Replies.

BEE-PARK—BEE-HALL.

(Vol. v., pp. 322. 498.)

Enjoying as we do the advantages of the extension of scientific knowledge, and its application to our routine of daily wants, we are apt to forget that our forefathers were without many things we deem essentials. Your correspondents C. W. G. and B. B. have touched upon a curious feature of antiquity, which science and commerce have rendered obsolete. Yet, before the introduction of sugar, bees were important ministers to the luxuries of the great, as mentioned at the above-cited pages. I was struck with the following passage in the first forest charter of King Henry III.:

"Every freeman ... shall likewise have the honey which shall be found in his woods."

This, in a charter second only in importance, perhaps, to Magna Charta itself, sounds strange to our ideas; moderns would not think it a very royal boon. But the note with which Mr. R. Thomson (Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John, p. 352.) illustrates this passage is interesting, and, though rather long, may be worth insertion in your columns:

"The second part of this chapter secures to the woodland proprietor all the honey found in his woods; which was certainly a much more important gift than it would at first appear, since the Hon. Daines Barrington remarks, that perhaps there has been no lawsuit or question concerning it for the last three hundred years. In the middle ages, however, the use of honey was very extensive in England, as sugar was not brought hither until the fifteenth century; and it was not only a general substitute for it in preserving, but many of the more luxurious beverages were principally composed of it, as mead, metheglin, pigment, and morat, and these were famous from the Saxon days, down even to the time of the present charter (1217). In the old Danish and Swedish laws bees form a principal subject; and honey was a considerable article of rent in Poland, in which it was a custom to bind any one who stole it to the tree whence it was taken. The Baron de Mayerberg also relates, that when he travelled in Muscovy in 1661, he saw trees there expressly adapted to receive bees, which even those who felled their own wood were enjoined to take down in such a manner that they who prepared them should have the benefit of the honey. Nor was the wax of less importance to the woodland proprietors of England, since candles of tallow are said to have been first used only in 1290, and those of wax were so great a luxury, that in some places they were unknown: but a statute concerning wax-chandlers, passed in 1433 (the 11th of Henry VI. chap. 12.), states that wax was then used in great quantities for the images of saints. Only referring, however, to the well-known use of large wax tapers by King Alfred in the close of the ninth century, it may be observed that in the laws of Hoel Dha, king of South Wales, which are acknowledged as authentic historical documents, made about A.D. 940, of much older materials, is mentioned the right of the king's chamberlain to as much wax as he could bite from the end of a taper."—Coke; Manwood; Barrington; Statutes of the Realm.

Perhaps you will allow a few words more in illustration of B. B.'s Query (Vol. v., p. 498.). A recent correspondent, writing of some modern experiments on the venom of toads, suggests the propriety of contributing to a list of "vulgar errors" which have proved to be "vulgar truths." It would not much surprise me to learn that, after all, the popular belief in the efficacy of the rough music of the key and warming-pan might be added to his list. At all events the reason stated by B. B. to prove its uselessness, viz. that bees have no sense of hearing, must, I think, be abandoned, as a Query of Mr. Sydney Smirke (Vol. vii., p. 499.), and an answer (Vol. vii., p. 633.), will show. That all insects are possessed of hearing, naturalists seem now as well convinced of as that they have eyes; though some naturalists formerly considered they were not, as Linnæus and Bonnet; while Huber (his interesting observations on bees notwithstanding) seems to have been quite undecided on the point. Bees, as well as all other insects, hear through the medium of their antennæ, which in a subordinate degree are used as feelers; observing which, perhaps, Huber and others were indisposed to ascribe to them the sense in question.

In reference to Mr. Sydney Smirke's Query, so far from other naturalists confirming Huber's observations as to the effect produced by the sound emitted by the Sphynx atropos on the bees, besides Dr. Bevan (quoted Vol. vii., p. 633.), the intelligent entomologist, Mr. Duncan, author of the entomological portion of The Naturalist's Library (vol. xxxiv. pp. 53-55.), completely disproves them. He tells us that he has closely watched bees, and has seen the queen attack the larva cells; but the sentinels, notwithstanding the reiteration of the queenly sound, so far from remaining motionless, held their sovereign in check, and stubbornly persisted in the defence of their charge against the attacks of their queen and mother. Besides this disproval of the incapacitation of bees by the emission of a sound, another from the experiments of Huber himself may be mentioned. He introduced a Sphynx atropos into a hive in the daytime, and it was immediately attacked and killed by the workers. Query, Might not the explanation of the robbery of hives by this moth be, that the darkness of night incapacitates the bees, while it is the time nature has provided for the wanderings of the Sphynx?

Tee Bee.

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. vii., p. 596.; Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134.)

A contribution of mine to the miscellaneous vol. of the Chetham Society's publications having been introduced to your readers by the handsome notice of Mr. Hughes, I feel bound to notice the objection raised by your correspondent Garlichithe (Vol. viii., p. 134.), who has confounded Randle the grandfather and Randle the son of the writer of these letters quoted by Mr. Hunter. Richard Minshull, who was the writer of these letters in 1656, and died in the following year, had several sons, of whom the eldest, Randle, correctly described by Mr. Hughes as the great-great-grandson of the Minshull who first settled at Wistaston, had seven children, of whom Elizabeth, the widow of Milton, was one. She was baptized at Wistaston on the 30th Dec. 1638. In 1680 (about six years after her husband's death), by means of a family arrangement with Richard Minshull of Wistaston, frame-work knitter, who, there can be little doubt, was her brother, evidenced by a bond in my possession, she acquired a leasehold interest in a farm at Brindley, near Nantwich. On the 20th July, 1720, by her name and description of Elizabeth Milton, of Nantwich, widow, she administered to the effects of her brother, John Minshull, in the Consistory Court of Chester; and her will, the probate of which is also in my possession, is dated 22nd August, and proved 10th October, 1727. Mr. Hughes having given a reference to the volume where this information will be found in detail, a reference to it might have saved Garlichithe the trouble of starting an objection, and shown him that, so far from the facts stated being irreconcilable with Mr. Hunter's tract, that gentleman's reference to Randle Holme's Correspondence was suggested by a communication of my own to The Athenæum, and in its turn furnished me with the clue from which I eventually ascertained the particulars of Mrs. Milton's birth and parentage. I am sorry to say that I have wholly failed in finding the register of her marriage: it is not in the register-book of her native place. It might be worth while to search the register of the parishes in which Milton's residence in Jewin Street, and Dr. Paget's in Coleman Street, are situate. There is no uncertainty as to the date, which Aubrey tells us was in "the yeare before the sicknesse."

