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NOTES AND QUERIES:

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

"When found, make a note of."—Captain Cuttle.

CONTENTS.

THE GREAT EXHIBITION, NOTES AND QUERIES, AND CHAUCER'S PROPHETIC VIEW OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

The first of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, will be remembered in the Calendar for centuries after those who witnessed its glories shall have passed away. Its memory will endure with our language; and the Macaulays and Hallams of the time to come will add brilliancy to their pages by recounting the gorgeous yet touching ceremonial of this great Apotheosis of Peace. Peace has occasionally received some foretaste of that day's glory; but only at times, when the sense of its value had been purchased by the horrors which accompany even the most glorious warfare. But never until the reign of Victoria were its blessings thus recognised and thus celebrated, after they had been uninterruptedly enjoyed for upwards of a quarter of a century. Who then, among the thousands assembled around our Sovereign in that eventful scene, but felt his joy heightened by gratitude, that his lot had been cast in these happy days.

It was a proud day for Queen Victoria, for her Illustrious Consort, for all who had had "art or part" in the great work so happily conceived, so admirably executed. And we would add (even at the risk of reminding our readers of Dennis' energetic claim, "That's my Thunder!") that it was also a proud day for all who, like ourselves, desire to promote intercommunication between men of the same pursuits,—to bring them together in a spirit, not of envious rivalry, but of generous emulation,—to make their powers, faculties, and genius subservient to the common welfare of mankind. In our humble way we have striven earnestly to perform our share in this great mission; and although in the Crystal Palace cottons may take the place of comments, steam-engines of Shakspeare, the palpable creations of the sculptor of the super-sensual imaginings of the poet, the real of the ideal,—still the GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS is, in more senses than one, merely a MONSTER NUMBER OF "Notes and Queries." So palpable, indeed, is this similarity, that, if the long-talked-of Order of Civil Merit should be instituted, (and certainly there was never a more fitting moment than the present for so honouring the cultivators of the peaceful arts), we make no doubt that "Notes and Queries" will not be forgotten. Should our prophecy be fulfilled, we need scarcely remind our readers of Captain Cuttle's injunction and our Motto. {362}

And here, talking of prophecy, we would, first reminding our readers how, in the olden time, the Poet and the Prophet were looked upon as identical, call their attention to the following vision of our Queen in her Crystal Palace, which met the eye when in "fine phrensy rolling" of the Father of English Poetry, as he has recorded in his House of Fame. Had Chaucer attended the opening of the Exhibition as "Our own Reporter," could his description have been more exact?

We are indebted for this interesting communication to our correspondent A. E. B., whose admirable Illustrations of Chaucer in our columns have given so much pleasure to the admirers of the old poet. Our correspondent has sent it to us in the hope that it may be made available in helping forward the good work of restoring Chaucer's tomb. We trust it will. The Committee who have undertaken that task could, doubtless, raise the hundred pounds required, by asking those who have already come forward to help them, to change their Crown subscriptions into Pounds. With a right feeling for what is due to the poet, they prefer, however, accomplishing the end they have in view by small contributions from the admiring many, rather than by larger contributions from the few. As we doubt not we number among the readers of "Notes and Queries" many admirers of

to them we appeal, that the monument which was erected by the affectionate respect of Nicholas Brigham, nearly three centuries ago, may not in our time be permitted to crumble into dust; reminding them, in Chaucer's own beautiful language,

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NOTES.

ON "THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL."

I resume the subject commenced in the comments on "a Passage in Marmion," printed in No. 72., March 15, 1851; and I here propose to consider the groundwork and mechanism of the most original, though not quite the first production of Scott's muse, The Lay of the Last Minstrel. In the Introduction prefixed to this poem, nearly thirty years after its publication, Sir Walter Scott informs the world that the young Countess of Dalkeith, much interested and delighted with the wild Border tradition of the goblin called "Gilpin Horner" (which is given at length in the notes appended to the poem), enjoined on him the task of composing a ballad on the subject:

"And thus" (says Sir Walter) "the goblin story objected to by several critics as an excrescence upon the poem, was, in fact, the occasion of its being written."

Yes, and more than this; for, strange as it may appear to those who have not critically and minutely attempted to unravel the very artful and complicated plot of this singular poem, the Goblin Page is, as it were, the key-note to the whole composition, the agent through whose instrumentality the fortunes of the house of Branksome are built up anew by the pacification of ancient feud, and the union of the fair Margaret with Henry of Cranstoun. Yet, so deeply veiled is the plot, and so intricately contrived the machinery, that I question if this fact be apparent to one reader out of a thousand; and assuredly it has never been presented to my view by any one of the critics with whose comments I have become acquainted.

The Aristarchus of the Edinburgh Review, Mr. Jeffrey, who forsooth thought fit to regard the new and original creations of a mighty and inventive genius "as a misapplication, in some degree, of very extraordinary talents," and "conceived it his duty to make one strong effort to bring back the great apostle of this (literary) heresy to the wholesome creed of his instructor," seems not to have penetrated one inch below the surface. In his opinion "the Goblin Page is the capital deformity of the poem," "a perpetual burden to the poet and to the readers," "an undignified and improbable fiction, which excites neither terror, admiration, nor astonishment, but needlessly debases the strain of the whole work, and excites at once our incredulity and contempt."

Perhaps so, to the purblind vision of a pedantic formalist; but, nevertheless, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, that poem, whose varied imagery and vivid originality, combined with all its other beauties, have been, and ever will be, the delight and admiration of its readers, could not exist without this so-called "capital deformity." This I shall undertake to demonstrate, and in so doing to prove the "capital absurdity" of such criticism as I have cited.

Let us therefore begin with the beginning. The widowed Lady of Branksome, brooding over the outrage which had deprived her husband of life, meditates only vengeance upon all the parties concerned in this affray. The lovely Lady Margaret wept in wild despair, for her lover had stood in arms against her father's clan:

The first Canto of the poem contains that singular episode, when—

And when the River Spirit asks concerning the fair Margaret, who had mingled her tears with his stream:

the Mountain Spirit replies, that, amid the clouds and mist which veil the stars,—

I must here transcribe the following Section xviii.:

In pursuance of this stern resolution, "the Ladye sought the lofty hall" where her retainers were assembled:

She then gives him the commission, well remembered by every reader, to proceed on that night to Melrose Abbey to unclose the grave of Michael {365}Scott, and to rifle it of the magical volume which was accessible only on St. Michael's night, at the precise moment when the rays of the moon should throw the reflexion of the red cross emblazoned in the eastern oriel upon the wizard's monumental stone,—expecting that the possession of this "Book of Might" would enable her to direct the destiny of her daughter according to the dictates of her own imperious nature. "Dîs aliter visum." Fate and Michael Scott had willed it otherwise. And here I must beg my readers to take notice that this far-famed wizard, Michael Scott, although dead and buried, is supposed still to exert his influence from the world of spirits as the guardian genius of the house of Buccleuch; and he had been beforehand with the Ladye of Branksome in providing Henry of Cranstoun with one of his familiar spirits, in the shape of the Goblin Page, by whose agency alone (however unconscious the subordinate agent may be) a chain of events is linked together which results in the union of the two lovers. After this parenthesis I resume the thread of the narrative.

Deloraine rides to Melrose in the night, presents himself to the Monk of St. Mary's aisle, opens the sepulchre of the wizard, and presumes to take

in spite of the ominous frown which darkened the countenance of the dead. He remounts his steed and wends his way homeward

while the aged monk, having performed the last duty allotted to him in his earthly pilgrimage, retired to his cell and breathed his last in prayer and penitence before the cross.

Ere Deloraine could reach his journey's end, he encounters a feudal foeman in the person of Lord Cranstoun, attended by his Goblin Page, who is here first introduced to the reader. A conflict takes place, and Deloraine being struck down wounded and senseless, is left by his adversary to the charge of this elf, who in stripping off his corslet espied the "Mighty Book." With the curiosity of an imp he opens the iron-clasped volume by smearing the cover with the blood of the knight, and reads ONE SPELL, and one alone, by permission; for

But he had read sufficient for the purposes of his mission, and we shall see how he applies the knowledge so marvellously acquired.

By the glamour of this spell he was empowered to make one thing assume the form of another.

The first use he makes of his power is to convey the wounded knight, laid across his weary horse, into Branksome Hall

Having deposited him at the door of the Ladye's bower, he repasses the outer court, and finding the young chief at play, entices him into the woods under the guise to him of a "comrade gay."

and, leading him far away "o'er bank and fell," well nigh frightens the fair boy to death by resuming his own elvish shape.

Here let me observe that all this contrivance is essential to the conduct of the narrative, and if we simply grant the postulate which a legendary minstrel has a right to demand, to wit, the potency of magic spells to effect such delusions (pictoribus atque Poetis Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas), all the remainder of the narrative is easy, natural, and probable. This contrivance is necessary, because, in the first place, if it had been known to the warders that William of Deloraine had been brought into the castle wounded almost unto death, he could not be supposed capable of engaging Richard Musgrave in single combat two days afterwards; nor, in the second place, would the young chief have been permitted to stroll out unattended from the guarded precincts.

To proceed: the boy thus bewildered in the forest falls into the lands of an English forayer, and is by him conveyed to Lord Dacre, at that time one of the Wardens of the Marches, by whom he is detained as a hostage, and carried along with the English troops, then advancing towards Branksome under the command of the Lord Wardens in person.

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And there, according to his own malicious nature, played likewise a score of monkey tricks, all of which, grotesque and "undignified"! as they may be, yet most ingeniously divert the mind of the reader from the real errand and mission of this supernatural being.

Shortly afterwards, on his exhibiting symptoms of cowardice at the expected contest, he is conveyed from the castle by the Ladye's order, and speedily rejoins his lord, after the infliction of a severe chastisement from the arm of Wat Tinlinn. He then procures Cranstoun's admission within the walls of Branksome (where the whole clan Scott was assembling at the tidings of the English Raid) by the same spell—

And on the following day, as Deloraine did not appear in the lists ready to engage in the appointed duel with Richard Musgrave, we are told,—

The conflict takes place, and ends in favour of the Scottish knight; when the following scene occurs:

Then is described the struggle that takes place in the maternal breast:

The mission of the elf is now accomplished, his last special service having been to steal the armour of William of Deloraine "while slept the knight," and thus to enable his master to personate that warrior.

It may be remarked that hitherto there is no direct evidence that the Page was sent by Michael Scott. That evidence is reserved for the moment of his final disappearance.

On the same evening, after the celebration of the nuptials, a mysterious and intense blackness enveloped the assembled company in Branksome Hall.

After this final consummation, it is amusing to notice a slight "incuria" on the part of the poet, which I wonder has never been corrected in the later editions. Having described the nuptial ceremony of Cranstoun and Margaret in the early part of the last Canto, he says in Section xxviii.,

I think I have now succeeded in proving that the Goblin Page, so far from being a mere "intruder" into this glorious poem—so far from being a mere after-thought, or interpolation, to "suit the taste of the cottagers of the Border," as Mr. Jeffrey "suspects,"—is the essential instrument for constructing the machinery of the plot. We have, indeed, the author's word that it formed the foundation of the poem. My readers will therefore form their own estimate of the value of Mr. Jeffrey's criticisms, couched as they are in no very considerate, much less complimentary phraseology. I cannot but admire the "douce vengeance" of the gentle-spirited subject of his rebukes, who has contented himself with printing these worthless sentences of an undiscerning critic along with the text of his poems in the last edition,—there to remain a standing memorial of the wisdom of that resolution adhered to throughout the life of the accomplished author, who tells us,

"That he from the first determined, that without shutting his ears to the voice of true criticism, he would pay no regard to that which assumed the form of satire."

