves strewed with sulphur, to assist in suffocating him. At his girdle were suspended his printed books; and the MS. he had sent to Calvin."

This MS. had been completed in 1546, and sent to Geneva for his opinion. Calvin, in a letter to Farel says:

"Servetus wrote to me lately, and accompanied his letter with a long volume of his insanities."

This long volume was the MS. of the "Restitutio Christianismi," now ready for the press. We {153} have seen that it was sent to Calvin. It was never returned, but produced in evidence, and burnt with him at the stake. Nevertheless, he either possessed another copy or took the pains of writing it afresh, and thus the work was secretly printed at Vienna, at the press of Balshazar Arnoullet in 1553. Of this edition, those at Frankfort were burnt at the instance of Calvin; at Geneva, Robert Stephens sacrificed all the copies which had come into his hands; so that of an edition of one thousand, it is said only six copies were preserved. These facts I owe to the excellent Life of Calvin by Mr. T.H. Dyer, recently published by Mr. Murray. Now does the following MS. bear relation to that described as recopied by Servetus, from which Arnoullet printed? or is it the first rough sketch? Can any of your readers say into what collection it passed?

The extract is from the Catalogue of the Library of Cisternay Dufay, by Gabriel Martin, Paris, 8vo. 1725, being lot 764., p. 98., and was sold for 176 livres.

"Librorum Serveti de Trinitate Codex MS. autographus. In fronte libri apparet note quæ sequitur, manu ipsius defuncti D. du Fay exarata.

"Forsan ipsius auctoris autographus Codex hic MS. qui fuit percelebris Bibliopolæ Basiliensis Coelii Horatii Curionis. Videtur prima conceptio (vulgò l'Esquisse, en termes de Peinture) Libri valdè famigerati Mich. Serveti, a Joanne Calvino cum ipso Serveto combusti, cui Titulus, Christianismi Restitutio, hoc est totius Ecclesiæ Apostolicæ ad sua limina Vocatio, &c. &c., typis mandati anno 1554, Viennæ Allobrogum, 8vo. pagg. 734," concluding with an anecdote of the rarity of the volume.

There may be some to whom these "Notes" may be of use, others to whom a reply to the "Queries" may have interest, and so I send them to you. Such MSS. are of great historical importance.

S.H.

Athenæum, July 26.

ETYMOLOGICAL QUERIES.

Any remarks on the meaning and derivation of the following words, will be thankfully received.

Rykelot.—A magpie?

Berebarde.—"In the fever or the Berebarde."

Wrusum, or Wursum.—"My wounds that were healed gather new wrusum, and begin to corrupt."

Deale.—Placed always between two sentences without any apparent connection with either of them. Is it an abbreviation of "Dieu le sait?"

Sabraz.—"He drinks bitter sabraz to recover his health."

Heteneste.—"Inclosed hetenest in a stone coffin or tomb."

Schunche.—"Schunche away."

I-menbred.—"A girdle i-menbred."

Blodbendes of silk.

Hesmel.—"Let their hesmel be high istiled, al without broach."

Irspille.—"Wear no iron, nor haircloth, nor irspilles felles."

J. Mn.

MINOR QUERIES

Countess of Desmond.—I should be much obliged if any of your readers would inform me of the manner of the death of Catherine Fitzgerald, Countess of Desmond, commonly called the "old Countess of Desmond," who died in 1626, aged above 140 years,—some say, 162 years. I think I remember reading, some years since, that she died from a fall from a cherry-tree, at the age of 144 years. If so, where can the account be found?

K.

Cheetham Hill.

Noli me tangere.—Can any of your readers refer me to pictures upon the subject of Noli me tangere. I want to know what artists have treated the subject, and where their pictures exist.

B.R.

Line in Milton's "Penseroso."—In those somewhat hacknied lines,

I am somewhat puzzled to understand the expression,

Now what is "proof,"—a substantive or adjective? If the latter, no edition is rightly stopped; for, of course, there should be a comma after "massy;" and then I somewhat doubt the propriety of "proof" for "proved," unless joined with another word, as "star-proof," "rain-proof."

