REPLIES

THE FIELD OF FORTY FOOTSTEPS.

The fields behind Montague House were, from about the year 1680, until towards the end of the last century, the scenes of robbery, murder, and every species of depravity and wickedness of which the heart can think. They appear to have been originally called the Long Fields, and afterwards (about Strype's time) the Southampton Fields. These fields remained waste and useless, with the exception of some nursery grounds near the New Road to the north, and a piece of ground enclosed for the Toxophilite Society, towards the northwest, near the back of Gower Street. The remainder was the resort of depraved wretches, whose amusements consisted chiefly in fighting pitched battles, and other disorderly sport, especially on the Sabbath day. Such was their state in 1800.

Tradition had given to the superstitious at that period a legendary story of the period of the Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion, of two brothers who fought in this field so ferociously as to destroy each other; since which, their footsteps, formed from the vengeful struggle, were said to remain, with the indentations produced by their advancing and receding; nor could any grass or vegetable ever be produced where these forty footsteps were thus displayed. This extraordinary arena was said to be at the extreme termination of the northeast end of Upper Montague Street; and, profiting by the fiction, Miss Porter and her sister produced an ingenious romance thereon, entitled, Coming Out, or the Forty Footsteps. The Messrs. Mayhew also, some twenty years back, brought out, at the Tottenham Street Theatre, an excellent melodrama piece, founded upon the same story, entitled The Field of Forty Footsteps.

In 1792, an ingenious and enterprising architect, James Burton, began to erect a number of houses on the Foundling Hospital estate, partly in St. Giles's and Bloomsbury parishes, and partly in that of St. Pancras. Baltimore House, built, towards the northeast of Bedford House, by Lord Baltimore, in 1763, appears to have been the only erection since Strype's survey to this period, with the exception of a chimney-sweeper's cottage still further north, and part of which is still to be seen in Rhodes's Mews, Little Guildford Street. In 1800, Bedford House was demolished entirely; which with its offices and gardens, had been the site where the noble family of the Southamptons, and the illustrious Russells, had resided during more than 200 years, almost isolated. Hence commenced the formation of a fine uniform street, Bedford Place, consisting of forty houses, on the spot; also, the north side of Bloomsbury Square, Montague Street to the west, and one side of Southampton Row to the east. Towards the north, the extensive piece of waste ground, denominated the Southampton Fields, was transformed into a magnificent square, with streets diverging therefrom in various directions. Thus, as if by "touch of magic wand," those scenes, which had been "hideous" for centuries, became transformed into receptacles of civil life and polished society.

The latest account of these footsteps, previous to their being built over, with which I am acquainted, is the following, extracted from one of Joseph Moser's Common-place Books in my possession:—

"June 16. 1800.—Went into the fields at the back of Montague House, and there saw, for the last time, the forty footsteps; the building materials are there ready to cover them from the sight of man. I counted more than forty, but they might be the foot-prints of the workmen."

This extract is valuable, as it establishes the period of the final demolition of the footsteps, and also confirms the legend that forty was the original number.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 4.—"POKERSHIP", BY BOLTON CORNEY.

A query made by so experienced a writer as the noble historian of Audley End, cannot admit of an easy solution; and instead of professing to answer the two-fold query on pokership, it might more become me to style this note an attempt to answer it.

In the Historical collections of the noble families of Cavendishe, etc. the passage which contains the doubtful word is printed thus:—

"He [Sir Robert Harley, of Bramton, Herefordshire] was in the next year [1604], on the 16th of July, made forester of Boringwood, alias Bringwood forest, in com. Hereford, with the office of pokership, and custody of the forest or chace of Prestwood, for life."

Are we to read parkership or pokership? If pokership, what is its meaning?

Skelton, the rhymer, has parker for park-keeper, so that parkership is an admissable word; but I reject it on this occasion, as inapplicable to a forest or chace. I incline to believe that pokership is the true lection. Poke denoted a purse; witness Chaucer:—

We do not find poker in Barret or Cotgrave; but if poke denoted a purse, poker might denote a purse-bearer or treasurer, and pokership, the office of purse-bearer. So we have BURSA, [Glossarivm manvale, 1772. I. 849.] bursar, bursarship, etc.

BOLTON CORNEY.

MERTENS, MARTINS, OR MARTINI, THE PRINTER.

A correspondent, "W.," in No. 12. p. 185., wishes to learn "the real surname of Theodoric Mertens, Martins, or Martini, the printer of Louvain."

In Latin the name is written Theodoricus Martinus; in French, Thierri Martin; in Flemish, Diedrych Meertens, and occasionally, but I think incorrectly, Dierix Martens.