In point of fact, Sir Walter had no very exalted opinion of the genus Critic; and I could give one or two anecdotes, which I heard from his own lips, strongly reminding one of the old fable of the painter who pleased nobody and everybody.

In conclusion, I beg leave to observe, that in these "Notes" I do not presume to underrate, in any degree, Mr. Jeffrey's acknowledged powers of criticism. He and Scott have alike passed away from the stage of which they were long the ornaments in their respective spheres; but I must consider that in the passages here cited, as well as in many others, he has proved himself either incompetent or unwilling to appreciate the originality, the power, and, above all, the invention of Sir Walter Scott's genius.

A Borderer.

POEMS DISCOVERED AMONG THE PAPERS OF SIR KENELM DIGBY.

Since I last wrote to you on the subject of these poems, I have discovered the remaining portions of Ben Jonson's poem on the Lady Venetia: I have therefore no doubt now that my MS. is a genuine autograph; and if so, not only this, but the "Houreglasse," which was inserted in your 63rd No., is Ben Jonson's. This last has, I think, never been published; nor have I ever seen in print the followings lines, which are written in the same hand and on the same paper as the "Houreglasse." They were probably written after Lady Venetia's death.

If I am wrong in supposing this never to have been printed, I shall feel much obliged by one of your correspondents informing me of the fact.

H. A. B.

Trin. Col. Cambridge.

FOLK LORE.

The Christmas Thorn.—In my neighbourhood (near Bridgewater) the Christmas thorn blossoms on the 6th of January (Twelfth-day), and on this day only. The villagers in whose gardens it grows, and indeed many others, verily believe that this fact pronounces the truth of this being the day of Christ's birth.

S. S. B.

Milk-maids in 1753.—To Folk-lore may be added the following short extract from Read's Weekly Journal, May 5, 1733:

"On May-Day the Milk-Maids who serve the Court, danced Minuets and Rigadoons before the Royal Family, at St. James's House, with great applause."

Y. S.

Diseases cured by Sheep (Vol. iii., p. 320.).—The attempted cure of consumption, or some {368}complaints, by walking among a flock of sheep, is not new. The present Archbishop of Dublin was recommended it, or practised it at least, when young. For pulmonary complaints the principle was perhaps the same as that of following a plough, sleeping in a room over a cowhouse, breathing the diluted smoke of a limekiln, that is, the inhaling of carbonic acid, all practised about the end of the last century, when the knowledge of the gases was the favourite branch of chemistry.

A friend of mine formerly met Dr. Beddoes riding up Park Street in Bristol almost concealed by a vast bladder tied to his horse's mouth. He said he was trying an experiment with oxygen on a broken-winded horse. Afterwards, finding that oxygen did not answer, he very wisely tried the gas most opposite to it in nature.

C. B.

Sacramental Wine (Vol. iii., p. 320.).—This idea is a relic of Roman Catholic times. In Ireland a weakly child is frequently brought to the altar rails, and the priest officiating at mass requested to allow it to drink from the chalice of what is termed the ablution, that is, the wine and water with which the chalice is rinsed after the priest has taken the communion, and which ablution ordinarily is taken by the priest. Here the efficacy is ascribed to the cup having just before contained the blood of Our Lord. I have heard it seriously recommended in a case of hooping-cough. Your correspondent Mr. Buckman does not give sufficient credit for common sense to the believers in some portion of folk lore. Red wine is considered tonic, and justly, as it contains a greater proportion of turmic than white. The yellow bark of the barberry contains an essential tonic ingredient, as the Jesuit's bark does quinine, or that of the willow salicine. Nettle juice is well known as a purifier of the blood; and the navelwort, like Euphrosia, which is properly called Eyebright, is as likely to have had its name from its proved efficacy as a simple, as from any fancied likeness to the region affected. The old monks were shrewd herbalists. They were generally the physicians of their neighbourhood, and the names and uses of the simples used by them survive the ruin of the monasteries and the expulsion of their tenants.

Kerriensis.

"Nettle in Dock out" (Vol. iii., pp. 133. 201. 205.).—I can assure A. E. B. that in the days of my childhood, long before I had ever heard of Chaucer, I used invariably, when I was stung with nettles, to rub the part affected with a dock-leaf or stalk, and repeat,

This charm is so common in Huntingdonshire at this day that it seems to come to children almost instinctively. None of them can tell where they first heard it, any more than why they use it.

Arun.

METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS.

The following passage from a sermon preached at Paul's Cross, March 26, 1620, by John King, Bishop of London, refers in a curious manner to many improvements and alterations which have either been already effected in our own time, or are still in contemplation. The sermon was "on behalfe of Paule's Church," then in a ruinous condition; and was delivered in the presence of James himself, who suggested the preacher's text, Psal. cii. 13, 14.

"So had my manner ever beene aforetime," says the Bishop, "to open the volume of this Booke, and goe through the fields of the Old and New Testament, plucking and rubbing such eares of corne therein as I best liked, makings, choice (I meane) of my text, and buckling myself to my task at myne owne discretion; but now I am girt and tied to a Scripture by him, who as he hath most right to command, so best skill to direct and appoint the best service I can."

After an elaborate laudation of England, and of London as the "gem and eye," which has

"the body of the King, the morning and midday influence of that glorious sun; other parts having but the evening.... O fortunati nimium; you have the finest flowre of the wheat, and purest bloud of the grape, that is, the choice of His blessed Word hath God given unto you; and great is the companie of the preachers"—

the Bishop proceeds thus:

"Not to weary mine eyes with wandering and roving after private, but to fixe upon publicke alone,—when I behold that forrest of masts upon your river for trafficke, and that more than miraculous bridge, which is the communis terminus, to joyne the two bankes of that river; your Royall Exchange for merchants, your Halls for Companies, your gates for defence, your markets for victuall, your aqueducts for water, your granaries for provision, your Hospitalls for the poore, your Bridewells for the idle, your Chamber for orphans, and your Churches for holy assemblies; I cannot denie them to be magnificent workes, and your Citty to deserve the name of an Augustious and majesticall Citty; to cast into the reckoning those of later edition, the beautifying of your fields without, and pitching your Smithfield within, new gates, new waterworkes, and the like, which have been consecrated by you to the dayes of his Majestie's happy reigne: and I hope the cleansing of the River, which is the vena porta to your Citty, will follow in good time. But after all these, as Christ to the young man in the Gospell, which had done all and more, Unum tibi deest, si vis perfectus esse, vade, vende; so may I say to you. There is yet one thing wanting unto you, if you will be perfit,—perfit this church: not by parting from all, but somewhat, not to the poore, but to God himselfe. This Church is your Sion indeed, other are but Synagogues, this your Jerusalem the mother to them all, other but daughters brought up at her knees; this the Cathedrall, other but Parochiall Churches; this the Bethel for the daily and constant service of God, other have their intermissions, this the common to you all, and to this doe {369}your tribes ascend in their greatest solemnities; others appropriated to several Congregations, this the standart in the high rode of gaze; others are more retired, this the mirrour and marke of strangers, other have but their side lookes; finally, this unto you, as S. Peters in the Vatican at Rome, S. Marks at Venice, and that of Diana at Ephesus, and this at Jerusalem of the Jewes; or if there be any other of glory and fame in the Christian world, which they most joy in."

Richard John King.

Minor Notes.

Meaning of Luncheon.—Our familiar name of luncheon is derived from the daily meal of the Spaniards at eleven o'clock, termed once or l'once (pronounced l'onchey).—From Ford's Gatherings in Spain.

A. L.

Charade upon Nothing translated.—In your No. for July a correspondent asks who was the author of the very quaint charade upon "Nothing:"

Possibly he may not object to read, without troubling himself as to the authorship of, the subjoined translation:

Effigies.

Giving the Lie.—The great affront of giving the lie arose from the phrase "Thou liest," in the oath taken by the defendant in judicial combats before engaging, when charged with any crime by the plaintiff, and Francis I. of France, to make current his giving the lie to the Emperor Charles V., first stamped it with infamy by saying, in a solemn Assembly, that "he was no honest man that would bear the lie."

Blowen.

Anachronisms of Painters.—An amusing list is given in D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature (edit. 1839, p. 131.). The following are additional:

At Hagley Park, Worcestershire, the seat of Lord Lyttleton, is a painting by Varotari, a pupil of Paul Veronese, of Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery. One of the Jewish elders present wears spectacles.

At Kedleston, Derbyshire, the seat of Lord Scarsdale, is a painting by Rembrandt, Daniel interpreting Belsazzar's Dream. Daniel's head is covered with a peruke of considerable magnitude.

J. E.

Spenser's Faerie Queene.—The following brief notes may perhaps prove interesting:—

1. Spenser gives us a hint of the annoyances to which Shakspeare and Burbage may have been subject:—

2. Spenser's solitary pun occurs in book iv. canto viii. verse 31.:

3. Cleanliness does not appear to have been a virtue much in vogue in the "glorious days of good Queen Bess." Spenser (book iv. canto xi. verse 47.) speaks of

i. e. for a special day of rejoicing.

4. An instance of the compound epithets so much used by Chapman in his translation of Homer, is found in Spenser's description of the sea-nymphs, book iv. canto xi. verse 50.:

J. H. C.

Adelaide, South Australia.

Prayer of Mary Queen of Scots.—The incorrect arrangement, in Seward's Anecdotes, of the following beautiful lines, said to be composed by Mary Queen of Scots, and repeated immediately before her execution, and a diffuse paraphrase subjoined, in which all their tenderness is lost by destroying their brevity and simplicity, may justify another arrangement, and an attempt to preserve their simple and tender character in fewer words and a different measure:—

Can any of your correspondents inform me where these lines first appear? on what authority they are ascribed to Mary Queen of Scots? and also who mentions their having been repeated immediately before her execution?

Alexander Pytts Falconer.

Beeton-Christchurch, Hants.

A small Instance of Warren Hastings' Magnanimity.—During the latter years of his life, Warren Hastings was in the habit of visiting General D'Oyley in the New Forest; and thus he became {370}acquainted with the Rev. W. Gilpin, vicar of Boldre, and author of Forest Scenery, &c. Mr. Gilpin's custom was to receive morning visitors, who sat and enjoyed his agreeable conversation; and Warren Hastings, when staying in the neighbourhood, often resorted to the Boldre Parsonage. It happened, one Sunday, that Mr. Gilpin preached a sermon on the character of Felix, which commenced in words like these:

"Felix was a bad man, and a bad governor. He took away another man's wife and lived with her; and he behaved with extortion and cruelty in the province over which he ruled."

Other particulars followed equally in accordance with the popular charges against the late Governor-General of India, who, to the preacher's dismay, was unexpectedly discovered sitting in the D'Oyley pew. Mr. Gilpin concluded that he then saw the last of his "great" friend. But, not so: on the following morning Warren Hastings came, with his usual pleasant manner, for a chat with the vicar, and of course made no allusion to the sermon.

This was told me by a late valued friend, who was a nephew and curate of Mr. Gilpin; and I am not aware that the anecdote has been put on record.

Alfred Gatty.

Ecclesfield.

Richard Baxter.—In the long list of Richard Baxter's works, one is entitled, An unsavoury Volume of Mr. Jo. Crawford's anatomized: or, a Nosegay of the choicest Flowers in that Garden, presented to Mr. Joseph Caryl, by Richard Baxter. 8vo., Lond. 1654.

At the end of a postscript to this tract, the following sentence is subjoined:

"Whatsoever hath escaped me in these writings that is against meekness, peace, and brotherly love, let it be all unsaid, and hereby revoked; and I desire the pardon of it from God and Man.