If "proof" is a substantive, "massy proof" is in apposition to "antique pillars," and is very meaningless. Can any of your readers suggest an explanation?

H.A.B.

"Mooney's Goose."—As a pendant to "Ludlam's dog," I beg to insert the proverb of "Full of fun and fooster, like Mooney's goose," with the hope that your acute and ingenious correspondent D.V.S. may be able to throw some light upon "Mooney." Let me add that D.V.S. has perhaps somewhat misconceived my brief comment on Ludlam, which my regard for conciseness has left some deal obscure; and it does not appear worth while to go over the ground again. I repeatedly heard "Dick's hat-band" quoted by Lancashire friends exactly as given by Southey. Does not the variation "cobbler's dog" tend to prove the alliterative principle for which I had been contending?

J.M.B.

Translation of the Philobiblon.—Where can I procure a translation of Robert de Bury's Philobiblon?

L.S.

Achilles and the Tortoise.—Where is the paradox of "Achilles and the Tortoise" to be found? Leibnitz is said to have given it solution in some part of his works.

There is also a geometrical treatment of the subject by Gregoire de S. Vincent. Will some reading man oblige me with information or reference concerning it.

[Greek: Idiotaes.]

Dominicals.—I am desirous of obtaining information on a subject of much interest to Exeter.

An ancient payment is made to the rectors of each parish within the city of Exeter, called "Dominicals," amounting to 1d. per week from every householder within the parish. Payments of a similar nature are made in London, Canterbury, and I believe Worcester. Can any of your numerous readers state the origin of Dominicals, and give any information respecting them.

W.R.C.

Yorkshire Dales.—A Pedestrian would be much obliged by being informed if there is any map, guide, or description published, that would serve as a hand-book to the Dales in the West Riding of Yorkshire, between Lancashire and Westmoreland.

REPLIES

TOBACCO IN THE EAST.

In the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, vol. iii. p. 383., art. "China," it is stated that three species of tobacco have been found in India and in China, under circumstances which can leave no doubt of their being native plants.

Dr. Bigelow (American Botany, 4to., vol. ii. p. 171.) tells us that Nicot. fructicosa is said to have been cultivated in the East prior to the discovery of America. Linnæus sets down the same as a native of China and the Cape of Good Hope. Sir G. Staunton says that there is no traditional account of the introduction of tobacco into China; nor is there any account of its introduction into India²; though, according to Barrow, the time when the cotton plant was introduced into the southern provinces of China is noted in their annals. Bell of Antermony, who was in China in 1721, says,

"It is reported the Chinese have had the use of tobacco for many ages," &c.—Travels, vol. ii. p. 73., Lond. ed. 4to. 1763.

Ledyard says, the Tartars have smoked from remote antiquity (Travels, 326.). Du Halde speaks of tobacco as one of the natural productions of Formosa, whence it was largely imported by the Chinese (p. 173. Lond. ed. 8vo. 1741).

The prevalence of the practice of smoking at an early period among the Chinese is appealed to by Pallas as one evidence that in Asia, and especially in China, the use of tobacco for smoking is more ancient than the discovery of the New World. (See Asiat. Journ., vol. xxii. p. 137.)

The Koreans say they received tobacco from Japan, as also instructions for its cultivation, about the latter end of the sixteenth century. (Authority, I think, Hamel's Travels, Pink. Coll., vii. 532.) Loureiro states that in Cochin China tobacco is indigenous, and has its proper vernacular name.

Java is said to have possessed it before 1496. Dr. Ruschenberg says,

"We are informed the Portuguese met with it on their first visit to Java."—Voy. of U.S.S. Peacock, vol. ii. p. 456, Lond. ed. 8vo. 1838.

Crauford dates its introduction into Java, 1601, but admits that the natives had traditions of having possessed it long before. (Indian Archipelago, vol. i. pp. 104. 409, 410. 8vo.) Rumphius, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, found it universal even where the Portuguese and Spaniards had never been.

Savary, in his Parfait Négociant, states that the Persians have used tobacco 400 years, and probably received it from Egypt. (See Med. Chir. Review, 1840, p. 335.)