In a side chapel of the chancel of the church at Alost, midway between Brussels and Ghent, is the printer's tomb, and a double inscription, in Latin and in Flemish, commemorates his celebrity and the dates of his birth and death; in the Latin inscription the name is Theodoricus Martinus; in the Flemish, which is very old and nearly effaced, it is Diedrych Meertens.

The name of Meertens, as a surname, is as common in Brabant and Flanders as that of Martin with us.

A.B.

I beg to say that, in Peignot's Dictionnaire raisonné de Bibliologie, the name of the printer Mertens is given as "Martens, Mertens, ou Martin d'Alost (Thierry), en Latin Theodoricus Martinus." The article is too long for insertion in your pages, but it contains an account of the title-page of one of his editions, in 4to., in which the name is spelt Mertens:—"Theo. Mertens impressore." Two other title-pages have "Apud Theod. Martinum." So it appears that the printer himself used different modes of spelling his own name. Erasmus wrote a Latin epitaph on his friend, in which a graceful allusion is made to his printer's mark, the anchor:—

HERMES.

ETYMOLOGY OF ARMAGH.

In reply to the inquiry of "D.S.Y." (p. 158. of your 10th number), I beg to say that the name of Armagh is written, in Irish, Ardmacha, and signifies the Height (or high ground) of Macha. It is supposed to have derived this name from Macha Mong-ruadh [i.e. Macha of the red hair], who was queen of Ireland, according to the Chronology of O'Flaherty, A.M. 3603.

I.H.T.

Dublin, Jan. 5. 1850.

Sir,—There are the following authorities for different derivations of the word Armagh.

Camden, in his Britannia, says:—

"Armach ab Amarchâ reginâ; sic dictum fabulantur Hibernici; at mihi eadem esse videtur quam Dearmach vocat Beda: et Roborum Campum ex lingua Scotica sive Hibernica interpretatur, ubi circa annum salutis DLX. monaterium extruxit celeberrimum Columbanus."

Dr. Keating's Hist. of Ireland has as follows:—

"Macha the wife of Nemedius died before her son Ainnim ... from her Ardmagh received its name, because she was buried in that place."

Circles of Gomer (London, 1771), contains as follows:—

"Ar, and Ararat.—The Earth, country, or upon and on the earth ... Armagh on the surrounding water confines."

M. Bullet, Mémoires de la Langue Celtique, writes thus:—

"Armagh, Une des plus anciennes villes d'Irland. Ar, article. Mag, ville."—vol. i.

But the 2nd and 3rd vols. of these Mémoires, which contain the Celtic Dictionary, afford a more probable interpretation:—

"Ar or Ard signifies a height, mountain, hill, elevation, the highest, noble, chief, &c. &c., and Ar in Hebrew, Chaldean, and Armenian, has the same meaning. Magh is a field, a plain, ground, &c., as well as a town, dwelling, &c."

Now, the topographical description of the county of Armarh is that it is hilly, and the hills (not very high) are of granite rock. The town of Armagh again is described as situated on an eminence. I suggest, therefore, the high field or ground, or the field of the Hill, or the dwelling or town of the Hill, as very natural derivations.

If your correspondent prefers it, Ar bears also the signification of rock, and M. Bullet says:—

"Ce terme nous a été conservé dans la Vie de Saint Colomb."

Who knows, therefore, whether in building the monastery alluded to by Camden, he may not have given it the name of

The Celtic language affords many other possibilities, but an accurate knowledge of the locality is requisite in judging of their probablility.

HERMES.

The etymology of Armagh, in Ireland, is very simple. Ard, high, great, noble, a purely Celtic root, found in many languages. Latin, Arduus, high, &c. Welsh, hardh, fair, handsome, &c. Magh, a plain, a level tract of land, a field. Ardmugh, the great plain. Others derive it from Eamhuin-magh, from the regal residence of the kings of Ulster, that stood in its vicinity; but the former is considered by those best capable of judging as the most correct. The original name was Druim-sailech, "the hill of sallows," which was changed to Ard-sailech, "the height of sallows," and then again to Ardmagh. Although now spelt Armagh, it was formerly more correctly written Ardmagh, which is undoubtedly the proper way.

HIBERNICUS

Jan. 8. 1850.

THE OFFICE OF THE MASTER OF THE REVELS.

Your esteemed correspondent, "J.G.N.," asks (p. 158.) for the meaning of the letters "C.K.M.R." and "T.S." appended to the passage he quotes from the Common-place Book of Charles, Duke of Dorset. I think I can tell him. "C.K.M.R." stands for Charles Killegrew, Master of the Revells; and "T.S." means Thomas Skipwith, one of the patentees of Drury Lane Theatre, who died in 1710. Sir Henry Herbert died in 1673; and his successor in the office was Thomas Killegrew. This person had previously been Sir Henry's deputy; and I am in possession of a curious list of MS. instructions, "the heads of what I gave to Mr. Thos. Killegrew the 29th of March, 1664," in the hand-writing of Sir Henry Herbert. Thomas Killegrew died in 1683, and was succeeded by Charles Killegrew; the degree of the relationship between the two Killegrews I do not know; and in the London Gazette, Dec. 7. 1685, there is a notice commanding all "rope-dancers, prize-players, strollers and other persons showing motions and other sights, to have licenses from Charles Killegrew, Esq., Master of the Revells."

