REPLIES

AELFRIC'S COLLOQUY, AND THE A.-S. WORD ÆGYPE IN THE A.-S. PSALTER.

In reference to MR. THORPE'S note (No. 15. p. 232.), I beg leave, with all possible respect and deference, to suggest that his joke is not quite ad rem.—What would do for a beefsteak does not help his mistake; for it is quite evident that sprote applies to fish-swimming and not to fish-catching; and I presume that "useful and sagacious" auxiliary, Dr. Kitchener himself, would hardly have ventured to deny that fish may swim quickly?

Now let us try how MR. THORPE'S proposed salice=wicker, or sallow, with or without the basket, will suit the context. The fisherman is asked, "Quales pisces capias? = What fish do you take?" The answer is Anguillos &c. &c. et qualescunque in amne natant salu = Eels &c. &c., and every sort whatever that in water swimmeth [wicker/sallow] basket! Let it be remembered that the question here is not, "How dost thou take fish?" which had been put and answered before, but "What fish dost thou take?" and then let common sense decide; for the fisherman having already mentioned that he cast nets and hooks, and [spyrian/spartas], i.e. baskets, now only replies as to the fish he takes.

MR. THORPE calls the A.-S. dialogue a Gloss; is it not rather an interlineary version? like those in use, in later times, of Corderius, and used for the same purpose.

I have no doubt that upon more mature consideration MR. THORPE will see that it could not be a substantive that was intended; and, as he admits my conjecture to be specious, that he will, in the course of his very useful labours, ultimately find it not only specious but correct. Meanwhile, I submit to his consideration, that beside the analogy of the Gothic sprauto, we have in Icelandic spretta, imperf. spratt, "subito movere, repente salire, emicare;" and sprettr, "cursus citatus," and I do think these analogies warrant my conclusion.

I embrace this opportunity of submitting another conjecture respecting a word in MR. THORPE'S edition of the Anglo-Saxon Paraphrase of the Psalms. It occurs in Ps. cvi. ver. 10., "Quid exacerbaverunt eloquium Domini," &c., which is rendered: "Forthon hidydan Drihtnes spræce ægwaes ægype." In a note MR. THORPE says: "ægype, non intelligo," and gives a reason for deeming the passage corrupt. To me it seems to express the generally accepted sense of exacerbaverunt: and here a cognate language will show us the way. Icelandic geip, futilis exaggeratio; atgeipa, exaggerare, effutire: ægype, then, means to mock, to deride, and is allied to gabban, to gibe, to jape. In the Psalter published by Spelman it is rendered: hi gremedon spræce godes. In Notker it is widersprachen, and in the two old Teutonic interlinear version of the Psalms, published by Graff, verbitterten and gebittert. Let us hear our own interesting old satirist, Piers Plouhman [Whitaker's ed. p. 365.]:

And God wol nat be gyled, quoth Gobelyn, ne be japed.

But I cease, lest your readers should exclaim, Res non verba. When I have more leisure for word-catching, should you have space, I may furnish a few more.

S.W. SINGER.

Feb. 11. 1850.

Ælfric's Colloquy.—I have my doubts whether MR. SINGER'S ingenious suggestions for explaining the mysterious word sprote can be sustained. The Latin sentence appears clearly to end with the word natant, as is not only the case in the St. John's MS., mentioned in MR. THORPE'S note, but in fact, also in the Cottonian MS. There is a point after natant, and then follows the word Saliu (not salu) with a capital S. Any person who examines the handwriting of this MS. will see that the word, whatever the transcriber may have understood by it, was intended by him to stand alone. He must, however, have written it without knowing what it meant; and then comes the difficulty of explaining how it got into the MS. from which he copied. It has always appeared to me probable that the name of some fish, having been first interlined, was afterwards inserted at random in the text, and mis-spelt by a transcriber who did not know its meaning. A word of common occurrence he would have been less likely to mistake. Can saliu be a mistake for salar, and sprote the Anglo-Saxon form of the corresponding modern word sprod, i.e. the salmon of the second year? The salar is mentioned by Ausonius in describing the river Moselle and its products (Idyll. 10, l. 128.).

I throw out this conjecture to take its chance of refutation or acceptance. Valeat quantum!

C.W.G.

ANTONY ALSOP.

"R.H." (No. 14, p. 215.) will find all, I believe, that is known respecting Antony Alsop, in that rich storehouse of materials for the literary history of the last century, Nichols's Anecdotes, or in Chalmers (Biog. Dict.), who has merely transcribed from it. The volume of Latin Odes your correspondent mentions, was published by Sir Francis Bernard, and printed by Bowyer. Some notice of Sir Francis Bernard will also be found in Nichols.