Richard Baxter."

Baxter's literary career was not the least extraordinary part of his history. Orme's life of him says, that the catalogue of his works contains nearly a hundred and sixty-eight distinct publications. A list of no less than one hundred and seven is given at the end of his Compassionate Counsel to all Young Men, 8vo., Lond. 1682.

Baxter's most popular treatises, as the world knows, were his Call to the Unconverted, and his Saint's Everlasting Rest.

H. E.

Registry of Dissenting Baptisms in Churches.—A fact came to my knowledge some time since, which seems worthy of having a note of it made, and recorded in your journal. On looking over the registry of baptisms administered in the meeting-house of an ancient city, I was struck by the occurrence of four names, which I had seen entered in a genealogy as from the baptismal registry of one of its parish churches. This appeared to me so strange, that I examined the parish registry in order to verify it; and I found that the baptisms were actually recorded as on the same days in both registries. Of course, the father, having had his child baptized by the dissenting minister, prevailed on the clergyman of his parish church to register it.

Whether this was a common custom at the time when it took place (1715-21) I have no means of knowing. As a fee was probably charged for the registration, it was not likely to be asked for in all instances; and, no doubt, when it was asked for, many clergymen would consider it inconsistent with their duty to grant it.

D. X.

Queries.

NOTES AND QUERIES RELATING TO SCANDINAVIA.

Can any of your readers furnish a list of the different editions of Olaus Magnus? I have lately met with a curious one entitled Historia delle Gente et della Natura delle Cose Settentrionali, da Olao Magno Gotho Arcivescovo di Vpsala nel Regno di Suezia e Gozia, descritta in XXII Libri. Tradotta in Lingua Toscana. In Vinegia, 1565. This edition, in folio, contains a very interesting old map of Scandinavia, and a profusion of little cuts or engravings, representing men, animals, gods, mountains, weapons, religious rites, natural wonders, and everything relating to the people and the country that could be conceived or gathered together. Is there any English translation of Olaus Magnus?

Is there any English translation of Jornandes' Histoire Générale des Goths? It is full of curious matter. The French edition of 1603 gives the following accounts of the midnight sun:—

"Diverses nations ne laissent pas d'habiter ces contrées" (Scanzia or Scandinavia). "Ptolomée en nomme sept principales. Celle qui s'appelle Adogit, et qui est la plus reculée vers le Nord, voit (dit on) durant l'Esté le Soleil rouler l'horizon quarante jours sans se coucher; mais aussi pendant l'Hyver, elle est privée de sa lumière un pareil espace de temps, payant ainsi par le long ennui que lui cause l'absence de cet Astre, la joye que sa longue présence lui avoit fait ressentir."

There is a little old book called Histoire des Intrigues Galantes de la Reine Christine de Suède et de sa Cour, pendant son sejour à Rome. A Amsterdam, 1697. It opens thus:

"Rome, qui est le centre de la religion, est aussi le Théâtre des plus belles Comédies du Monde:"

and after giving various accounts, personal and incidental, of her mercurial majesty, and of her pilgrimage to Rome, recites the following epigram on her first intrigue there, which, to give due precedence to the church, happened to be with a Cardinal, named Azolin:— {371}

adding:

"Dans ce peu de paroles Mr. de Coulanges [its author] dit beaucoup de choses, et fait comprendre l'intrigue du Cardinal avec la Reine."

I can find no account of this Reverend Cardinal. Who was he (if anybody), and what is his history? And who was the author of these odd memoirs of the Swedish Queen?

At page 228. of "Notes and Queries" I see mention of an English translation of Danish ballads by Mr. Borrow. Is there any translation of Norwegian ballads? Many of them are very beautiful and characteristic, and well worthy of an able rendering into our own language, if there were any one to undertake it. There is also much beauty in the Norwegian national music, of which a pretty but limited collection, the Norske Field-Melodier, arranged by Lindeman, is published at Christiania.

What is the best method of reaching Iceland? and what really good books have been published on that country within the last twenty years?

William E. C. Nourse.

London, April 22. 1851.

THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH.

Query, Has Mons. Foucault's pendulum experiment been as yet clearly enunciated? and do I understand it aright, when I conceive it is intended to show the existence of a certain uniform rotation in azimuth of the horizon, but different for different latitudes; which rotation, if made out to exist, is acquired solely in virtue of the uniform diurnal rotation (15° hourly) in right ascension of the equator, identical in all latitudes.

A pendulum, manifestly, can only be suspended vertically, and can only vibrate in a vertical plane; and surely can only be conceived, in the course of the experiment, to be referred to the horizon, that great circle of the heavenly sphere to which all vertical circles are referred.

A spectator at the north pole has the pole of the heavens coincident with his zenith; and there, all declination circles are also vertical circles; and there, the equator coincides with the horizon; whereby the whole effect of the rotation of the earth there (15° hourly) may be conceived to be given to the horizon: whilst, at the equator, the horizon is perpendicular to the equator, which therefore gives no such rotation at all to the horizon. Simple inspection of a celestial globe will illustrate this. Considering the matter thus, at the pole the rotation of the horizon is 15° hourly, and at the equator is 0, or nothing. But the sine of the latitude (=90°) at the pole is unity, or 1; and the sine of the latitude (=0°) at the equator is 0. Therefore, at these two extremes, the expression 15° × sin. lat. actually does give the amount of hourly apparent rotation of the horizon; namely, 15° at one place, and 0° at the other. Now, as I understand the experiment, as given in the public prints, it is asserted that the same expression of 15° × sin. lat. will give the rotation of the horizon in intermediate latitudes; of which rotation I subjoin a table calculated for the purpose.

Now this is the point which, it should seem, ought to be the business of experimenters to establish; it being proposed, as we are informed, to swing, in different latitudes, freely suspended pendulums, over horizontal dials, or circular tables, properly graduated, similarly to the horizons of common globes; and to note the apparent variation of the plane of oscillation of the pendulums with respect to the graduated dials; these latter serving as representatives of the horizon. For the hypothesis is (as I understand it), that the pendulums will continue to swing each of them severally in one invariable vertical plane fixed in free space, whilst the horizontal dials beneath, by their rotation, will slip away, as it were, and turn round in azimuth, from under the planes of the pendulums.

It should seem to be imperative on those who wish to put this experiment to proof, to give all possible attention to the precautions suggested in the excellent paper that appeared on the subject, on Saturday, April 19, in the Literary Gazette, copied also into the Morning Post of Monday the 21st. To my mind, the experiment is beset with practical difficulties; but even should the matter {372}be satisfactorily made out to those best capable of judging, I cannot readily conceive of an experiment less likely than the above to carry conviction to the minds of the wholly unlearned of the rotation of the earth.

I perceive that B.A.C., in the Times of April 24, avows his determined scepticism as to the virtue of the experiment.

Robert Snow.

MINOR QUERIES.

William ap Jevan's Descendants.—In Burke's Landed Gentry, p. 1465., mention is made of William ap Jevan, "an attendant upon Jasper Duke of Bedford, and afterwards upon Hen. VII.;" and of a son, Morgan Williams, ancestor of the Cromwells. Will some correspondent oblige by giving a reference to where any account may be met with of any other son, or children, to such William ap Jevan, and his or their descendants?

W. P. A.

"Geographers on Afric Downs."—Can any of your correspondents tell me where these lines are to be found?—

They sound Hudibrastic, but I cannot find them in Hudibras.

A. S.

Irish Brigade.—Can any of your correspondents furnish any account of what were called "The Capitulations of the Irish Brigades?" These Capitulations (to prevent mistakes) were simply the agreements under which foreign regiments entered the French service. The Swiss regiments had their special "capitulations" until 1830, when they ceased to be employed in France. They appear to have differed in almost every regiment of the Irish brigade; the privileges of some being greater than those of others. One was common to all, namely, the right of trial by their officers or comrades solely, and according to the laws of their own country.

Also, is there any history of the brigades published? I have heard that a Colonel Dromgoole published one. Can any information be afforded on that head?

K.

Passage in Oldham.—The following lines, on the virtues of "impudence," occur in that exquisite satirist, Oldham, described by Dryden as "too little and too lately known:"

I quote this passage chiefly with reference to the "porphyry chair," and with the view of ascertaining whether the allusion has been explained in any edition of Oldham's Poems. Does the expression refer to any established use of such chairs by the wearers of "red hats?" or is it intended merely to convey a general idea of the sumptuousness and splendour of their style of living?

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia, March, 1851.

Mont-de-Piété.-Can any of your readers furnish information as to the connexion between these words and the thing which they are used to denote? Mrs. Jameson says, in her Legends of the Monastic Orders, p. 307.:

"Another attribute of St. Bernardin's of Siena, is the Monte-di-Pietà, a little green hill composed of three mounds, and on the top either a cross or a standard, on which is the figure of the dead Saviour, usually called in Italy a Pietà. St. B. is said to have been the founder of the charitable institutions still called in France Monts-de-Piété, originally for the purpose of lending to the poor small sums on trifling pledges—what we should now call a loan society,—and which, in their commencement, were purely disinterested and beneficial. In every city which he visited as a preacher, he founded a Monte-di-Pietà; and before his death, these institutions had spread all over Italy and through a great part of France."

It is added in a note:

"Although the figures holding the M. di P. are, in Italian prints and pictures, styled 'San Bernardino da Siena,' there is reason to presume that the honour is at least shared by another worthy of the same order, 'Il Beato Bernardino da Feltri,' a celebrated preacher at the end of the fifteenth century. Mention is made of his preaching against the Jews and usurers, on the miseries of the poor, and on the necessity of having a Monte-di-Pietà at Florence, in a sermon delivered in the church of Santa Croce in the year 1488."

On p. 308. is a representation of the Monte-di-Pietà, borne in the saint's hand. I need not specify the points on which the foregoing extract still leaves information to be desired.

W. B. H.

Manchester.

Poem upon the Grave.—A. D. would be obliged by being informed where to find a poem upon The Grave. Two voices speak in it, and, it commences—

The second voice replies—

Clocks: when self-striking Clocks first invented.—In Bolingbroke's Letters on the Study of History {373}(Letter IV.), I read the following passage in relation to a certain person:

"His reason had not the merit of common mechanism. When you press a watch or pull a clock, they answer your question with precision; for they repeat exactly the hour of the day, and tell you neither more nor less than you desire to know."

I believe this work was written about 1711. Can you tell me when the self-striking clock was invented, and by whom?

Jingo.

Clarkson's "Richmond."—Can any of your readers inform me who is in possession of the papers of the late Mr. Clarkson, the historian of Richmond, in Yorkshire? I wish to know what were the ancient documents, or other sources, from which the learned author ascertained some facts stated in his valuable work. To whom should I apply on the subject?

D. Q.

"Felix quem faciunt," &c.—I wish you could tell me where I can find this line:

Effigies.

Whitehall.

Sir Francis Windebank's elder Son.—Sir Francis Windebank, "of treacherous memory," it is well known, died at Paris in September, 1646. He had two sons; what became of Thomas, the elder? Francis, the second, was a colonel in the royal army: he was tried for cowardice in surrendering Blechingdon House, in Oxfordshire, to Oliver Cromwell without a blow; and being found guilty, was shot at Broken Hayes, near Oxford, in April, 1645. I am anxious to make out the fate of his elder brother.

Edward F. Rimbault.

Incised Slab.—I have a large incised slab in my church, with the figures of a man (Richard Grenewey) and his wife upon it, with the date 1473. Following the date, and filling up the remainder of the line of the inscription, is the figure of a cock in a fighting attitude. Can any of your readers enlighten me on the subject?

