REPLIES.

LETTER ATTRIBUTED TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

I feel very confident that I once read the letter attributed to Sir R. Walpole (No. 19. p. 304.) in some magazine, long before I had ever seen Banks' Extinct and Dormant Peerage. My impression is, also, that I never believed the document to be authentic; and that opinion is confirmed by a reference to the Correspondence of Horace Walpole, vol. i. ed. 1840, and to the journals of the day. I find from these authorities, that the first of the memorable divisions which drove Sir Robert from the helm, took place on the 21st Jan. 1741-2, when Pulteney's motion for a secret committee was lost by three voices only. We are told that the speeches were very brilliant, and Sir R. Walpole particularly distinguished himself. He might have been tormented by his enemies, but not by the stone, (the excuse assigned in the letter for his inability to attend the king), for Horace left him at one o'clock in the morning, after the debate had terminated, "at supper all alive and in spirits," and he even boasted that he was younger than his son. The next struggle was on the 28th of Jan., on the Chippenham election, when the minister was defeated by one, and his friends advised him to resign; but it was not till after the 3rd of Feb., when the majority against him upon the renewal of the last question had increased to sixteen, that he intimated his intention to retire. These facts, coupled with the inferences drawn by your correspondent P.C.S.S. as to the suspicious style of the letter, and the imprudence of such a communication, go far to prove that it was a forgery: but the passage in Walpole's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. cviii. ed. 1840, with which I will now conclude my remarks, seems to set the question at rest:—

"Sir Robert, before he quitted the king, persuaded his Majesty to insist, as a preliminary to the change, that Mr. Pulteney should go into the House of Lords, his great credit lying in the other House: and I remember my father's action when he returned from Court, and told me what he had done; 'I have turned the key of the closet upon him,' making that motion with his hand."

Braybrooke.

Audley End, March 18. 1850.

PORTRAITS OF ULRICH OF HUTTEN.

It is pleasant to see that an answer to a query can sometimes do more than satisfy a doubt, by accidentally touching an accordant note which awakens a responsive feeling. I am much pleased that my scanty information was acceptable to "R.G."; and wish it was in my power to give him more certain information respecting the portraits of Hutten, who is one of my heroes, although I am no "hero-worshipper."

The earliest woodcut portrait of him with which I am acquainted, is to be found in the very elegant volume containing the pieces relating to the murder of his cousin John, by Ulrich of Wirtemberg (the title too long for these pages), which, from the inscription at the end, appears to have been printed in the Castle of Stakelberg, in 1519. It is a half length, in a hat, under a kind of portico, with two shields at the upper corners: the inscription beneath is in white letters on a black ground. It occurs near the end of the volume; in which is another spirited woodcut, representing the murder.

The other two cotemporary portraits occur in the "Expostulatio," before noticed. The largest of these, at the end of the volume, is in armour, crowned with laurel, and holding a sword, looking toward the left. This is but indifferently copied, or rather followed, in Tobias Stimmer's rare and elegant little volume, Imagines Viror. Liter. Illust., published by Reusner and Jobinus, Argent. 1587, 12mo.

I have never seen a good modern representation of this remarkable man, who devoted the whole energies of his soul to the sacred cause of the truth and freedom, and the liberation of his country and mankind from the trammels of a corrupt and dissolute Church; and, be it remembered, that he and Reuchlin were precursors of Luther in the noble work, which entitles them to at least a share in our gratitude for the unspeakable benefit conferred by this glorious emancipation.

Ebernburg, the fortress of his friend, the noble and heroic Franz von Sickingen, Hutten called the Bulwark of Righteousness. I had long sought for a representation of Sickingen, and at length found a medal represented in the Sylloge Numismatum Elegantiorum of Luckius, fol. Argent, 1620, bearing the date 1522.

Hutten's life is full of romantic incident: it was one of toil and pain, for the most part; and he may well have compared his wanderings to those of Ulysses, as he seems to have done in the following verses, which accompany the portrait first above mentioned:

I should like to see the German verses your correspondent mentions, if he will be good enough to favour me, through your intervention, with an inspection of the volume containing them.

S.W.S.

March 12. 1850.

CHANGE OF NAME.

"B." inquires (No. 16. p. 246.) what is the use of the royal license for the change of a surname? He is referred to Mr. Markland's paper "On the Antiquity and Introduction of Surnames into England" (Archæologia, xviii. p. 111.). Mr. Markland says,—

"Sir Joseph Jekyll, when Master of the Rolls, in the year 1730, remarks—'I am satisfied the usage of passing Acts of Parliament for the taking upon one a surname is but modern; and that any one may take upon him what surname, and as many surnames, as he pleases, without an Act of Parliament.' The decree in the above case was reversed in the House of Lords."