The Odes were long circulated in MS.; and I have a copy that once belonged to Thomas Warton, which seems to have been written by G. Crochly, of Christchurch College, in 1736. It contains, however, nothing that is not to be found in the printed volume. The Dedication to the Duke of Newcastle was written by Bernard, who had intended to have given a preface and copious notes, as appears by the prospectus he published: but, to our great regret, he was dissuaded from his purpose.

Alsop was a favourite with that worthy man and elegant scholar Dean Aldrich, at whose instance he published his pleasing little volume, Fabularum Æsopicarum Delectus, Oxon. 1698. In the preface Bentley is thus designated—"Richardum quendam Bentleium Virum in volvendis Lexicus satis diligentem:" and there is a severe attack upon him in one of the fables, which was not forgotten by the great scholar, who affects to speak of Tony Alsop the fabulist with great contempt.

I have never seen the volume of Latin and English Poems published in 1738; but, notwithstanding the designation, "a gentleman of Trinity College," it may be at least partly by Alsop, though he undoubtedly was of Christchurch. There are English poems by him, published both in Dodsley's and Pearch's collection, and several in the early volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine. I have the authority of a competent judge for saying, that the very witty, but not quite decent verses in that miscellany, vol. v. p. 216—"Ad Hypodidasculum quendam plagosum, alterum orbilium, ut uxorem duceret, Epistola hortativa." Subscribed "Kent, Lady-day, 1835"—are Alsop's. He took the degree of M.A. in 1696, and of B.D. in 1706, and, by favour of the Bishop of Winchester, got a prebend in his cathedral, and the rectory of Brightwell, Berks. He was accidentally drowned in a ditch leading to his garden gate, in 1726. There is good reason to believe that a MS. life of him is to be found among the Rawlinson MSS., which it may be worth while to consult.

It will be remembered that Christchurch was the head-quarters of the phalanx of wits opposed to Bentley.

is Pope's ironical banter; and he has not failed to mention Alsop and Freind in Bentley's speech:—

where the note says, "Dr. Antony Alsop, a happy imitator of the Horatian style."

Indeed, Alsop seems to have been duly esteemed and appreciated by his contemporaries; and every tasteful scholar will concur in the opinion that his truly elegant Sapphics deserve a place among the few volumes of modern Latin verse, which he would place near Cowper's more extensively known favourite, Vinny Bourne.

S.W.S.

Antony Alsop, respecting whom a query appears in No. 14. p. 215., was of Christchurch, under the famous Dr. Aldrich, by whom the practice of smoking was so much enjoyed and encouraged. The celebrated Sapphic ode, addressed by Alsop to Sir John Dolben, professes to have been written with a pipe in his mouth:—

Ant. Alsop took his degree of M.A. March 23. 1696, B.D. Dec. 1706. He died June 10, 1726; and the following notice of his death appears in the Historical Register for that year:—

"Dy'd Mr. Antony Alsop, Prebendary of Winchester, and Rector of Brightwell, in the county of Berks. He was killed by falling into a ditch that led to his garden door, the path being narrow, and part of it foundering under his feet."

I believe Alsop was not the author of a volume by a gentleman of Trinity College, and that he never was a member of that society; but that doubt is easily removed by reference to the entry of his matriculation at Oxford.

W.H.C.

Temple.

"R.H." inquires, whether Antony Alsop was at Trinity College before he became a student of Christchurch? I have considered it to be my duty to examine the Admission Registers of Trinity College in my possession since the foundation of the college; and I can only say, that I do not find the name in any of them. That he was at Christchurch, and admitted there as a student, is recorded by his biographers. It is also said, that he was elected at once from Westminster to Christchurch, where he took the degree of M.A. March 23. 1696, and that of B.D. Dec. 12. 1706. He was soon distinguished by Dean Aldrich as worthy of his patronage and encouragement. He was consequently appointed tutor and censor, and in course of time left college, on his promotion to a prebendal stall in Winchesser Cathedral by Sir Jonathan Trelawney, the then Bishop, with the rectory of Brightwell, near Wallingford; at which latter place he chiefly resided till the time of his death, which happened by an accident, June 10. 1726. Sir Francis Bernard, Bart., who had himself been a student of Christchurch, published the 4to. volume of Latin Odes mentioned by "R.H.," Lond. 1753; for which he had issued Proposals, &c., so early as July, 1748. In addition to these Odes, four English poems by Alsop are said to be in Dodsley's collection, one in Pearch's, several in the early volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine, and some in The Student. Dr. Bentley calls him, rather familiarly, "Tony Alsop, editor of the Æsopian Fables;" a work published by him at Oxford, in 1698, 8 vo., in the preface to which he took part against Dr. Bentley, in the dispute with Mr. Boyle.