Though Cranmore (Vol. v., p. 327.) is said to be a deserter from the ranks of "N. & Q.," I hope he is known to some of your readers, and that they will convey to him a hint that he is under something like a promise to furnish information, which, as regards Dr. Paget's connexion with the poet's widow, will still be welcome.

J. F. Marsh.

Despite his acknowledged infidelity, I must tender my thanks to Garlichithe for his obliging reference to Mr. Hunter's tract; albeit there is, I may be permitted to suggest, no position assumed in any note upon Milton's widow which that tract in any way contravenes or sets aside. The fact is, Garlichithe, in the outset, entirely misapprehends the nature of my argument; and so leads himself, by a sort of literary "Will-o-the-wisp," unconsciously astray.

It was not Randle the grandfather of Richard Minshull, writer of the two letters transcribed by Mr. Hunter, but Randle the eldest son of this Richard Minshull to whom I referred as the father of Elizabeth Milton. Nor is it possible that this Elizabeth could have "died in infancy," seeing that I possess a copy of a bond (the original is also extant) from her brother Richard, then of Wistaston, where he was baptized April 7, 1641, secured to her as Elizabeth Milton, dated June 4, 1680.

As to the marriage itself, it may have taken place in London, where the poet resided; or, which is more probable, at or near the residence of their mutual friend, Dr. Paget. Milton was certainly not over-careful about ritual observances, and it is not therefore unlikely that the rigid Puritan preferred a private, or what is termed a civil marriage, to one religiously and properly conducted in the church of his forefathers.

T. Hughes.

PECULIAR ORNAMENT IN CROSTHWAITE CHURCH.

(Vol. viii., p. 55.)

It is probable that these circles with eight radiations are the original dedication-crosses of the church. Such crosses are still to be seen painted on the piers of the nave in Roman Catholic churches. Durandus, describing the consecration of a church, says:

"In the meanwhile within the building twelve lamps be burning before twelve crosses, which be depicted on the walls of the church.... Lastly, he [the bishop] anointeth with chrism the twelve crosses depicted on the wall."—Durandus On Symbolism, ed. Neale and Webb, p. 115.

In the Pontifical, De Ecclesiæ Dedicatione, the rubric directs,—

"Item, depingantur in parietibus Ecclesiæ intrinsecùs per circuitum duodecim cruces, circa decem palmos super terram, videlicet tres pro quolibet, ex quatuor parietibus. Et ad caput cujuslibet crucis figatur unus clavus, cui affigatur una candela unius unciæ."

Dedication-crosses occur at Salisbury Cathedral, and at Uffington Church, Berks, and in both cases on the exterior of the buildings.

The crosses at Salisbury are seven in number, viz. one over each side-door at the west end, two on the buttresses of the north and south transepts, two on the buttresses of the east end, and one in the centre of the east wall. The number at Uffington is twelve, disposed as follows: Three under the east window, three under the west window, one under the south window of the south transept, one under the north window of the north transept, one on the south wall of the nave, one on the north wall of the nave, one on the south wall of the chancel, and one in the east wall of the south transept. In each case the crosses have been of brass inlaid in the wall, with the exception of one, which is of stone, and of more elaborate design. The rationale of dedication-crosses, according to Durandus, is,—

"First, as a terror to evil spirits, that they, having been driven forth thence, may be terrified when they see the sign of the cross, and may not presume to enter therein again. Secondly, as a mark of triumph; for crosses be the banners of Christ, and the signs of his triumph.... Thirdly, that such as look on them may call to mind the passion of Christ, by which he hath consecrated his Church, and their belief in his passion," &c.—Page 125.

Under these aspects the exterior would seem the more fitting, and may have been the original position of them. Perhaps Mr. Elliot will inform us what is the number of crosses at Crosthwaite?

Cheverells.

CURIOUS MISTRANSLATIONS.

(Vol. vi., p. 321.)

I have found, in D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, two or three instances in which he mistranslates from the French. The first occurs in the following passage in the article headed "Inquisition:"

"Once all were Turks when they were not Romanists. Raymond, Count of Toulouse, was constrained to submit. The inhabitants were passed on the edge of the sword, without distinction of age or sex."

From the words which I have marked for Italics, it is clear that D'Israeli translated the passage from some French author; but not being aware of the idiomatic expression "passer au fil de l'épée," and that it means "to put to the sword," he translated the words in their literal sense, which in English is no sense at all.

The second example will be found in the article headed "Mysteries, Moralities," &c. D'Israeli quotes some extracts from the Mystery of St. Dennis, and concludes with the following on the subject of baptism:

which he translates thus:

The error of "out of" for "into" is unimportant; but not so where he renders "partants" by "when they depart." The word "partant," in the original, is an adverb, and means "thereupon," "forthwith." This D'Israeli has mistaken for "partant," the participle of "partir:" and hence the erroneous construction given to the passage.

A third sample occurs in the same article, where the author quotes from one of the dramas called Sotties, a passage in which are these lines:

These he translates as follows:

Here we have "jouer le leur," to gamble, rendered by "to mind their own interests;" a rather equivocal method, it must be confessed, of accomplishing that object.

These are among the very few instances in which D'Israeli, by quoting from the original authorities, enables us to form an opinion as to the correctness of his anecdotes; and when we consider that by far the greater proportion of these are drawn from French sources, there is reason to apprehend that they may not have always been given with sufficient fidelity. I am confirmed in this view by another quotation which D'Israeli seems to have misunderstood. He is speaking of the feudal custom of the French barons, according to which they were allowed to cohabit with the new bride during the first three nights after marriage. Upon this he remarks:

"Montesquieu is infinitely French when he could turn this shameful species of tyranny into a bon mot; for he boldly observes on this: 'C'était bien ces trois nuits là qu'il fallait choisir; car pour les autres on n'aurait pas donné beaucoup d'argent.' The legislator, in the wit, forgot the feelings of his heart."