H. C. K.

Etymology of Balsall.—Will you allow me to ask some of your readers to give me the etymology of Balsall? It occurs frequently about here, as Balsall Temple, B. Street, B. Grange, B. Common, and near Birmingham is Balsall Heath. It is not to be confounded with Beausall Common, which also is near this place.

F. R.

Kenilworth.

St. Olave's Churches.—In the Calendar of the Anglican Church, Parker, Oxford, 1851, at pp. 267. and 313., it is stated that Saint Olave helped King Ethelred to dislodge the Danes from London and Southwark, by destroying London Bridge; and that, in gratitude for this service, the churches at each end of the bridge are dedicated to him;—on the Southwark side, St. Olave's, Tooley Street, is; but was there ever a church on the London side, bearing the same name?—The nearest one to the bridge is St. Olave's, Hart Street; but that is surely too distant to be called "at the end of the bridge."

E. N. W.

Southwark, April 21. 1851.

Sabbatical and Jubilee Years of the Jews.—As the solution of many interesting topics in connexion with Jewish history is yet dependent on the period of the institution of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, the following observations will not perhaps be deemed unworthy of a "nook" in your columns. A spark may blaze! I therefore throw it out to be fanned into a more brilliant light by those of your readers whose studies peculiarly fit them to inquire more searchingly into the subject. The Jews, it has been remarked by various writers, were ignorant of astronomy. Both, however, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years have been, as I conceive and will endeavour to show, founded on astronomical observation, commemorative of no particular event in Jewish history, but simply that of the moon's revolutions; for instance, with reference to the Sabbatical year, allowing for a difference of four days and a half, which occurs annually in the time of the moon's position on the equator, it would require, in order to realise a number corresponding to the days (29) employed by the moon in her synodical revolution round the earth, a period to elapse of little less than six years and a half: thus exhibiting the Jews' seventh or Sabbatical year, or year of rest. This result, besides being instructive and commemorative of the moon's menstrual course, is at the same time indicative, as each Sabbatical year rolls past, of the approach of the "finisher of the Seven Sabbaths of years," or year of Jubilee, so designated from its being to the chosen people of God, under the Jewish dispensation, a year of "freedom and redemption," in commemoration of the moon's complete revolution, viz., her return to a certain position at the precise time at which she set out therefrom, an event which takes place but once in fifty years: in other words, if the moon be on the equator, say, on the first day of February, and calculating twenty-nine days to the month, or twelve lunations to the year, a cycle of fifty years, or "seven Sabbaths of years," must elapse ere she will again be in that position on the same day.

Hipparchus.

Limehouse, March 31. 1851.

Arms of Isle of Man.—The arms of the Isle of Man are gules, three legs conjoined in the fess point, &c. &c. or. These arms were stamped on the old halfpence of the island, and we may well call them the current coin.

In an old edition of the Mythology of Natalis {374}Comus, Patavii, 1637, small 4to., at page 278., I find an Icon of Triptolemus sent by Ceres in a chariot drawn by serpents, hovering in the clouds over what I suppose to be Sicily, or Trinacria; and on a representation of a city below the chariot occurs the very same form of coin, the three legs conjoined, with the addition of three ears of corn.

This seems to me to be a curious coincidence.

Merviniensis.

Doctrine of the Resurrection.—Can any of your readers inform me of any traces of the doctrine of the Resurrection to be found in authors anterior to the Christian era? The following passage from Diogenes Laertius is quoted in St. John's Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, vol. i. p. 355.:

"Καὶ ἀναβιώσεσθαι, κατὰ τοὺς Μάγους, φησὶ (θεοπομπος), τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ἔσεσθαι ἀθανάτους."

How far does the statement in this passage involve the idea of a bodily resurrection? I fancy the doctrine is not countenanced by any of the apparitions in the poetical Hades of Virgil, or of other poets.

Zeteticus.

National Debts.—Is there any published work descriptive of the origin of the foundation of a "National Debt" in Florence so early as the year 1344, when the state, owing a sum of money, created a "Mount or Bank," the shares in which were transferable, like our stocks? It is not mentioned in Niccolo Machiavelli's History of Florence; but I have a note of the fact, without a reference to the authority. Is there any precedent prior to the foundation of our National Debt?

F. E. M.

Leicester's Commonwealth.—Are the real authors of Leicester's Commonwealth, and the poetical tract generally found with it, Leicester's Ghost, known? According to Dodd's Church History, the first is erroneously attributed to Robert Parsons the Jesuit.

Edward F. Rimbault.

Replies.

HISTOIRE DES SÉVARAMBES.

(Vol. iii., pp. 4. 72. 147.)

The History of the Sevarites, in the original English edition, consists of two parts: the first published in 1675, in 114 pages, small 12mo., without a preface; the second published in 1679, in 140 pages, with a preface of six pages. The French version of this work is much altered and enlarged. The title is changed into Histoire des Sévarambes, the "Sevarites" being dropped. There is a preface of fifteen pages, containing a supposed letter from Thomas Skinner, dated Bruges, Oct. 28, 1672. The work is divided into five parts, three of which are in the first, and two in the second volume of the Amsterdam edition of 1716. These five parts are together more than twice as bulky as the two parts of the English work. There is no copy of the original French edition of 1677-9 described by Marchand, in any English public library; but if there is a copy in the French national library, any of your bibliographical correspondents at Paris could easily ascertain whether (as is probably the case) the Amsterdam edition is a mere reprint from the original Paris edition.

The French version of this work is not only much enlarged, but it differs in the names and incidents, and is fuller in the account of the institutions and customs of the imaginary state. The English edition of 1738 (1 vol. 8vo.) is a literal translation from the French version, though it does not purport to be a translation. It may be doubted whether the translator was aware of the existence of the English publication of 1675-9. The German translation was published in 1680; the Dutch translation in 1682: both these appear to have been taken from the French.

Morhof (Polyhistor., vol. i. p. 74.), who inserts this work among the libri damnati, and dwells upon its deistical character, refers to the French version; and though he knew that the book had originally appeared in English, he probably was not aware of the difference between the two versions. A note added by his first editor, Moller, states that Morhof often told his friends that he believed Isaac Vossius to have been the author of the work. Isaac Vossius was in England from 1670 until his death, which took place at Windsor, February 21, 1689. His residence in England, combined with the known laxity of his religious opinions, doubtless suggested to Morhof the conjecture that he wrote this freethinking Utopia. There is, however, no external evidence to support this conjecture, or to show that it had any better foundation than the conjecture that Bishop Berkeley wrote Gaudentio di Lucca. The University of Leyden purchased the library of Isaac Vossius for 36,000 florins. If it is still preserved at Leyden, a search among his books might ascertain whether there is among them any copy of the English or French editions of this work, and whether they contain any written remark by their former possessor. Moreover, it is to be observed that the system of natural religion is for the first time developed in the French edition; and this was the part which chiefly gave the book its celebrity: whereas, the supposition of Morhof implies that the English and French versions are identical.

Heumann, in his Schediasma de Libris Anonymis et Pseudonymis (Jena, 1711), p. 161. (reprinted in Mylius, Bibliotheca Anon. et Pseudon., Hamburg, 1740, vol. i. pp. 170-6.) has an article on the Histoire des Sévarambes. It is there stated that "Messieurs de Portroyal" superintended the French translation of the work; but no authority is given for the statement. Christian Thomasius, {375}in his Monthly Review of November 1689, attributed the work to D'Allais (or Vairasse). He alleged three reasons for this belief: 1. The rumour current in France; 2. The fact that Allais sold the book, as well as his French grammar; 3. That a comparison of the two works, in respect of style and character of mind, renders it most probable that both are by the same author. The testimony of Thomasius is important, as the date of its publication is only ten years posterior to the publication of the last part of the French version.

Leclerc, in a review of the Schediasma of Heumann, in the Bibliothèque Choisie, published in 1712 (tom. xxv. p. 402., with an addendum, tom. xxvi. p. 460.), attests positively that Vairasse was the author of the work in question. He says that Vairasse (or, as he spells the name, Veiras) took the name of D'Allais in order to sell his book. He had this fact from persons well acquainted with Vairasse. He likewise mentions that Vairasse was well known to Locke, who gave Leclerc an account of his birthplace. Leclerc adds that he was acquainted with a person to whom Vairasse wished to dedicate his book (viz. the Histoire des Sévarambes), and who possessed a copy of it, with a species of dedication, written in his hand.

This testimony is so distinct and circumstantial, as to leave no reasonable doubt as to the connexion of Vairasse with the French version. The difficulty as to the authorship of the English version still, however, remains considerable. The extensive alterations introduced in the French edition certainly render it probable that two different writers were concerned in the work. The words of Leclerc respecting the information received from Locke are somewhat ambiguous; but they do not necessarily imply that Locke knew anything as to the connexion of Vairasse with the book, though they are not inconsistent with this meaning. Locke had doubtless become acquainted with Vairasse during his residence in England. Considering the length of time which Vairasse passed in England, and the eminence of the persons with whom he is said to have had relations (viz. the Duke of York, Lord Clarendon, and Locke), it is singular that no mention of him should be discoverable in any English book.

The error, that the work in question was written by Algernon Sidney, appears to have arisen from a confusion with the name of Captain Siden, the imaginary traveller. Fabricius (Bibliograph. Antiq., c. xiv. §16. p. 491.) mentions Sidney and Vairasse as the two most probable claimants to the authorship.

Hume, in his Essay on Polygamy and Divorces, refers to the History of the Sevarambians, and calls it an "agreeable romance."

L.

WAS THERE AN "OUTER TEMPLE" IN THE POSSESSION OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS OR KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN?—(Vol. iii., p. 325.)

I have great pleasure in complying with the very proper request of Mr. Foss, and give my authority at once for stating in the Hand-book for London that the so-called "Outer Temple" was a part of the Fleet Street possession of the Knights Templars or Knights of St. John, or was in any manner comprehended within the New Temple property of Fleet Street and Temple Bar. My authority is Sir George Buc, whose minute and valuable account of the universities of England is dedicated to Sir Edward Coke. Buc's words are these:—

"After this suppression and condemnation of the Templers, their house here in Fleete Street came to the handes and occupation of diuers Lordes. For our Antiquaries and Chronologers say, that after this suppression Sir Thomas Plantagenet Earl of Lancaster (and Cousin to the King then raigning) had it, but beeing after attainted of treason, hee enjoyed it but a short time.

"Then next Hugh Spencer Earle of Glocester got into it, but he also was soone after attainted, and executed for Treason. After him Andomare de Valence, a nobleman of the great house of Lusignan, and Earle of Pembrooke, was lodged in it for a while. But this house was 'Equus Seianus' to them all: and (as here it appeareth) was ordayned by God for other better uses, and whereunto now it serueth. After all these noble tenants and occupants were thus exturbed, dead, and gone, then certaine of the reuerend, ancient professours of the Lawes, in the raign of King Edward the Third, obtained a very large or (as I might say) a perpetuall Lease of this Temple, or (as it must bee understood) of two parts thereof distinguished by the names of the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple, from the foresayd Ioannites.... But the other third part, called the Outward Temple, Doctor Stapleton, Bishop of Exceter, had gotten in the raign of the former King, Edward the Second, and conuerted it to a house for him and his successors, Bishops of Exceter ... of whom the late Earle of Essex purchased it, and it is now called Essex house: hauing first beene (as I haue sayd) a part of the Templers' house, and in regard of the scituation thereof, without the Barre, was called the Outward or Utter Temple, as the others, for the like causes, were called the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple."—Sir George Buc, in Stow by Howes, ed. 1631, p. 1068.