Olearius found it fully established in Persia, 1637, only about fifty years after its arrival in England. (Lond. 1662, in fol. p. 322.) Chardin states, the Persians smoked long before the discovery of America, and had cultivated tobacco time immemorial.

"Coffee without tobacco is meat without salt."—Persian Proverb, Sale's Koran, Preliminary Discourse, 169. ed. 8vo.

In 1634 Olearius found the Russians so addicted to tobacco that they would spend their money on it rather than bread. (See edit. above quoted, lib. iii. p. 83.)

According to Prof. Lichtenstein, the Beetjuanen smoked and snuffed long before their intercourse with Europeans. (Med. and Chir. Rev., 1840, p. 335.)

Liebault, in his Maison Rustique, asserts that he found tobacco growing naturally in the forest of Ardennes. Libavius says that it grows in the Hyrcinian forest. (Ibid.)

Dr. Cleland shows the three last to be falsehoods(?).

Ysbrants Ides found tobacco in general use among the Ostiaks and other tribes passed in his route to China, 1692. (Harris's Coll., fol. vol. ii. pp. 925. and 926.)

The story told of Amurath IV. punishing a Turk for smoking seems to be a mistake, since Amurath only began to reign 1622; whereas Sandys relates the same story of a certain Morad Bassa, probably Murat III., who began to reign {155} 1576, and ended 1594. If this be the case, the Turks were smokers before tobacco was known in England.—In Persia smoking was prohibited by Shah Abbas. There were two princes of this name. The first began his reign 1585 A.D., died 1628: the second began 1641, died 1666. The proclamation against smoking was probably issued by the first, since (as before mentioned) in 1634 Olearius found the custom firmly established. If so, the Persians must have been early smokers. Smoking seems to have obtained at a very remote period among several nations of antiquity. Dr. Clarke quotes Plutarch on Rivers to show that the Thracians were in the habit of intoxicating themselves with smoke, which he supposes to have been tobacco. The Quarterly Review is opposed to this.

Lafitau quotes Pomp. Mela and Solin to show the same; also Herodotus and Maximin of Tyre, as evidences to the same custom prevailing amongst the Scythians, and thinks that Strabo alludes to tobacco in India. (See, for the Scythians, the Universal History.) Logan, in his Celtic Gaul, advances that smoking is of great antiquity in Britain. He says that pipes of the Celts are frequently found, especially at Brannocktown, co. Kildare, where in 1784 they were dug up in great numbers; that a skeleton dug out of an ancient barrow, actually had a pipe sticking between its teeth when found. (From Anthol. Hibern., i. 352.) Halloran says Celtic pipes are found in the Bog of Cullen. In form, these pipes were very similar to those in use at this day.

Eulia Effendi mentions having found a tobacco pipe, still in good preservation, and retaining a smell of smoke, embeded in the wall of a Grecian edifice more ancient than the birth of Mahomet. (Med. Chir. Rev. 1840, p. 335.) This Dr. Cleland proves to be a lie(?). He proves the same of Chardin, Bell of Antermony, Mr. Murray, Pallas, Rumphius, Savary, &c.

Masson describes a "chillum," or smoking apparatus, found embedded in an ancient wall in Beloochistan. (Travels, ii. 157.)

Dr. Yates saw amongst the paintings in a tomb at Thebes the representation of a smoking party. (Travels in Egypt, ii. 412.)

There is an old tradition in the Greek Church, said to be recorded in the works of the early Fathers, of the Devil making Noah drunk with tobacco, &c. (Johnson's Abyssinia, vol. ii. p. 92.)

Nanah, the prophet of the Sikhs, was born 1419. Supposing him fifty when he published his Ordinances, it would bring us to 1469, or 23 years before the discovery of America by Columbus. In these Ordinances he forbade the use of tobacco to the Sikhs; but found the habit so deeply rooted in the Hindû that he made an exception in their favour. (Masson's Beloochistan, vol. i. p. 42.) Should this be true, the Hindû must have been in the habit of smoking long before the discovery of America, to have acquired so inveterate a predilection for it.

If the prophecy attributed to Mahomet be not a fabrication of after times, it is strongly corroborative, and goes to show that he was himself acquainted with the practice of smoking, viz.