Mr. Markland adds,—

"From the facts and deductions here stated, it would seem that the Master of the Rolls had good ground for making his decree. The law, as it stands, however, had grown out of the practice: and common prudence dictates, that the assumption of a new surname should now be accompanied by such an authority as may establish beyond all question the legality of the act."

It must also be remembered, that a testator often directs that a devisee shall procure the royal license or an Act of Parliament for the change of name, in order to entitle him to the testator's property. If this direction be neglected, could not the party next benefited sue for it on that ground, and with success?

S.D.D.

Change of Name (No. 16. p. 246.).—The doctrine, that a person may change his surname without any formality whatever, has long been "settled," and is by no means of so recent a date as your correspondent supposes, which will presently appear.

In Coke upon Littleton, after some observations as to the change of Christian name at confirmation, it is stated—

"And this doth agree with our ancient books, where it is holden that a man may have divers names at divers times, but not divers Christian names." (Vol. ii. p. 218. ed. 1818, by J.H. Thomas.)

Reference is made to Acc. 1 Com. Dig. 19, 20., "Abatement" (E. 18, 19.); Bac. Abr. "Misnomer," B.; Rex v. Billinghurst, 3 Maul. & S. 254.: but these passages throw no additional light upon our immediate subject.

Sir Joseph Jekyll, in the case of Barlow v. Bateman, in 1730, said,—

"I am satisfied the usage of passing Acts of Parliament for the taking upon one a surname is but modern, and that any one may take upon him what surname, and as many surnames, as he pleases, without an Act of Parliament." (3 Peere Williams, 65.)

The decision of the Master of the Rolls in this case was afterwards overruled by the House of Lords; but on a point not affecting the accuracy of the observations I have quoted.

Lord Eldon, in the case of Leigh v. Leigh, decided in 1808, made the following remarks:—

"An Act of Parliament, giving a new name, does not take away the former name: a legacy given by that name might be taken. In most of the Acts of Parliament for this purpose there is a special proviso to prevent the loss of the former name. The King's licence is nothing more than permission to take the name, and does not give it. A name, therefore, taken in that way is by voluntary assumption." (15 Ves. Jun., p. 100.)

This case decided that the assumption of a name by a person, by the King's license, would not entitle him to take under a limitation in a will "unto the first and nearest of my kindred, being male, and of my name and blood." The same rule would no doubt hold as to a change of name by Act of Parliament. (See Pyot v. Pyot, 1 Ves. Sen. 335.)

These extracts from the highest authorities will sufficiently show of how little use is an Act of Parliament, or the royal license, for effecting a change of name; indeed, the chief, perhaps I might almost say the only, advantage of these costly forms, except, of course, where they are required by the express terms of a will, is the facility they afford in case it should become necessary to prove that John White was ten years ago John Brown.

Arun.

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 6.

There is no class of books which it more behoves future compilers of glossaries to consult, than those which treat of geography, navigation, military and naval economy, and the science of warfare both on shore and afloat. As far as the technical terms have been used by poets and dramatists, much valuable illustration may be found in the annotated editions of their works, but much more is required for general purposes, and I could point out some fifty volumes which would enable an industrious student, possessing a competent acquaintance with those subjects in their modern state, to produce a most useful supplement to our existing glossaries.

With very small pretensions to the amount of information which Σ ascribes to me, I will at once answer his query on the meaning of grummett.

GRUMETE is pure Spanish. It also occurs as a Portuguese word. I shall transcribe the explanations of it as given by the best authorities on those languages:—

"GRVMETE.—El muchacho que sirue en el nauio, y sube por el mastil, o arbol, y por la antena, y haze todo lo demas que le mandan con gran presteza."—Sebastian de Couarruuias, 1611.

"GRUMETE.—El mozo que sirve en el navío para subir á la gavia y otros usos. Tirunculus nauticus."—La real academia Española.

"GRUMETE.—Grumete he o moço que serve como de criado aos marinheiros, sobindo pellos mastros atè à gavea, etc."—Raphael Bluteau.

We have a statement of the rank and ratings of the officers and men of a ship of war in the Sea grammar of captain Smith, 1627. 4to. The word in question, as a rating, had then become obsolete. The duties of the seamen are thus described:

"The sailers are the ancient men for hoising the sailes, getting the tacks aboord, haling the bowlings, and steering the ship.