This seems decisive, if Buc is to be relied on, as I think he is. But new facts, such as Mr. Foss's researches and Mr. Burtt's diligence are likely to bring to light, may upset Buc's statement altogether.

I must join Mr. Foss in his wish to ascertain when the names Inner Temple and Middle Temple were first made use of, with a further Query, which I should be glad to have settled, when the See of Exeter first obtained the site of the so-called {376}"Outer Temple?" Stapleton, by whom it was perhaps obtained, was Bishop of Exeter from 1307 to 1326.

Peter Cunningham.

OBEISM.

(Vol. iii., p. 59.)

In reply to F. H., I beg leave to state that Obeism is not in itself a religion, except in the sense in which Burke says that "superstition is the religion of feeble minds." It is a belief, real or pretended, in the efficacy of certain spells and incantations, and is to the uneducated negro what sorcery was to our unenlightened forefathers. This superstition is known in St. Lucia by the name of Kembois. It is still extensively practised in the West Indies, but there is no reason to suppose that it is rapidly gaining ground. F. H. will find ample information on the subject in Père Labat's Nouveau Voyage aux Isles françaises de l'Amérique, tome ii. p. 59., and tome iv. pp. 447. 499. and 506., edition of 1742; in Bryan Edwards' History of the West Indies, vol. ii. ch. iii., 5th edition (London, 1819); and in Dr. R. R. Madden's Residence in the West Indies, vol. ii. letter 27. Perhaps the following particulars from Bryan Edwards (who says he is indebted for them to a Mr. Long) on the etymology of obeah, may be acceptable to some of your readers:—

"The term obeah, obiah, or obia, (for it is variously written,) we conceive to be the adjective, and obe or obi, the noun substantive; and that by the word obia—men or women—is meant those who practise obi. The origin of the term we should consider as of no importance, in our answer to the question proposed, if, in search of it, we were not led to disquisitions that are highly gratifying to curiosity. From the learned Mr. Bryant's commentary upon the word oph, we obtain a very probable etymology of the term. 'A serpent, in the Egyptian language, was called ob or aub.' 'Obion is still the Egyptian name for a serpent.' 'Moses, in the name of God, forbids the Israelites ever to inquire of the demon Ob, which is translated in our Bible, charmer or wizard, divinator aut sorcilegus.' 'The woman at Endor is called oub or ob, translated Pythonissa; and oubaois (he cites from Horus Apollo) was the name of the Basilisk or Royal Serpent, emblem of the sun, and an ancient oracular deity of Africa.'"

One of your correspondents has formed a substantive from obe by the addition of ism, and another from obeah by the same process; but it will be seen by the above quotation that there is no necessity for that obtrusive termination, the superstitious practice in question being already sufficiently described by the word obe or obi.

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia, March, 1851.

SAN MARINO.

(Vol. iii., p. 321.)

On the death of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, without legitimate male issue, in October, 1468, Pope Paul II. declared Rimini and his other fiefs to have reverted to the Holy See. In the spring of the following year the Pontiff proceeded, with the assistance of the Venetians, to enforce his claim, and threatened the Republicans of San Marino with his vengeance if they did not aid him and his allies in gaining possession of Rimini, which Roberto Malatesta, one of the illegitimate sons of Sigismondo Pandolfo, had seized by stratagem.

By advice of their faithful friend Federigo, Count of Urbino, who was at the head of the opposite league, comprising the King of Naples, the Duke of Milan, and the Florentines, the San-Marinese forwarded the Papal mandate to Florence, and requested through their ambassador, one Ser Bartolomeo, the support of that Republic. Several letters appear to have been sent in answer to their applications, and the one communicated by Mr. Sydney Smirke is characterised by Melchiarre Delfico (Memorie storiche della Repubblica di San Marino. Capolago, 1842, 8vo. p. 229.) as

"Del tutto didattica e parenetica intorno alla libertà, di cui i Fiorentini facevano gran vanto, mentre erano quasi alla vigilia di perderla intieramente."

San Marino was not attacked during the campaign, which terminated on the 30th of August of the same year (1469) with the battle of Vergiano, in which Alessandro Sforza, the commander of the Papal forces, was signally defeated by Federigo.

San Marino has never, so far as I have been able to ascertain, undergone the calamity of a siege, and its inhabitants have uninterruptedly enjoyed the blessing of self-government from the foundation of the Republic in the third or fourth century to the present time, with the exception of the few months of 1503, during which the infamous Cesare Borgia forced them to accept a Podestà of his own nomination. Various causes have contributed to this lengthened independence; but it may be stated that, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the San Marinese owed it no less to their own patriotism, courage, prudence, and good faith, than to the disinterested protection of the Counts and Dukes of Urbino, whose history has been so ably written by Mr. Dennistoun, in his recently published memoirs of that chivalrous race.

The privileges of the Republic were confirmed on the 12th of February, 1797, by Napoleon Buonaparte, who offered to enlarge its territory,—a boon which its citizens were wise enough to decline; thinking, perhaps, with Montesquieu, that—

"Il est de la nature d'une république qu'elle n'ait qu'un petit territoire: sans cela, elle ne peut guère subsister."—Esprit des Lois, liv. viii. chap. 16.

Your readers will find some notices of San {377}Marino in Addison's Remarks on several Parts of Italy; Aristotle's Politics, translated by Gillies, lib. ii. Appendix.

Its lofty and isolated situation has supplied Jean Paul with a simile in his Unsichtbare Loge:

"Alle andre Wissenschaften theilen sich jetzt in eine Universal Monarchie über alle Leser: aber die Alten sitzen mit ihren wenigen philologischen Lehnsleuten einsam auf einem S. Marino-Felsen."—Jean Paul's Werke (Berlin, 1840, 8vo.), vol. i. p. 125.

In the first line of the letter, "vedato" should be veduto; and in the seventh line, "difenderai" difendervi.

F. C. B.

THE BELLMAN AND HIS HISTORY.

(Vol. iii., p. 324.)

The Bellman's songs may be found in the Bellman's Treasury, containing above a Hundred several Verses, fitted for all Humours and Fancies, and suited to all Times and Seasons. London: 8vo. 1707. Extracts from this book are given in Hone's Every Day Book, vol. ii. p. 1594.

I have now before me a broadside thus entitled: "A copy of verses, humbly presented to the Right Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Councilmen, and the rest of my worthy Masters and Mistresses, dwelling in Cambridge. By Thomas Adams, Bellman, 1810." There is a large engraving, from a wood-block, apparently a century old, representing a bellman, in a flowing wig and a three-cornered hat, holding, in his right hand a bell, and in his left a javelin and lantern; his dog is behind him.

The verses are:

This is marked as the 24th sheet; that is, as I suppose, the 24th set of verses presented by Mr. Adams.

I have also a similar broadside, "by Isaac Moule, jun., bellman, 1824," being "No. III." of Mr. Moule's performances. The woodcut is of a more modern character than Mr. Adams's, and delineates a bellman in a three-cornered hat, modern coat, breeches, and stockings, a bell in his right hand, and a small dog by his side. The bellman is represented as standing in front of the old Shire Hall in Cambridge, having Hobson's Conduit on his right.

The subjects of Mr. Moule's verses are similar to those of Mr. Adams, with the following variations. He omits verses to the Town Clerk, the Members for the Town, the Queen, on Charity, and on Religion, and inserts verses "On St. Crispin," and "To my Masters and Mistresses."

The office of bellman in this town was abolished in 1836, and to the bellman's verses have succeeded similar effusions from the lamplighters, who distribute copies when soliciting Christmas boxes from the inhabitants.

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge, April 28. 1851.

Replies to Minor Queries.

"God takes those soonest," &c. (Vol. iii., p. 302.).—In Morwenstow churchyard, Cornwall, there is this epitaph on a child:—

C. E. H.

The belief expressed in these words is of great antiquity. See the story of Cleobis and Biton, in Herod. l. 31., and the verse frown the Δὶς ἐξαπατῶν of Menander:

L.

I would suggest to T. H. K. that the origin of this line is Menander's

imitated by Plautus:

whence the English adage,

Wordsworth's Excur., b. i., has this sentiment:

C. P. Ph****.

{378}

Disinterment for Heresy (Vol. iii, p. 240.).—Mr. Tracy's will, dated 10th October, 22d Henry VIII. [1530], is given at length in Hall's Chronicle (ed. 1809, p. 796.), where will be found the particulars of the case to which Arun alludes. See also Burnet's History of the Reformation (ed. 1841, vol. i. pp. 125. 657, 658. 673.), and Strype's Annals of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 507. Strype states that Mr. Tracy's body was dug up and burnt "anno 1532." William Tyndale wrote Exposition on Mr. Will. Tracies Will, published in 8vo. at Nuremburgh, 1546. (Wood's Athen. Oxon., vol. i. p. 37.)

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge, April 2. 1851.

"William Tracy, a worshipful esquire in Gloucestershire, and then dwelling at Todington," made a will, which was thought to contain heretical sentiments. His executor having brought in this will to be proved two years after Tracy's death (in 1532), "the Convocation most cruelly judged that he should be taken out of the ground, and burnt as an heretick," which was accordingly done; but the chancellor of the diocese of Worcester, to whom the commission was sent for the burning, was fined 300l. for it by King Henry VIII. Such is the story in Fox's Martyrs, anno 1532 (vol. ii. p. 262. ed. 1684, which I have before me).

Exon.

The date and some particulars of the exhumation of the body of W. Tracy, Esq., of Toddington Park, ancestor of the present Lord Sudeley, Arun will find in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. v. p. 31. ed. 1843, and the note in appendix will point out other sources.

Novus.

The Vellum-bound Junius (Vol. iii., pp. 262. 307.).—In the Number dated April 19, 1851, p. 307., is a request for information relative to the "Vellum-bound copy of Junius;" also a reference to the subject in a prior number of the "Notes and Queries." Not being in England, and not having the prior numbers, it is not possible to make myself acquainted with the subject contained in that reference, but I will endeavour to throw some light on the Query in the Number which has been forwarded to me. The writer of the Letters of Junius was the secretary of the first Marquis of Lansdowne, better known as Lord Shelburne. From his Lordship he obtained all the political information necessary for his compositions. The late Marquis of Lansdowne possessed the copy bound in vellum (two volumes), with many notes on the margin in Lord Shelburne's handwriting; they were kept locked up in a beautiful ebony casket bound and ornamented with brass. That casket has disappeared, at least so I have been told, and not many years ago inquiry was made for it by the present head of that house. Maclean was a dark, strong-featured man, who wore his hat slouched over his eyes, and generally a large cloak. He often corrected the slips or proofs of his letters at Cox's, a well-known printer near Lincoln's Inn, who deemed himself bound in honour never to divulge what he knew of that publication, and was agitated when once suddenly spoken to on the subject near the door of the small room in which the proofs were corrected, and with a high and honourable feeling requested never to be again spoken to on the subject. The late President of the Royal Academy, Benjamin West, knew Maclean; and his son, the late Raphael West, told the writer of these remarks, that when a young man he had seen him in the evening at his father's in Newman Street, and once heard him repeat a passage in one of the letters which was not then published. A more correct and veracious man than Mr. R. West could not be. Maclean stammered, and was consequently of no use to Lord Shelburne as a debater and supporter in parliament. A place in the East Indies was obtained for him, and he sailed in the Aurora frigate for that dependency, and was lost in her at the same time with Falconer, the author of the poem entitled The Shipwreck. The able tract published by Mr. Pickering, Piccadilly, would constitute a fair foundation on which to build the inquiry.