"To the latter day there shall be men who will bear the name of Moslem, but will not be really such, and they shall smoke a certain weed which shall be called tobacco."—See Sale's Koran, ed. 8vo. p. 169.

Query. Is tobacco the word in the original? If so, it is a stumbling-block.

Lieut. Burns, in his Travels, has the following curious statement:

"The city of Alore was the capital of a great empire extending from Cachemere to the sea. This was conquered by the Mahomedans in the seventh century, and in the decisive battle they are reported to have brought fire, &c., in their pipes to frighten the elephants."

Lieut. Burns conjectures that they must have smoked bang, &c., tobacco being then unknown.

Buchanan's account of the cultivation and preparation of tobacco in Mysore, carries with it a conviction that these elaborate processes were never communicated to them by Europeans, nor brought in any way from America, where they have never been practised. They strike one as peculiarly ancient and quite indigenous.

The rapid dissemination of tobacco, as also of forms and ceremonies connected with its use; its already very extensive cultivation in the remotest parts of the continent and islands of Asia, within a century of its introduction into Europe, amounts to the miraculous; and particularly when we see new habits of life, and novelties in their ceremonies of state, at once adopted and become familiar, to such otherwise unchangeable people as the orientals are known to be. Extraordinary also is the fact that the forms and ceremonies adopted should so precisely coincide (in most respects) with those in use among the American Indians, and should not be found in any of the intermediate countries through which we must suppose them to have passed. Who taught them the presentation of the pipe to guests, a form so strictly observed by the Red Men of America, &c.? But the "narghile," the "kaleoon," the "hookah," the "hubble-bubble," whence came they? They are indigenous.

Great stress is laid on the silence of Marco Polo, Rubruquis,—the two Mahomedans, Drake, Cavendish, and Pigafelta; also of the Arabian Nights, on the subject of smoking,—and with reason; but, after all, it is negative evidence: for we have examples of the same kind the other way. Sir Henry Blount, who was in Turkey in 1634, describes manners and customs very minutely without a single allusion to smoking, though we know {156} that twenty years previously to that date the Turks were inveterate smokers. M. Adr. Balbi insists likewise on the prevalence of the Haïtian name "tambaku" being conclusive as to the introduction of tobacco from America. This, however, is not exactly the case: in many countries of the East it has vernacular names. In Ceylon it is called "dun-kol" or smoke-leaf; in China, "tharr"—Barrow says, "yen."

The Yakuti (and Tungusi?) call it "schaar." The Crim Tartars call it "tütün." The Koreans give it the name of the province of Japan whence they first received it. In the Tartar (Calmuc and Bashkir?) "gansa" is a tobacco-pipe. In America itself tobacco has many names, viz. "goia," "gozobba" or "cohobba," "petun," "y'ouly," "yoly," and "uppwoc." Are there any proofs of its growing wild in America? At the discovery it was every where found in a state of cultivation. The only mention I have met with is in Drake's Book of the Indians³, where he says it grew spontaneously at Wingandacoa⁴, and was called by the natives "uppewoc." Does not this very notice imply something unusual? and might not this have been a deserted plantation?

The Indians have always looked to Europeans for presents of tobacco, which they economise by mixing with willow-bark, the uva-ursi, &c., and there are some tribes totally unacquainted with its use. M'Kenzie says, the Chepewyans learnt smoking from Europeans, and that the Slave and Dogrib Indians did not even know the use of tobacco.

In mentioning the silence of early visitors to the East on the subject of smoking, I might have added equally the silence of the Norwegian visitors to America on the same subject.

A.C.M.

Exeter, July 25. 1850.

Footnote 2:(return)

There is no positive notice of its introduction into Turkey, Persia, or Russia?

Footnote 3:(return)

Book iv., p. 5., ed. 8vo., Boston.

Footnote 4:(return)

Virginia.

The tobacco-plant does not appear to be indigenous to any part of Asia. Sir John Chardin, who was in Persia about the year 1670, relates in his travels, that tobacco had been cultivated there from time immemorial. "Honest John Bell" (of Antermony), who travelled in China about 1720, asserts that it is reported the Chinese have had the use of tobacco for many ages. Rumphius, who resided at Amboyna towards the end of the seventeenth century, found it universal over the East Indies, even in countries where Spaniards or Portuguese had never been. The evidence furnished by these authors, although merely traditional, is the strongest which I am aware of in favour of an Asiatic origin for the use of tobacco.