I have never been able to conceive what meaning D'Israeli could have attached to this quotation from Montesquieu, so as to torture it into a bon mot. Not only is there nothing of the kind in the words he quotes, but there is not even an attempt at it. The writer merely suggests a reason for the preference given to the first three nights; and in doing so he expresses the sentiments of the barons, and not his own. And yet, it is upon this strange misapprehension of Montesquieu's meaning, that D'Israeli lays at the door of that illustrious man the imputation of being "infinitely French," and of forgetting, for the sake of a bon mot, the feelings of his heart!

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

"TO SPEAK IN LUTESTRING."

(Vol. iii., p. 188.)

The Query on the meaning of the phrase "to speak in lutestring," used by Philo-Junius, has remained so long without an answer, that to attempt to give one now seems almost to require an apology. I will however do so. In Letter XLVII., dated May 28, 1771, Philo-Junius says:

"I was led to trouble you with these observations by a passage, which, to speak in lutestring, 'I met with this morning in the course of my reading,' and upon which I mean to put a question to the advocates for privilege."

Now we know, that if two lutes, or other stringed instruments, be placed near each other, when a chord of one of them is struck, the corresponding chord of the other will vibrate in unison, and give a similar note; one lutestring will echo the other. The story of the maiden who believed that the spirit of her dead lover was near her, because his harp sounded responsive notes to hers, and who died heart-broken when she was undeceived, is sufficiently well known. "To speak in lutestring" is then to speak as another man's echo; and Philo-Junius here was the echo of the Duke of Grafton, and used this affected phrase derisively, as being a favourite, or at least well-known expression of his. In a letter which is appended as a note to Letter XX., and which is dated six days previous to the one just quoted, viz. May 22, 1771, he says:

"But Junius has a great authority to support him, which, to speak with the Duke of Grafton, 'I accidentally met with this morning in the course of my reading.' It contains an admonition which cannot be repeated too often," &c.

I have not found the phrase "to speak in lutestring" anywhere else; but I think, from a comparison of these two quotations, that it must mean what I have supposed it to mean—to speak as the echo or exact repeater of another man's words. Where can instances be found of the Duke of Grafton's using this expression, which Philo-Junius ridicules?

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

BURIAL IN UNCONSECRATED PLACES.

(Vol. vi. passim.)

So many interesting notices have been made by your correspondents on the subject of peculiar interments,—skipping about from one part of the country to another, and dropping down from the south into Lincolnshire, as if in search of farther instances,—that I am induced to add to the number of records, by stating the fact as to the late Mr. Dent, of Winterton, whose body, at his particular request, was deposited after his death in his own garden, on the south of the house in Winterton, where he not only lived but died.

Friend Jonathan, as he was familiarly called, was a man of shrewd understanding, and possessing strong common sense; yet, like others, he had his failings, and amongst them the amor nummi was not the least obtrusive. As a very wealthy man he was looked up to by a little aspiring community of Quakers in the neighbourhood; and his own dress, when in a better suit, exhibited an appearance of his connexion with that fraternity.

The Quakers had a small burial-ground at Thealby, in the parish of Burton-upon-Stother, which I some years ago had the curiosity to inspect, but such a forlorn lost place for such a sober and serious purpose I never in my life before looked upon; it is posited at a little distance from the public road entering Thealby from Winterton, where no doubt at one time stood a lot of cottages and crofts, surrounded by common stone walls, made from the flat stone of the neighbourhood. But so small and so neglected was this burial place, that I could compare it to nothing better than an old parish pinfold; it had been so little attended to when I visited it, that the whole area was under a most luxuriant crop of flourishing nettles, six or seven feet high. And as to graves, or the purport of its occupation, we could see nothing; and yet its position was such that with ordinary attention it might have been even a picturesque spot, having three or four large trees overlooking it.

Upon an after inquiry I was told that a funeral had lately taken place here, at which Friend Jonathan was the presiding attendant. But in preparation for this ceremony they had found so much difficulty in stubbing up the strong nettles, and digging the roots to form a decent grave; and it was after all so difficult to find comfortable standing-room about the grave, that I have ever since concluded that Mr. Dent must have been disgusted with it, as, upon depositing their lost friend in the earth, he, as spokesman, thought it unnecessary to make any observations, and he recommended that they should at once cover the body up; and so it was done.

That Mr. Dent had any antipathy to the church I do not know, but that he had a great dislike to paying unnecessary fees I have a good recollection of. Before his death he requested that his body should be deposited in his own garden; and his request was attended to by his nephew.

After the old gentleman's death, the present Mr. Dent, with a praiseworthy attention, repaired and restored in the Elizabethan style the old dilapidated dwelling-house and homestead where his uncle lived. And I one day paid a visit to the grave, which is an unpretending ridge on a well-mown grass-plat, and which, with the house and ground, appeared to be properly attended to; and so, I presume, it continues to be.

Wm. T. Hesleden.

J. H. M., in bringing forward Baskerville as an example of this unusual occurrence, says, that "he directed he should be buried under a windmill near his garden." In a volume of Epitaphs, printed at Ipswich in 1806, once the property of Archdeacon Nares, and containing several MS. notes by him, Baskerville's is given, with a note by the editor, in which he is stated to have been "inurned according to his own desire in a conical building near his late widow's house." The epitaph, written by Baskerville himself, commences with these lines—

"Stranger, Beneath this cone, in unconsecrated ground, A friend to the liberties of mankind directed His body to be inurned."

The expression in each case, respecting the place of his interment, seems scarcely strong enough for us to conclude it was a windmill. Perhaps J. H. M. will kindly favour me with the authority for his statement. Nares has made the following note on the epitaph at the bottom of the page:

"I heard John Wilkes, after praising Baskerville, add, 'But he was a terrible infidel; he used to shock me!'"

R. W. Elliot.

Clifton.

PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.

[At the suggestion of several correspondents we have reprinted from The Athenæum of the 22nd Nov. 1851, the article detailing the new process by Mr. Muller referred to by the Rev. Mr. Sisson in our last Number.]