J.I.

Trinity College, Oxford.

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

Origin of the Word "Snob".—I think that Snob is not an archaism, and that it cannot be found in any book printed fifty years ago. I am aware that in the north of England shoe-makers are still sometimes called Snobs; but the word is not in Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, which is against its being a genuine bit of northern dialect.

I fancy that Snobs and Nobs, as used in vulgar parlance, are of classic derivation; and, most probably, originated at one of the Universities, where they still flourish. If a Nob be one who is nobilis, a Snob must be one who is s[ine] nob[ilitate]. Not that I mean to say that the s is literally a contraction of sine; but that, as in the word slang, the s, which is there prefixed to language, at once destroys the better word, and degrades its meaning; and as, in Italian, an s prefixed to a primitive word has a privative effect—e.g. calzare, "to put on shoes and stockings;" scalzare, "to put them off:" fornito, "furnished;" sfornito, "unfurnished," &c.; as also the dis, in Latin (from which, possibly, the aforesaid s is derived), has the like reversing power, as shown in continue and discontinue—so nob, which is an abbreviation of nobilis, at once receives the most ignoble signification on having an s put before it.

The word Scamp, meaning literally a fugitive from the field, one qui ex campo exit, affords another example of the power of the initial s to reverse the signification of a word.

All this, Mr. Editor, is only conjecture, in reply to "ALPHA's" query (No. 12 p. 185.); but perhaps you will receive it, if no better etymology of the word be offered.

A.G.

Ecclesfield, Jan. 21. 1850.

Derivation(?) of "Snob" and "Cad."—I am informed by my son, who goeth to a Latin school, that Snob (which is a word he often useth) cometh of two Latin words; to wit, "sine obolo"—as who should say, "one that hath not a cross to bless himself." He saith, that the man behind the omnibus is called "Cad," "a non cadendo." Your humble servant,

THE GOVERNOR.

Mr. Macaulay and Bishop Burnet.—The passage in which Mr. Macaulay calls Burnet "a rash and partial writer," alluded to by your correspondent in No. 3. p. 40., occurs towards the end of his Essay on "Sir William Temple," p. 456. of the new edition in one volume.

ETONIENSIS.

Circulation of the Blood.—"A.W." (No. 13. p. 202.) is referred to Smith's Dictionary of Biography, article NEMESIUS.

J.E.B. MAYOR.

Genealogy of European Sovereigns.—I send the full title of a book which I would recommend to your correspondent "Q.X.Z.," (No. 6. p. 92.):—

GÉNÉALOGIE ASCENDANTE,

JUSQU'AU QUATRIÈME DÉGRÉ INCLUSIVEMENTS,

De tous les Rois et Princes de Maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans; réduite en CXIV. Tables de XVI. Quartiers, composées selon les Principes du Blazon; avec une Table Générale.

"La noblesse, Daugaux, n'est point une chimère, Quand sous l'étroite loi d'une vertu sévère, Un homme, issu d'un sang fécond en demi-dieux, Suit, comme toi, la trace où marchaient ses ayeux." Boileau, S.v.

A BERLIN:

Au Dépens de l'Autheur: se vend chez Etienne de Bourdeaux, Libraire; imprimé chez Frédéric Guillaume Birnstiel.

MDCCLXVIII.

I presume that it is of some rarity, never having met with any other copy than the one from which I transcribed this title.

Some of your correspondents may, perhaps, be able to give the name of the Author who, as far as I have had occasion to refer, seems to have done his work carefully.

T.W.

Sir Stephen Fox.—I have seen it stated in some biographical dictionary, that Sir Stephen Fox was a younger brother of "John Fox, Esq.," who was a devoted Royalist at the time of the great Rebellion, and fought at the battle of Worcester, and after the Restoration was Clerk of the Acatry, in the household of Charles the Second.

Mr. Suckling, in his History of Suffolk, claims for a family some time seated at Stradbrook, in that county, a consanguinity with the descendants of Sir Stephen.