Mr. Lane, on the other hand, speaks of the "introduction of tobacco into the East, in the beginning of the seventeenth century of our era," (Arabian Nights, Note 22. cap. iii.), "a fact that has been completely established by the researches of Dr. Meyer of Konigsberg, who discovered in the works of an old Hindostanee physician a passage in which tobacco is distinctly stated to have been introduced into India by the Frank nations in the year 1609." (Vide An Essay on Tobacco, by H.W. Cleland, M.D. 4to. Glasgow, 1840, to which I am indebted for the information embodied in this reply to Z.A.Z., and to which I would beg to refer him for much curious matter on the subject of tobacco.)

My own impression is, that the common use of hemp in the East, for intoxicating purposes, from a very early period, has been the cause of much of the misconception which prevails with regard to the supposed ante-European employment of "tobacco, divine, rare, super-excellent tobacco," in the climes of the East.

J.M.B.

"JOB'S LUCK," BY COLERIDGE.

These lines (see Vol. ii., p. 102.) are printed in the collected editions of the poems of Coleridge. In an edition now before me, 3 vols. 12mo., Pickering, 1836, they occur at vol. ii. p. 147. As printed in that place, there is one very pointed deviation from the copy derived by Mr. Singer from the Crypt. The last line of the first stanza runs thus:

In the Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1848, there is a poem by Coleridge, entitled "The Volunteer Stripling," which I do not find in the collected edition above mentioned. It was contributed to the Bath Herald, probably in 1803; and stands there with "S.T. Coleridge" appended in full. The first stanza runs thus:

I remember to have read the following version of the epigram descriptive of the character of the world some twenty or thirty years ago; but where, I have forgotten. It seems to me to be a better text than either of those given by your correspondents:

J. Bruce.

ECCIUS DEDOLATUS.

Mr. S.W. Singer, for an agreeable introduction to whom I am indebted to "Notes and Queries," having expressed a wish (Vol. ii., {157} p. 122.) "to see and peruse" the rare and amusing satire, entitled Eccius dedolatus, authore Joanne-francisco Cottalembergio, Poeta Laureato, I shall willingly forward to him a quarto volume which contains two copies of it, at any time that an opportunity may present itself. In the meanwhile, he may not have any objection to hear that these are copies of distinct impressions; neither of them intentionally recording place or printer.

Four separate and curious woodcuts decorate the title-page of one exemplar, which was certainly printed at Basil, apud Andream Cratandrum. The topmost woodcut, dated 1519, is here misplaced; for it should be at the bottom of the page, in which position it appears when employed to grace the title of the facetious Responsio of Simon Hess to Luther. The second copy is in Gothic letter, and has typographical ornaments very similar to those used at Leipsic in the same year. A peculiar colophon is added in the Basle edition; and after the words "Impressum in Utopia," a quondam possessor of the tract, probably its contemporary, has written with indignation, "Stulte mentiris!" The duplicate, which I suppose to be of Leipsic origin, concludes with "Impressum per Agrippun Panoplium, Regis Persarum Bibliopolam L. Simone Samaritano et D. Juda Schariottide Consulibus, in urbe Lacernarum, apud confluentes Rhenum et Istrum."

Professor Ranke, referred to by Mr. Singer, was mistaken in assigning "March, 1520," as the date of Eccius dedolatus. The terms "Acta decimo Kalendas Marcii" are, I believe, descriptive of Tuesday, the 20th of February, in that year.

Perhaps Mr. Singer may be able to communicate some tidings respecting the Apostolic Prothonotary Simon Hess, of whom I have casually spoken. Natalis Alexander (Hist. Eccles., viii. 105. Paris, 1699) attributes the humorous production which bears his name ("Lege et ridebis," declares the original title-page) to Luther himself, amongst whose works it may be seen (tom. ii, fol. 126-185. Witeb. 1551); and it is a disappointment to read in Seckendorf, "Hessus Simon. Quis hic fuerit, compertum mihi non est." (Scholia sive Supplem ad Ind. i. Histor., sig. 1. 3. Francof. 1692.)