Mr. Muller's Process.—"The following photographic process has been communicated to us by Mr. C. J. Muller, from Patna in the East Indies. We have submitted it to an experienced photographer; and he informs us that it offers many advantages over the Talbotype or the Catalissotype of Dr. Woods, which it somewhat resembles; that it is easy in all its manipulatory details, and certain in its results. We give Mr. Muller's own words—

"'A solution of hydriodate of iron is made in the proportion of eight or ten grains of iodide of iron to one ounce of water. This solution I prepare in the ordinary way with iodine, iron-turnings, and water.—The ordinary paper employed in photography is dressed on one side with a solution of nitrate of lead (fifteen grains of the salt to an ounce of water). When dry, this paper is iodized either by immersing it completely in the solution of the hydriodate of iron, or by floating the leaded surface on the solution. It is removed after the lapse of a minute or two, and lightly dried with blotting-paper. This paper now contains iodide of lead and protonitrate of iron. While still moist, it is rendered sensitive by a solution of nitrate of silver (one hundred grains to the ounce) and placed in the camera. After an exposure of the duration generally required for Talbot's paper, it may be removed to a dark room. If the image is not already out, it will be found speedily to appear in great strength and with beautiful sharpness without any farther application. The yellow tinge of the lights may be removed by a little hyposulphite of soda, though simple washing in water seems to be sufficient to fix the picture. The nitrate of lead nay be omitted; and plain paper only, treated with the solution of the hydriodate of iron, and acetic acid may be used with the nitrate of silver, which renders it more sensitive. The lead, however, imparts a peculiar colorific effect. The red tinge brought about by the lead may be changed to a black one by the use of a dilute solution of sulphate of iron:—by which, indeed, the latent image may be very quickly developed. The papers however will not keep after being iodized.'

"Mr. Muller suggests, that as iodide of lead is completely soluble in nitrate of silver, it might furnish a valuable photographic fluid, which could be applied at any moment when required.

"No small degree of interest attaches to this process, originating in experiments carried on in Central India. It appears perfectly applicable to the albumenized glass and collodion processes."

Detail on Negative Paper.—I have not observed before this, that any photographic operator has "noted" the burnishing of the iodised paper previous to adding the exciting solution, though I know it is usual to burnish before taking a proof. This is a very useful adjunct to obtaining minuteness, and it is a plan I have sometimes adopted. I at first thought it would injure or knock off the iodized surface, but no injury whatever arises from the rubbing. I use a small piece of glass rod, polished flat at one end, so that it may present a facet about half an inch square; but I should imagine a better instrument might be manufactured with a proper handle, and some mode of obtaining pressure; not obtaining sufficient is the cause of a little after-disarrangement if the nitrate of silver is laid on with a brush, but if floated the polish remains.

It cannot be doubted but paper is adequate to any detail; and when a paper shall be manufactured of a perfect kind, there is no reason to suppose but paper generally will rival collodion for most purposes.

Nothing prevents it at present but the uneven surface of paper. It is very nearly perfect in the French negative paper; but that has so many other drawbacks to its use that it cannot be safely depended upon. Our manufacturers have still some improvements to make; for if Canson Frères had left out the blackening chemical in the paper, it would have been better than any of ours in my estimation.

Weld Taylor.

Ammonio-nitrate of Silver.—Will any of your scientific correspondents explain the chemical cause of my inability to form the ammonio-nitrate of silver from a solution of nitrate of silver upon which albumenized paper has been previously floated? Having excited some albumenized paper on a forty-grain solution of nitrate of silver, I kept the solution which had not been consumed for the purpose of converting it into the ammonio-nitrate. But on dropping in the ammonia, not only did no precipitate take place, but the ammoniacal smell which usually gives place to the tarry odour remained. No albumen appeared to be dissolved from the paper, and the solution had lost none of its silver, which I subsequently collected by means of having formed a chloride. This has occurred to me more than once, and I call attention to it, as the investigation of it may lead to some new results.

Philo-Pho.

Replies to Minor Queries.

"Up, Guards, and at them!" (Vol. v., p. 426.; Vol. viii., pp. 111. 184.).—It will, I hope, close all debate on this anecdote, to state that the account I gave of it in Vol. v., p. 426., was from the Duke himself. I thought it very unlike him to have given his order in such a phrase, and I asked him how the fact was, and he answered me to the effect I have already stated.

C.

German Heraldry (Vol. viii., p. 150.).—Your Querist will probably find what he inquires for in Fursten's German Arms, published at Nurenberg in folio, 1696. The plates are sometimes divided and bound in three or four oblong volumes. The work known as Fursten's German Arms was commenced by Siebmacker, continued by Furst and Helman, and, in 1714, by Weigel. It is often quoted under these respective names; but of later years, more frequently under that of Weigel's Book of German Arms (Weigel Wapenbuch). It consists of six Parts, and professes to give the arms of the principal nobility of the Roman kingdom: dukes, princes, princely counts; lords and persons of position, foregone and existing, in all the provinces and states of the German empire. The Preface is by John David Köhler.

G.

In the year 1698 a book was published by J. A. Rudolphi, at Nurenberg, entitled Heraldica Curiosa. It is in German, a thin folio, with an innumerable quantity of engravings of the arms of German families.

J. B.

The Eye (Vol. viii., p. 25.).—I hope that interesting question raised by your correspondent H. C. K., respecting the term "apple of the eye," will meet with attention from some philologist. It might help to solve it, if it could be discovered when the phrase first came into use in our language. Is it possible that the word "apple" is a corruption of the Latin "pupilla?" or is it, according to H. C. K.'s suggestion, that the iris, and not the pupil, is taken to represent an apple? Doubtless your learned correspondent is aware that in Zech. ii. 12. the Hebrew phrase is varied, the word‎ ‏בָּבָה‎‏ being used, and occurring only in this passage. If Gesenius's derivation of this word be correct, which makes it to signify "the gate of the eye," we have this idea put into a fresh shape. Have not the Arabs a phrase, "He is dearer to me than the pupil of mine eye," as well as the other one, "The man of the eye?" Curiously enough, the Greeks express this idea by another word than κόρη, viz. γλήνη (i. e. κόρης αὐγή, the splendour of the pupil (kin. αἴγλη), or the pupil itself, οφθαλμου κόρη), in which the change of signification is exactly the converse of what it is in κόρη; viz., 1st, pupil; 2nd, a little girl; whence, as a term of reproach, ἔῤῥε κακὴ γλήνη.