Charles Killegrew was one of the managers of Drury Lane Theatre at the time of the union of the King's and Duke of York's servants; and Drydaen calls him, in the Dedication to his translation of Juvenal's Satires, his "ingenious friend."

Upon the death of the latter, in 1725, Charles Henry Lee succeeded to the vacant office; who, dying in 1744, Solomon Dayrolle was appointed in his room. I do not know the date of the decease of the last-named gentleman; but with him, I believe, died the office of the Master of the Revells. The ancient jurisdiction of the Master of the Revells has been transferred, by 1737, by legal authority, to a "licenser of the stage," who, in conjunction with a deputy licenser, performed all the functions of the ancient office.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

The Red Maids of Bristol.—The answer to the query of "MR. A. GRIFFENHOOF" (No. 12. p. 184.), why the "Red Maids" in Bristol are so called, is, because they are dressed in bright scarlet gowns. They are the incumbents of a benevolent school, founded in 1627, by one of Bristol's great benefactors, Alderman Whitson, of pious memory, for the maintenance and education of 40 girls, which number has now increased to 120. Your correspondent's curiousity respecting their name might be fully satisfied, and his interest increased, if he should happen to be in Bristol on some sunny afternoon in the later part of May, or the beginning of June, by a sight of this bright "regiment of women"—the gay colour of their gowns subdued by the quaintness of their fashion, and the clean whiteness of their aprons, collars, &c.—proceeding, in double file, towards the downs, for air and recreation. An account of their foundation may be found in Barret's Hist. of Bristol, p. 415. "Blue-Boys," so called for a similar reason, are a parallel case of much more general occurance. Yours, &c.

RUFA.

Poetical Symbolism.—In answer to the question of your correspondent, "STEPHEN BEAUCHAMP" (No. 11. p. 173.), I beg leave to mention a work, which answers in some degree to the description which he gives; namely, De Symbolica Ægyptiorum Sapientia, and Polyhistor Symbolicus, electarum Symbolarum et Parabolarum Historicurum Stromata XII. Libris complectens, by Nicolas Caussin, 8vo. Col. Agr. 1631. There were other editions, I believe, in the same century. The former work treats of Egyptian symbols; the titles of the twelve books of the latter are: I. Mundus et Elementa. II. Dii Gentium. III. Hominis Bona. IV. Hominis Mala. V. Ritus Gentium. VI. Aves. VII. Quadrupedes. VIII. Pisces. IX. Serpentes et Insecta. X. Plantæ. XI. Lapilli. XII. Manufacta.

M.

Oxford.

Fraternitye of Vagabondes.—It does not appear very clearly from the wording of the query at p. 184. of your 12th number, whether the object of your correspondent, "A. GRIFFINHOOF, JUN.," be to ascertain the fact of the reprint in question having been published by Stace, or (having ascertained that fact) to procure further information as to the publisher. I cannot find any allusion to the work in the Censura Literuria, (2nd ed. 1815), another instance of the absolute necessity for exact references, the want of which you would do well in making a ground of exclusion from your columns. However, on the chance of being useful I send you an exact copy of the rubricated title-page of the reprint, which is as follows:

"The Fraternitye of Vacabondes; As wel of ruflyng Vacabondes, as of beggerley, of Women as of Men, of Gyrles as of Boyes, With Their proper Names and Qualities. With a Description of the Crafty Company of Cousoners and Shifters. Whereunto also is adioined The XXV orders of Knaues, Otherwyse called A Quartern of Knaues. Confirmed for euer by Cocke Lorell.—¶ The Vprightman speaketh.

¶ Imprinted at London by John Awdely, dwellyng in little Britayne Streete without Aldersgate. 1575.

Westminster: Reprinted for Machell Stace, No. 12, Little Queen-Street, and R. Triphook, St. James's Street. 1813."

Those who are curious about Mr. Stace may consult Boaden on the Shakespeare Portraits, p. 141., Wivell on do., p. 189., and Chaleographimania, p. 16. 32. 95.

J.F.M.

Anonymous Ravennas.—In answer to the query of "W.C.," in No. 8., p. 124., I beg to state that Gronovius published the Cosmography of Ravennas, with other ancient scraps of geography, annexed to a neat edition of Pomponius Mela, printed at Leyden, in 1696. Gronovius refers the anonymous author to the seventh century. His Chorography of Britain forms a part of the work; but it is printed from one MS., and wretchedly obscure.