R.G.

Replies to Minor Queries.

Hiring of Servants (Vol. ii., p. 89.).—It was provided by several old statutes, the first of which was passed in 1349, that all able-bodied persons who had no evident means of subsistence should put themselves as labourers to any that would hire them. In the following year were passed several other acts relating to labourers, by one of which, 25 Edward III. stat. i. c. i., entitled, "The Year and Day's Wages of Servants and Labourers in Husbandry," it was enacted that ploughmen and all other labourers should be hired to serve for the full year, or other usual terms, and not by the day; and further,

"That such labourers do carry openly in their hands, in market towns, their instruments of labour, and be there hired in a public place, and not privately."

For carrying into effect these provisions, it would be necessary to have certain days, and a fixed place set apart for the hiring of servants. In the former particular, no days would be so convenient as feast days: they were well known, and were days commonly computed from; they were, besides, holidays, and days for which labourers were forbidden to receive wages (see 34 Edw. III. c. 10. and 4 Henry IV. c. 14.); so that, although absent from labour, they would lose no part of the scanty pittances allowed them by act of parliament or settled by justices. As to the latter requirement, no place was so public, or would so naturally suggest itself, or be so appropriate, as the market-place.

Thus arose in our own land the custom respecting which W.J. makes inquiry, and also our statute fairs, or statutes; thus called on account of their reference to the various "Statutes of Labourers." I was not aware that any usage to hire on all festivals (for to such, I take it, your correspondent refers) still existed in England. As to France, I am unable to speak; but it is not improbable that a similar custom in that country may be due to causes nearly similar.

Arun.

George Herbert.—J.R. FOX (Vol. ii., p. 103.) will find in Major's excellent edition of Walton's Lives the information he requires. At p. 346. it is stated that Mrs. Herbert, the widow of George Herbert, was afterwards the wife of Sir Robert Cook, of Highnam, in the county of Gloucester, Knt., eight years, and lived his widow about fifteen; all which time she took a pleasure in mentioning and commending the excellences of Mr. George Herbert. She died in the year 1653, and lies buried at Highnam; Mr. Herbert in his own church, under the altar, and covered with a gravestone without any inscription.

And amongst the notes appended by Major to these Lives, is the following additional notice of Herbert's burial-place. The parish register of Bemerton states that

"Mr. George Herbert, Esq., parson of Inggleston and Bemerton, was buried the 3rd day of March, 1632."

"Thus he lived and thus he died," says Walton, "like a saint, unspotted of the world, full of almsdeeds, full of humility, and all the examples of a virtuous life, which I cannot conclude better than with this borrowed observation:

Altered from a dirge written by Shirley, attached {158} to his Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for the Armour of Achilles, Lond. 1659, 8vo. See Percy's Reliques of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 284.

J.M.G.

Worcester, July 22.

Lord Delamere (Vol. ii., p. 104.).—In Mr. Thomas Lyte's Ancient Ballads and Songs, 12mo. 1827, is a ballad, taken down from tradition, entitled Lord Delamere. It begins as follows, and though different from the opening lines given by Mr. Peacock, I am inclined to think that it is another version of the same ballad:

After nine more stanzas, the editor remarks,

"We have not, as yet, been able to trace out the historical incident upon which the ballad appears to have been founded, yet those curious in such matters may consult, if they list, Proceedings and Debates in the House of Commons for 1621 and 1622, where they will find that some stormy debatings in these several years have been agitated in Parliament regarding the corn laws, which bear pretty close upon the leading features of the above."

Edward F. Rimbault.

Execution of Charles I. (Vol. ii., p. 72.).—P.S.W.E. is referred to An exact and most impartial Accompt of the Indictment, Arraignment, Trial, and Judgment (according to law), of twenty-nine Regicides, &c., 1660.

Therein he will find minutes of the trial and conviction of one "William Hulett, alias Howlett," on the charge of having struck "the fatal blow." How far the verdict was consistent with the evidence (or, indeed, the whole proceedings of that court with the modern sense of justice), abler judges than I have long since determined.