Quæstor.

Canute's Point, Southampton (Vol. vii., p. 380.).—A correspondent having noticed the inscription on the Canute Castle Inn, Southampton, inquires for proof to authenticate the locality of the tradition referred to. I submit the following extract from a local history:

"Canute's Point was a projection of the shore near the mouth of the Itchen, where it is supposed the celebrated but much-embellished reproof to his courtiers was administered; and it was preserved by a line of piles driven into the beach, until the construction of the docks, which effaced the old beach line. Of Canute's Palace there are still a few remains, and the position fully justifies the presumption of its identity."

These piles were, I believe, in existence in the year 1836, when the act for the construction of the docks was obtained.

William Spoor.

Symon Patrick, Bishop of Ely—Durham—Weston (Vol. viii., p. 103.).—

"Edward Weston, A. B. 1723, A. M. 1727, born at Eton, son of Steven Weston of 1682, Bishop of Exeter. He was secretary to Lord Townsend at Hanover, during the king's residence there in 1729. He continued several years in the office of Lord Harrington as secretary. He was also transmitter (query, translator?) of the State Papers, and one of the clerks to the Signet. In 1741 he was appointed gazetteer, a place of considerable emolument. In 1746 he was secretary to Lord Harrington, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and became a privy councillor of that kingdom. He published, though a layman, a volume of sermons. His son is now [viz. 1797] a prebendary of Durham and St. Paul's, and rector of Therfield near Royston."—Harwood's Alumni Etonenses, p. 300., under 1719.

Corkenhatch must be Cockenhatch, near Barkway.

J. H. L.

Battle of Villers en Couché (Vol. viii., pp. 8. 127.).—An authoritative record of this action may be found in—

"An Historical Journal of the British Campaign on the Continent, in the year 1794; with the Retreat through Holland, in the year 1795. By Captain L. T. Jones, of the 14th regiment. Dedicated, by permission, to his Royal Highness Field Marshal the Duke of York. Printed for the Author. Birmingham, 1797."

The list of subscribers contains about a hundred names. There is a copy of it in the British Museum. The one now before me is rendered more valuable by copious marginal notes, evidently written by the author, which are at the service of your correspondents. They furnish the following extraordinary instance of personal bravery:

"The same officer of this corps (3rd dragoon guards), who bore off the corpse of General Mansell, relates some particulars in the action of the 24th, under Gen. Otto:—that a man of the name of Barnes, who had been unfortunately reduced from a serjeant to the ranks, had bravely advanced, doing execution on the enemy, till his retreat was foreclosed, and he was seen engaged with five French dragoons at once; all of these he fairly cut down, when nine more came upon him, whom he faced and fairly kept at bay, till one of them got behind him, and shot the brave fellow in the head."

In reference to the action of the 26th, Captain Jones observes:

"It is not possible to describe the bravery of the army on that day, nearly the whole of the British cavalry were engaged, and gained immortal honour."

The Duke of York's address to the army, published on the 28th of April, thus concludes:

"His Royal Highness has, at all times, had the highest confidence in the courage of the British troops in general, and he trusts that the cavalry will now be convinced that whenever they attack with the firmness, velocity, and order which they showed on this occasion, no number of the enemy (we have to deal with) can resist them."

Bibliothecar. Chetham.

Curious Posthumous Occurrence (Vol. viii., p. 5.).—Though the worthy grave-digger's account, reported by A. B. C., may be chargeable with some exaggeration as to the generality of body-turning, and though the decomposing reason assigned may not be true, yet, that many dead human bodies are found with their faces downwards, is nevertheless quite correct.

Works are now in progress, at the east end of this metropolis, under my own immediate observation, where this fact has been incontestably verified. How long since, or on what occasion, these remains of mortality were placed there, I know not; but, in the course of excavation required for the foundations, they are frequently met with, and, in many instances, in this strange position.

I had come to the conclusion, that, during some raging pestilence (and which may indeed again occur, unless an acceleration takes place in our wounded-snake-like motion in the way of sanitary improvement), I say, it had been my impression, that during some such awful calamity, the anxiety of the uncontaminated to avoid infection had induced them to remove their less fortunate fellow-creatures out of the way with so much haste as actually to bury them alive! and in some convulsive struggle between life and death, they had turned themselves over!

R. M.

In reply to this Note, I would remark that I have consulted a grave-digger "grown old in the service" here, and he tells me he never remembers a case where, after interment, in process of time the occiput takes the place of the facial bones; but, he says, very frequently the head drops either on one side or the other—a circumstance which any one conversant with the human skeleton and the connexion of the cranium with the vertebræ would deem most natural.

Bristoliensis.

Passage in Job (Vol. vii., p. 14.).—This question is answered, as far as it seems possible, by Barnes, in his Notes on Job, which Mr. Edwin Jones may easily consult. The fact appears to be that we have no information respecting the passage in question beyond what is furnished by itself.

B. H. C.

St. Paul and Seneca (Vol. viii., p. 88.).—There is an account of the work referred to in the July number of the Journal of Sacred Literature, edited by Dr. Kitto. It will be found among the "Foreign Intelligence."

B. H. C.

Haulf-naked (Vol. vii., pp. 432. 558.).—As my Query in reference to this place has drawn forth a Note or two from some correspondents of yours, allow me to thank them, and at the same time to inform them that "A general Collection of all the Offices of England, with the Fees, in the Queene's guifte," a manuscript temp. Elizabeth, contains the following reference. Under the head "Castles," &c. occurs,—

"Com. Sussex.

£ s. d.

Walberton and Haulf-naked. Keeper of the Manor of Half-naked and Goodwood 20 0 0

Keeper of the Wood and Chace of Walberton 3 0 10."

Charles Reed.

Books chained to Desks in Churches (Vol. viii. p. 94.).—An engraving of a very fine perpendicular lettern, having a book fastened to it by a chain, is given in the Proceedings of the Arch. Inst. for 1846, as existing at that time in the church of St. Crux, York. In 1851 I noticed the upper part of one in Chesterton Church near Cambridge, placed on the sill of the east window of the south aisle with a book lying upon it, very much torn and wanting the title-page. I ascertained the subject of it at the time; but omitted to make a note of it, and I am sorry to say it has now slipped my memory.

