QUERIES.

FOLK LORE.

Metrical Charms.—In the enumeration of the various branches of that interesting subject, the “FOLK LORE OF ENGLAND,” on which communications were invited in the last number of “NOTES AND QUERIES,” there is an omission which I beg to point out, as it refers to a subject which, I believe, deserves especial investigation, and would amply repay any trouble or attention that might be bestowed upon it. I allude to Metrical Charms, many of which are still preserved, and, in spite of the corruptions they have undergone in the course of centuries, would furnish curious and valuable illustrations of the Mythological System on which they are founded.

“Spirits of the flood and spirits of the hills found a place in the mythology of Saxon England,”

says an able reviewer of Mr. Kemble’s Saxons in England, in The Anthenæum (13th Jan. 1849); and he continues,

“The spells by which they were invoked, and the forms by which their aid was compelled, linger, however, still amongst us, although their names and powers have passed into oblivion. In one of the Saxon spells which Mr. Kemble has inserted in the Appendix, we at once recognised a rhyme which we had heard an old woman in our childhood use,—and in which many Saxon words unintelligible to her were probably retained.”

Who would not gladly recover this “old rhyme?”—I can say for myself, that if these lines should ever meet the eye of the writer of the passage I have quoted, I trust he will be induced to communicate, in however fragmentary a shape, this curious addition to our present scanty stories of mythological information.

While on the subject of Charms and Spells, I would ask those who are more familiar than myself with the Manuscript treasures of the British Museum, and of our University Libraries, whether they have ever met with (except in MSS. of Chaucer) the remarkable “Night Spell” which the Father of English Poetry has preserved in the following passage of his Miller’s Tale. I quote from Mr. Wright’s edition, printed for the Percy Society:—

This charm has long occupied my attention, and as I hope shortly to submit to the Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries an attempt to illustrate some parts of it which are at present certainly involved in very great obscurity, I shall be glad to be informed whether any other early version of it is to be found in MS., and if so, where; and also whether any other version, corrupted or not, is still preserved, if not in use, at least in memory. I should also be especially glad of references of any other allusion to the “white Paternoster” or “seynte Petres soster,” or for any information as to sources for ascertaining the history, whether authentic or legendary, of the personage supposed to be alluded to in the closing words of this remarkable spell.

WILLIAM J. THOMS.

ALLUSIONS IN THE HOMILIES.

“A Good Wife,” &c., and “God speed the Plough!”—I should hold myself deeply indebted to any of your correspondents who would inform me where the two following quotations are to be found.

I have been anxiously looking for them for some years. I have taken some pains myself—“I have poached in Suidas for unlicensed Greek”—have applied to my various antiquarian friends (many of whose names I was delighted to recognise among the brilliant galaxy that enlightened your first number)—but hitherto all in vain; and I am reduced to acknowledge the truth of the old proberb, “A —— may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years:”—

I. “For thus will most truly be verified the saying of the poet, ‘A good wife, by obeying her husband, shall bear the rule, so that he shall have a delight and a gladness the sooner at all times to return home to her.’ But, on the contrary part, ‘when the wives be stubborn, froward, and malapert, their husbands are compelled thereby to abhor and flee from their own houses, even as they should have battle with their enemies.’”—Homily on Matrimony, p. 450. ed. Oxford, 1840.

Query—Who is the poet?

II. “Let no good and discreet subjects, therefore, follow the flag or banner displayed to rebellions, and borne by rebels, though it have the image of the plough painted therein, with God speed the plough written under in great letters, knowing that none hinder the plough more than rebels, who will neither go to the plough themselves, nor suffer other that would go unto it.”—Fourth Part of the Homily against Wilful Rebellion, p. 518.

In what rebellion was such a banner carried?

These questions may appear very trifling; but each man has his hobby, and mine is, not to suffer a quotation to pass without verification.

It is fortunate that I am not a despotic monarch, as I would certainly make it felony without benefit of clergy to quote a passage without giving a plain reference.

L.S.

MINOR QUERIES

Pope’s Translations of Horace.—In a pamphlet against Pope, entitled, A True Character of Mr. Pope and his Writings, by the author of The Critical History of England, written in May, 1716, and printed in that year, Pope is reproached with having just published a “libellous,” “impudent,” and “execrable” Imitation of Horace. Twenty years later such a reproach would be very intelligible; but can any one favour me with a reference to any Imitation of Horace, published by Pope prior to 1716, of which any such complaint could be made?

C.