"The younkers are the young men called fore-mast men, to take in the top-sailes, or top and yard, for furling the sailes, or slinging the yards, bousing or trising, and take their turnes at helme."

Now, a comparison of the definitions of the Spanish and Portuguese gromete, and the English younker, leads me to infer that the latter term had been substituted for grummett or gromet, and that the duties of both classes were nearly the same.

If the above information should seem less precise than might be expected, I must make my apology in the words which Edward Jorden addressed to captain Smith on the publication of his Sea grammar:

Bolton Corney.

BEAVER HATS.

Permit me to suggest that, in asking a question, it is often desirable that the querist should state briefly the amount of information he already possesses on the subject. For instance, had Mr. "T.H. Turner," when inquiring after beaver hats (No. 7. p. 100.), stated, that he had met with the mention of them as early as the time of Hen. III., I, of course, should not have troubled you with a notice of them in the reign of Elizabeth. Indeed, I owe Mr. Turner an apology; for if I had reflected a moment upon the extensive antiquarian information of the querist, I should certainly have concluded that he must be well acquainted with the authorities I cited, which happened to be at my elbow at the time I read the query. Mr. B. Corney (No. 19. p. 307.) has supplied a beaver hat from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; we meet with another in his Testament of Creseide, v. 386., "in a mantill and a beaver hat." We may therefore conclude that they were not unusual in Chaucer's time. I now think it very probable that beaver hats were introduced into this country as early as the Norman Conquest; for we find mention of them in Normandy at a still earlier period. In the "Chronicle of the Abbey of St. Wandrille" (edited by Acheri, in his Spicilegium), we find, amongst the gifts of the Abbot Ansegisus, who died A.D. 833,

"Cappas Romanas duas, unam videlicet ex rubeo cindato, et fimbriis viridibus in circuitu ornatam; alteram ex cane Pontico, quero vulgus Bevurum nuncupat, similiter fimbriis sui coloris decoratam in orbe."

I do not conceive this cap to have been made of the skin of a beaver, for the term would then most probably have been "ex pelli canis Pontici."

This Chronicle contains several curious inventories of the gifts of many of the abbots; in which we may see the splendour of the vessels and vestments used at that period in religious services, as well as the style of reading then prevalent amongst the monks.

Gastros.

Cambridge, March 11.

[There is a Query which arises out of this subject which none of our correspondents have yet touched upon—What was the original meaning of Beaver, as applied to a hat or cap? and was it taken from the name of the animal, or did it give the name to it?]

REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.

Anecdote of the Civil Wars.—In looking through your "Notes and Queries," to which I heartily wish continued success, I find, in No. 6. p. 93, a question which appears to be as yet unanswered.

The story to which your questioner alludes as an "anecdote of the Civil Wars," is a very beautiful one, and deserves authentication.

I have a note of it from Dr. Thomas's additions to Dugdale's Warwickshire, which dates the occurrence as having taken place Oct. 22, 1642, the day previous to the battle of Edgehill, and identifies the merry sportsman as Richard Schuckburgh, of Upper Shuckburgh; who, however, on his presentation to the king, "immediately went home, aroused his tenants, and the next day attended the army to the field, where he was knighted, and was present at the battle." Being out of the reach of books, I am unable further to verify the story; but it is to such unhappy rustics that your publication is most acceptable.

C.W.B.

[Thanks to the kindness of our correspondent "C.W.B.," we have referred to Dugdale's Warwickshire (ed. Thomas, 1730). vol. i. p. 309., and extract from it the following proof that Walpole had authority for his story. Who knows, after this, but we may in the same way trace from whence he procured the celebrated letter of the Countess of Pembroke, respecting which there is a query from Mr. Peter Cunningham, in No. 2. p. 28.

"As king Charles the First marched to Edgcot, near Banbury, on 22nd Oct., 1642, he saw him hunting in the fields not far from Shuckborough, with a very good pack of hounds, upon which it is reported, that he fetched a deep sigh and asked who that gentleman was that hunted so merrily that morning, when he was going to fight for his crown and dignity. And being told that it was this Richard Shuckburgh, he was ordered to be called to him, and was by him very graciously received. Upon which he went immediately home, armed all his tenants, and the next day attended on him in the field, where he was knighted, and was present at the battle of Edghill."]

