NOTES.

KING ALFRED'S GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE.

There is no other printed copy of the A.-S. Orosius than the very imperfect edition of Daines Barrington, which is perhaps the most striking example of incompetent editorship which could be adduced. The text was printed from a transcript of a transcript, without much pains bestowed on collation, as he tells us himself. How much it is to be lamented that the materials for a more complete edition are diminished by the disappearance of the Lauderdale MS., which, I believe, when Mr. Kemble wished to consult it, could not be found in the Library at Ham.

Perhaps no more important illustration of the Geography of the Middle Ages exists than Alfred's very interesting description of the Geography of Europe, and the Voyages of Othere and Wulfstan; and this portion of the Hormesta has received considerable attention from continental scholars, of which it appears Mr. Hampson is not aware. As long since as 1815 Erasmus Rask (to whom, after Jacob Grimm, Anglo-Saxon students are most deeply indebted) published in the Journal of the Scandinavian Literary Society (ii. 106. sq.) the Anglo-Saxon Text, with a Danish translation, introduction, and notes, in which many of the errors of Barrington and Forster are pointed out and corrected. This was reprinted by Rask's son in the Collection he gave of his father's Dissertation, in 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1834.

Mr. Thorpe, in the 2nd edit. of his Analecta, has given "Alfred's Geography," &c., no doubt accurately printed from the Cotton MS., and has rightly explained Apdrede and Wylte in his Glossary, but does not mention Æfeldan; and Dr. Leo, in his Sprachproben, has given a small portion from Rask, with a few geographical notes. Dr. Ingram says: "I hope on some future occasion to publish the whole of 'Alfred's Geography,' accompanied with accurate maps."

On the names Horithi and Mægtha Land Rask has a long note, in which he states the different opinions that have been advanced; his own conclusions differ from Mr. Hampson's suggestion. He assigns reasons for thinking that the initial H in Horithi should be P, and that we should read Porithi for Porizzi, the old name for Prussians. Some imagined that Mægtha Land was identical with Cwen Land, with reference to the fabulous Northern Amazons; but Alfred has placed Cwenland in another locality; and Rask conjectures that Mægth signifies here provincia, natio gens, and that it stood for Gardariki, of which it appears to be a direct translation.

It appears to me that the Horiti of Alfred are undoubtedly the Croati, or Chrowati, of Pomerania, who still pronounce their name Horuati, the H supplying, as in numerous other instances, the place of the aspirate Ch. Nor does it seem unreasonable to presume that the Harudes of Cæsar (De Bell. Gall. b. i. 31. 37. 51.) were also Croats; for they must have been a numerous and widely spread race, and are all called Charudes, Αρουδες. The following passage from the Annales Fuldensis, A. 852., will strengthen this supposition:—"Inde transiens per Angros, Harudos, Suabos, et Hosingos ... Thuringiam ingreditur."

Schaffarik again, says that Mægtha Land is, according to its proper signification, unknown; but that as Adam of Bremen places Amazons on the Baltic coast, probably from mistaking of the Mazovians? it is possible that Mægthaland has thus arisen. In 1822 Dahlmann (Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der Geschichte, t. i. 422.) gave a German version of King Alfred's narration, where the passage is also correctly translated; but as regards the illustration of the names of the people of Sclavonic race, much yet remains to be done.

It is to be hoped that some competent northern scholar among us may still remove, what I must consider to be a national reproach—the want of a correct and well illustrated edition of the Hormesta, or at any rate of this singularly interesting and valuable portion of it.

S.W. SINGER.

Feb. 21. 1850.

THE FIRST COFFEE-HOUSES IN ENGLAND.

As a Supplement to your "NOTES ON COFFEE," I send you the following extracts.

Aubrey, in his account of Sir Henry Blount, (MS. in the Bodleian Library), says of this worthy knight,

"When coffee first came in he was a great upholder of it, and hath ever since been a constant frequenter of coffee-houses, especially Mr. Farres at the Rainbowe, by Inner Temple Gate, and lately John's Coffee-house, in Fuller's Rents. The first coffee-house in London was in St. Michael's Alley, in Cornhill, opposite to the church, which was set up by one —— Bowman (coachman to Mr. Hodges, a Turkey merchant, who putt him upon it) in or about the yeare 1652. 'Twas about 4 yeares before any other was sett up, and that was by Mr. Farr. Jonathan Paynter, over against to St. Michael's Church, was the first apprentice to the trade, viz. to Bowman.—Mem. The Bagneo, in Newgate Street, was built and first opened in Decemb. 1679: built by ... Turkish merchants."