Ægrotus.

Pursuits of Literature (Vol. iii., p. 240.).—I trust that the following notes may be useful in assisting your correspondent S. T. D. to ascertain "how the author of the Pursuits of Literature became known." The first edition of the first part of the Pursuits of Literature appears to have been published in quarto, by J. Owen, 168. Piccadilly, in 1794. In a volume of pamphlets I have the above bound up with the following:—

"The Sphinx's Head Broken: or a Poetical Epistle, with notes to Thomas James M*th**s, Cl*rk to the Q***n's Tr**s*r*r. Proving him to be the author of the Pursuits of Literature: a Satirical Poem. With occasional Digressions and Remarks. By Andrew Œdipus, an injured Author. London: Printed for J. Bell, No. 148. Oxford Street, opposite New Bond Street, MDCCXCVIII."

This epistle is a very severe castigation for Mathias, whom Œdipus styles the "little black jogging man," whose

"Politics and religion are very well, but he is a detestable pedant, and his head is a lumber-garret of Greek quotations, which he raps out as a juggler does ribbands at a country fair."

And speaking of "Chuckle Bennet," he calls him in a note,

"A good calf-headed bookseller in Pall Mall, the intimate confidant and crony of little M*th**s, and who, upon Owen's bankruptcy, published Part IV. of Pursuits of Literature himself."

Of Owen, who published Part I., our author says: {379}

"Hither the sly little fellow got crony Becket to send his satirical trumpery;"

which is further explained in the following note:

"Becket's back door is in an alley close to his house; here have I often seen little M*th**s jog in and sit upon thorns for fear of being seen, in the back-parlour, chattering matters over with old Numscull. After passing through many hands, the proof sheets at last very slily reached little M*th**s that he might revise the learned lumber."

After alluding to several pieces published by Mathias, our unmerciful critic adds in another note:

"It is very remarkable how strongly the characteristic features of identity of authorship are marked in these several pieces; the little man had not even the wit to print them in a different manner, yet strange to tell, few, very few, could smell the he-goat!

Mercurii.

Dutch Books (Vol. iii., p. 326.).—Martinus is probably aware that the library of the Fagel family is now a part of the University Library of Dublin, and that it contains a very fine collection of Dutch literature, in which it is very possible some of the books of which he is in search may be found.

The auction catalogue prepared in 1800, when the library was to have been sold by auction, had it not been purchased by the University of Dublin, is printed, and a copy of it is at his service, if he will inform me through you how to send it to him.

This library contains many rare tracts and documents well worthy of Mr. Macaulay's attention, if he is about to continue his history of the Revolution; but I have not heard whether he has made any inquiry after them, or whether he is aware of their existence. There is a curious MS. catalogue of them in the possession of the University, which was too voluminous to be printed, when the library was about to be sold.

Hibernicus.

Engilbert, Archbishop of Treves (Vol. i., p 214.).—There can be no doubt that the bishop's reference is incorrect, and the suggestion of T. J. (Vol. iii., p. 291.) to consult the reprint of 1840 affords no aid in setting it right; for there we find (p. 178.) a note as follows:

"There was no Engilbert, Archbishop of Treves, nor is there any work in this name in Goldasti."

I have, however, consulted Mr. Bowden's Life and Pontificate of Gregory VII., in order, if possible, to find a clue; and in a note in vol. ii. p. 246. of that work is a statement of the hesitation of the Pope on the doctrine of the eucharist, with a reference as follows:

"Vid. Egilberti archiep. Trevir. epist. adv. Greg. VII., in Eccardi Corp. historic. Medii Ævi. t. ii. p. 170."

This reference I have verified, and found in the epistle of Egilbertus the passage which, no doubt, Bishop Cosin refers to, and which Mr. Bowden cites:

"En verus pontifex et sacerdos, qui dubitat si illud quod sumatur in dominicâ mensâ sit verum corpus et sanguis Christi!"

So much for that part of the difficulty, but another still remains. Was there ever an Egilbertus, or Engilbertus, Archbishop of Treves? To solve this question I consulted a list of the Archbishops of Treves in the Bibliothèque Sacrée of Richard et Giraud, and I there find the following statement:

"Engelbert, grand-prévôt de Passau, fut intrus par la faveur de l'empereur Henri IV., et sacré par des évêques schismatiques. Il mourut en 1101."

Tyro.

Dublin.

Charles Lamb's Epitaph (Vol. iii., p. 322.).—According to Mr. Thorne (Rambles by Rivers, 1st series, p. 190.) the inscription in the churchyard at Edmonton, to the memory of Charles Lamb, was written "by his friend, Dr. Carey, the translator of 'Dante.'" Mr. Thorne gives an anecdote concerning this inscription which I venture to transcribe, in the expectation that it may interest your correspondent Maria S., and others of your numerous readers.

"We heard a piece of criticism on this inscription that Lamb would have enjoyed. As we were copying it, a couple of canal excavators came across the churchyard, and read it over with great deliberation; when they had finished, one of them said, 'A very fair bit of poetry that;' 'Yes,' replied his companion, 'I'm blest if it isn't as good a bit as any in the churchyard; rather too long, though.'"

By "Dr. Carey," of course, is meant the Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M.A., Vicar of Bromley Abbots, Staffordshire, and Assistant Librarian in the British Museum, as he was the translator of "Dante," and an intimate friend of Charles Lamb.

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge, April 28. 1851.

Charles II. in Wales (Vol. iii., p. 263.).—In answer to Davydd Gam's Query, it may be observed that I have never heard of the tradition in question, nor have I met with any evidence to show that Charles II. was in any part of Wales at this period. In "The true Narrative and Relation of his most sacred Majesty's Escape from Worcester," Selection from the Harleian Miscellany, 4to., p. 380., it is stated that the king meditated the scheme of crossing into Wales from White Ladies, the house of the Penderells, but that "the design was crossed." One of the "Boscobel Tracts," at p. 137., treating of the same period, and compiled by the king himself in 1680, mentions his {380}intention of making his escape another way, which was to get over the Severn into Wales, and so get either to Swansea, or some other of the sea towns that he knew had commerce with France; beside that he "remembered several honest gentlemen" that were of his acquaintance. However, the scheme was abandoned, and the king fled to the southward by Madeley, Boscobel, &c., to Cirencester, Bristol, and into Dorsetshire, and thence to Brighton, where he embarked for France on the 15th Oct., 1651.

Lancaiach is still in possession of the Prichard family, descendants of Col. Prichard.

There is a tradition that Charles I. slept there on his way from Cardiff Castle to Brecon, in 1645, and the tester of the bed in which his Majesty slept is stated to have been in the possession of a Cardiff antiquary now deceased. The facts of the case appear in the Iter Carolinum, printed by Peck (Desiderata Curiosa). The king stayed at Cardiff from the 29th July to the 5th August, 1645, on which day he dined at Llancaiach, and supped at Brecon.

J. M. T.

"Ex Pede Herculem" (Vol. iii., p. 302.).—The following allusion to the foot of Hercules occurs in Herodotus, book iv. section 82.:

"Ἴχνος Ἡρακλέος φαίνουσι ἐν πέτρῃ ἐνεὸν, τὸ οικε μὲν βήματι ἀνδρὸς, ἔστι δὲ τὸ μέγαθος δίπηχυ, παρὰ τὸν Τύρην ποταμὸν."

The origin of this phrase is connected with the following story:—A certain Greek (whose name has for the present escaped me, but who must have been ready to contribute to the "Notes and Queries" of his time) was one day observed carefully "stepping" over the αὐλός or footrace-course at Olympia; and he gave as a reason for so doing, that when that race-course was originally marked out, it was exactly six hundred times as long as Hercules' foot (that being the distance Hercules could run without taking breath): so that by ascertaining how many times the length of his own foot is contained, he would know how much Hercules' foot exceeded his foot in length, and might therefrom calculate how much Hercules' stature exceeded that of ordinary men of those degenerate days.

J. Eastwood.

Ecclesfield.

This proverb does not appear to be of classical origin. Several proverbs of a similar meaning are collected in Diogenian, v. 15. The most common is, ἐκ τῶν ὀνύχων τὸν λέοντα, ex ungue leonem. The allusion to Hercules is probably borrowed from some fable.

L.

Bucaneers (Vol. i., p. 400.).—Your correspondent C. will find an interesting account of the Bucaneers in a poem by M. Poirié St. Aurèle, entitled Le Flibustier, and published by Ambroise Dupont & Co., Paris, 1827. The Introduction and Notes furnish some curious particulars relative to the origin, progress, and dissolution of those once celebrated pirates, and to the daring exploits of their principal leaders, Montauban, Grammont, Monbars, Vand-Horn, Laurent de Graff, and Sir H. Morgan. The book contains many facts which go far to support Bryan Edwards's favourable opinion. I may add that the author derives the French word flibustier from the English freebooter, and the English word bucaneer from the French boucanier; which latter word is derived from boucan, an expression used by the Caribs to describe the place where they assembled to make a repast of their enemies taken in war.

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia, March, 1851.

God's Acre (Vol. iii., p. 284.).—By a Saxon phrase, Mr. Longfellow undoubtedly meant German. In Germany Gottes-acker is a name for churchyard; and it is to be found in Wachter's Glossarium Germanicum, as well as in modern dictionaries. It is true there is the other word Kirchhof, perhaps of more modern date.

"Gots-aker. Cæmeterium. Quasi ager Dei, quia corpora defunctorum fidelium comparantur semini. 1 Cor. xv. 36., observante Keyslero in Antiq. Septentr. p. 109."—Wachter's Gloss. Germanicum.

Very interesting are also the other allegorical names which have been given to the burial-places of the dead. They are enlarged upon in Minshew's Guide to Tongues, under the head "Churchyard."

"Cæmeterium (from the Greek), signifying a dormitory or place of sleep. And a Hebrew term (so Minshew says), Beth-chajim, i. e. domus viventium, 'The house of the living,' in allusion to the resurrection."

Our matter-of-fact "Church-yard or inclosure" falls dull on the ear and mind after any of the above titles.

Hermes.

God's Acre.—The term God's Acre, as applied to a church-garth, would seem to designate the consecrated ground set apart as the resting-place of His faithful departed, sown with immortal seed (1 Cor. xv. 38.), which shall be raised in glory at the great harvest (Matt. xiii. 39.; Rev. xiv. 15.). The church-yard is "dedicated wholly and only for Christian burial," and "the bishop and ordinary of the diocese, as God's minister, in God's stead accepts it as a freewill offering, to be severed from all former profane and common uses, to be held as holy ground," and "to be God's storehouse for the bodies of His saints there to be interred." See "Bishop Andrewes' Form of Consecration of a Churchyard," Minor Works, pp. 328-333., Oxf., 1846.

Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.

{381}

P.S. When was the name of Poet's Corner first attached to the south transept of Westminster Abbey?

Jermyn Street.

Abbot Eustacius, of whom J. L. (Vol. iii., p. 141.) asks, was the Abbot of Flay, and came over from Normandy to England, and preached all through this kingdom with much effect in the beginning of John's reign, A. D. 1200, as Roger Hovedene tells us, Annal., ed. Savile, London, 1596, fos. 457. b, 466. b. Wendover (iii. 151.) and Matt. Paris in anno, mention him.

D. Rock.

Vox Populi Vox Dei (Vol. iii., p. 288.) is, I find, a much older proverb in England than Edward III.'s reign, for whose coronation sermon it was chosen the text, not by Simon Mepham, but Walter Reynolds, as your correspondent St. Johns rightly says. Speaking of the way in which St. Odo yielded his consent to the Abp. of Canterbury, circ. A. D. 920, William of Malmesbury writes: "Recogitans illud proverbium, Vox populi vox Dei."—De Gestis Pont., L. i. fo. 114., ed. Savile.