Mousetrap Dante (No. 10. pp. 154, 155.).—I beg to refer your correspondent to the Visconte Colomb de Batines' Bibliographia Dantesea (Prato, 1845-48. 8vo.), tom. ii. pp. 264, 265., where he will find a list (correct so far as it goes) of the fifteen MSS. of the Comedia, purchased for the Bodleian Library about the year 1822, from the Abbate Matteo Canonici, of Venice.

I have reason for believing, that the only MSS. which exist in that collection, in addition to those enumerated in the list, are: 1. Canon Ital. 100. "Compendium Cujusdam Commentarii" (4to paper); and 2. "Codices Canonici Miscellanei 449." fol., vellum (it cannot therefore be this), which contains the complete commentary of Jacopo dalla Lana.

F.C.B.

Cromwell's Estates (No. 18. p. 277.).—The seignory of Gower is the peninsula which runs out between the bays of Swansea and Carmarthen; and which terminates at Swansea on the S.E. side, and at Longhor on the N.W., and comprises the district which, in common with a part of Scotland, anciently bore the name of Rheged. It is a locality rich in all that can attract the antiquary and the naturalist.

Mr. Dillwyn's Contributions towards a History of Swansea contains the following references to the Gower property of Cromwell:—"We are informed by the Minute-book of the Common Hall" (at Swansea), "that on May 19, 1648, there came to this towne the truly Honourable Oliver Cromwell, Esq.... Lord of this towne, the Seignory of Gower, and Manor of Killay, with the members thereof," &c. "On May 5. 1647, Parliament settled the estates of the Marquis of Worcester, in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, on Cromwell; and, by a subsequent order, the estate in Glamorganshire was added to this grant. The conveyance from Parliament to Cromwell is made, not only in the name of his Majesty, but has a portrait of Charles the First at its head."

SELEUCUS.

Genealogy of European Sovereigns (No. 6. p. 92.)—The best and most comprehensive work on this subject bears the following title:—Johann Hübner's genealogische Tabellen, 4 vols. folio, oblong, Leipzig, 1737 et seq. (Of the 3rd vol. a new and much improved edition, by G.F. Krebel, appeared in 1766.) Supplement: Tafeln zu J. Hübner's genealogischen Tabellen, by Sophia Queen of Denmark, 6 parts, folio, oblong, Copenhagen, 1822-24.

A. Asher.

Berlin.

Shipster (No. 14. p. 216.).—Are not Baxter and Tupster the feminines of Baker and Tapper?—and may not Shipster signify a female ship-owner?

F.C.B.

Kentish Ballad (No. 16. p. 247.).—The song beginning "When Harold was invaded" has long been a favourite in this county. It is entitled "The Man of Kent," and was composed by Tom Durfey, in the time of Charles the Second. It may be found, with the music, in Chappell's Collection of English Airs. He cites it as being in Pills to purge Melancholy, with Music, 1719, and states that in the Essex Champion, or famous History of Sir Billy of Billericay and his Squire Ricardo, 1690, the song of "The Man of Kent" is mentioned. I have none of these works at hand for immediate reference, but the above note contains all that I have been able to collect on the subject of our popular ballad.

There is another song, much to the same purport, beginning—

in Evans's Songs, vol. ii. p. 33, printed by him from The Garland of Delight, by Delone, in the Pepys collection at Cambridge—a black-letter volume; and probably the song was by himself.

Your correspondent "F.B." asks for the remainder of the song. In pity to yourself and your readers, I forbear sending you the countless stanzas—numerous enough in the original song, but now, by the additions of successive generations, swelled to a volume. He will find in Chappell's collection all that is worth having, with the assurance, repeated oft enough for the most enthusiastic of our modest countrymen, that

LAMBERT LARKING.

Ryarsh Vicarage.

Bess of Hardwick (No. 18. p. 276.).—The armorial bearings of John Hardwick, of Hardwick, co. Derby, father of Bess, were: Argent, a saltier engrailed, and on a chief blue three roses of the field.

M. COMES.

Oxford, March 9. 1850.

Trophee (No. 19. p. 303.).—"Trophe," in the Prologue of Lydgate's Translation of Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, is a misprint: corrige—

The book called Troyle is Boccaccio's Troilo, or Filostrato.

M.C.

Oxford, March 11. 1850.