On an altar-tomb in Stadbrook churchyard are inscribed notices of many members of this family, but without dates. One is rather extraordinary, making the lives of a father and son together to amount to 194 years. Amongst them is this:—

"Here is hourly expected, Simon the next descendant, with his son Simon, who died young, tho' still preserved to be interr'd with his father at the earnest request of his pious mother the Lady Hart. And also Major John Fox, with his issue, who during the late rebellion loyally behav'd himself, undergoing with great courage not only the danger of the field, but many severe imprisonments."

The arms on this tomb differ from those of Lords Ilchester and Holland, being simply three foxes' heads erased.

Should this note supply a clue for your correspondent "VULPES" to identify Major John Fox with the brother of Sir Stephen, on knowing that he has found the scent I shall be able to assist him in unearthing the whole litter.

VENATOR.

French Maxim.—The maxim inquired after by "R.V." (No. 14. p. 215.) undoubtedly belongs to Rochefoucault. I have met with a somewhat similar passage in Massillon:—

"Le vice rend hommage à la vertu en s'honorant de sus apparences."

J.B.M.

Feb. 5. 1850.

Shipster.—A scip-steora among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors was a pilot ("ship-steerer"). The word has descended to our own times in the surname of the family Shipster. As a common noun it was not obsolete in the days of Wynkyn de Worde, who printed that curious production "Cock Lorelle's Bote," one line of which runs thus:—

"With gogle-eyed Tomson, shepster of Lyn."

It is pretty certain, however, that this masculine occupation was not the one followed by "Marie Fraunceys de Suthwerk!"

Pray accept this "Reply" for what it is worth. Perhaps I might have done better by meeting Mr. John R. Fox's "Query" (No. 14. p. 216.) with another. Should not the designation of Marie F. be Spinster instead of Shipster?

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

Lewes, Feb. 2.

Sparse.—Permit me to refer your correspondent "C. FORBES" for a reply to his query, p. 215. of your last Number, to the article "Americanism" in the Penny Cyclopædia, the author of which observes:—

"Sparse is, for any thing we know, a new word, and well applied; the Americans say a sparse instead of a scattered population; and we think the term has a more precise meaning than scattered, and is the proper correlative of dense."

In the Imperial Dictionary (avowedly based upon Webster's American work, which I cannot at this moment refer to in its original form), the word in question is given both as an adjective and as a verb, and the derivatives "sparsed," "sparsedly," "sparsely," and "sparseness," are also admitted. The reference given for the origin of "sparse" is to the Latin "sparsus, scattered, from spargo;" and the definitions are, 1. "Thinly scattered, set or planted here and there; as, a sparse population:" and, 2., as a botanical term, "not opposite, not alternate, nor in any regular order; applied to branches, leaves, peduncles, &c."

J.T. STANESBY.

Cosmopolis—Complutensian Polyglot.—Though in considerable haste, I must send replies to the fourth and eighth queries of my friend Mr. Jebb, No. 14. p. 213.

Cosmopolis was certainly Amsterdam. That the Interpretationes paradoxæ quatuor Evangeliorum, by Christophorus Christophori Sandius, were there printed, appears from this writer's Bibliotheca Anti-Trinitarionum, p. 169., Freistad, 1684. I may add that "Coloniæ" signifies "Amstelædami" in the title-page of Sandius's Nucleus Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ, 1676, and in the Appendix Addendorum, 1678, 4to.

With regard to the MSS. used in the formation of the text of the Complutensian Polyglot, Mr. Jebb will find an account of their discovery in a letter addressed by Dr. James Thompson to the editor of The Biblical Review. See also The Irish Ecclesiastical Journal for April 1847.

R.G.

Complutensian Polyglot.—The following extract from "The Prospectus of a Critical Edition of the New Testament," by the learned Mr. S. Prideaux Tregelles, affords a satisfactory reply to Mr. Jebb's query, No. 14. p. 212.:—

"However there is now more certainty as to the MSS. belonging to the University of Alcala. Dr. James Thompson has published (Biblical Review, March, 1847), the result of inquiries made thirty years ago by Dr. Bowring, and more recently by himself. Hence it appears that all the MSS. which formerly were known as belonging to Cardinal Ximenes, and which were preserved in the library of Alcala, are now with the rest of that library, at Madrid....Dr. José Gutierrez, the present librarian at Madrid, communicated to Dr. J. Thomson a catalogue of the Complutensian MSS., and from this it appears that the principal MSS. used in the Polyglott are all safely preserved."