D. Rock.

Francis Moore and his Almanack (Vol. iii., p. 263.).—Mr. Knight, in his London, vol. iii. p. 246., throws a little light on this subject:

"The renowned Francis Moore seems to have made his first appearance about the end of the seventeenth century. He published a Kalendarium Ecclesiasticum in 1699, and his earliest Vox Stellarum or Almanac, as far as we can discover, came out in 1701," &c.

But Mr. Knight is not sure that "Francis Moore" was not a nom de guerre, although at p. 241. he gives the portrait of the "Physician" from an anonymous print, published in 1657.

A. A.

Abridge.

There is an Irish edition published in Drogheda, sold for threepence, and embellished with a portrait of Francis Moore. Can Ireland claim this worthy? Many farmers and others rely much on the weather prophecies of this almanack. A tenant of mine always announces to me triumphantly that "Moore is right:" but his triumphs come at very long intervals.

K.

I can answer part of H. P. W.'s Query. Francis Moore's celebrated Almanack first appeared in 1698. We have this date upon his own confession. Before his Almanack for 1771 is a letter which begins thus:

"This being the 73rd year since my Almanack first appeared to the world, and having for several years presented you with observations that have come to pass to the admiration of many, I have likewise presented you with several hieroglyphics," &c.

Edward F. Rimbault.

That such a personage really did exist there can be little doubt, Bromley (in Engraved Portraits, &c.) gives 1657 as the date of his birth, and says that there was a portrait of him by Drapentier ad vivum. Lysons mentions him as one of the remarkable men who, at different periods, resided at Lambeth, and says that his house was in Calcott's Alley, High Street, then called Back Lane, where he seems to have enlightened his generation in the threefold capacity of astrologer, physician, and schoolmaster.

J. C. B.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Professor De Morgan has just furnished a new contribution to L' Art de vérifier les Dates, in the shape of a small but most useful and practical book, entitled The Book of Almanacks, with an Index of Reference, by which the Almanack may be found for every year, whether in the Old Style or New, from any Epoch Ancient or Modern up to A. D. 2000. With means of finding the Day of any New or Full Moon from B. C. 2000 to A. D. 2000. An example will show, better even than this ample title-page, the great utility of this work to the historical enquirer. Walter Scott, speaking of the battle of Bannockburn, which was fought on the day of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 1314, says,

Now, should the reader be desirous of testing the accuracy of this statement, (and how many statements have ere this been tested by the fact of the moon's age!), he turns to Professor De Morgan's Index, which at 1314 gives Epact 3., Dominical Letter F., Number of Almanack 17. Turning to this almanack, he finds that the 24th June was on a Monday; from the Introduction (p. xiii.) and a very easy calculation, he learns that the full moon of June, 1314, would be on the 27th, or within a day, and from a more exact method (at p. xiv.), that the full moon was within two hours of nine A.M., on the 28th. So that Sir Walter was correct, there being more than half moon on the night of which he was speaking. Such an instance as the one cited will show how valuable the Book of Almanacks must prove to all historical students, and what a ready test it furnishes as to accuracy of dates, &c. It must take its place on every shelf beside Sir H. Nicolas' Chronology of History.

We doubt not that many of our readers share our feeling as to the importance of children's books, from the influence they may be destined to exercise upon generations yet unborn. To all such we shall be doing acceptable service by pointing out Mrs. Alfred Gatty's little volume, The Fairy Godmothers and other Tales, as one which combines the two essentials of good books for children; namely, imagination to attract, and sound morals to instruct. Both these requisites will be found in Mrs. Gatty's most pleasing collection of tales, which do not require the very clever frontispiece by Miss Barker to render the volume an acceptable gift to all "good little Masters and Mistresses." {382}

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson (3. Wellington Street, Strand) will commence on Monday a six-days' Sale of most interesting Autograph Letters, Historical Documents, and original MSS. of distinguished writers, as that of Kenilworth in the Autograph of Sir W. Scott, of Madoc in that of Southey, unpublished poems by Burns, and Le Second Manuscrit venu de St. Hélène. One of the most curious Lots is No. 1035, Shakspeare's play of Henry IV., two parts condensed into one,—a contemporary and unique Manuscript, being the only one known to exist of any of the productions by the Sweet Bard of Avon. It is presumed to be a playhouse copy with corrections in the Autograph of Sir Edward Deering of Surrenden, in Kent, (who died in 1644); and, as no printed copy is known to contain the various corrections and alterations therein, is supposed to have been so corrected for the purposes of private representation, it being well known that theatricals formed a portion of the amusements in vogue at that baronet's country seat during the early portion of the reign of James I. Our readers will remember that the Shakspeare Society showed their sense of its value by printing it under the editorship of Mr. Halliwell.

Catalogues Received.—Emerson Charnley's (45. Bigg Market, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Catalogue Part IV. of Books Old and New; W. Brown's (46. High Holborn) Catalogue Part LIII. of Valuable Second-hand Books.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Diana (Antoninus) Compendium Resolutionem Moralium. Antwerp.-Colon. 1634-57.

Passionael efte dat Levent der Heiligen. Folio. Basil, 1522.

Cartari—La Rosa d'Oro Pontificia. 4to. Rome, 1681.

Broemel, M. C. H., Fest-Tanzen der Ersten Christen. Jena, 1705.

The Complaynt of Scotland, edited by Leyden. 8vo. Edin. 1801.

Thom's Lays and Legends of various Nations. Parts I. to VII. 12mo. 1834.

L'Abbé de Saint Pierre, Projet de Paix Perpetuelle. 3 Vols. 12mo. Utrecht, 1713.

Chevalier Ramsay, Essai de Politique, où l'on traite de la Nécessité, de l'Origine, des Droits, des Bornes en des différentes Formes de la Souveraineté, selon les Principes de l'Auteur de Télémaque. 2 Vols. 12mo. La Haye, without date, but printed in 1719.

The same. Second Edition, under the title "Essai Philosophique sur le Gouvernement Civil, selon les Principes de Fénélon," 12mo. Londres, 1721.

Pullen's Etymological Compendium, 8vo.

Cooper's (C. P.) Account of Public Records, 8vo. 1822. Vol. I.

Lingard's History of England. Sm. 8vo. 1837. Vols. X. XI. XII. XIII.

Miller's (John, of Worcester Coll.) Sermons. Oxford, 1831 (or about that year).

*** 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.

Although we have this week again enlarged our paper to twenty-four pages, we have been compelled to postpone many interesting articles. Among these we may particularise "Illustrations of Chaucer, No. VI.," a valuable paper by Mr. Singer on "John Tradescant," and another on the "Tradescent Family" by Mr. Pinkerton; and many Replies.

A. X. The Brussels edition of the Biographie Universelle is in 21 vols. Bickers of Leicester Square marks a copy half-bound in 7 vols. at Five Guineas.

Trivia and A. A. D. The oft-quoted line "Tempora Mutantur," &c., is from Borbonius. See "Notes and Queries," Vol. i., pp. 234. 419.

A. A. D. is referred to p. 357. of our last Number for an explanation of "Mind your Ps and Qs."

Nemo's Query respecting Pope Joan was inserted in No. 75. p. 265.; a Reply to it appears in No. 77. p. 306.; and we have several more communications to which we hope to give insertion next week.

Replies Received.—Ramasse—Prayer at the Healing—M. or N.—Deans Very Reverend—Family of the Tradescants—Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke—West Chester—Demosthenes and New Testament—Pope Joan—Handbills at Funerals—Ventriloquist Hoax—Solid-hoofed Pigs—Aerial Apparitions—Apple-pie Order—Wife of James Torre—Snail-eating—Epigram by T. Dunbar.

Vols. I. and II., each with very copious Index, may still be had, price 9s. 6d. each.

Notes and Queries may be procured, by order, of all Booksellers and Newsvenders. It is published at noon on Friday, so that our country Subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. Many of the country Booksellers, &c., are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive Notes and Queries in their Saturday parcels.

All communications for the Editor of Notes and Queries should be addressed to the care of Mr. Bell, No. 186. Fleet Street.

Errata.—Page 336. l. 4. for "Burkdon" read "Burkdou." (i. e. Bourdeaux); p. 341. l. 11. for "laurando" read "lacerando;" and in p. 352. instead of between the years "1825 and 1850," read "1825 and 1830;" and we are requested to add that the churchwardens' account of S. Mary de Castro, Leicester, had disappeared from the parish chest long prior to the time mentioned.

PRINTING.

A LECTURE, SPEECH, SERMON, OR ORATION, occupying about three quarters of an hour in delivery, printed on good paper, in bold clear type: 500 copies, 3l. 17s. 6d.; 1000 copies, 5l. 10s. 1000 Circulars, Note Size, printed on Cream-laid Note Paper, fly leaf, 17s. 6d., 1000 Ditto, on Superfine Cream-laid Letter Paper, fly leaf, 1l. 5s.

Bateman and Hardwicke, 38. Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn.

This day is published, fcap. 8vo., price 5s.,

PLEASURES, OBJECTS, and ADVANTAGES of LITERATURE. By the Rev. R. A. Willmott, St. Catherine's, Bear Wood, Author of "Jeremy Taylor, a Biography."

London: T. Bosworth, 215. Regent Street.

NEW WORK BY PROFESSOR DE MORGAN.

This day, in One Volume, oblong 8vo., price 5s., cloth,

THE BOOK OF ALMANACS; with INDEX, by which the Almanac belonging to any Year preceding A. D. 2000 can be found; with means of finding New and Full Moons from B. C. 2000 to A. D. 2000. By Augustus De Morgan, Professor of Mathematics in University College, London.

The "Book of Almanacs" will enable any one to lay open before him the whole Almanac of any past year, of the present year, or of any future year, up to A. D. 2000, whether in old style or new, by one consultation of a simple Index. This book will be useful to all who ever want an Almanac, past, present, or future;—to Clergymen, as a perpetual index to the Sundays and Festivals;—to Lawyers in arranging evidence which runs over a long period, and to Courts of Law in hearing it;—to Historical and Antiquarian Inquirers, in testing statements as to time and date;—to all, in fact, who are ever required to interest themselves about time past or future.

Taylor, Walton, and Maberly, Upper Gower Street, and Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row.

Now ready, royal 8vo., pp. 1653. 21s.

A COPIOUS AND CRITICAL LATIN-ENGLISH LEXICON, founded on the larger Latin-German Lexicon of Dr. William Freund; with Additions and Corrections from the Lexicons of Gesner, Facciolati, Scheller, Georges, &c. &c. By E. A. Andrews, LL.D.

London: Sampson Low, 169. Fleet Street.
New York: Harper and Brothers.

{383}

GREAT EXHIBITION. CENTRAL AVENUE. An Illustrated Priced Catalogue of Church Furniture Contributed by GILBERT J. FRENCH, Bolton, Lancashire, forwarded Free by Post on application. Parcels delivered Carriage Free in London, daily.

CATALOGUES OF JOHN RUSSELL SMITH'S LITERARY COLLECTIONS.

1. Parts I. and II. of a Classified Catalogue of 25,000 Ancient and Modern Pamphlets.

2. Books on the History and Topography of Great Britain, arranged in Counties.

3. Twelve Hundred Books and Pamphlets relating to America.

4. Five Hundred Books relating to the Counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.

5. Ancient Manuscripts, Deeds, Charters, and other Documents relating to English Families and Counties.

6. Parts II. and III. for 1851, of Choice, Useful, and Curious Books, in most Classes of Literature, containing 1600 articles.