Rutter, in his Somersetshire, speaks of some old reading desks, which were still remaining in 1829 in Wrington Church, fastened to the walls of the chancel, on which were several books, "especially Fox's Martyrs, and the Clavis Bibliorum of F. Roberts, who was rector of the parish in 1675." There was one also about the same time at Chew Magna Church, Somersetshire; with a copy of Bishop Jewel's Defence of the Church chained to it. In Redcliff Church, Bristol, there is a small mahogany one supported by a bracket, with a brass chain attached, near the vestry on the north side of the choir. Until within a very few years, a desk, with Fox's Martyrs lying upon it, was in the Holy Trinity Church, Hull, affixed to one of the pillars in the nave.

A fine old Bible and chain is shown amongst the relics at Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon.

It would appear that theological works were not the only ones secured in this manner; for I find (Rutter's Somersetshire, p. 258.) that one Captain S. Sturmy of Easton in Gordano published a folio, entitled The Mariner's or Artisan's Magazine, a copy of which he gave to the parish to be chained and locked in the desk, until any ingenious person should borrow it, leaving 3l. as a security in the hands of the trustees against damage, &c.

R. W. Elliott.

It is somewhat strange that I should have omitted the following passage whilst writing on this subject in a recent Number, as the work to which it refers, Bishop Jewel's Defence of his Apology for the Church of England, is so well known:

"At the desire of Archbishop Parker, a copy of the Defence was set up soon after Jewel's death, in almost every parish church in England; and fragments of it are still to be seen in some churches, together with the chain by which it was attached to the reading-desk provided for it."

This extract is taken from the Life of Bishop Jewel, prefixed to the English translation of the Apology, edited by Dr. Jelf for the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge (8vo. Lond. 1849), p. xx.

An order for the setting up of "the Paraphrases of Erasmus in English upon the gospels" in some convenient place within all churches and chapels in the province of York, will be found in Archbishop Grindal's Injunctions for the Laity, § 4. (Remains, &c., Parker Society, p. 134.) See also the Articles to be enquired of within the Province of Canterburie, § 2. (Ibid. p. 158.)

W. Sparrow Simpson.

In Malvern Abbey Church is a stand to which two books are chained. The one is a commentary on the Book of Common Prayer; the other is a treatise on Church Unity. In Kinver Church (Worcestershire) are three books placed in a desk (not chained) in the south aisle: being The Whole Duty of Man (1703); A Sermon made in Latine in the Reigne of Edward the Sixte, by John Jevvel, Bishop of Sarisburie; and The Actes and Monumentes of Christian Martyrs (1583).

Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

At Bowness Church, on Windermere Lake, there is (or at least was, in 1842) a copy of Erasmus's Paraphrase chained. If I am not mistaken, some of Jewel's works will also be found there.

E. H. A.

Scheltrum (Vol. vi., p. 364.).—Karl will find scheltrum, variously written "scheltrun, sheltrun, shiltroun, schetrome," of very common occurrence in the translation of the Old Testament by Wicliff and his followers; it is there rendered from the Lat. aeies. The instances quoted by Jamieson, from the Latin testudo, come nearer to the origin, shield.

Q.

Bloomsbury.

Quarrel (Vol. vi., p. 172.).—Balliolensis will be pleased with Mr. Trench's ingenious account of our conversion of a complaint into a quarrel.

"The Latin word (querela) means properly 'complaint,' and we have in 'querulous' this its proper meaning coming distinctly out. Not so, however, in 'quarrel,' for Englishmen, being wont not merely to 'complain,' but to set vigorously about righting and redressing themselves, their griefs being also grievances, out of this word, which might have given them only 'querulous' and 'querulousness,' have gotten 'quarrel' as well."—On the Study of Words, p. 57.

"We might safely conclude," Mr. Trench premises, "that a nation would not be likely tamely to submit to tyranny and wrong, which made 'quarrel' out of 'querela.'"

This, I say, is very ingenious, but did this nation make quarrel out of querela? Did they not take it ready made from their neighbours, the French, Italian, Spanish, who have all performed, and, I presume, led the way in performing, the same exploit; showing that they must all have had the same disposition inhering in them to set about righting and redressing themselves, though not always, perhaps, with so prompt and active a vigour as that ascribed to the English by Mr. Trench.

Q.

Bloomsbury.

Wild Plants, and their Names (Vol. vii., p. 233.).—A preparation from St. John's Wort, called red oil, is used in the United States for the cure of bruises and cuts. It may have been formerly used in England. St. John's Wort is one of the commonest weeds in the Middle States.

Uneda.

Philadelphia.

Jeremy Taylor and Christopher Lord Hatton (Vol. vii., p. 305.).—Bishop Taylor uses the word relative in the sense of a dependent or humble friend in several places in his works; a fact which his editor, Bishop Heber, missed observing, as appears from a passage in the Preface to Taylor's Works.

M. E.

Philadelphia.

Burial on the North Side of Churches (Vol. vi., p. 112. &c.).—The opinion of your correspondent Seleucus, that the avoidance of burial on the north side of a churchyard is to be attributed to its being generally the unfrequented side of the church, is borne out by the fact, that in the rare cases where the entrance to the church is only on the north side, the graves are also to be found there in preference to being on the south, which in such a case would of course be "the back of the church." Seleucus mentions one instance of a church entered only from the north. To this example may be added the little village church of Martin Hussingtree, between Worcester and Droitwich, where the sole entrance is on the north, and where all the burials are on the same side of the church.

Cuthbert Bede, B. A.

Rubrical Query (Vol. vii., p. 247.).—The contradiction of the two rubrics is purely imaginary. Both are to be closely construed. The first enjoins notice to be given of Communion as of any other festival; the second provides that in the same service (notice having been so given) the Exhortation shall be the last impression on the thoughts of the congregation.