On behalf of the prisoner Hulett, witnesses ("not to be admitted upon oath against the king") deposed that the common hangman, Richard Brandon, had frequently confessed (though he had also denied) that he had beheaded the king. One of these depositions, that of William Cox, is so remarkable that I am induced to transcribe it. If it be true, "Matfelonensis" is certainly justified in saying, "We need hardly question that Richard Brandon was the executioner."

"William Cox examined.

"When my Lord Capell, Duke Hamilton, and the Earl of Holland, were beheaded in the Palace-yard, in Westminster, my Lord Capell asked the common hangman, said he, 'Did you cut off my master's head?' 'Yes,' saith he. 'Where is the instrument that did it?' He then brought the ax. 'Is this the same ax; are you sure?' said my Lord. 'Yes, my Lord,' saith the hangman, 'I am very sure it is the same.' My Lord Capell took the ax and kissed it, and gave him five pieces of gold. I heard him say, 'Sirrah, wert thou not afraid?' Saith the hangman, 'They made me cut it off, and I had thirty pound for my pains.'"

William Franks Mathews.

Charade (Vol. ii., p. 120.).—I think I can answer Mr. Gatty's Query as to the authorship of the charade in question. A schoolfellow of mine at Charterhouse wrote the following:

This was taken from the original copy, and it was certainly his own invention while at school, and was written about five years ago. I have not seen him since, and do not like therefore to give his name.

While on the subject of charades, can any of your correspondents inform me of either the authorship or the answer of the following:

I quote from recollection, so perhaps have omitted part, but believe it to be pretty correct. I heard it at the same time as the one quoted in No. 31., and believe both to be hoaxes, as no answer I have heard (including that given in No. 35.) can be considered satisfactory. The former charade was attributed at the time to the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and it was reported that a reward of 100l. was promised for the correct answer, and I know that a clergyman sent him an answer with that belief. Among the answers suggested was "Tapir," taken in its various significations, which I think was as near the mark as "Church," as given in No. 35.

I have never heard any answer suggested to Sir Hilary's dissyllabic prayer.

B.H.C.

Discursus Modestus (Vol. i., pp. 142. 205.).—Such of your readers as have been making inquiries and suggestions respecting Discursus Modestus will {159} be glad to hear that a copy exists in the British Museum. Its title is as follows:

"A Sparing Discoverie of ovr English Iesuits, and of Fa. Parson's proceedings vnder pretence of promoting the Catholick Faith in England: for a caueat to all true Catholicks, ovr very louing brethren and friends, how they embrace such very uncatholike, though Iesuiticall deseignments. Eccles. 4. Vidi calumnias quæ sub sole geruntur, et lachrymas innocentium, et neminem consolatorem.—Newly imprinted, 1601."

At the end of the Preface are the initials W.W., making it clear that Watson, the author of Important Considerations and the Quodlibets, was the writer, and accounting for the connection which seemed to exist between the Discursus and the Quodlibets.

The two passages quoted by Bishop Andrewes (Resp. ad Apol. pp. 7. 117.) are to be found in p. 13. But the question now arises, from what earlier book the quotations are taken, as they both appear in the Sparing Discovery in Latin, and not in English? Did the Jesuits publish a work containing such statements? or are we to accept them as their opinions only on the authority of so bitter an opponent as Watson?

James Bliss.

"Rapido contrarius orbi" (Vol. ii., p. 120.) is in one of the finest passages in Ovid:

C.B.

"Isabel" and "Elizabeth."—At pages 439. and 488. of Vol. i., "Notes and Queries," are questions and answers on the names of "Isabel" and "Elizabeth."

The following, from the Epigrammaton Joannis Dunbari, Lond. 1616, may amuse some of your readers:

Scotus.

Hanap (Vol. i., p. 477.).—"A cup raised on a stem, either with or without a cover." (Arch. Journ. vol. ii. 1846, p. 263., where may be found an interesting account of old drinking vessels, &c., many of them curiously named.)

Jarltzberg.

Cold Harbour (Vol. ii., p. 60.).—There is a place bearing that designation at Gosport, running along side of Portsmouth harbour, between the town of Gosport and the Royal Clarence Victualling-yard. I am at present aware of none other.