Etymology of “Havior.”—Can any of your readers inform me what is the etymology of the word Havior, by which all park-keepers denote an emasculated male deer, affording good venison between the buck and doe season?

Never having seen the word written or printed, I am guided, in attempting to spell it, by the usual pronunciation.

BRAYBROOKE

Audley End, Feb. 2.

Arabic Numerals.—In the Archæological Journal (vol. vi. p. 291.), it is stated that the earliest “example of the use of Arabic numerals in any work connected with building” is the date 1445, on the tower of Heathfield Church, Sussex, though “they were common in MSS. after 1320, and in astronomical Tracts as early as 1290.” As it is probable that not a few instances of the employment of the Arabic numeral characters of an earlier date than that at Heathfield are to be met with in different parts of the country, will you permit me to make use of your paper to inquire whether any such are known to any of your readers, and if they will be so obliging as to communicate their knowledge through the medium of your columns? As the subject is one of considerable interest, it would be desirable that any date belonging to the fifteenth or the early part of the sixteenth century should be made known, and registered in your valuable publication.

Permit me also to ask, in connection with this subject, for references to any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the Arabic numerals, their origin, and their introduction into Europe. I am already acquainted with Astle, On Writing, Wallis’s Algebra, Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, the Huctiana, Pegge’s Life of Grostête, and the Philosophical Transactions; but I wish for additional, and, if possible, more recent information.

Does any one of your readers know what became of the MSS. formerly in the possession of the above-named Thomas Astle, formerly Keeper of the Tower Records? In Sir W. Burrell’s Sussex collections in the British Museum are copies of charters, “ex MSS. penes T. Aste,” with notices of curious seals appended, which I should be glad to be able to inspect.

E.V.

Stephen Eiton, or Eden’s “Acta Regis Edw. II.“—The interesting account of St. Thomas of Lancaster, with the appended queries (No. 12. p. 181.), reminds me of the work of Stephen Eiton or Eden, a canon-regular of Warter, in Yorkshire, entitled, “Acta Regis Edwardi ii^di,” which is said still to remain in manuscript. Where is it deposited?

T.J.

Dog Latin.—Permit me also to ask, what is the origin of the expression “Dog Latin”?

T.J.

The Cuckoo—the Welch Ambassador.—In Middleton’s A Trick to Catch the Old One, Act iv. sc. 5., Dampet says:—

“Why, thou rogue of universality, do I not know thee? Thy sound is like the cuckoo, the Welch Embassador.”

And the editor of the continuation of Dodsley’s Collection remarks on the passage,—

“Why the cuckoo is called the Welch Embassador, I know not.”

Perhaps some of your readers can explain why the cuckoo is so called.

G.

A recent Novel.—Having lately met with an extremely rare little volume, the title of which runs thus: “La prise d’un Seigneur Ecossois et de ses gens qui pilloient les navires pescheurs de France, ensemble le razement de leur fort et le rétablissement d’un autre pour le service du Roi ... en la Nouvelle France ... par le sieur Malepart. Rouen, le Boullenger, 1630. 12^o. 24pp.” I was reminded of a modern novel, the principal scenes of which are laid in an island inhabited by a British nobleman of high rank, who, having committed a political crime, had been reported dead, but was saved by singular circumstances, and led the life of a buccaneer. Can any of your numerous readers be good enough to mention the title of the novel alluded to, which has escaped my memory?

ADOLPHUS.

Authorship of a Couplet.—Can you help me to the authorship of the following lines?—

P.S.

Seal of Killigrew, and Genealogy of the Killigrew Family.—”BURIENSIS” (No. 13. p. 204.) is informed that the arms on the seal at Sudbury are certainly those of a member of the old Cornish house of Killigrew. These arms, impaled by those of Lower, occur on a monument at Llandulph, near Saltash, to the memory of Sir Nicholas Lower, and Elizabeth his wife, who died in 1638. She was a daughter of Sir Henry Killegrewe, of London, and a near relative, I believe, of the Master of the Revels.

While on this subject, I beg to put a query to your genealogical readers. The double-headed eagle, the bordure bizantée, and the demilion charged with bezants, are all evident derivations from the armorial bearings of Richard, titular king of the Romans, Earl of Cornwall, &c., second son of King John. The family of Killegrewe is of venerable antiquity in Cornwall. What I wish to ascertain is, the nature of the connection between the family and that unfortunate “king.” Was it one of consanguinity, or merely one of feudal dependence?

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

*_** See, on the origin of the arms of Richard and their derivatives, my Curiosities of Heraldry, pp.309. et seq.