*** Any of the above Catalogues may be had, gratis, on application, or any one will be sent by post on receipt of four postage labels to frank it.

4. Old Compton Street, Soho, London.

Just published, 12mo. cloth, 5s.

THE DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. A Glossary of Northamptonshire Provincialisms, Collection of Fairy-Legends, Popular Superstitions, &c. By Thomas Sternberg.

"A skilful attempt to record a local dialect."—Notes and Queries, No. 72.

"Mr Sternberg has evinced a striking and peculiar aptitude for this branch of enquiry."—Northampton Mercury.

"The notes on Folk-lore are curious, and worthy consultation."—Gentleman's Magazine.

J. Russell Smith, 4. Old Compton Street, Soho, London.

WESTERN LIFE ASSURANCE AND ANNUITY SOCIETY, 3. Parliament Street, London.

VALUABLE NEW PRINCIPLE.

Payment of premiums may be occasionally suspended without forfeiting the policy, on a new and valuable plan, adopted by this society only, as fully detailed in the prospectus.

A. Scratchley, M.A.,

Actuary and Secretary; Author of "Industrial Investment and Emigration; being a Second Edition of a Treatise on Benefit Building Societies, &c." Price 10s. 6d.

London: J. W. Parker, West Strand.

COMMITTEE FOR THE REPAIR OF THE TOMB OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER.

JOHN BRUCE, Esq., Treas. S.A., 5, Upper Gloucester Street, Dorset Square.

J. PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., V.P.S.A., Geys House, Maidenhead.

PETER CUNNINGHAM, Esq., F.S.A., Madeley Villas, Kensington.

WILLIAM RICHARD DRAKE, Esq., F.S.A., Honorary Treasurer, 46. Parliament Street.

THOMAS W. KING, Esq., F.S.A., York Herald, College of Arms, St. Paul's.

SIR FREDERICK MADDEN, K.H., British Museum.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, Esq., F.S.A., 25. Parliament St.

HENRY SHAW, Esq., F.S.A., 37. Southampton Row, Russell Square.

SAMUEL SHEPHERD, Esq., F.S.A., Marlborough Square, Chelsea.

WILLIAM J. THOMS, Esq., F.S.A., Honorary Secretary, 25. Holy-Well Street, Millbank, Westminster.

The Tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer in Westminster Abbey stands in need of repair. The portrait and the inscriptions have disappeared; the overhanging canopy has suffered damage; the table is chipped and broken; the base is fast mouldering into irretrievable decay.

Such an announcement is calculated to stir every heart that can respond to the claims of poetry, or feel grateful for the delight which it affords to every cultivated mind. It summons us, like the sound of a trumpet, "To the rescue!" It cannot be that the first and almost the greatest of English bards should ever be allowed to want a fitting memorial in our "Poet's Corner," or that the monument which was erected by the affectionate respect of Nicholas Brigham, nearly three centuries ago, should, in our time, be permitted to crumble into dust.

A sum under One Hundred Pounds will effect a perfect repair.

It is thought that there can be no difficulty in raising such a sum, and that multitudes of people in various conditions of life, and even in distant quarters of the globe, who venerate the name of Chaucer, and have derived instruction and delight from his works, will be anxious to contribute their mite to the good deed.

The Committee have therefore not thought it right to fix any limit to the subscription; they themselves, with the aid of several distinguished noblemen and gentlemen, have opened the list with a contribution from each of them of Five Shillings, but they will be ready to receive any amount, more or less, which those who value poetry and honour Chaucer may be kind enough to remit to them.

The design of the Committee is sanctioned by the approval of the Earl of Carlisle, the Earl of Ellesmere, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Braybrooke. Lord Londesborough, Lord Mahon, the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynn, and by the concurrence of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.

An account of the sums received and expended will be published when the work is completed.

Subscriptions are received by all the members of the Committee, and at the Union Bank, Pall Mall East. Post-office orders may be made payable to William Richard Drake, Esq., the Treasurer, 46. Parliament Street, at the Charing Cross Office.

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In a few days will be published, in One handsome Volume 8vo., profusely Illustrated with Engravings by Jewitt,

Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England;

FROM

THE CONQUEST TO THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

WITH

NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS OF EXISTING REMAINS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS.

BY T. HUDSON TURNER.

The Table of Contents of this Volume will best explain its Object.

INTRODUCTION.

The Romans in England—Their Villas and Houses—Ordinary Plan of a Roman House—Method of Building—The Saxons—Their Style of Building; they probably occupied Roman Houses—A Saxon Hall—Houses of Winchester and London in the Saxon Period—Decoration of Buildings—Romanesque Style of Architecture introduced during the Saxon Period—Drawings in Saxon MSS., their Character and Value as Architectural Evidence—The Greek, or Byzantine School; its Influence on Saxon Art—Antiquity of Chimneys; None at Rome in the Fourteenth Century—Character of the Military Buildings of the Saxons—The Castles of Coningsburgh and Bamborough later than the Saxon Period—Arundel, the only Castle said to have been standing in the time of the Confessor—Norman Castles—Domestic Architecture of the Normans—Stone Quarries—Use of Plaster—Bricks and Tiles—Brickmaking, its Antiquity in England—Masons and other Workmen—Glazing—Iron Works in England—Architectural Designs of the Middle Ages, how made—Working Moulds of Masons, &c.

CHAPTER I.—TWELFTH CENTURY.

General Remarks—Imperfect Character of existing Remains of the Twelfth Century—Materials for the History of Domestic Architecture; their Nature—General Plan of Houses at this Date—Halls—Other Apartments of Ordinary Houses—Bedchamber, Kitchen, Larder, &c.—King's Houses at Clarendon and other Places—Hall, always the Chief Feature of a Norman House—Alexander Necham, his Description of a House—Plan of Norman Halls—Their Roofs—Situation of other Apartments relatively to the Hall—Kitchens—Cooking in the Open Air—Bayeux Tapestry—Remains of a Norman House at Appleton, Berks—Fences, Walls, &c.—Some Norman Houses built in the form of a Parallelogram, and of Two Stories—Boothby Pagnell, Lincolnshire—Christ Church, Hants—Jews' House at Lincoln—Moyses' Hall, Bury St. Edmund's—Staircases, Internal and External—External Norman Stair at Canterbury—Houses at Southampton—Building Materials—Use of Lead for Roofs—English Lead exported to France—Style of Norman Roofs—Metal Work; Hinges, Locks, Nail-heads, &c.—Gloucester celebrated for its Iron Manufactures—External Decoration of Buildings—Windows—Glazing—Fire-places—Kitchens open in the Roof—Hostelry of the Prior of Lewes—Internal Walls Plastered—Furniture of Houses, Tapestry, &c—Floors generally of Wood—Character London Houses in the Twelfth Century—Assize of 1189 regulating Buildings in London—Assize of the Year 1212 relating to the same Subject—- Majority of London Houses chiefly of Wood and Thatched—Wages of Workmen—Cookshops on Thames Side—Chimneys not mentioned in the London Assizes, &c.

CHAPTER II.—EXISTING REMAINS.

Oakham Castle, Rutlandshire—The King's House, Southampton—Minster, Isle of Thanet—Christ Church, Hants—Manor-house at Appleton—Sutton Courtney, Berks—St. Mary's Guild, and Jews' Houses, Lincoln—Staircase, Canterbury—Warnford, Hants—Fountain's Abbey—Priory, Dover—Moyses' Hall, Bury St. Edmund's—Hostelry of the Prior of Lewes, Southwark—Boothby Pagnell, Lincolnshire—Barnack, Northamptonshire—School of Pythagoras, Cambridge—Notes on Remains of Early Domestic Architecture in France.

CHAPTER III.—THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

General Remarks—Hall at Winchester—Reign of Henry III. remarkable for the Progress of Architecture—Condition of Norman Castles in the Thirteenth Century—Plan of Manor-houses at this Date—House built for Edward I. at Woolmer, Hants—Description of House at Toddington, by M. Paris—Meaning of term Palatium—Longthorpe, Stoke-Say Castle—West Deane, Sussex—Aydon Castle—Little Wenham Hall—Two Halls at Westminster, temp Henry III.—Temporary Buildings erected at Westminster for the Coronation of Edward I.—Private Hospitality in this Century—Kitchens—Wardrobes—Influence of Feudal Manners on Domestic Architecture—Building Materials—Wood extensively used—Manor-house of Timber engraved on a Personal Seal—Extensive Use of Plaster—Roofs of the Thirteenth Century—Windows—Glass and Glazing—Digression on the History of Glass-making in England—No Glass made in England until the Fifteenth Century—Wooden Lattices, Fenestrals, &c.—Fire-places and Chimneys—Mantels—Staircases, External and Internal—Internal Decoration of Houses—Wainscote—Polychrome—Artists of the Time of Henry III.; their Style—Their Names—Spurs, Screens, &c.—Tapestry not used in Private Dwellings in the Thirteenth Century. Flooring—Tiles—Baths Cameræ Privatæ—Conduits and Drains—Houses in Towns—Parisian Houses—Other Foreign Examples—Furniture—Carpets—General State of England in the Thirteenth Century—State of Towns—London and Winchester compared—Travelling—Hackneymen—Inns—State of Trade in England—Agriculture—Remarks on Horticulture.

CHAPTER IV.—THIRTEENTH CENTURY.—EXISTING REMAINS.

Aydon Castle, Northumberland—Godmersham, Kent—Little Wenham Hall, Suffolk—Longthorpe, near Peterborough—Charney Basset, Berks—Master's House, St. John's Hospital, Northampton—Stoke-Say Castle, Shropshire—Coggs, Oxfordshire—Cottesford, Oxfordshire—Parsonage House, West Tarring, Sussex—Archdeacon's House, Peterborough—Crowhurst, Sussex—Bishop's Palace, Wells—Woodcroft Castle, Northamptonshire—Old Rectory House, West Deane, Sussex—Acton Burnell, Shropshire—Somerton Castle, Lincolnshire—Old Soar, Kent—The King's Hall at Winchester—The Priory, Winchester—Stranger's Hall, Winchester—House at Oakham, known as Flore's House—Thame, Oxfordshire—Chipping-Norton, Oxfordshire—Middleton Cheney, Oxfordshire—Sutton Courtney, Berkshire.

CHAPTER V.—HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.

Extracts from the Liberate Rolls of Henry III., 1229-1259, relating to the following places:—

Bridgenorth — Brigstock — Brill — Bristol — Canterbury — Clarendon — Cliff — Clipstone — Corfe Castle — Dover — Dublin — Evereswell — Feckenham — Freemantle — Geddington — Gillingham — Gloucester — Guildford — Havering — Hereford — Hertford — Kennington — Litchfield — London, (Tower) — Ely House — Ludgershall — Marlborough — Newcastle — Northampton — Nottingham — Oxford — Rochester — Sherbourn — Silverstone — Westminster — Winchester — Windsor — Woodstock.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES OF FOREIGN EXAMPLES.

General Remarks — Treves — Laon — Ratisbon — Gondorf — Metz — Toulouse — Laon — Brée — Coucy — Carden — Tours — Angers — Fontevrault, (Kitchen) — Perigueux — St. Emilion — Mont St. Michel — Beauvais.

APPENDIX OF DOCUMENTS.

OXFORD: JOHN HENRY PARKER; AND 377. STRAND, LONDON.

Printed by Thomas Clark Shaw, of No. 8. New Street Square, at No. 5. New Street Square, in the Parish of St. Brid in the City of London; and published by George Bell, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet Street aforesaid.—Saturday, May 10. 1851.