J.R. Fox.

Miscellaneous

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

The "Percy Society" has just issued The Anglo-Saxon Passion of St. George, from a manuscript in the Cambridge University Library. It is a work highly creditable to the Society; and in the interesting Introduction prefixed to it by the Editor, the Rev. C. Hardwick, M.A., Fellow of St. Catharine's Hall, he has gratified our national prejudices by showing the favour which the Saint from whom we take

"Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George"

enjoyed in England before the Norman Conquest. Mr. Hardwick's brief notice of the Anglo-Saxon allusions to Saint George is complete and most satisfactory.

Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, of 191. Piccadilly, will sell, on Tuesday and Wednesday next, the Miscellaneous Collections of the late Rev. J. Sundius Stamp, including several thousand Autograph Letters of ever period and class. We need scarcely add that the autographs are classed and catalogued with Messrs. P. and S.'s usual tact.

We have received the following catalogues:—Bernard Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue of Italian and French Books; William Brown's (130. and 131. Old Street, St. Luke's) Catalogue of Books connected with Wesleyan Methodism.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

THE NEWE LIFE OF VIRGINEA, DECLARING THE FORMER SUCCESSE AND PRESENT STATE OF THAT PLANTATION; being the Second Part of Nova Britannia. Published by the Authoritie of His Majestie's Councell of Virginea. London; imprinted by Felix Kyngston, for William Welby, dwelling at the Signe of the Swan in Paul's Churchyard. 1612.

[A liberal price will be given for a copy in good condition.]

Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

Notices to Correspondents

Volume the First of Notes and Queries, with Title-page and very copious Index, is now ready, price 9s. 6d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all Booksellers and Newsmen.

The Monthly Part for July, being the second of Vol. II., is also now ready, price 1s.

Our valued Correspondent at Cambridge is assured that we could afford some a satisfactory explanation of the several points referred to in his friendly remonstrance.

CAMBRIAN ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.

THE FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING will be held at DOLGELLAU, August 26th to 31st, 1850.

President.—W.W.E. Wynne, Esq., F.S.A. John Williams, Llanymowddwy, Mallwyd, W. Basil Jones, Gwynfryn, Machynileth, General Secretaries.

ROCHEFOUCAULD'S MAXIMS, WITH NOTES.

Just published, in Fcp. 8vo. Price 4s. 6d. cloth.

MORAL REFLECTIONS, SENTENCES, AND MAXIMS of Francis Duc de la Rochefoucald. Newly translated from the French. With an Introduction and Notes.

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.

THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE AND HISTORICAL REVIEW.

An Historical Magazine has long been the great desideratum of our literature. Amongst many periodical publications, each appealing to some peculiar or exclusive class, no one has given special attention to that branch of knowledge which engages the feelings of all classes.

The Gentleman's Magazine has stepped forward to occupy this vacant post. Arrangements have been effected to secure for its pages contributions from gentlemen eminently conversant with the various branches of historical study, and every endeavour is made to render it a WORTHY ORGAN AND REPRESENTATIVE OF HISTORICAL AS WELL AS OF ARCHÆOLOGICAL LITERATURE. In its ORIGINAL ARTICLES, historical questions are considered and discussed; in its REVIEWS, prominent attention is given to all historical books; its HISTORICAL CHRONICLE and NOTES OF THE MONTH contain a record of such recent events as are worthy of being kept in remembrance; its OBITUARY is a faithful memorial of all persons of eminence lately deceased; and these divisions of the Magazine are so treated and blended together as to render the whole attractive and interesting to all classes of readers.

Every Number is illustrated by several Plates and Vignettes.

Seven Numbers of the new undertaking are before the public, and present a fair example of what the work will henceforth be.

The following important subjects have been treated of in some of the recent articles:

THE MAGAZINE FOR AUGUST,

Being the Second Number of the New Volume,

Was Published on the 1st of the Month, price 2s. 6d.

NICHOLS AND SON, 25. PARLIAMENT STREET.

Printed by Thomas Clark Shaw, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London; and published by George Bell, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan in the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet Street aforesaid.—Saturday, August 3. 1850.