S. Z. Z. S.

Stone Pillar Worship (Vol. vii., p. 383.).—The Rowley Hills near Dudley, twelve in number, and each bearing a distinctive name, make up what may be called a mountain of basaltic rock, which extends for several miles in the direction of Hales Owen. From the face of a precipitous termination of the southern extremity of these hills rises a pillar of rock, known as the "The Hail Stone." I conjecture that the word hail may be a corruption of the archaic word haly, holy; and that this pillar of rock may have been the object of religious worship in ancient times. The name may have been derived directly front the Anglo-Saxon Haleg stan, holy stone. It is about three quarters of a mile distant from an ancient highway called "The Portway," which is supposed to be of British origin, and to have led to the salt springs at Droitwich. I have no knowledge of any other place bearing the name of Hail Stone, except a farm in the parish of West Fetton in Shropshire, which is called "The Hail Stones." No stone pillars are now to be found upon it: there is a quarry in it which shows that the sand rock lies there very near the surface. Dr. Plot, in his History of Staffordshire (p. 170.), describes the rock on the Rowley Hills as being "as big and as high on one side as many church steeples are." He relates that he visited the spot in the year 1680, accompanied by a land-surveyor, who, ten years before that time, had noticed that at this place the needle of the compass was turned six degrees from its due position. The influence which the iron in basaltic rocks has on the needle was not known at that period, and the Doctor makes two conjectures in explanation of the phenomenon observed. First, he says, "there must be in these lands that miracle of Nature we call a loadstone;" and he adds, "unless it come to pass by some old armour buried hereabout in the late civil war." The sonorous property of the rock led him to conjecture "that there might be here a vault in which some great person of ancient times might be buried under this natural monument; but digging down by it as near as I could where the sound directed, I could find no such matter."

Plot does not mention the name by which this rock was known. It is not mentioned at all by either Erdeswick, Shaw, or Pitt, in their Histories of Staffordshire.

N. W. S.

Bad (Vol. vi. p. 509.).—Horne Tooke's etymology may, perhaps, satisfy B. H. Cowper's inquiry, or at least gratify his curiosity. He assumes the bay or bark of a dog to be excited by what it abhors, hates, defies; and farther, that our epithet of bad is applied by us to that, which, for reasons which we may call moral (æsthetic, I believe I ought to say) reasons or feelings, we hate, or abhor. And he forms it thus, bay-ed, bay'd, ba'd, bad.

Q.

Bloomsbury.

Porc-pisee (Vol. vi., p. 579.).—Mr. Warde will find that this is the old English way of writing porpoise, more nearly to the French and Italian. Spenser writes porcpisces, and Ray porpesse, i.e. porc-pesee. Both are quoted in Richardson.

"Wheal instead of milk," is whey or whig. "To flesh in sin," is to indulge in, to accustom to, to inure to, the gratification of the sinful lusts of the flesh. Johnson has from Hales the same expression "fleshed in sin" which he interprets "hardened."

Q.

Bloomsbury.

Lowbell (Vol. vii., pp. 181. 272.).—Your correspondents H. T. W. and M. H. will find sufficient reasons from Nares' quotations to convince them that lowbell is so called from its sound; and the usage by Hammond (in Johnson) that the verb, to lowbell, was used consequentially to signify to frighten into a snare, and thus, to ensnare. And the noun, a snare, allurement, temptation.

"Now commonly he who desires to be a minister looks not at the work, but at the wages; and by that lure or lowbell may be toll'd from parish to parish all the town over."—Milton, "Hirelings," &c., Works, vol. i. p. 529.

Q.

Bloomsbury.

Praying to the West (Vol. viii., p. 102.).—The isles of the West, by which is understood what we term the British Isles, in the ancient Hindoo writings are described as the Sacred Isles, or the abode of religion. The Celtic tribes used the practice of turning to the West in their religious rites, having adopted it in a very early age from a reason similar to that which led the Turks in a later age to turn towards Mecca, and other nations towards the East; that is, the superior sanctity attached by each to these several points. This practice the Celtic tribes brought with them in their migration from the East to those parts in which we now find it in the West; where it has been retained by their descendants after the circumstances which gave rise to it had been long forgotten.

G. W.

Stansted, Montfichet.

Old Dog (Vol. iv., p. 21.).—See The Observer (Cumberland's), No. 131.:—"Uncle Antony was an old dog at a dispute."

P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.

Contested Elections (Vol. vii., p. 208.).—An account of many of the English contested elections may be found in Oldfield's Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland, 6 vols.: London, 1816. I hope that X. Y. Z. does not rank this among the "wretched compilations." Oldfield was a man of much experience as a parliamentary agent, and his book is entertaining—at least, to us Americans.

M. E.

Philadelphia.

"Rathe" in the Sense of "early" (Vol. vii., p. 634. et alibi.).—See The Antiquary, cap. xxxix. (vol. i. p. 468. People's Edition), where Maggie Mucklebacket says:

"I havena had the grace yet to come down to thank your honour for the credit ye did puir Steenie, wi' laying his head in a rath grave."

The Glossary explains the word as ready, quick, early.

P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.

Chip in Porridge (Vol. i., p. 382).—Though a long time has elapsed, I see nothing more on the subject of this phrase than Q. D.'s application for information regarding it.

I take it to mean a nonentity, a thing of no importance, and to have no more distinctive origin than the innumerable other cant sayings in daily use.

In a book recently published, Personal Adventures of our own Correspondent, by M. B. Honan, vol. i. p. 151., occurs this passage:

"It is very easy to stand well with all by being, what is vulgarly called, 'a chip in porridge.'"

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

"A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn" (Vol. viii., p. 102.).—See Pope's Moral Essays, Ep. 1. l. 136.

F. B—w.

Gibbon's Library (Vol. vii., p. 407.)—West's Portrait of Franklin (Vol. vii., p. 409.).—Gibbon's library was sold at Lausanne in 1833. I have a copy of Le Théâtre de Marivaux, four volumes 12mo. (Amst. et à Leipzig, 1756), which contains the following MS. note on the fly-leaf of the first volume: "Gibbon's copy, bought at the sale of his library at Lausanne, Sept. 1833.—John Wordsworth." You will find a reference to this gentleman, "N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 604. About four hundred of Gibbon's books were in the library of the late Rev. Samuel Farmar Jarvis, of Connecticut, who bought them at Lausanne. Among them was Casiri, Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispania. Some of these books had his name, E. Gibbon, printed in them in Roman letters; others had his coat of arms. Dr. Jarvis's library was sold by Lyman and Rawdon in New York on the 14th of October, 1851, for very good prices. I possess Gibbon's copy of Herrera's America, in English, 6 vols. 8vo.