J. MILNER BARRY.

Totnes, Feb. 6. 1850.

Christmas Hymn.—Your correspondent "E.V." (No. 13. p. 201.) asks for the author of the Christmas Hymn—

"Hark! the Herald Angels sing."

I believe it to be the composition of the Rev. Charles Wesley, the younger brother of the celebrated John Wesley: he was born in 1708, and died in 1788. He was the author of many of the hymns in his brother's collection, which are distinguished for their elegance and simplicity. I am not able to find out, for certain, whether he had another name; if he had, it was probably the occasion of the initials (J.C.W.) your correspondent mentions.

J.K.R.W.

Sir Jeffery Wyattville.—Sir Jeffery Wyattville, respecting whom "J.P." inquires (No. 14. p. 215.), was knighted at Windsor Castle, Dec. 9, 1828., on the king entering into possession after the restoration.

S.G.

[To which may be added, on the information of our valued correspondent "C.," "that it was about 1824 that Mr. Wyatt, being appointed by George IV. to conduct the improvements at Windsor Castle, had the absurd ambition of distinguishing himself from the other architects of his name by changing it to Wyattville. This produced the following epigram in, I think, the Morning Chronicle:—

"Peruse."—In reply to the question of "H.W." (No. 14. p. 215.), although from want of minute reference I have been unable to find, in the original edition, the quotation from Frith's works, I beg leave to suggest that the word "Peruse" is a misprint, and that the true reading is "Pervise." To this day the first examination at Oxford, commonly called the "Little-Go," is "Responsiones in Parviso." It must not, however, be supposed that "Pervise," or "Parvise," is derived from the Latin "Parvus;" the origin, according to Spelman and succeeding etymologists, is the French "Le Parvis," a church porch.

In London the Parvis was frequented by serjeants at law: see Chaucer, Prol. Cant. Tales. There is a difference of opinion where it was situated: see Tyrwhitt's Gloss. The student in ecclesiastical history may compare Leo Allatius de Templis Græcorum, p. 44.

T.J.

Autograph Mottoes of Richard Duke of Gloucester and Harry Duke of Buckingham. (No. 9. p. 138.)—There can be no doubt that "Mr. NICOLS" is somewhat wrong in his interpretation of the Duke of Buckingham's Motto. It is evident that both mottoes are to be read continuously, and that "souene" is the third person singular of a verb having "loyaulte" for its nominative case. It appears to me that the true reading of the word is "soutienne," and that the meaning of the motto is "My feelings of loyalty often sustain me in my duty to the King when I am tempted to join those who bear no good feeling towards him." So that we shall have in English,

ARUN.

Boduc.—Your correspondent "P." (No. 12, p. 185.) seems to consider the "prevailing opinion," that Boduc or Boduoc on the British coin must be intended for our magnanimous Queen Boadicea, to be merely a "pleasing vision," over which he is "sorry to cast a cloud." Yet his own remark, that the name Budic (a mere difference in spelling) is often found among families of the Welsh in Brittany, and that the name was once common in England, serves only to confirm the common opinion that Boduoc on the coins was intended as the name of the British Queen.

Dio expressly writes her name in Greek Boudouica, which approaches nearly to Budic. In Cornwall we still find Budock, the name of a parish and of a saint. In Oxford there was a church formerly called from St. Budoc, long since destroyed. Leland mentions a Mr. Budok, and his manor place, and S. Budok Church. His opinion was, that "this Budocus was an Irisch man, and cam into Cornewalle, and ther dwellid." Whether there was a Regulus of Britain of this name, is not material. I am not prepared to cast a cloud over it, if it should be found. Our motto should be, "ex fumo dare lucem," &c.

ANTINEPHELEGERETA.

Oxford.

Annus Trabeationis.—I am sure that you will allow me to correct an oversight in your reply to a query of "G.P.," in No. 7. p. 105. You have attributed to Du Cange a sentence in the Benedictine addition to his explanation of the term Trabeatio. (Glossar. tom. vi. col. 1158. Venet. 1740.) This word certainly signifies the Incarnation of Christ, an not his Crucifixion. Besides the occurrence of "trabea carnis indutus," at the commencement of a sermon on S. Stephen by S. Fulgentius Ruspensis, I have just now met with the expressions, "trabea carnis velatus," and "carnis trabea amicti," in a copy of the editio princeps of the Latin version of Damascen's books in defence of Image-worship, by Godefridus Tilmannus, fol. 30 b. 39 a, 4to. Paris, 1555.

R.G.