Of this James Farr, Edward Hatton, in his New View of London, 1708, (vol. i. p. 30) says:—

"I find it recorded that one James Farr, a barber, who kept the coffee-house which is now the Rainbow, by the Inner Temple Gate, (one of the first in England), was in the year 1657, prosecuted by the inquest of St. Dunstan's in the West, for making and selling a sort of liquor called coffee, as a great nuisance and prejudice to the neighbourhood, &c., and who would then have thought London would ever have had near three thousand such nuisances, and that coffee would have been, as now, so much drank by the best of quality and physicians."

Howel, in noticing Sir Henry Blount's Organon Salutis, 1659, observes that—

"This coffe-drink hath caused a great sobriety among all nations: formerly apprentices, clerks, &c., used to take their morning draughts in ale, beer, or wine, which often made them unfit for business. Now they play the good-fellows in this wakeful and civil drink. The worthy gentleman, Sir James Muddiford, who introduced the practice hereof first in London, deserves much respect of the whole nation."

From these extracts it appears that the use of this berry was introduced by other Turkey merchants besides Edwards and his servant Pasqua.

Anthony Wood in his Diary, records, under the year 1654, that—

"Coffey, which had been drank by some persons in Oxon. 1650, was this yeare publickly sold at or neare the Angel, within the Easte Gate of Oxon., as also chocolate, by an outlander or Jew."

And in another place he says—

"This yeere Jacob a Jew opened a Coffey-house at the Angel, in the parish of St. Peter in the East, Oxon., and there it was by some, who delighted in noveltie, drank. When he left Oxon. he sold it in Old Southampton Buildings in Holborne, near London, and was living there 1671."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

TRUE TRAGEDY OF RICHARD III.

In The True Tragedy of Richard the Third, the following passage—

is considered by Mr. Baron Field as unintelligible. It seems to me that the correction of it is obvious, and the explanation probable, though not exactly fitting what had been said before, which is merely that Lord Stanley had refused to come to Richard, not that he had actually joined Richmond, much less fought for him. I read—

i.e. and doom impartial, and interpret, "pass'd upon himself impartial judgment," or rather on his son, as is said just before:—

It is possible that doom by dint of sword may mean, to be executed by dint of sword; that is, on the son. The doom in the Scotch court, in the Heart of Mid Lothian, is not the verdict, but the punishment.

Immediately before, we have this passage, also described as unintelligible:—

"King. Did not your selves, in presence, see the bondes sealde and assignde?

"Lo. What tho my lord, the vardits own, the titles doth resign.

"King. The bond is broke, and I will sue the fine."

I see no emendation for this but the vardits own to mean, "the party who has the verdict in his favour," and the speech to be a question. The King tries to persuade himself that there is, ipso facto, no room for forgiveness. Lovel answers, upon the principle of the rule of law, "Qui vis potest renunciare juri pro se introducto."

C.B.

FOLK LORE.

Merry-Lwyd.—My attention has been called to an inquiry in No. 11. p. 173., as to the origin and etymology of the Merry-Lwyd, still kept up in Wales.

I believe that all these mummings may be traced to the disguisings which formed so popular an amusement in the Middle Ages, and that the name applied in Wales to this remnant of our ancient pastimes is nothing more than a compound of our English adjective "merry" and a corruption of the Latin word "Ludi," which these masquings were formerly termed.

Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes, Book iii. chap. 13., speaks of Christmas Spectacles in the time of Edward III., as known by the name of Ludi; and in Warton's History of English Poetry, it is said of these representations that "by the ridiculous and exaggerated oddity of the Vizors, and by the singularity and splendour of the dresses, every thing was out of nature and propriety." In Strutt's 16th Plate, specimens will be found of the whimsical habit and attire in which the mummers were wont to appear.

My impression that the Merry-Lwyd was by no means a diversion exclusively Welsh is corroborated by the fact noticed in your Number of the 23rd of Feb., of its being found to exist in Cheshire. And we know that many ancient customs lingered in the principality long after they fell into disuse in England.

GWYNN AB NUDD.

Glamorganshire, March 1. 1850.