I think there must be some mistake about the portrait of Dr. Franklin by West, mentioned by your correspondent H. G. D. I have never heard of but one portrait by West of Dr. Franklin, and that was painted for my grandfather, Mr. Edward Duffield, one of the executors of the Doctor's will, and sent to him by the Doctor himself. It is now in my possession, in excellent preservation. A short notice of it will be found in the ninth volume of Franklin's Writings (Sparks's ed.), p. 493.

Edward D. Ingraham.

Walnut Street, Philadelphia.

Derivation of "Island" (Vol. viii., p. 49.).—H. C. K.'s derivation of island from eye, the visual orb, because each are surrounded by water, seems to me so like a banter on etymologists, that I am doubtful whether I ought to notice it; but as our Editor seems, by the space he has given it, to take it as serious, I shall venture to say two or three words upon it. H. C. K. begins by begging the question: he says that "the etymon from the Fr. isle, It. isola, Lat. insula, is manifestly erroneous." Now I think I can prove—and that by a single word—that it is "manifestly" the true one. I only reverse his order of placing these words; they should stand, the mother first, the children after; insula Lat., isola It., isle Fr., and to them I add my single word, which H. C. K. has chosen to ignore altogether, isle English; as, Isle of Wight, Isle of Man, Isle of Thanet, Isles of Arran, &c. This single word, thus supplied, is to my mind a sufficient answer to H. C. K.'s theory, but I may add, as a corroboration, the peculiarity of retaining in spelling, and dropping in pronunciation, the s in the English isle and island, just as it is in the French isle and islot. Indeed the relation between the French and English words is, in this case, not derivation but identity. I may also observe that the Scotch and Irish names for an island, inch, innis, ennis—as, Inch-keith, Innis-fallen, Ennis-killen—are "manifestly" derived from insula, the common parent of all. I half suspect that H. C. K. is a wag, and meant to try whether we should take seriously what he meant as all my eye!

C.

Spur (Vol. vi., pp. 242. 329.).—To spur is to spere, by Gower written sper, to search or seek, to inquire into; and your correspondents might have found the word fully treated and illustrated by Jamieson, and more briefly by Richardson. To ask at church is a common expression, and Spur Sunday is merely Asking Sunday.

Q.

Bloomsbury.

On the Use of the Hour-glass in Pulpits (Vol. vii., p. 489. Vol. viii., p. 82.).—The complete iron framework of an hour-glass remained affixed to the pulpit of Shelsley Beauchamp Church, Worcestershire, until the restoration of the church, about eight years ago, by the present rector, the Rev. D. Melville, who carefully preserved the hour-glass relic. In order to show how much had been done for the church, I drew interior and exterior views of the old building, with its great dilapidations and unusually monstrous disfigurements, which drawings were hung in the vestry, at the suggestion of the rector, as parish memorials; a proceeding which I think might be copied with advantage in all cases of church restoration. In the one drawing mentioned the hour-glass stand is a conspicuous object.

Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

The following extract is from a tract published by the Cambridge Camden Society, entitled A few hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiastical Antiquities:

"Hour-glass Stand. A relick of Puritanick times. They are not very uncommon; they generally stand on the right-hand of the pulpit, and are made of iron. Examples Coton, Shepreth. A curious revolving one occurs at Stoke D'Abernon, Surrey, and in St. John Baptist, Bristol, where the hour-glass itself remains. Though a Puritanick innovation, it long kept its place: for Gay in his Pastorals writes:

and it is depicted by the side of a pulpit in one of Hogarth's paintings."

I saw, a few weeks ago, an iron hour-glass stand affixed to the pulpit in Odell Church, Beds.

W. P. Storer.

Olney, Bucks.

"The inventorie of all such church goods, etc. ... which the church-wardens [of Great Staughton, co. Hunt.] are and stand charged with. May 31, 1640.

[Inter alia.]

"Itm. A pulpit standinge in the church, having a cover over the same, and an houre-glasse adjoininge."

Joseph Rix.

St. Neots.

Selling a Wife (Vol. vii., pp. 429. 602.).—There can be no question that this offence is an indictable misdemeanor. I made, at the time, a memorandum of the following case:

"West Riding Yorkshire Sessions, June 28, 1837. Joshua Jackson, convicted of selling his wife, imprisoned for one month with hard labour."

S. R.

Chiswick.

Impossibilities of History (Vol. viii., p. 72.).—St. Bernard, according to Gibbon, lived from 1091 to 1153. Henry I., who did rebel against his father, was twelve years older than the Saint, and ascended the throne at the age of twenty-one in the year 1100, when the Saint was nine years old. The descent from the devil alludes, I should think, to Robert le Diable, the father of the Conqueror. The historian of The Tablet found the authority most probably in some theatrical review or fly-leaf of the libretto.

J. H. L.

Lad and Lass (Vol. vii., p. 56.).—Lass, Hickes (quoted by Lye in Junius) says, was originally written, and is a corruption of laddess; thus, we may suppose laddess, ladse, lass: and lad may correlate with the Gr. ἀγωγὸς, a leader, so familiar to us in the sneered at pæd-agogue, i. e. the boy-leader. The lad, from the Anglo-Saxon lædian, to lead (says Junius), is the leăd—"One who, on account of his tender years, is under a leader, a guide, a director."

We apply the common expression "He is yet in leading strings" to him who has not strength or courage to go alone, to act independently for himself.

Q.

Bloomsbury.

Enough (Vol. vii., p. 455.).—Enough was not, and is not always, nor was it originally, pronounced enuf. The old way of writing was "ynou, inouh, ynowgh;" and in Gower, enough is made to rhyme with slough, i. e. slow or slew, the past tense of slay. Mr. Wright will find this to be so by looking into Richardson's quotations. The word, he will see also, was from very early times written, as still not unfrequently pronounced, enew or enow.

Q.

Bloomsbury.