Emerald (No. 14. p. 217.).—Before we puzzle ourselves with the meaning of a thing, it is well to consider whether the authority may not be very loose and inaccurate. This emerald cross, even if it was made of emeralds, might have been in several pieces. But we are told generally, in Phillips's Mineralogy, that "the large emeralds spoken of by various writers, such as that in the Abbey of Richenau, of the weight of 28 lbs., and which formerly belonged to Charlemagne, are believed to be either green fluor, or prase. The most magnificent specimen of genuine emeralds was presented to the Church of Loretto by one of the Spanish kings. It consists of a mass of white quartz, thickly implanted with emeralds, more than an inch in diameter."

The note to the above exemplifies what I have just said. It is called emerald, he says, because it is green, from the Greek. I might make a query of this; but it is clearly a mistake of some half-learned or ill-understood informant. The name has nothing to do with green. Emerald, in Italian smeraldo, is, I dare say, from the Greek smaragdus. It is derived, according to the Oxford Lexicon, from μαιρω, to shine, whence μαρμαρυγη. In looking for this, I find another Greek word, smirix, which is the origin of emery, having the same meaning. It is derived from σμαω, to rub, or make bright. I cannot help suspecting that the two radical verbs are connected.

C.B.

Ancient Motto—Barnacles.—In reference to your querist in No. 6., respecting the motto which "some Pope or Emperor caused to be engraven in the centre of his table," and the correspondent in No. 7. who replies to him by a quotation from Horace, I beg to observe that honest Thomas Fuller, in The Holy State, 275. ed. Lond. 1648, tells us, that St. Augustine "had this distich written on his table:—

With respect to the Barnacle fowl, it may be an addendum, not uninteresting to your correspondent "W.B. MacCabe," to add to his extract from Giraldus another from Hector Boece, History of Scotland, "imprentit be Thomas Davidson, prenter to the Kyngis nobyll grace [James VI.]." He observes, that the opinion of some, that the "Claik geis growis on treis be the nebbis, is vane," and says he "maid na lytyll lauboure and deligence to serche the treuthe and virite yairof," having "salit throw the seis quhare thir Clakis ar bred," and assures us, that although they were produced in "mony syndry wayis, thay ar bred ay allanerly be nature of the seis." These fowls, he continues, are formed from worms which are found in wood that has been long immersed in salt water, and he avers that their transformation was "notably provyn in the zier of God 1480 besyde the castell of Petslego, in the sycht of mony pepyll," by a tree which was cast ashore, in which the creatures were seen, partly formed, and some with head, feet, and wings; "bot thay had na faderis." Some years afterwards, a tree was thrown on the beach near Dundee, with the same appearances, and a ship broken up at Leith exhibited the same marvel; but he clinches the argument by a "notable example schawin afore our eyne. Maister Alexander Galloway Person, of Kynkèll, was with us in thir Illis (the Hebridæ), and be adventure liftet up ane see tangle, hyng and full of mussil schellis," one of which he opened, "bot than he was mair astonist than afore, for he saw na fische in it bot ane perfit schapin foule. This clerk, knawin us richt desirous of sic uncouth thingis, came haistely, and opinit it iwith all circumstance afore rehersit." So far the venerable "Chanon of Aberdene." The West Highlanders still believe in the barnacle origin of this species of fowl.

JAMES LOGAN

Tureen (No. 16. p. 246.; No. 19. p. 307.).—I have seen old-fashioned silver tureens which turned on a pivot attached to the handles, and always concluded that it was to this form that Goldsmith alluded in the line quoted by "G.W."

SELEUCUS.

Hudibrastic Couplet (No. 14. p. 211.).—These lines do not occur in the reprint of the Musarum Deliciæ (Lond. 1817, 8vo. 2 vols.). Lowndes (Bibliogr. Manual) states that they are to be found in the 2nd ed. of the work (London, 1656. 12mo.).

F.C.B.

Topography of Foreign Printing Presses (No. 18. p. 277.)—About twelve years ago, Valpy published a vol. of Supplements to Lemprière's Dictionary, by E.H. Barker. One of these contained a complete list of all the foreign towns in which books had been printed, with the Latin names given to them in alphabetical order.

W. and N.

Your correspondent "P.H.F." will find in Cotton's Typographical Gazetteer (8vo. Clarendon Press, 1831), every information he will ordinarily require.

J.M.S.

Islington, March 7. 1850

Dr. Hugh Todd's MSS. (No. 18. p. 282.).—The only MS. in the library of University College, Oxford, is that mentioned by "F.M."; and it is described in the Catalogue, compiled by the Rev. H.O. Coxe, of the MSS. belonging to the College, p. 47. No. clxx. There is a note stating it was "ex dono Hugonis Todd, Socii, A.D. 1690."

C.I.R.