Death-bed Superstition.—When a curate in Exeter I met with the following superstition, which I do not remember to have seen noticed before. I had long visited a poor man, who was dying of a very painful disease, and was daily expecting his death. Upon calling one morning to see my poor friend, his wife informed me that she thought he would have died during the night, and consequently she and her friends unfastened every lock in the house. On my inquiring the reason, I was told that any bolt or lock fastened was supposed to cause uneasiness to, and hinder the departure of the soul, and consequently upon the approach of death all the boxes, doors, &c., in the house were unlocked. Can any of your readers tell me whether this is in any way a general superstition amongst the lower orders, or is it confined to the West of England?

R.H.

[This remarkable superstition forms the subject of a communication of the Athenæum (No. 990.) of 17th Oct. 1846: in a comment upon which it is there stated "that it originates from the belief which formerly prevailed that the soul flew out of the mouth of the dying in the likeness of a bird."]

PASSAGE IN L'ALLEGRO—NOTES ON MILTON'S MINOR POEMS.

The suggestion of your correspondent B.H.K. (No. 18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Mr. Warton, who, in his 1st edition of Milton's Poems, notices a similar interpretation of the passage, as the suggestion of an unknown correspondent. In the 2nd edition this correspondent is mentioned to have been Mr. Headley; and the editor discusses the point in a note of upwards of a page, illustrating it with parallel passages, and an analysis of the context. As the book is one of ready access, I need not trouble you with a quotation; but I may mention that Mr. Gilchrist has added, in a MS. note in my copy, that "Among the poems appended to those of Lord Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt, is one of considerable elegance in the same measure as those of Milton, nor is it unlike in its subject: the following lines may throw some light on the present inquiry (p. 200. ed. 1717):—

[The passage is at p. 57. of the 1st vol. of Dr. Nott's edition.]

I am glad of the present opportunity of mentioning, for the benefit of all whom it may concern, that my copy of the 1st edition of Warton's Milton is enriched with numerous notes and parallel passages by Mr. Gilchrist; and a copy of the 2nd edition has been similarly, but less copiously, illustrated by Mr. Dunston. I shall be glad if my mention of them should lead to their being made useful—or, if you wish it, I shall be happy to transcribe the notes for occasional insertion in your Journal.

May I be allowed to suggest that similar notifications to intending editors would have some tendency to do the same good results which may be expected from the announcements by intending editors suggested by your correspondent R.R. at p. 243? There must be hundreds of volumes enriched by the notes of scholars, such as those I have had occasion to mention, which are dispersed in private libraries, and might, by means of similar announcements, be made available to the cause of literature.

J.F.M.

[We are much indebted to our valued correspondent for the offer he has so kindly made us of the MS. Notes in question, which we shall gladly receive; and also for his extremely useful suggestion of the advantage of such notifications to intending editors, as he describes.]

Milton's L'Allegro.—Your correspondent (No. 18. p. 286.) has been anticipated by Headley, who suggested, long ago, that the word tale here implied the numbering sheep. When Handel composed his beautiful air, "Let me wander not unseen," he plainly regarded this word in the more poetical sense. The song breathes the shepherd's tale of love (perhaps addressed to "the milkmaid singing blithe") far more than it conveys a dull computation of the number of "his fleecy care." Despite of that excellent commentator, Tom Warton, who adopted Headley's suggestion, it is to be hoped that readers will continue, though it may be in error, to understand the line as your correspondent used to do: an amatory tête-à-tête is surely better suited to "the hawthorn in the dale," than either mental arithmetic, or the study of Cocker.

J.H.M.

DOCTOR DANIEL DOVE OF DONCASTER AND HIS HORSE NOBS—GOLDEN AGE OF MAGAZINES.

It appears from the preface to the last edition of The Doctor, &c. that the story of Dr. Daniel Dove and his horse was one well known in Southey's domestic circle.

A letter is there quoted from Mrs. Southey (then Miss Caroline Bowles), in which she says:—

"There is a story of Dr. D.D. of D. and of his horse Nobs, which has I believe been made into a Hawker's Book. Coleridge used to tell it, and the humour lay in making it as long-winded as possible; it suited, however, my long-windedness better than his, and I was frequently called upon for it by those who enjoyed it, and sometimes I volunteered it, when Coleridge protested against its being told."

While upon the subject of The Doctor, may I direct your attention to the following passage on p. 269. of the one volume edition, which you will admit in many respects accurately describes your "NOTES AND QUERIES"?

"Our Doctor flourished in the golden age of magazines, when their pages were filled with voluntary contributions from men who never aimed at dazzling the public, but each came with his scrap of information or his humble question, or his hard problem, or his attempt in verse.