J.I.

Dick Shore.—Your correspondent, J.T. HAMMACK, is not quite correct in stating, No. 9., p. 141., that the modern maps present no trace of the locality of "Dick Shoare," mentioned in the Pepysian Diary. In one of Smith's maps, now before me, of the date of 1806, I find "Duke Shore Stairs," not far from the great turn of the river southward, opposite to the Isle of Dogs. Whether the proper spelling to be Dick, Dyke, Dock, Dog, or Duke, I leave to your readers to determine; but I presume there can be no doubt as to the identity of the place. As the origin of the name of "Isle of Doggs," according to the Pepysian orthography, is said to be still underdetermined; may it not be connected with the modern term DOCKS? We are daily familiarised to worse corruptions. Docks are excavations, large or small, formed by the operation of digging, in Dutch called Dóken.

J.I.

[DICK'S SHORE, Fore Street, Limehouse, and DICK'S SHORE ALLEY, by Dick's Shore, are both mentioned in London and its Environs, vol. ii. p. 233.]

Travelling in England.—Mr. Steven's quotation (No. 11., p. 167.) of Bernard Calvert's rapid journey, as from an anonymous History of England written in the early part of the reign of George I., is to be found in more detail in Stow (1032.), and is transcribed in Mr. Croker's Notes on Bassompière's Embassy, 1819.

Sanuto.—The Ragguagli sulla Vita e sulle Opere di Maria Sanuto, referred to in No. 5., p. 75., were edited by Mr. Rawdon Browne, an English gentleman long resident at Venice, and a most accomplished Italian scholar. The Diary of Sanuto could hardly be printed, filling, as it does, some twenty or thirty thick large folio volumes.

R.M.M.

Darnley's Birth-place.—In answer to the inquiry in No. 8., p. 123., as to the birth-place of Henry Lord Darnley, I believe he was born at Temple-Newsom, near Leeds, the seat of the Lords Irvine, and now of Meynell Ingram, Esq. A noble room is there shown as the traditional scene of his birth.

R.M.M.

History of Edward II.—The compilers of the British Museum Catalogue attribute the History of Edward II. (referred to in No. 4., p. 59.) to Edward Fannant, who also published a Narration of the Memorable Parliament of 1386, which has been several times printed.

J.R.S.

Lord Chatham's Speech on the American Stamp Act.—When I read the question of your correspondent (in No. 1. p. 12.) on this subject, I saw at once its importance; for, if my Lord Brougham's statements were correct, our historians must forthwith re-write a somewhat important chapter in our history. I felt assured, however, that it was not correct; and the result of a somewhat tedious search is as I had anticipated. His lordship had made an error in a date and 1764 should be 1766. The authority, not acknowledged by his lordship, was, no doubt, the Parliamentary History of 1766 (vol. xvi. p. 96.), where your correspondent will find the statement, which of course, the date being correctly given, contains nothing that is not consistent with known facts.

C.

Bone-houses.—The number of skulls at Rothewell (No. 11., p. 171.) is greatly exaggerated, nor is the tradition of their being gathered from Naseby battle-field more than a modern invention, the discovery of the bones being within the memory of living persons. Their existence there is most puzzling. The vault, which is very small, is probably coeval with the church, and seems to have been made for the very purpose to which it is applied. When this vast building was erected in the 12th century, may not this vault have been made for the bones disturbed in the old churchyard by so extensive a foundation?

T.

Queen's Messengers.—In answer to the query of your correspondent "J.U.G.G.," in No. 12., p. 186., I beg to call his attention to the authority quoted in the passage respecting the "Knightes caligate of Armes," to which he alludes, in Mr. C. Knight's London. He will find that he is referred to Legh's Accedens of Armory, and Upton, De Studio Militari. The latter wrote in the early part of the fifteenth century. We are at present, I believe, without earlier information on such subjects.

Whilst I am writing to you, may I ask you to correct a printer's error in my query in the same number, where "trepon" appears instead of "jupon"? It may save a query as to what I could mean by the former.

J.R. PLANCHÉ.

May-day.—In reply to MELANION (No. 12. p. 187.), I would observe that in a collection of Vues des Villes de Londres, &c., published by Pierre Vander at Leyden (without date, but about the time of William III., or early in Anne's reign), there is a representation of "La Laitière de May à Londres," with an enormous head-dress of silver dishes, tankards, and cups, intermixed with flowers. There is no letter-press explanation; but it is evident that the practice of the milk-maids, in carrying their mail-pails balanced on their heads, suggested the idea of carrying this more precious burthen in gala on May-day.

C.