"In those days A was an antiquary, and wrote articles upon altars and abbeys, and architecture. B made a blunder, which C corrected. D demonstrated that E was in error, and that F was wrong in philology, and neither philosopher nor physician, though he affected to be both. G was a genealogist. H was an herald who helped him. I was an inquisitive inquirer who found reason for suspecting J to be a Jesuit. M was a mathematician. N noted the weather. O observed the stars. P was a poet who peddled in pastorals, and prayed Mr. Urban to print them. Q came in the corner of the page with his query. R arrogated to himself the right of reprehending every one who differed from him. S sighed and sued in song. T told an old tale, and when he was wrong, U used to set him right. V was a virtuoso. W warred against Warburton. X excelled in algebra. Y yearned for immortality in rhyme, and Z in his zeal was always in a puzzle."

Surely, Sir, you have revived the Golden Age of magazines, and long may you flourish.

Q.D.

THE USE OF BEAVER HATS IN ENGLAND.

The notice from Fairholt's Costume in England, concerning the earliest use of a beaver hat in England, is not very satisfactory. Beaver hats were certainly used in this country long before Stubbes's time. They were originally, like many other articles of dress, manufactured abroad, and imported here. Indeed, this was a great source of complaint by the English artizan until a comparatively late period. The author of A Brief Discourse of English Poesy, n.d. (temp. Eliz.) says:—

"I merveil no man taketh heed to it, what number of trifles come hither from beyond the seas, that we might clean spare, or else make them within our realme. For the which we either pay inestimable treasure every year, or else exchange substantial wares and necessaries for them, for the which we might receive great treasure."

"The beaver or felt hats (says J.H. Burn, in his interesting History of the Foreign Refugees, p. 257.) worn in the reign of Edward III., and for a long time afterwards, were made in Flanders. The refugees in Norfolk introduced the manufacture of felts and thrummed hats into that country; and by a statute of 5 and 6 Edward VI., that trade was confined to Norwich, and all other corporate and market towns in the country."

"About that time (says a History of Trade, published in 1702) we suffered a great herd of French tradesmen to come in, and particularly hat-makers, who brought with them the fashion of making a slight, coarse, mean commodity, viz. felt hats, now called Carolinas; a very inferior article to beavers and demicastors, the former of which then sold at from 24s. to 48s. a piece."

In the Privy-Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., we read, under the date 1532:—

And again—

These entries are curious, as the purchase of the hat was made in a foreign country. It was probably something that took the King's fancy, as we can hardly suppose that his majesty had neglected to provide himself with this necessary appendage before he left England.

Several interesting notices concerning hats, and apparel generally, may be seen in Roger Ascham's Schoolmaster, 1570, which I do not remember to have seen quoted; but the literature of this period abounds in illustration of costume which has been but imperfectly gleaned.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

EXTRACTS FROM OLD RECORDS.

If you think the insertion of scraps from the mutilated Exchequer records useful, I shall be most happy, from time to time, to contribute a few. The following are extracted from fragments of a book of entries, temp. Charles I.: the book appears to have been a large folio, and each leaf torn into at least four pieces. It is much to be regretted that the work of selection and mutilation was not assigned to more competent persons than the ignorant porters who I am told were entrusted with it.

ROBERT COLE.

Fragment dated 1637.

John de Critz, Serjeant Painter, p^t of 2158. 13, for a debt in the great wardrobe 6000

S^r James Palmer, Kn^t, for the Tapestrie makers and painters at Mortlach 20000

362100

30000

262100

30000

Fragment dated 1637.

..........hony Vandike Kn^t p^t of 1200li. for......... 30000

..........le Seur Sculpter p^t of 720li. .................Statues and Images 30000

Fragment dated 1640.

..........in satisfaction for his greate Losses by his greate and extraordinary disbursem^ts vpon assignem^ts and other charges 400000

S^r Job Harby and S^r John Nulles, Kn^ts, for soe much paid to the King of Denmke for redempion of a greate Jewell, and to liquidate the accompts betwixt his Ma^ty and the said King 2500000

Hubrecht le Seur in full of 340li. for 2 statues in brasse, the one of his late Ma^ty, and the other of our now Souerainge lo: King Charles^[3] 10000

703

More to him 60li., in p^t of 120li. for a bust of brasse of his late Ma^ty, and 40li. for carrying and erecting 2 figures at Winchester 10000

Richard Delamair for making divers Mathematicall Instruments, and other services 10000

6800